CommentsTHE VIEW FROM HERE - Let’s skip over the troubling question “Why Biden did it?” and move on to whether he can recover.
The date of his error was May 13, 2021 when he failed to immediately rebut CDC Director Rochelle Walensky when she re-ignited the nation’s polarization by her declaration that the vaxed people could go maskless inside, while the unvaxed had to wear masks thereby broadcasting to the world their Leper status. Translated in culture wars lingo, Walensky was saying that the holy vaxed Dems did not have to wear masks while the bad unvaxed GOP would be publicly outted. Since the extra danger of the Delta Variant was already evident to the CDC, Director Walensky had to know that it was scientifically unjustifiable for anyone to go unmasked.
The larger harm was that Walensky trashed Biden’s Centrist approach for a united nation to reach herd immunity by July 4th. One theory for plunging the nation into more polarization over the good vaxed Dems and the evil unvaxed GOP is that the Dem Wokers wanted to sabotage Biden’s Centrist policies. If Biden gained support from the Centrist GOP, the power of the Left Wing Wokers, aka the Dem Tea Baggers, would plummet.
Worst yet, is that Biden stabbed himself in the back by saying horrible things about the unvaxed GOP. Of course, the Wokers loved it. Speaking of stabbing in the back, the Wokers then refused to cooperate with Biden to get his infrastructure bill passed in the House after it had passed the Senate. Blame Manchin and What’s-Her-Name all you want; the ones who owed Biden a compromise were the Wokers.
After the Climate Summit, which Biden had to attend with Woker egg on his face, the Wokers still would not help. After the November 2nd election disasters, the House finally passed the bill with 6 Wokers in opposition, while 13 GOP voted Yes. The Wokers are to the Dems as the Freedom Caucus is to the GOP. They represent a tiny part of the party but they hold the power as long as the rest of us are foolish enough to play the polarization game.
The Extremes Are Twinsies
The Dem Woker extreme and the GOP Freedom Caucus extreme behave the same. They are irrational true believers who see any deviation from their holy mission as being in league with Satan. This fact is not news to Biden. Eric Hoffer’s analysis of True Believers hold true today.
America’s Four Political Parties
After decades of increasing division, we should re-evaluate how we see ourselves. We do not have two political parties. We have four. (1) The Extreme Right (15%), (2) The Extreme Left (15%), (3) the Dem Center (35%), the (4) The GOP Center (35%). The two extremes employ similar deceptions. One ploy is to paint the entire other party in the worst possible light. Supposedly, all Dems want to ban books and all GOP want to murder Granny with Covid. The extremes of both parties have less in common with the Centers than the Centers have with each other. The extremes covet power, while the Centers want to govern for the common good.
The extremes are ruthless and the Right Extreme has more or less perfected the art of primarying decent GOP candidates. The mechanics on the Left are somewhat different but likewise it is highly destructive. Nancy Pelosi holds the purse strings and anyone who wants significant campaign funds has to cater to her whims. Once the extremes have polarized the nation, neither party can pass any legislation with catering to its extreme.
Here’s Quirk
The GOP cannot affect Pelosi and the Dems cannot affect the Freedom Caucus. The GOP Center and the Dem Center must learn when to freeze out their own extreme fringe in order to help the other party.
Helping the Other Party Has Become Political Heresy in America
Power mongers would have us all live in dire poverty on a barren planet than have less power. Screw that! Power is not the goal. Rather, Pursuit Happiness is the unifying inalienable right. The Centers realize that they do not have all the answers. The Center recognizes that no nation can thrive when it allows power mongers like Pelosi and Trump to polarize the nation.
The Dems Have the Duty to Exclude the Wokers, While the GOP Has the Duty To Exclude Freedom Caucus
There can be no Dem Centrist government with Pelosi and there can be no Centrist GOP with Trump. The key to the Dem Center and the GOP Center marginalizing its own extreme is trust that the other party will not stab them in the back. Pelosi like Trump will stab anyone in the back any time anywhere,
13 GOP House members took a good faith by vote Yes on Biden’s first Infrastructure bill. Six True Believer Wokers voted No. When twice as many GOP will support the President as Wokers who opt for purity, Biden and the Center Dem now owe the GOP when it needs support to ignore its Right Wing. That’s how good faith politics functions to advance the nation’s common welfare. There are enough Centrists in both parties to help the other party to override its extremists. It is myopically foolish for a politician to promise his party’s extremist element that he will deliver what they demand.
The Key is Centrist Governing
The power to protect Biden from the Wokers rests with the GOP Center and the power to protect the GOP from Trump rests with the Dem Center. They must crossover vote to protect the Center. The GOP have to stop their insane ravings about Wokers and the Dems need to stop their insane ravings about Trumpists. We know both extremes are crazy. Enough already! We cannot allow the worst among us to control the nation’s destiny.
We Need to Reframe How We See America
We need not be a house divided. Presently, we are like a family where the two parents have to contend with their two mentally unstable teenagers. We cannot let the children tear apart the American family.
(Richard Lee Abrams has been an attorney, a Realtor and community relations consultant as well as a CityWatch contributor. The views expressed herein are his own and do not necessarily reflect the views of CityWatch. You may email him at [email protected])
