Dave Brat is furious that the new healthcare bill is too soft. He feels we shouldn’t worry our pretty little heads about getting more people insured, that’s not what’s important. Darrell Issa thinks it's too harsh, claiming it’s not in a form he “approves of” but dodges specifics on what he would change. Jason Chaffetz feels it's just right and the only problem is poor people don’t know how to manage the money they don’t have.
None of them have the courage to mention the role of their golden-haired leader, let alone blame him for failing to provide an agenda more specific than “the best healthcare with terrific plans”. Happy to attack each other, they stand by with caps in hand while he proclaims to followers that he’s “kept his promises”. At rallies Trump brazenly takes credit for following through on an Obamacare replacement that he also refuses to take responsibility for. It would seem that Paul Ryan is destined to take all the heat for this bill and Trump will soak up the accolades (and if there aren’t any he’ll make them up himself).
For years the only unifying themes holding Republicans together have been ACA repeal and hatred of Obama. But with Obama gone fishing windsurfing and the new ACA replacement a snarled mess, the Republicans are left standing around holding all the power and wanting none of the responsibility that comes with it. It’s not just that they can’t agree about what to do, they can’t even agree who’s to blame. Don’t forget that this is the party that ran their own Speaker of the House out of Congress and had to beg Paul Ryan to take the job because no one else wanted it. And that was before Donald Trump hijacked them. The only thing the Republican party seems to agree on anymore is… sorry I lost my train of thought. He tweeted what again?
While the Democrats are prone to public squabbles under their diverse coalition’s big tent, the Republicans spend most of their time pretending they are fully committed to Donald Trump’s “agenda”, no matter how much cognitive dissonance and back pedaling that charade requires. Democrats might argue on and on (and on) about the best road to take, but they generally agree on the destination. Republican’s don’t even have that. Which is why the unfocused legislative mess they refuse to call TrumpCare looks like a Frankenstein monster covered in so many band-aids you can’t make out the shape underneath. Ask three Republicans what the end game is and you’ll get three unrelated answers wrapped in focus tested phraseology.
Which brings us back to representatives Brat, Chaffetz, and Issa, three stunning examples of how hollow the Republican party has become. All of them have broad conflicting ideologies on everything from healthcare to the economy. All of them have spent years shouting out their righteous beliefs, refusing to compromise, grandstanding, speechifying, and sputtering at the Obama White House. But now that they have uncontested control they can’t even get on the same page long enough to do the one thing they’ve obsessed over for years: kill ObamaCare. Their only unity is in pretending they are in alignment with a president that shows little interest in or support for ideals they’ve spent entire careers promoting.
Let’s contrast some of these hollowed out souls with the Democratic challengers who are gearing up to take them on. In normal times these candidates would all be underdogs, citizen-candidates new to elected office, standing up to Republican incumbents previously thought to be unassailable in cozy red districts. But we don’t live in normal times and these people see an opportunity to show their neighbors that it’s the Democratic party that has their backs.
In Virginia attorney Eileen Bedell is running against third-rate economist Dave Brat. Bedell closed the distance on Brat in 2016, which was unexpected given the shape of the 7th’s Republican gerrymander. She managed this despite receiving little attention and funding until late in the game, and the gains she made beg the question of what she might do with earlier more consistent support getting her message out. Running on a platform that healthcare is a right, Bedell also believes economies do well when workers do well and raising the minimum wage is a key part of ensuring that. She’s never held elected office but grew up in a house with a mother who was a public servant and says it’s “in her blood”. Bedell was held back in her last race from lack of press and financial support, partly because she was fighting in a district that has been long written off by democratic strategists. By contrast her opponent, Tea Party darling Dave Brat can’t bring himself to admit that Trump’s wide ranging promises about healthcare and uncontrolled spending plans are the antithesis of everything Brat claims to stand for. Why? The answer is Breitbart.com. Under Steve Bannon, Breitbart was a major force in Brat’s successful primary upset of Eric Cantor back in 2012. Brat has been receiving free “advertising” from Breitbart since before he was even in office. Much like Donald Trump, Brat knows you don’t need to spend money on advertising when you have media company giving you all the attention you need to win.
Elsewhere in the red wilds of California, Attorney and retired Marine Doug Applegate also believes in expanding healthcare coverage, increasing the minimum wage, and boosting the economy through supporting workers. Another citizen underdog, last November Applegate almost unseated one of the most well funded Republicans in Congress, Darrell Issa. Throughout 2016 the news coverage of Doug Applegate’s campaign revolved around shock that Issa was actually bothering to campaign, a first for the Koch funded congressman and a sign for just how nervous he was about Applegate’s chances. Applegate is yet another candidate who hasn’t held elected office before but is no stranger to public service. His campaign focused on veterans health issues, the environment (supporting a carbon tax), and the economy. In response Issa decided to dress up as a moderate after 16 years of right wing extremism. The giant’s share of his moderate stances were tried on when he realized he was about to lose his seat to the progressive Applegate. He continues to mouth moderate platitudes to protect himself from Applegate in 2018, but shows little follow through. Even his recent headline grabbing demand for a special prosecutor to investigate Trump’s Russia problem, was stealth walked it back the very next day. The only thing we can say with certainty about Darrell Issa’s beliefs is that he believes in getting re-elected.
Dr. Kathryn Allen is the newest citizen underdog to declare a challenge to a well known Republican, this time in Utah against the recently infamous Jason Chaffetz. While Allen’s candidacy is still early stage she’s taken a strong stance about healthcare as a right, raising the minimum wage, supporting the working class, and focusing on the environment. (Noticing a trend yet?) Like Bedell and Applegate, Dr. Kathryn would be new to holding elected office but has a history of public service. And she is gearing up for a knock down fight in a deep red district against yet another hollowed out Republican who can’t find enough of a spinal cord to stand up to Donald Trump. During the election Chaffetz made a name for himself by withdrawing his Trump endorsement claiming he could never “look his daughter in the eyes again”, then a few weeks later supported him anyway. One wonders if his wife and daughters have forgotten his eye color by now, since as head of the House Oversight Committee he has refused to do his job and investigate any of Trump’s many conflicts of interest, protecting at every turn the “abhorrent and offensive” man he “could not defend or endorse”.
Compromises are a fact of life. ObamaCare was a compromise because not everyone could agree on the “how”, but it was still a step towards a common Democratic goal: getting more people covered by decent health insurance and lightening the burden for millions of Americans. Many of the Americans it helped live in red states and voted for Trump. That they don’t see the Democrats as a real option is mind boggling until you realize that for many of them they never see local Democratic candidates. A political party is not built at the national level. It is built and nurtured from the grass roots. If we want to see changes in red America the appeal needs to come from people they trust. From neighbors and coworkers who can speak to them directly and will show up on their doorstep. That is how you combat Breitbart and Fox news. You make sure your party is represented by real living people in the community.
Back in 2008 during the brief window Democrats had full control, they focused on a goal, hammered out the details and moved the ball forward. Was it as far as I would have liked? No. But it moved in the correct direction. These fresh new candidates that are standing up know the goal too. They are clear about which direction we need to aim in and are ready to go fight for it. Compare that to the party in power, which can’t seem to figure out what their party believes in let alone the point of their healthcare bill.
Looking at the guy currently heading the Republican party I’m reminded of this old chestnut:
“If you stand for nothing, you’ll fall for anything.”
Based on the GOP’s recent history, it isn’t surprising that they’ve fallen for a professional charlatan. Just that it took them this long.
Donate to Eileen Bedell’s campaign here
Doug Applegate can be found here
Dr. Kathryn Allen can be supported here
If you would like to help more candidates in the upcoming Virginia 2017 elections you can check out www.90for90.org