QOTD -- Learning To Use Power

 

"... Under the old constraints, there was seemingly little a president and Democratic Congress could do to enact quick change. At least that’s what we were told. But thanks to Trump, we now know those constraints were always an illusion.  [snip]

"I want someone who will tackle the office with the same disdain for those traditions as Trump—but in service of people instead of himself. Anyone who muses wistfully about the old days when everyone got along and political enemies in Congress would have a beer afterward? Instant disqualification. Anyone who talks about rebalancing commissions to give the other party 'a voice'? Instant disqualification. Anyone who accepts this broken and corrupt Supreme Court as just the way things are, even though nothing caps it at nine justices or prohibits term limits? Instant disqualification.  [snip]

"Now imagine a Democratic president who tells the political, media, and financial establishments to fuck off, then uses the full power of their office to directly improve people’s lives and to reshape the courts to better reflect the interests of the many rather than the powerful elite.

"Those are the candidates who will grab my attention, whether they are running for president, Congress, or just about anything else." -- Markos Moulitsas, Daily Kos founder, on why Democrats need their version of a tradition-ignoring, power-wielding Trump.  To the extent we will need a Second Reconstruction after the Malignant Fascist has left (or been forced off) the stage, Democrats who are willing to use power for the good of the American people, and not for self-aggrandizement and enrichment, are the kind of junkyard Democrats that need to be elected from here on out.  As Markos points out,

"... [Republicans] treat every election as a mandate to reshape the country in their image. Democrats too often treat victory as permission to make small adjustments around the margins while explaining why bigger change isn’t possible."

That cycle has to be broken if we're to have a Second Reconstruction that doesn't repeat the catastrophic mistakes of the First.