Yesterday we Decent Americans celebrated a well-deserved victory.
We blunted the “red wave” that was threatening to destroy our country. We turned out to the polls and stood up to “historical trends.” We took down the worst election deniers, most the insurrectionists, and many of the Trumpists that were being foisted on America by the nasty, brutish, and just plain mean Republican party.
Tuesday’s election was a good day for democracy. And democracy owes its continued existence to each and every Decent American—especially the young ones!—who stepped up and sent Republicans packing.
With two day’s hindsight, the victory bodes even better for democracy. Extreme Republican viciousness alienated so many Decent Americans that now Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, and Michigan are firmly in the control of Democrats. This means that the 2024 election is probably going to be safe from Republican attempts to overturn the will of the people, since those three key states will not allow it.
All this is fantastic. We deserve to be proud of it. It is good to take some time for resting and enjoying one’s good work. We can probably do that for another few days.
But then we have to don our armor again. Because unless a miracle happens, things are about to get much, much worse and our courage and fortitude will be needed as much as ever.
Why? Because although we managed to blunt the red wave, it looks like Republican gerrymandering may well still give them a slight majority in the House of Representatives. And even worse, as of this writing, it is still possible that Republicans may also wrest control of the Senate away from Democrats.
The one thing Decent America needs to understand about the near future is this: Decent America’s rejection of them is not going to make Republicans behave better. They are going to get even worse.
If they control both houses of Congress, they will wreak vengeance for their losses starting in January. All previous norms will be jettisoned, all rules meant to limit unfairness will be overturned. A Republican Senate will stop confirming Biden-appointed judges, causing the the justice system (which is already underfunded and crippled by the dead weight of “conservative” judges) to reach near-failure. Not a single piece of decent legislation will pass for two years. Republicans will use every advantage they have to continue Trump’s attempts to destroy the institutions of government. They will sow chaos and try to blame Democrats for it in the lead up to 2024.
This may well turn Decent America against Republicans even more, so that 2024 becomes their final Waterloo. But in the meantime, the damage they will do during the next two years will be incalculable.
On the other hand, if Democrats manage to hold onto the Senate, the damage will be lessened. Still, the House will go crazy. If Republicans hold even a single-seat majority, they will act like complete tyrants. They will rage against America for rebuking them the way a spoiled child rages against its parents for thwarting their desires.
Their temper tantrums will be monumental. They will try to force every state to make unrestrained gun-ownership mandatory. They will try to ban abortion universally. They will try to dismantle Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid. They will try to make their white-nationalist brand of fake Christianity the official state religion. They will try to defund the Justice Department. They will threaten everyone who opposes them with investigations, legal sanctions, and even violence. They will try to do all this, and even worse, because they are ignorant, childish, mean, selfish, vindictive, spoiled brats who have been allowed to get away with rotten behavior for far too long.
Fortunately, a Democratic President and Senate will be able to limit much of the damage. They can slap the House down as often as it takes, but the nation will have to put up with the constant feckless rage of House Republicans for two years. Everything they can pull off without check—like shutting down the government by holding the debt ceiling hostage—will cause pain and suffering. Every decent piece of legislation they reject will cause pain and suffering.
So if the Republicans do gain control of even only the House, they are determined to make the next two years are painful as they can, hoping that Decent America will give them what they want just to stop the bleeding.
That is why our good work at blunting the red wave on Tuesday was just not enough. We needed to completely crush Republicans with a massive blue tsunami. That would have spared us the trauma of the next two years.
The good news in all of this is that our efforts have put America in a good position for 2024. We now can be sure that most elections that year will be free and fair, which would never have happened if Republican election-deniers had gained control of the election apparatus. And that means that in 2024 Decent America can finally put an end to the nation’s suffering by sweeping all the Republican detritus off the political landscape. If we can just get through the misery that Republicans are going to inflict in the near term, we can finally mount the crashing wave in 2024 that would have spared us the death and destruction that Republicans will cause with any power they manage to retain in this year’s election.
The bad news is that we Decent Americans, weary and traumatized by six years of relentless attack from the worst elements in American politics, have to strap on our armor one more time and beat back the dark side for two more years.
But exhausted as we are, sick to death as we are with the vileness of Republicans, with one more push Decent America will win this battle for the soul of the nation. Now that the younger cohorts of voters have rallied to our side, seeing Republican depravity with the moral clarity of youth, Decent America will decisively win the future battles with indecency.
POSTSCRIPT
As I write this, there is a still a chance that we will be spared two more years of struggle. It is still possible—just possible—that Democrats may hold both the Senate and the House.
If that comes the pass, then the threat to decency from Republicans will be over. They will sputter and rage, threaten and fume, and pound the floor like four-year-old sore losers. This will achieve nothing except to make them even less appealing to the independent voters who came over the good side of the force this time.
If that comes to pass, then Decent America will be able to rest from its most strenuous labors. With a normal amount of political effort on the part of decent citizens, the 2024 election will take care of itself, and America can return to its historical mission, which always has been to lead the world away from the darkness of power politics toward the light of a new politics—the politics of human flourishing.
If only we could win the House now.