January 5, 2021 is the magic date, Senate election runoff in the Peach State. Republicans need just one seat to control the Senate, Democrats need to win both. Under normal circumstances a Senate under the control of the party not in the White House would be a good thing for democracy. The Senate would then serve to check the power of the White House. However, these are not normal circumstances. So another four years or even less would be a disaster both for America and the Republican Party.
The current Senate majority leader with immense power enhanced by the abrogation of filibusters in most proceedings has become not a legislator and, certainly not a monitor of the Executive branch but an obstructionist or enabler depending on who occupies the White House. Under President Obama Senator Mitch McConnell undermined all activity by the White House blatantly doing nothing and gloating unabashedly that his job was to make President Barrack Obama a one term president. Well that did not work out, but it did controvert the Presidential agenda. Under President Donald Trump he became a sycophantic enabler even acquiring the nickname Moscow Mitch by supporting Trump’s “bromance” with Vladimir Putin. If the Republicans prevail in Georgia and hold the Senate he will once again become an obstructionist to the Biden agenda.
The aftermath of November 3rd has glaringly uncovered several things: that Donald Trump is no democrat and more of an autocrat, that he never should have been the President of a democratic country since he does not believe in democratic processes and that the Republican Party which he essentially leads needs major reform within its ranks so that it in the future it resembles the Party of Lincoln, Reagan and McCain rather than the Party of Trump, McConnell and Graham.
The demise of Mitch McConnell is not only to the benefit of America but to the benefit of the Republican Party. In 2015-2016 when the Republicans fielded some twenty candidates, no one within their ranks could have envisioned what was to transpire. Donald Trump was considered a buffoon with no chance. His friend Bill O’Reilly, himself prone to buffoonery said as much to Trump. Trump, however, managed to establish an electoral base of uneducated white men, not unlike him, despite his pseudo Ivy League connection. Trump even lauded that base at one of his rallies in 2016 saying “I love the uneducated.”
Hilary Clinton arrogantly and rudely gave them a name “the deplorables.” With great resentment, they morphed into precisely that. This worked to destroy the Republican party as it had been heretofore, forged a monster, and Trump became its standard bearer. Uneducated white men, many carrying guns, spouting the 2nd Amendment despite never having seen the Constitution and proclaiming white supremacy, became the Republican
base. Like Trump they read nothing of objective substance and were encouraged by Fox and right wing radio.
This aberration became reality. Abraham Lincoln, a highly intelligent and well read attorney at law, a thoughtful and principled individual, caring for all Americans white and black, a paragon of our country’s greatest and most costly triumph of good over evil and the antipode to Southern Democrats who were slave owners was supplanted by a “gun toting” uneducated white supremacist in the person of a primitive, rude, arrogant and mendacious real estate operator from New York.
However, while Donald Trump is at this point simply a bad mistake, irrespective of whether he concedes the election he will be carried out by perhaps by those he called suckers and losers, his legacy may persist in the person of McConnell as the leader of the United States Senate with extraordinary powers and the experience to manipulate as he wills. Think of McConnell as another Trump only much more dangerous because of his sophistication and skill.
The Senate seats from Georgia are critical. Former Democratic party candidate Andrew Wang suggested he was moving to Georgia to vote. That’s probably going too far. But assisting financially is one option, activism is another. You may be surprised how much your money may be worth or what your efforts may bring. When Donald Trump declared his candidacy for the Republican presidential nomination in 2015, he made his announcement before a crowd of paid supporters. Democracy has good and bad sides. While money may be the root of all evil, it works in politics and democratic politics. A door to door grassroots movement brings great results as well. Get involved in any way you can to bring Lincoln, Reagan and McCain back to the Republican Party. It’s good for America and the rest of the democratic world.
November 23, 2020 Askold S. Lozynskyj