Progressives and Democrats are each ineffective in their own ways; eminent domain as a solution to the housing crisis; political nihilism exemplified

The kerfuffle noted below between Democrats and progressives over minimum wage is exemplary of the larger rift in our society between a captured party and the remnants of what used to be called “the left.” Each bears its own share of responsibility for the dysfunction of our political system.

Democrats bear most of the brunt, but I’ll deal with progressives first.

We are like soldiers outside a castle shelling it with small rocks from decrepit catapults. The old ways are done, ineffective, long since under management by the right. Protests are routinely ignored by the media, and when effective, are infiltrated, marginalized, and otherwise gelded.

The objective of the owning classes is easily seen – not so much to extinguish protest as to prevent to it from attaining critical mass. Having a protest is nice, and so long as it is marginal and populated by pony-tailed rabble, our “free speech” (relegated to Orwellian “free speech zones”) will survive. Like voting, the ritual itself is the object, and is allowed only so far as it has no real effect.

And even if there is some effectiveness, the Obama Administration has already put in place the necessary countermeasures: militarized police can now willy nilly use violence as they wish, and the executive is fighting for its right to simply arrest people without trial and detain them indefinitely.

Just that threat is enough to dampen all but the most Berrigan-like dedicated rebels.

Something new is in order, something creative. I am an accountant, and everything that I design in my garage comes out with right angles. I am not the one to consult when a creative solution to a problem is needed. But I do know enough to know that when that solution appears, many of us will say “Of course! Why did I not see that?”

That’s a large part of the problem with progressives – we are yet to see the thing, that thing, that will start long-sought remedies in action.

Here is one item I saw in the news a couple of weeks ago. Several distressed counties and some creative bankers want to use eminent domain procedures to rescue under-water homeowners who are under threat of foreclosure. Eminent domain cannot be overruled by the executive in far away DC, nor can the legislature make it illegal, as it is a common law remedy only somewhat contained in the fifth amendment. It is available to government at all levels.

Under this theory, a city or county would claim a public good in seizing properties under threat of foreclosure, and pay “fair value” for them, or the actual value of the properties. That satisfies the fifth amendment. It would then turn around and create a new loan for the homeowner using real value instead of the former inflated one. The banks would lose, the city, county and homeowner would win.

Of course, words in the constitution are hardly meaningful when power doesn’t like them. Free speech meant nothing until people actually exercised it. People, mostly black, sitting in jail cells due to retaliation back in the mid-twentieth century, forced our courts to recognize free speech as a real right, and not just feel-good words on parchment. They did not have much choice in the face of organized resistance on a large scale. The 1964 Civil Rights Act came about because of action on the streets and fear in the corridors of congress, and not because of LBJ.

Eminent domain will be challenged by the banking sector and their politicians, but it is a good place to have a fight. It’s not a magic bullet, but it is creative and just might work. As with free speech, it is difficult for power to openly club something to death in public rather than merely starve it in private.

That aside, it is important for progressives, in eschewing the parties, to seize opportunity to be in league with regular people, and help them when they face a real crisis.
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Democrats are a problem all unto themselves. The post that started the kerfuffle highlighted the problem with klieg lights. Usually Democrats claim that they hold a magic potion to solve problems, and that it exists as follows:

• 1) Elect their candidates, and
• 2) hope for the best.*

Of course it does not work! Progreba’s post took it to a whole new level however, because he did not even attach a solution to a problem to support of a particular candidate. Only later, in the comment section, did he note that there is some weak-kneed bill before the Congress, easily undone by filibuster were it even to get through committee and make it to the floor.

A large part of the solution to legislative gridlock is to rein in the filibuster, and Democrats had opportunity to do that in 2006, 2008 and 2010. That they did not tells us all we need to know.

Political solutions in a dysfunctional and corrupt political system are unlikely to be achieved. Merely tossing a vote at a candidate, and then even worse, pledging allegiance no matter what s/he does once elected, offers no leverage over that candidate. However, money does. Even the best-intentioned Democratic candidate (and they do exist) will quickly realize when elected that there is 1) no punishment for bad behavior; and 2) no reward for good behavior.

And that is the system of punishment/reward that Democrats offer us.

It cannot succeed. It is the very definition of political nihilism, a bald man rinsing and repeating. As futile as it is to be a progressive and be so diffracted and ineffective, being a Democrat only offers the salve of an occasional electoral victory to no productive end.

Given those choices, well, it’s kind of no-brainer. Work creatively outside the parties to help ordinary people in crisis. Use whatever tools work. Avoid tools** that do not work.
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* Upon reflection after writing this, I realized that I was describing the underpants solution.
** That sentence could reasonably end right there.