Caving to the Republicans is a Habit With the Corporate/Neoliberal/Third Way Democrats

 

By David Starr

 

With Democratic Senator Chuck Schumer once again succumbing to the wishes of Republicans in ending the government shutdown, one could say that the result being the continuation of SNAP benefits is a plus. But it’s a hollow “victory” because Schumer and eight other Democrats once again apply the strategy that results in getting only crumbs in the process of dealing with the Nazi-like GOP. Once again the Republicans got their way.

 

It would be a major and important opportunity if Schumer and those gang of eight politicians went along with other Democrats in refusing to accept the sordid deal of ending the government shutdown. It would mean that the Republicans would further tarnish their reputation since it’s their and their dear leader’s policies that have caused hardship for many U.S. citizens and their refusal to end the shutdown to alleviate the hardship. But that is the Trump regime’s objective in the process of trying to further impose their Project 2025 agenda.

 

Details are provided on the Secular Talk show, and in particular a focus on Schumer for allowing the deal. Schumer has further proven to be a corporate/neoliberal/Third Way Democrat (CNTWD). And that has meant implementing timid reforms to benefit the working class and breaking promises on reforms that would be more progressive and thus more meaningful to the working class. 

 

The CNTWDs have also imposed a similar imperial foreign policy as Republicans, with the bottom-line result of provoking and fueling forever wars. And that’s for the same ideological agenda of maintaining and expanding capital, usually at the expense of the working class and the poor.

 

An article by Jessica Washington published in The Intercept covered the reactions of people on SNAP regarding the Democrats’ caving to the GOP with the pathetic shutdown deal. Specifically on the deal, Washington writes that:

 

“a group of eight Democratic senators, including Minority Whip Dick Durbin, D-Ill, cut a deal with Republican leadership to end the government shutdown. They did it without forcing Republicans to agree to any of the major concessions Democrats said they were fighting to secure. Including a reversal of Medicaid cuts and an extension of Affordable Care Act subsidies.”

 

Further, although the Republicans agreed on voting on continuing the subsidies, “the legislation is more than likely dead in the water, especially since Democrats forfeited their main piece of leverage. As a result, tens of millions of Americans are projected to see their [healthcare] premiums skyrocket, and an estimated 7.8 million low-income Americans will outright lose their insurance through Medicaid.”

 

Besides Secular Talk, another show called The Humanist Report also focused on Schumer and his political spinelessness, not having kind words for the senator.

 

The others who caved to the GOP in taking the shutdown deal were the following; Dick Durbin already being mentioned: Caterine Cortez Masto, Jacky Rosen, Jeanne Shaheen, John Fetterman, Tim Kaine, and independent Angus King. 

 

According to Ellie Quinlan Houghtaling, writing for The New Republic, “the government shutdown ended because some senators want to be able to keep campaigning on Obamacare.” 

 

(The creation of Obamacare was heavily influenced by private health insurance company executives. So, while it did provide certain positive measures, the healthcare industry took advantage and proceeded to raise premiums, deductibles and co-pays to unaffordable levels.) 

 

Quinlan Houghtaling continues, writing, “Seven Senate Democrats and one independent caved on the government shutdown, leaving their party empty-handed after a grueling 40-day deadlock with Republicans. All eight lawmakers are either retiring or won’t face another election for several years, making the alleged behind-the-scenes rationale for the crumbling stalemate even more asinine.”

 

Feeling anxiety, House and Senate Democrats expressed that “actually preserving premium subsidies for the Affordable Care Act’s enhanced premium tax credits through their shutdown demands could strip them of a winning issue in the coming midterms,” Quinlan Houghtaling writes, referring to a New York Times report. 

 

Quinlan Houghtaling quotes the report: “The political logic of the shutdown fight was inverted: If Democrats got the tax credits extended–if they ‘won’–they would be solving a huge electoral problem for the Republicans. If the Republicans successfully allowed the tax credits to expire–if they ‘won’–they would be handing Democrats a cudgel with which to beat them in the elections.”

 

Quinlan Houghtaling concludes, “The message is as simple as it is disastrous: Democrats will do anything to stay in power, even if it mean undermining the needs of their constituents.”

 

Ideologically similar to the Republicans (after all, they’re both capitalist parties), the Democrats have their own corporate backers, more or less the same backers as the Republicans have. The corporate/neoliberal/Third Way Democrats have failed more often than not with their strategy of compromising, bi-partisanship, and in turn caving to Republican objectives. 

 

Schumer, who approved the shutdown deal, and others like him need to step down. They’re not learning from their “mistakes.”   

 

     



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