What’s Progressive About Voting Against Clean Drinking Water?
Do the Justice Democrats really support, you know….the Democratic Party?
Nearly three months after passing the Senate, the Bipartisan Infrastructure Bill finally passed the House this week. Thirteen Republicans joined ranks with 215 Democrats to pass the Bill by a margin of 228-206. The Bill provides money for roads and bridges, climate change mitigation, broadband upgrades, public transit and replacing lead pipes so communities have access to clean drinking water.
Of note were the six Democrats who voted with 200 Republicans to kill the Bill. These were:
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, New York Rep. Ilhan Omar, Minnesota Rep. Cori Bush, Missouri Rep. Ayanna Pressley, Massachusetts Rep. Rashida Tlaib, Michigan Rep. Jamaal Bowman, New York
These House members include those commonly referred to as “The Squad”. Perhaps less well known is that they are all affiliated with an organization known as the “Justice Democrats”. The stated mission of this group is to elect members to Congress who will “fight for bold, progressive solutions to our current crises”.
The strategy of the Justice Democrats is often to primary sitting Democrats in relatively safe districts and attempt to replace them with candidates who will advance their “progressive” agenda. They recently endorsed former Bernie Sanders’ Campaign co-chair Nina Turner for an open seat in Ohio. Turner famously announced that she would not support Hillary Clinton just days before the 2016 presidential election won by Donald Trump.
The above Justice Democrats must explain how voting with the likes of Lauren Boebert and Marjorie Taylor Greene against clean drinking water and funding to address climate change has anything to do with progress. This childish vote is mindful of those on the left who when they didn’t get Bernie in 2016, refused to back Hillary by not voting or voting third party. We of course then ended up with Trump, who set the country back decades.
These are not the only so called Justice Democrats in Congress. House Progressive Caucus Chair Pramila Jayapal, who was praised by some for blocking the Infrastructure Bill for so long is also a member. As is former Bernie Sanders Presidential Campaign co-chair Ro Khanna. Both Jayapal and Khanna were ubiquitous on television during the Infrastructure Bill standoff advocating for delaying the passage of the bill.
In truth, like Bernie Sanders, many of the Justice Democrats are simply socialists at heart. Their notion of legislative success seems to be based only on how many free benefits they can give people. They also advocate for policies such as defunding the police (though Tlaib has gone further and called for “no more policing” whatsoever) and abolishing ICE. Republicans of course seize upon every such utterance from the group to portray Democrats as radical leftists.
While these Justice Democrats continue to be the darlings of the far left, it has long been unclear if they accomplish much besides providing talking points for Republicans to use in attack ads against other Democrats. It may be notable that while Democrats won back the White House and Senate in 2020, the party actually lost seats in the House last year, which was the first election since the Squad came to prominence. There is little evidence that they are a net asset to the Democratic Party. With their vote against the historic Infrastructure Bill, it is no longer clear that they are really even progressive.
What’s Progressive About Voting Against Clean Drinking Water?
If Trump really set us back decades i would want to understand better what you mean. We are decades behind in what areas:
1. one world gov't, 2. socialism, 3. climate change, 4. fighting more wars across the globe, 5. making China stronger.. just curious. Because there was some progress with Trump that was in a very positive direction with the economy and the related growth of real wages among all wages classes.
Excellent piece, thank you. Looking forward to the next one.