FDR visits the building site of the Chickamauga Dam at Tennessee Valley, November 1938. Keystone-France/Gamma-Keystone/Getty Images
Some observers heralded Joe Biden's defeat of Donald Trump as a triumph of U.S. democracy over authoritarianism. Other more knowledgeable observers recognized that for Trump-style authoritarianism to be defeated, Biden and Democrats would have to deny Trump and his fascist allies access to government power for many future elections. Biden's plan for denying Trump and authoritarians control of the federal government rests on showing voters that democratic government works. The underpinning of Biden's governing theory is to deliver on his campaign promise to make life materially better for most people.
Biden promised that firstly, and most importantly, he would get COVID-19 under control. Biden's fight against COVID began with the passage of the American Recovery Act to help workers and businesses recover economically from the pandemic. After this impressive start, Biden's progress against the pandemic stalled because of Trump and his fascist allies. Republican governors in states that Trump won in 2020 would not mandate vaccines or mask-wearing. COVID soared in these states, and Biden's poll numbers dropped as the public became disheartened at the lack of progress against the COVID-19. To spur vaccination Biden mandated federal agencies and the military to get vaccines and encouraged businesses to mandate vaccines or testing for their employees. Despite resistance from Trump and his allies, Biden's results in taming COVID have been encouraging but not yet decisive.
Biden promised that firstly, and most importantly, he would get COVID-19 under control. Biden's fight against COVID began with the passage of the American Recovery Act to help workers and businesses recover economically from the pandemic. After this impressive start, Biden's progress against the pandemic stalled because of Trump and his fascist allies. Republican governors in states that Trump won in 2020 would not mandate vaccines or mask-wearing. COVID soared in these states, and Biden's poll numbers dropped as the public became disheartened at the lack of progress against the COVID-19. To spur vaccination Biden mandated federal agencies and the military to get vaccines and encouraged businesses to mandate vaccines or testing for their employees. Despite resistance from Trump and his allies, Biden's results in taming COVID have been encouraging but not yet decisive.
emocrats appear to hold the majority in both houses of Congress. But their control of the Senate rests on the agreement of 10 Republicans and the agreement of all 50 Democrats. Neither of these two conditions is being fully met. Republicans have sworn to do nothing that will support Biden's agenda. And two of the 50 Democratic Senators, Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema, do not fully support Biden's agenda. Biden's best chance for enacting his agenda is to sway Manchin and Sinema. Until they decide to support the Biden agenda fully, Democratic control of the Senate is ethereal at best. And the likelihood of Trump and his fascist allies controlling the federal government and ending our government is almost inevitable.
Joe Biden's idea for defeating authoritarianism mimics that used by Franklin D. Roosevelt. FDR also had to beat the fascist authoritarianism beginning to threaten the world. Like FDR, Biden faces a significant percentage of Americans for whom democracy has failed. Biden's diagnosis is to fix the gaps in their lives and thus show them that democracy can provide them with a good life. FDR's New Deal embodied a set of economic, social, and political programs to prove that democracy worked for all Americans. Like Roosevelt, Biden's plan is to reshape the economy, society, and politics to restore Americans' belief in democracy. While economist John Maynard Keynes advised FDR to increase his spending on New Deal programs, Biden faces two nominal Democrats who refuse to spend enough.
Precisely, Biden's strategy for improving the lives of Americans consists of 12 programs: (1) physical infrastructure (bridges, roads, and high-speed internet access, (2) climate change mitigation (electric vehicle development, clean energy transmission, and power grid upgrades, (3) transportation (surface safety, airports, ports, and waterways, (4) environmental remediation and clean drinking water, (5) child welfare (childcare and paid family and medical leave), (6) education (investments in teachers and public schools, free community college, and increased grants for college), (7) lower housing costs), (8) fairer individual taxes, (9) job creation (workforce and apprenticeship training and clean energy jobs), (10) policing reform, (11) voting access, and (12) immigration reform. Democratic legislators have spread these programs over five pieces of legislation, two of which, entailing the first nine programs, are linked but not yet passed by Congress.
A key difference between FDR and Biden is their level of Congressional support. Unlike FDR, who had a margin of 23 more Democratic Senators than Republicans and 196 more Democrats than Republicans in the House. In an evenly divided Senate, when at least ten inflexible Senate Republicans are needed to break a filibuster, Biden and Congressional Democrats have only two paths to deliver on their agenda. Democrats can change the Senate rule to allow 51 Democrats to break a filibuster (the 50 Democratic Senators and Vice-President Kamala Harris).
Or Democrats can use the reconciliation process, which allows bills that affect the U.S. budget to pass with a simple majority (51 votes). Passing bills with reconciliation is limited to only yearly budget-related bills. Thus, policing reform, voting access, and immigration bills are unlikely to pass parliamentarian approval for inclusion in a reconciliation bill, even though, for example, the presence of immigrants would affect U.S. spending. Democrats, with Republicans, have agreed on a $1.9 trillion infrastructure bill that will address "hard" infrastructure projects (items 1-4 in the above list). Also, Democratic leadership is attempting to convince two recalcitrant Democrats, Senators Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema, that they should fully support President Biden and the Democratic agenda. Senate Democrats were set to pass a $3.5 trillion bill that included most of the Democratic agenda (items 5-9 in the above list).
Manchin and Sinema have generally stated that $3.5 trillion is too much. Of course, their claim that the bill's cost is exorbitant is aided by Democrats' need to pack lots of disparate programs into one reconciliation bill. As a percentage of gross domestic product, Biden's annual spending is less than FDR's New Deal or Lyndon Baines Johnson's Great Society (1.1 percent, 2.8 and .9 percent, respectively). Regardless of why Manchin and Sinema want to reduce the Democratic Biden's plan for defeating authoritarianism, they will almost certainly be able to force the rest of the Democrats to downsize their plans. If Democrats reduce spending for their plans from $3.5 to $1.5 trillion, Democrats will also have to either cut the number of programs they fund or reduce the number of years over which they are funded. But the full force of lowering Democratic plans is primarily political. Biden needs a significant legislative victory to signal that democracy is working and that he, Joe Biden, overcame opposition to make it happen.
Biden's recycling of FDR's playbook may not be applicable nearly a century later. Following the depression, many voters wanted a change so much they were willing to try anything.
More importantly, some Democratic organizers in key states are concerned that legislative victories focused on economic justice will not help them get out the vote. These organizers say that without showing voters that their efforts led to change in 2020, they will not be motivated to vote in 2022 and 2024. Black voters in Georgia have expressed disappointment at Biden's prioritization of the infrastructure bills while delaying his efforts to pass voting rights, police reform, and other programs they feel Democrats promised them. Because turnout will be vital to Democrats maintaining their Congressional majority in 2022, dampening voters' of color enthusiasm will probably be disastrous.
Also, a significant percentage of the voters have already decided they want an authoritarian government. As an authoritarian and fascist attack on our democratic institutions intensifies, the need to assuage some of the economic complaints of Trump voters with programs may be inadequate to sway these voters back to democracy. Other voters may identify so strongly with Republicans now; they may not be willing to vote for a Democrat, even if they were once Democrats.
Manchin and Sinema and other critics seem incapable of arguing against Biden's agenda on any grounds other than cost. They may not understand the purpose of Biden's agenda—to save democracy—or they believe democracy is only worth a cut-rate. Or, like Trump's Republicans, Manchin and Sinema do not want democracy.
Joe Biden's idea for defeating authoritarianism mimics that used by Franklin D. Roosevelt. FDR also had to beat the fascist authoritarianism beginning to threaten the world. Like FDR, Biden faces a significant percentage of Americans for whom democracy has failed. Biden's diagnosis is to fix the gaps in their lives and thus show them that democracy can provide them with a good life. FDR's New Deal embodied a set of economic, social, and political programs to prove that democracy worked for all Americans. Like Roosevelt, Biden's plan is to reshape the economy, society, and politics to restore Americans' belief in democracy. While economist John Maynard Keynes advised FDR to increase his spending on New Deal programs, Biden faces two nominal Democrats who refuse to spend enough.
Precisely, Biden's strategy for improving the lives of Americans consists of 12 programs: (1) physical infrastructure (bridges, roads, and high-speed internet access, (2) climate change mitigation (electric vehicle development, clean energy transmission, and power grid upgrades, (3) transportation (surface safety, airports, ports, and waterways, (4) environmental remediation and clean drinking water, (5) child welfare (childcare and paid family and medical leave), (6) education (investments in teachers and public schools, free community college, and increased grants for college), (7) lower housing costs), (8) fairer individual taxes, (9) job creation (workforce and apprenticeship training and clean energy jobs), (10) policing reform, (11) voting access, and (12) immigration reform. Democratic legislators have spread these programs over five pieces of legislation, two of which, entailing the first nine programs, are linked but not yet passed by Congress.
A key difference between FDR and Biden is their level of Congressional support. Unlike FDR, who had a margin of 23 more Democratic Senators than Republicans and 196 more Democrats than Republicans in the House. In an evenly divided Senate, when at least ten inflexible Senate Republicans are needed to break a filibuster, Biden and Congressional Democrats have only two paths to deliver on their agenda. Democrats can change the Senate rule to allow 51 Democrats to break a filibuster (the 50 Democratic Senators and Vice-President Kamala Harris).
Or Democrats can use the reconciliation process, which allows bills that affect the U.S. budget to pass with a simple majority (51 votes). Passing bills with reconciliation is limited to only yearly budget-related bills. Thus, policing reform, voting access, and immigration bills are unlikely to pass parliamentarian approval for inclusion in a reconciliation bill, even though, for example, the presence of immigrants would affect U.S. spending. Democrats, with Republicans, have agreed on a $1.9 trillion infrastructure bill that will address "hard" infrastructure projects (items 1-4 in the above list). Also, Democratic leadership is attempting to convince two recalcitrant Democrats, Senators Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema, that they should fully support President Biden and the Democratic agenda. Senate Democrats were set to pass a $3.5 trillion bill that included most of the Democratic agenda (items 5-9 in the above list).
Manchin and Sinema have generally stated that $3.5 trillion is too much. Of course, their claim that the bill's cost is exorbitant is aided by Democrats' need to pack lots of disparate programs into one reconciliation bill. As a percentage of gross domestic product, Biden's annual spending is less than FDR's New Deal or Lyndon Baines Johnson's Great Society (1.1 percent, 2.8 and .9 percent, respectively). Regardless of why Manchin and Sinema want to reduce the Democratic Biden's plan for defeating authoritarianism, they will almost certainly be able to force the rest of the Democrats to downsize their plans. If Democrats reduce spending for their plans from $3.5 to $1.5 trillion, Democrats will also have to either cut the number of programs they fund or reduce the number of years over which they are funded. But the full force of lowering Democratic plans is primarily political. Biden needs a significant legislative victory to signal that democracy is working and that he, Joe Biden, overcame opposition to make it happen.
Biden's recycling of FDR's playbook may not be applicable nearly a century later. Following the depression, many voters wanted a change so much they were willing to try anything.
More importantly, some Democratic organizers in key states are concerned that legislative victories focused on economic justice will not help them get out the vote. These organizers say that without showing voters that their efforts led to change in 2020, they will not be motivated to vote in 2022 and 2024. Black voters in Georgia have expressed disappointment at Biden's prioritization of the infrastructure bills while delaying his efforts to pass voting rights, police reform, and other programs they feel Democrats promised them. Because turnout will be vital to Democrats maintaining their Congressional majority in 2022, dampening voters' of color enthusiasm will probably be disastrous.
Also, a significant percentage of the voters have already decided they want an authoritarian government. As an authoritarian and fascist attack on our democratic institutions intensifies, the need to assuage some of the economic complaints of Trump voters with programs may be inadequate to sway these voters back to democracy. Other voters may identify so strongly with Republicans now; they may not be willing to vote for a Democrat, even if they were once Democrats.
Manchin and Sinema and other critics seem incapable of arguing against Biden's agenda on any grounds other than cost. They may not understand the purpose of Biden's agenda—to save democracy—or they believe democracy is only worth a cut-rate. Or, like Trump's Republicans, Manchin and Sinema do not want democracy.