Analogies sometimes help us understand events, ideas and people. By comparing these to something familiar, we better see where others are “coming from”. In that vein, a look at the Democrats as a family, perhaps a mob family, gets us a look into their minds.
First, there is the Don and his woman, Chuck Schumer and Nancy Pelosi. Chuck is a master at keeping his minions in line, as most Democratic votes in the Senate are strictly along party lines. Maybe he tells those who are wavering, “I’ve got a deal you can’t refuse”! One recent example is his opposition to confirming Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court. His claim was to “use everything I can to stop” the process. So far, none in his occasionally unruly caucus have dared step out of line. Nancy, for her part, wields similar power in the House, although some rumblings of unrest have been heard over there. However, this mega rich West Coast liberal is the best fundraiser House Dems have, and she wields this weapon to perfection. Their control over the family is truly amazing, for the other political family, the Republicans are so fractured that no amount of splint or plaster casts can keep them together.
But further down the food chain in the Dem family, things look like almost all families in America. Not all are really pulling together in the struggle to control the political underworld. One long time foot soldier aspired to higher office, and spent her entire public career with one aim — occupying the Oval Office. With the solid support of the family, she lost. By her own admission, she spent days, nay weeks, sipping (well, guzzling mostly) chardonnay, wandering in the woods that surround her New York mansion. When finally emerging, she (Hillary, by name) wrote a book about What Happened, went on a book tour explaining that everything and everyone but her was responsible for her defeat. Parts of the family just wish she would go away and let the family get on with their quest for power.
Another of the “old guard” is the West Coast crazy aunt, Maxine Waters. She has accomplished little in her more than three decades in the House, and is known more for her weird hats than any substantive work there. Best known recently for her shrill “impeach him!” rants, this harpy is not welcome in some quarters of the family, and has been told by “Mom” Nancy to tone down her rhetoric. But Mad Max is tolerated by most Dems because she is a reliable “no” vote on anything the opposition proposes.”
Of course, the Family has its up and coming young guns. Anxious to make their spurs in the next nation-wide election, these continually make noise to try to outdo each other to become the standard-bearer for the Family. Four are most prominent — Cory, Kamala, Kirsten and Elizabeth (aka Pocahontas). Anything one proposes, the others are quick to adopt. Even though many of their ideas are very costly for ordinary Americans, they realize that when in power they can get the money by extortion (called taxation by most of us normal people) and would have the full force of the Family to enforce the collections. Ideas abound and are articulated; Medicare for all (single payer health care), free college tuition, abolish the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency (ICE), guaranteed jobs for everyone (with a $15 minimum wage!) One of these alone, the free health care, would cost 8 times the total outlay of a single year’s national budget, but those pesky details are irrelevant to these ambitious young guns. Chuck, their nominal leader, has a hard time tamping down the rhetoric as he fears their shrill harping on these expensive matters will drive the electorate to the other major political family in the next election. Nevertheless, they are part of the Family called the Democrats.
Two people have become ex officio members of the Family, although no one remembers when, where or why they became associated with the Dems. First is the now 76-year-old white-haired Bernie Sanders, who runs as an Independent from Vermont, but whenever there is a family reunion or backyard barbecue, he shows up. After his last marriage, Bernie and his wife honeymooned in the Soviet Union, showing where his political loyalties really lay. Welcomed for his reliable “no” vote against the opposition, Bernie was a gadfly in the last election, almost derailing the queen-in-waiting, Hillary, in the primary battles. This year he was joined by the now darling of the far left-wing of the political spectrum, the 28-year-old New Yorker, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. Her way out positions included the usual far out ideas, Alexandra wants to abolish ICE, have free health care and college, claims that all Americans have a “right” to housing, and that all have a “right” to a job that the government will provide. In addition, being a woman and a person of color, she also believes that the future belongs to her and those like her, relegating whites to a position of inferiority. To some, Bernie and Alexandria are the “new” face of the Family, but others are reluctant to endorse this idea for fear of alienating some of their supporters not ready for such radical positions.
As with any mob family, there are the foot soldiers who have served faithfully for many years, but still want to remain relevant. Joe Biden has been making sounds as if he wants to run for the golden ring again, Diane Feinstein was rejected by her own state party leaders as she wants to again be reelected to her position in the Senate. Others have been quite ready to toe the ideological line with their votes but are endangered species as they are targeted by the opposition and are vulnerable because of the places they live. These include Joe Manchin of West Virginia, Joe Donnelly of Indiana, Heidi Heitkamp of North Dakota, Claire McCaskill of Missouri and Bill Nelson of Florida. The Family would hate to lose these far-flung members, but still they are pressured to vote for Family values in spite of perhaps losing their reelection bids.
These are just a few of the Family members of that infamous clan, the Democrats. All of them are urged to continue to #Resist the opposition’s leader, and parrot the lines given them by Chuck and Nancy. From each, almost as a chorus, come the charges of “collusion” with Russia, affairs from over a decade ago, opposing nominations to high office, criticizing meetings with foreign leaders, calling tax reform just “crumbs”, and promising to roll back policies if they ever again get into power in D. C.
Mafia families are routinely vilified for their activities, but the press almost deifies the Democratic Family. But for the majority of our fellow citizens, the Mob is quite benign, while the positions of this Family have hurt our lifestyles and pocketbooks.
(For those of you who read this and are offended, remember this is satire. Except, look more closely, and be fearful of the Family ever coming back into power in the U. S. of A.)