Left Leadership in a Crisis
@Mike_Policywonk
Why are the elected leaders on the left so disorganized and failing us in the midst of a national pandemic?
In the U.S. Congress, it seems as though every left, liberal or progressive Congressperson is singing from a different songbook. Presidential candidate Joe Biden has gone missing in these critical days, providing no leadership on legislative specifics. Candidate Bernie Sanders is holed up in Burlington Vermont talking, but not in D.C. doing the hard, on-the-floor work of crafting a pro-people, progressive response. Former candidate Tulsi Gabbard has retreated to the Hawaiian islands and is focused locally.
Meanwhile, the Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, and the Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, compromise too much on corporate bail-outs, agree to half-measures, and offer liberal talking points to the workers and most vulnerable in our communities. Performative politics is not enough.
This lack of strong commitment, unity, and political coordination is a failure of leadership on the left.
Why hasn’t the Black Congressional Caucus, the Progressive Caucus, the leading Presidential candidates, organized labor, and the hundreds of grassroots groups on the left created a unified legislative approach and a strong-arm legislative bloc in Congress to provide a comprehensive, unified, response to ease the crisis facing working Americans in the face of the COVID-19 crisis and a collapsing economy?
To be fair — There are some common themes emerging:
- Some form of Universal Basic Income (UBI),
- Student loan debt relief,
- Financial aid and Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) for healthcare workers,
- Eviction and rent protections,
- Financial aid to the homeless,
- Expansion of Unemployment Insurance Benefits and more.
These general themes have emerged far too slowly and only in response to significant pressure from voters. The problem is when these general themes are turned into initial legislative language.
Details matter
It is here where it becomes even more evident that the left has no unified legislative approach to solving this crisis. Good people like Rep. Maxine Waters, Rep. AOC, Rep. Ilham Omar, Rep. Rashida Tlaib and so many others have laid out public Markers on their solutions. In some cases, these were just memos, which have no legislative authority. In other cases they have introduced legislation and in other cases they are supporting various Bills that hobble together a legislative response. Among this soup of ideas however are widely different UBI proposals, UI proposals, payroll protection proposals, and even some fringe funding ideas like using $1 Trillion coins and money-financed fiscal programs (aka: Parachute money).
Meaningful economic relief is needed immediately. The chaos, lack of unity, and this leadership failure in the face of crisis will harm millions of Americans. Congressional leaders, who profess to be in support of people-oriented solutions are being outflanked by some of Trump’s populist proposals. The Democratic Party, which has shown itself to be calcified in so many ways, needs to rise and meet this challenge with bold, radical solutions or face losing the good-will and confidence of voters in a critical election year.
I appreciate that Congressional leaders are voting against and publicly opposing some of the more egregious GOP business bail-out proposals. That fight is important and should continue, but playing defense is not enough.
