Democrats are Sufficiently Divided, No Republican Needed

Lately, with Biden about to become President, I’ve heard the GOP argue that Republicans should be in control of the Senate, if not the entire Congress, because the U.S. Government was intended to be divided. That the Senate is intentionally slow-moving and is supposed to put a check on the President.

For starters, it should be obvious this is just a line since they don’t sing that tune when the President is a Republican. And I could go on about how Sen. Mitch McConnell isn’t a “check” on Democrats but rather is just the Grim Reaper of change (his words, not mine).

Instead, what I want to say here is that, even with only Democrats in office, the government would already be divided. Just look at Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (aka. AOC) and Rep. Nancy Pelosi to see the tension between the two sides. And the same party division holds in the Senate.

Within the Democratic Party, there are the Progressives and there are the Moderates. The Progressives are the ones who want single-payer health care, for example. They’re the ones that want a wealth tax. And they’re the ones that want to Defund The Police. The Moderates, on the other hand, want a more capitalist-friendly solution to health care such as the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare). They want to raise taxes with more moderation and, for police reform, they see a measured approach involving allocating funds to non-lethal forces.

If a Republican candidate chooses to show up and debate the actual issues that matter to people — like Health Care — then I’d be thrilled to see that competition of ideas and solutions. However, if all they can argue is the need for a divided government, then look no further than the Democrats. No Republican need apply for that role.