The incumbent party has only gained seats in the midterms in two elections since 1962. The Democrats are preparing for the same result in 2022.
Instead of using their slim majority to force through legislation, the Democrats have been dithering. In six months, only one major piece of legislation has been passed. Rather than addressing Republican voter suppression and gerrymandering legislatively, it is reported that the Democrats plan is to simply “out organize” them. This is a strange strategy if they actually want to win considering that in spite of it being billed as “the most important election of our lifetimes” they still lost 10 House seats in 2020. If they can’t win seats in a record turn out presidential year, how do they expect to pick them up in the midterms?
Another part of the Democrats new midterm strategy is to run on funding the police. In an article for The Intercept, Akela Lacy lines out this strategy:
After Capitol Police officers testified to Congress on Tuesday during the first hearing of the select committee investigating the January 6 riot, the DNC issued a press release describing the GOP as the caucus that “voted against additional funding for police” and criticized Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., and Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., for “*counterprogramming* police officers testifying about the day they protected those very same members of Congress from the violence of January 6.”
Even Cori Bush, the one congress member we could hope would hold the line on defunding the police, has made this argument:
This is what happens when the president wrote the crime bill. In spite of millions of people in the streets protesting police brutality last summer, the Democratic Party is running on giving more money to the police. When this strategy inevitably fails and they lose their majorities in the midterms, the ground has already been set to blame Russia. As recently reported by The Hill, President Biden said:
“Look what Russia is doing already about the 2022 elections and misinformation,” Biden said during a speech at the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI), referencing information he said was contained in his President’s Daily Brief. “It’s a pure violation of our sovereignty.”
Of course, it is important to understand that the Democrats do not actually care about winning. It is all about fundraising. When they lose in 2022, they can simply blame Russia and start calling for donations for the most important election of our lifetimes in 2024. Whether they drag a cognitively failing Biden out again or replace him with the lackluster star of the 2020 primaries with zero delegates to her name, Kamala Harris, remains to be seen. Either one would be an appropriate representative of the Democratic Party, which has no right to exist following two rigged primaries.
The executive of the modern state is but a committee for managing the common affairs of the whole bourgeoisie. - Karl Marx, Communist Manifesto
The Democrats have made it clear that they play for the same team as the Republicans - the ruling class, the capitalist class, the corporate oligarchy. The ruling class wants to have a strong police force because the police force serves as a buffer between them and the working class that they oppress. Since both parties serve corporate interests, voter suppression is of little concern to them. Whether it is red corporatists or blue corporatists in office makes little difference. Corporate profits will keep on rolling in as they manipulate legislation. The only bills that pass congress are those that are approved and written by corporate lobbyists.
“Nobody knows how this place is run. If they did, they’d go nuts.” - Bernie Sanders, Rolling Stone, 2005
The corruption isn’t even being hidden any more. Early this year, an Exxon Lobbyist admitted that they have 11 senators under their control. In a report on AIPAC, David Ochs said, “Congressmen and senators don’t do anything unless you pressure them. They kick the can down the road, unless you pressure them, and the only way to do that is with money.” Over the last 10 years, 33.38 billion dollars has been spent on federal lobbying. According to a Forbes report, between 2014-2017, Fortune 100 companies spent $2 billion on lobbying and received almost $400 billion in public funding in return.
The Democratic party will go on working for their corporate masters, win or lose in the midterms. The only way this is going to change is if the people break free from the corporate duopoly and create a true working class movement. If we want Medicare for All, a Federal Jobs Guarantee, and real action on climate change, we cannot depend on corporate politicians to get it done. A corrupt system will only serve to create corrupt results.