I won’t pretend to have an authoritative answer for why Eric Cantor was defeated in Tuesday’s Republican primary. Right now I don’t think anyone clearly understands Virginia politics.
But if Cantor isn’t right-wing enough for you, then you are WAY outta the mainstream of American politics.
Remember Cantor has been the terrier nipping at the heels of John Boehner at least since 2010. Cantor has tried repeatedly to mount a quiet insurrection and palace coup against Boehner, siding with the tea party against the more establishmentarian Boehner over and over. Whenever deals with the President have seemed possible, Cantor slipped around to screw them up.
So it was a shock to Washington and its chattering class that Cantor was defeated by one who sorta ran to his right. I say “sorta,” because while David Brat is definitely a tea bagger, he ran against Cantor’s ties to the Republican establishment. Brat shamelessly focused on immigration reform, which right-wing Republican Plutocrats desperately want.
Could this signal a crack in the Republican Ultra Right between the tea baggers and the Koch boys wing? I have no idea. But it is more than obvious that the Koch boys plutocratic wing and the tea baggers have strikingly different economic interests. It is also strikingly obvious that the tea baggers will not fall in line with the Republican establishment like the Republican rank and file of old.
There’s a lesson in this Brat victory for Democrats (we are gonna have fun with that name). Ignore your base at your own peril. Let’s hope Democrats are listening.
Now is the time for principled progressives and left populists to open up with both barrels. As they say in boxing “it is time to let our hands go” like Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren have. Throw the punches for the American people. Raise some damn hell. Stop being shills for the most dangerous corporations in the world. Tell Walmart to go to hell. Stop advocating for a minor raise in the minimum wage. We need to double it. Tell bosses it’s none of their business if their workers want a union. Stop privatization. Raise the taxes on the rich and fund the damn Veterans Administration and healthcare and fund opponents against every governor who refused more Medicaid. Take the bastards head on. We will win.
Photo source: Gage Skidmore on Flickr (CC BY-SA 2.0)