Nov. 3, 2010 (In These Times) -- Tuesday's election results provide endless occasions for progressive wailing and gnashing of teeth.
It was bad enough that the Democrats lost the House–and lost it in the biggest turnover since 1938, but there were also tragic losses of good political leaders in specific races, such as the defeat of iconoclastic, independent Russ Feingold in Wisconsin or a less well-known champion for working-class families, Rep. Phil Hare from western Illinois. The list of progressive losses, unfortunately, goes on, even if conservative Blue Dog Democrats disproportionately suffered defeat.
But the broad consequences are even more worrisome: Now the country faces a political crisis–a stalemate or worse, a capitulation by Democrats to Republican initiatives--that threatens to extend and deepen the current economic crisis. In the last Congress, Republican intransigence, Democratic disunity and administration timidity–combined with a naive quest for Republican cooperation–limited the federal response to the crisis. But the ultimate modest plan–expensive as it seemed to many voters or "socialistic" to Tea Party zealots–did not deliver enough stimulus fast enough for many Americans to feel the effects, costing Democrats many votes.
Now not only will it be difficult for the government to provide fiscal and policy stimulus, Republicans will also be pushing for a new austerity likely to undercut the recovery and job creation and both threaten the country's already meager social welfare system and the future earnings of most workers.
At this point, after taking a thumping, the gracious losing politician says, "The people have spoken." But more than usual, the appropriate rejoinder is, "Maybe so, but what did they say? And what does that say, if anything, about the country's political direction for the next two years?"
