The Presidency Is Lost for Progressives but We Still Have Congress

As my interest in making a difference in the world, helping bring large changes that will not only help deal with problems but prevent them, has grown my attention has inevitably turned towards government. It’s just a simple fact that changes in government are the only way to make a large direct change. After all, the government defines the laws of the land which have a large and direct effect on how people experience life. Because of this it is common for people to really pay attention to the presidency. It is the highest office in the land, whoever is the president has the most power in making change, they make up pretty much an entire third of our federal government in one person so it makes total sense. However, as the Democratic primaries have played out in 2020 our candidates for the presidency seem clear and what also seems clear is that there is no choice for progressives. For those of us who really want to make those big changes economically to help millions of Americans and our society in general deal with the problems of our time there is no choice for that third of the government. However, all hope is not lost. There are, in fact, two other thirds of the government, one which we have direct control over as well and I think we would be better spending our time focusing on that than worrying at all about the presidency and all the drama that is occurring around it. I am, of course, talking about congress, the legislative branch.

We have a presidential incumbent who seems to have completely upset the political rhythm, we have a challenger who is obviously just a place-holder for normalcy and a puppet for the establishment, we are in the midst of a global pandemic, and for those of us who are paying attention: this all connects to economic policy in an extremely important way.

The 2020 election is interesting for many reasons. We have a presidential incumbent who seems to have completely upset the political rhythm, we have a challenger who is obviously just a place-holder for normalcy and a puppet for the establishment, we are in the midst of a global pandemic, and for those of us who are paying attention: this all connects to economic policy in an extremely important way. Think about it, Donald Trump got elected because he spoke on the platform of people being upset with the way things have been run and job loss. The response by the Democratic establishment was to ignore all of that and put up a nominee who could hopefully bring back power to them so they can continue to favor corporate and rich interests over the people, and the pandemic has emphasized and made obvious the economic crisis that was already so real for millions of Americans. What should have been the focus of the 2020 democratic primaries, economy over healthcare, has now become what is actually going to matter in the general election. The hope we still have as voters on the left is that this issue will play out and become relevant down-ballot. Don’t get me wrong, healthcare is an important issue and should definitely be focused on as well but I think it would be better to include this in a platform on economic issues like Andrew Yang did rather than make it the entire focus.

What’s weird about this election for those of us who are focusing on economic issues as our core issues and for those who are progressive in any sense really is that whoever gets elected in the oval office doesn’t give us hope for change. In fact, I think that even if Democrats take back the Senate and Biden wins the presidency the next four years are pretty hopeless for us. In some ways, for this election we need to focus on our six-year senate elections more than our two-year house elections. This isn’t to say house elections aren’t important as creating progressive incumbency going into 2024 is very important but we need to focus on four years from now in ways we can guarantee will have an effect. Biden has already stated he is not a two-term president, whether or not that would hold true would be very interesting to see but either way we have candidates such as Yang saying they are operating as if they will run in 2024 regardless of if Biden or Trump win this time around. If Andrew Yang wins the presidency in 2024 and has a senate that is ready to make progressive moves the combination could be incredible.

this message needs to be spread far and wide in progressive circles as even if you feel like not voting for a president, voting down-ballot will be extremely important as progressive interest and movements are spiking

There is still hope that with progressive voices in both chambers for the next four years important policies could be passed or at very least pushed forward in public opinion. This possibility isn’t to be understated as any progress we can make is important. It’s unfortunate that so many people will stop their political interest with the presidency. I think, for some, it is simply a matter of succession as interest grows and starts to spread into ‘messier’ arenas such as congress. This is how it has gone for me but I think this message needs to be spread far and wide in progressive circles as even if you feel like not voting for a president, voting down-ballot will be extremely important as progressive interest and movements are spiking. Congress is a third of our government as well and while it takes more research and knowledge to become aware and to support hundreds of people that weight is equal to the weight of the presidency. Either way, whether supporting the progressive candidates for the next four years, for the next election, or both we can’t lose the momentum we have and we can’t afford to roll over to the establishment and just vote blue no matter who since we don’t have a representative presidential candidate.

There are also important positions within congress that carry more weight. For instance, Shahid Buttar seeks to unseat Nancy Pelosi, the Speaker of the House, this election. This would be monumental in changing the power within the democratic party. Pelosi is a face of the establishment and has been in congress for over 30 years. Her interests are skewed by her career in politics and the democratic party towards favoring big-money interests over the people. Mike Broihier seeks to unseat Mitch McConnel, another career politician on the right that holds the power in the Senate being the Senate Majority Leader and is arguably doing as much if not more harm than Trump. These two elections alone would change the dynamic of congress for years, probably decades to come. In light of these two elections alone it could be said, especially now, that the congressional elections in 2020 are more important than the presidential election. Not only are Shahid and Mike seeking to unseat these decade-long incumbents but they’re running on progressive platforms that actually represent the concerns of the people.

In this election, realize that you do have a choice to still support the issues that matter most to you and that you can actually help make progress on those fronts by just looking down the ballot past the terrible choice for president we have.

Instead of worrying about whether or not you will get out to vote or campaign for Biden to defeat Trump, spending your time on campaigning for Buttar, Broihier, and any other congressional candidate that supports your interests and concerns would be a much more productive and beneficial use of your time and efforts. In this election, realize that you do have a choice to still support the issues that matter most to you and that you can actually help make progress on those fronts by just looking down the ballot past the terrible choice for president we have. Choose to really stand up for the issues that matter to you and take that little bit of extra effort to find the candidates you support nationwide and spread the word, donate if you can, and vote for where applicable, the candidates that will actually represent you.