But following the unexpected rise to the Presidency of
Donald Trump, the species is making a comeback in the person of U.S. Rep Jim
Himes, who has been chosen to lead the New
Democrat Coalition, “a group of about 50
Congressional Democrats that calls itself moderate and fiscally
responsible,” according to the Hartford Courant.
Boastful progressives in Connecticut, hardly a hotbed of
progressivism before the advent of Barack Obama, are now fading into the
woodwork. Up for re-election in two years, one expects U.S. Senators Chris
Murphy to be less like a caterwauling Elizabeth Warren, the scourge of Wall
Street, and more like Mr. Lieberman, Chris Dodd or Abe Ribicoff, none of whom
considered themselves progressives.
Mr. Lieberman first won office by polishing off former Senator
Lowell Weicker, a Republican whose liberal Americans for Democratic Action
(ADA) rating during his last years in office was higher than that of Chris
Dodd. Mr. Weicker’s secret to political success was to run within the
Republican Party as a liberal Democrat. He was to the Republican Party in his
state what the guillotine was to the French monarchy. Eventually state
Republicans tired of Mr. Weicker’s maverick ways and hopped in bed with Mr.
Lieberman, if only to be rid of the pestiferous scourge. Years later, Mr.
Weicker avenged himself on his state by forcing an income tax upon it, opening Connecticut
to years of reckless spending, bloated budgets, demanding union bosses,
business flight and continuing deficits.
Moving to the left, the state Democratic Party touted
progressivism and quickly marginalized moderate Republicans. Connecticut’s
present U.S. Congressional delegation is uniformly Democrat, all the moderate
Republicans having been displaced by progressive Democrats.
In the first half term of Mr. Obama’s Presidency, national
Democrats commanded all the political heights – the White House and both houses
of Congress. The more progressive Mr. Obama became, the greater the losses
suffered by Congressional Democrats, state legislatures and governors. Mr.
Obama constructed his progressive utopia by dispensing with Constitutional
standards; he ruled with his phone and pen, rather than the advice and consent
of Congress. The problem with an executive order presidency is that a president
of an opposing party may reverse course by the simple expedient of rescinding
the executive orders. Presidents who live by the pen and phone, die by the pen
and phone. A presidency that intentionally excludes Congressional affirmation
is built on a foundation of sand and can be quickly overthrown. President-Elect
Donald Trump, blustery and supremely confident, can repeal much of the Obama
administration's executive orders with the stroke of a pen.
National and state losses would seem to suggest that
progressivism has not been a successful vehicle for Democrats. In true blue
Connecticut, a state in which registered Democrats outnumber their political
opponents by a two to one margin, Republicans have made astonishing advances.
During Mr. Malloy’s years in office, state Republicans have gained more than a
dozen seats in the House; the State Senate is now divided equally, 18-18,
between the two parties. Mr. Malloy’s approval rating has plummeted to 24
percent as deficits mount and job production tumbles; according to Department of Labor figures,
Connecticut has lost 14,900 positions over the last four months. Even so, Mr.
Malloy has been re-elected as Chairman of the Democratic Governors Association,
an organization not inclined to allow defeat to interrupt its forward progress.
In all the fairy tales, the deep forest represents the
unknown, the unintended consequences of our sometimes robotic actions. Here is
what we do not know. We have only an inkling of what kind of President Donald
Trump will be in office.
The near future is seen by us through a glass darkly. We do
not know whether, coming to their senses, state Democrats will veer to the
right and in some cases make common cause with a right of center state
Republican Party establishment. Thus far, Republicans have offered a stiff
resistance to spendthrift Democrats; they have offered little or no opposition
to extreme libertine Democratic notions on faith and morals. If there is a thaw
between establishment Republicans in the General Assembly and Mr. Malloy, a
frigid, highly partisan, pro-union governor who in the past has tossed
Republican leaders from the budget discussion room, will the ensuing entente
reinforce a status quo that does NOT include permanent spending cuts and
significant changes in the way the state does business with powerful unions,
Connecticut’s fourth branch of government? Are the three members of
Connecticut’s moderate Democrat coalition – U.S. Reps. Himes, Joe Courtney and
Elizabeth Esty -- progressives in moderate clothing?
In two years’ time, six of the seven Democratic members of
Connecticut’s U.S. Congressional Delegation will be up for re-election. By
then, the scales will have fallen from everyone’s eyes, as will the
money from their pockets.
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