What I have suspected about congressional Democrats for a very long time is that many or even most of them prefer to be powerless. They can make little pronouncements but never have to fear the hard and uncertain work of pursuing and winning conflicts, to make their pronouncements real
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In the last 25 years the Dems have had power for two brief periods in 2009 and 2021, during both periods they passed a FLOOD of pro-social legislation.
Take off the gloves - time for a battle.
It makes sense to me when Republicans are in the minority. They froth up the base, do TV hits, seem to be enjoying themselves.
Democrats make TikToks where you can basically read "why do I have to do this?" on their faces the whole time.
Maybe this is a Congress problem, not a Democrat problem.
I attended a talk in 2012 by internet rights lawyer Lawrence Lessig where he stated that when folks leave congress and go right to lobbying they on average increase their income by 1500%. And that's 1500% of 6 figure salaries.
Why do the dems in power never do anything? because for most, their gov "service" is basically an internship for a lucrative lobbying career - they ain't gonna go against corporate interests.