US Stuck in Reverse

The defeats suffered by Democrats in the midterm election aren’t the start of a conservative rollback. The Republicans have already been putting their ideas through at the state level for a long time.

To cut to the chase: The Democrats lost the midterm election because President Obama is no longer popular, and is no longer considered a strong leader. And while that’s not too far off the mark, it doesn’t explain the electoral debacle his party suffered by a long shot. Congress is even less popular than the president, who ranks just ahead of North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un in some opinion polls. Voters are completely turned off by Washington politicians who have largely stopped doing their jobs. In the past two years, Congress has passed only 185 bills. No session has ever been less productive.

The Republicans are largely to blame for that state of affairs, since they openly swore to block any and every proposal made by Democrats since day one of Obama’s administration. Raising taxes on the rich: not a chance. Raising the minimum wage: can’t do that. Environmental protection: forget it. Stricter gun laws: never going to happen. New immigration laws: not right now. Closing Guantanamo: absolutely not. And so it goes, except the voters don’t blame the obstructionists for this blockade. For some unknown reason, they blame all politicians in general, and above all, they blame the president, the same as they blamed George W. Bush, Bill Clinton or Ronald Reagan.

The Republican victory will do nothing to change the congressional standoff, despite Republican promises of more cooperation. Their right-wing proposals will be hindered in the future with procedural tricks by Democrats in the Senate or by presidential veto. Especially now, when the likely candidates for president in 2016 are beginning to position themselves, and will do everything possible to avoid voting for unpopular legislation. The next election campaign has already begun, and doing the people’s business will resume after it’s over … maybe.

In contrast, legislators at the state level are in many cases hyperactive, and are fundamentally changing the landscape. That’s an aspect missing from most news reports because the reports focus almost exclusively on Washington. California Governor Jerry Brown, on one Sunday alone, signed 48 bills into law and vetoed 14 more. The Tennessee legislature passed 2,979 bills into law, and in Rhode Island, more than 1,000 new laws were enacted. Nationally, the total exceeded 24,000.

That has serious consequences because Republicans have a clear majority in 29 of the 50 state houses, and since Tuesday, Republicans have increased their majorities there. More and more states have been successful in starting a conservative rollback that Washington and the Democratic majority in the U.S. Senate have fortunately been able to oppose. Laws already passed by Republicans in some states amount to a de facto prohibition of all abortion; some limit the voting rights of minorities; some require that creationism be taught in school science classes; and others broaden rights to carry guns in public places such as schools, airports and playgrounds. These laws also restrict gay marriage and redistrict voting precincts in such a way as to favor Republican voters.

The right-wing conservative agenda divides American society. It restricts the rights of progressive citizens, ethnic minorities and women in those states controlled by Republicans. It changes living conditions to the point that a New York or California Democrat would avoid moving to Kansas or Texas unless it was an emergency.

Compared to Republican legislative goals, one Democratic initiative largely finds bipartisan consensus: raising the minimum wage. This social measure is so popular that citizens of several states have already raised the minimum wage by referendum. In so doing, these states shine a spotlight on the uselessness of Congress, where Republicans have opposed the measure for years.

Surprisingly, the conservatives also approve of liberalizing marijuana consumption laws. Thus far, 23 states have approved cannabis as a medical treatment, and in two states it has even been approved for recreational use. But it is more important for Democrats to convince voters that their moderate political stances will result in a more tolerant and competitive nation. Republicans, thanks to the tea party revolution in 2010, have moved so far to the right that people now rightly worry about what would happen if they regain the White House in 2016.