“This is How Democracy Works!” was one of the more consistent chants of the large crowd marching along Lake Street in October after the No Kings rally. It was also common on signs my fellow marchers carried.
There were many other signs, some clever, some profound, a few both clever and profound, that I could agree with, but the “democracy” sign was not one of them. Didn’t people understand that Democracy was what empowered the Bad Guys, who got more votes in the November 2024 election?
Similarly, there will be carping about U.S. senators, including Dick Durbin, who “caved” in the shutdown showdown. The government funding fight was one refusal after another – Democrats refused the majority-proffered budget, the president and GOP refused the health care subsidies, the Republican Senate refused to abolish the 60-vote filibuster rule.
Progressives could persist but not prevail, given the math challenge the 2024 election results posed. To “win” they needed 13 of the 53 GOP senators to join them and restore health subsidies; that was not going to happen, despite conservative defeats in that week’s state elections. So until seven from the Democratic caucus crossed over, food stamps would be cut, as would government work, from airports to national parks, and much in between.
Bending to the elected majority is how democracy works, as unfortunate as it is in this case. Rather than a backlash against Democratic “traitors,” better that liberals work to convince independent voters in Iowa and Texas, Ohio and the Carolinas to vote for a government that works for them and not for the greedy and callous.
Jeff Petertil
Oak Park