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No matter if your left or center-left or even centrist on policy, any Democrat who wants to do anything worthwhile must be willing to sign legislation that: creates new States, in order to address the malapportionment of the US Senate; they must be willing to pack the Federal Courts, in order to cancel out Trump's appointments and in order to make sure that progressive legislation is upheld; they must sign, into law, a turbocharge voting rights act with preclearance in every State that engaged in voter suppression. If you do not do those things, you are saying that any and all progressive policies can be nullified by either the 20%-25% of the electorate that consists of reactionary, rural and suburban white voters, or that a handful of Federalist Society lawyers can, from the bench, cancel out the will of 100-200 million people.
If a Democratic President cannot get a Democratic Majority in the Senate or has a majority but cannot get the senate Dems to end the filibuster, that President must use national emergency power to deal with climate crisis and housing and healthcare unaffordability crises. If the courts declare that power unconstitutional, ignore the courts. That President should work with local officials in DC and Puerto Rico and the State Government in California to turn the former into States and to turn the latter into seven States, which would have elections to pick a State government and to elect House and senate members. Those new Senates can report to the Capitol, Senate Republicans will protest but a Democratic President controls the Federal law enforcment apparatus and the House (which should be controlled by Democrats) controls funding for Capitol policy and D.C. new state troopers wouldn't stop these new Senators either since they'd otherwise be supporting their new State's disenfranchisement. 2020 and 2021 will be make or break years for popular sovereignty, either traditional norms and checks and balances will paralyze us and within a decade or two, kill most of us, or democracy will win in 2021.
If a Democratic President cannot get a Democratic Majority in the Senate or has a majority but cannot get the senate Dems to end the filibuster, that President must use national emergency power to deal with climate crisis and housing and healthcare unaffordability crises. If the courts declare that power unconstitutional, ignore the courts. That President should work with local officials in DC and Puerto Rico and the State Government in California to turn the former into States and to turn the latter into seven States, which would have elections to pick a State government and to elect House and senate members. Those new Senates can report to the Capitol, Senate Republicans will protest but a Democratic President controls the Federal law enforcment apparatus and the House (which should be controlled by Democrats) controls funding for Capitol policy and D.C. new state troopers wouldn't stop these new Senators either since they'd otherwise be supporting their new State's disenfranchisement. 2020 and 2021 will be make or break years for popular sovereignty, either traditional norms and checks and balances will paralyze us and within a decade or two, kill most of us, or democracy will win in 2021.
