If there's been any (nanoparticle thin) silver lining in the loss of the Democratic Senate majority since 2010, it's been that the Democratic caucus has purged nearly all of its conservative members.
In light of John Kennedy's win in Louisiana last night, which left the Rep/Dem balance at 52-48, the Wall Street Journal highlighted something I somehow missed:
Meanwhile, two vulnerable Democratic members, Heidi Heitkamp of North Dakota and Joe Manchin of West Virginia, are being considered positions in the Trump administration. Their move to a Trump administration post could give Republicans additional seats given the competitive politics in both states.Those are the last two Democrats in the Senate that I basically consider to be mostly playing for the other team. So, at least we'll all be on the same side.
But if the filibuster is totally removed (which I think it will be), in order not to lose pretty much everything that provides the average American with anything resembling security over the next four years, we need to rely on roughly ten percent of Senate Republicans to have a shred of a conscience. Boy, do those seem like long odds.
So, going forward, assuming the Republicans don't continue to continue to strengthen their electoral dominance through what in any real democracy should be considered cheating, do we have to start to bend ideologically again? We shouldn't HAVE to. Even with a fully progressive-leaning slate, we are more popular than the almost totally batshit Republicans.
We have to stop Trump before he takes the oath. There is no choice. Even if we do, we're still decades away from ever having a truly fair democracy. But we need to keep that door open.
