Trust me on this—Maine raises up some weird when it comes to the politicians it shares with the nation. Case in point: Democratic Rep. Jared Golden, so Blue a Blue Dog that he ought to be solving mysteries on PBS. The man makes Joe Manchin look like the caliph of the Great Society. Don’t worry, he tells an anxious, tottering republic. Be not afraid. From the Bangor Daily News:
After the first presidential debate, lots of Democrats are panicking about whether President Joe Biden should step down as the party’s nominee. Biden’s poor performance in the debate was not a surprise. It also didn’t rattle me as it has others, because the outcome of this election has been clear to me for months: While I don’t plan to vote for him, Donald Trump is going to win. And I’m OK with that.
Well...ayup, then.
There are winners and losers in every election. Democrats’ post-debate hand-wringing is based on the idea that a Trump victory is not just a political loss, but a unique threat to our democracy. I reject the premise. Unlike Biden and many others, I refuse to participate in a campaign to scare voters with the idea that Trump will end our democratic system.
I don’t know if Maine’s Second Congressional District gives out an annual Neville Chamberlain Award, but I think we have a leader in the clubhouse now.
Pearl-clutching about a Trump victory ignores the strength of our democracy. Jan. 6, 2021, was a dark day. But Americans stood strong. Hundreds of police officers protected the democratic process against thousands who tried to use violence to upend it. Judges and state election officials upheld our election laws. Members of Congress, including leaders from both parties, certified the election results. They all are joined in the defense of democracy by the millions of us who, like me, made an oath of allegiance to the United States and to the Constitution when we began our military service, plus hundreds of millions of freedom-loving Americans who won’t let anyone take away our constitutional rights as citizens of the greatest democracy in history. This election is about the economy, not democracy. And when it comes to our economy, our Congress matters far more than who occupies the White House.
This is beside the point, but the House in which Golden serves is run by a majority caucus driven mad by Jesus and talk radio. And they’re just as nutty on the economy as they are on every other issue. But they are also willingly in thrall to a cult. Now it’s time for Golden to lead us into Schoolhouse Rock.
Congress will need to stand up to economic elites and so-called experts in both parties who are already working overtime to stop Trump’s proposed trade policies that would reverse the harms of globalization and protect American businesses from unfair foreign competition. We need to protect from extremists the law I helped pass that caps seniors’ insulin costs at $35 and forces Big Pharma to negotiate and lower the cost of prescription drugs.
Senator Smoot? Congressman Hawley? Nice to see you again. Drop by the Kittery outlets for a new pair of duck boots. And a semi-auto. Jared Golden can help with that.
Perhaps more importantly, members must stand up to the GOP old-guard who will use a Trump presidency as cover for handouts to the wealthy and powerful at the cost of America’s working families and communities. We must stabilize Medicare and Social Security, without cuts for seniors. We must guarantee women’s reproductive rights. And Congress must be ready to once again protect the ACA and to end huge tax breaks for the wealthy and for multinational corporations.
The former president* has absolutely no policy proposals, but what passes for them in the vast, desolate canyons of his mind are all aligned against everything in that paragraph, and unless Golden has been living in a tree outside Jackman for the past seven years, he has to know this. I don’t mind a careerist. I object to a dumb one.
Charles P Pierce is the author of four books, most recently Idiot America, and has been a working journalist since 1976.
