What Can Be Done and Why It Isn’t

Sen Ed Markey (D-MA) is up for election this year, and as a wee lad of 80, he’s still thinking about whether he’s going to run. Rep Seth Moulton has already announced a primary challenge. Moulton has outraised Markey, with $3.1 million cash on hand. Markey has $2.8 million cash on hand.

There’s a third person in the race, former history teacher Alex Rikleen, who has raised $60K and spent almost all of it, which includes a $14K personal loan. That said, Rikleen is doing something the other two candidates aren’t: talking about what an opposition party can do. Here’s the list. There are things that one member can do, or a small number of members can do. As far as I can tell, these are hardly ever used.

The question is, why? Here are my guesses:

• Members want to be in their districts more often, to show their faces, attend events, etc. Slowing down the work of Congress means they have to stay in DC.

• Fundraisers and donor calls. The calls happen on Capitol Hill (in tiny cubicles in call centers) and the fundraisers happen in DC, in the district or state, or in other places.

• Age. Old people need their rest, and these people are old.

• Democrats are committed to legislating, to doing things. They believe that pissing off Republicans by denying them trips to the district, fundraising time, or tiring them out, will lessen the chance that they can work with Republicans on bi-partisan legislation.

• A reluctance to accept that we’re in a crisis unlike anything this country has seen, that Republicans losing an election or two will make things right.

It might be some or all of these things, or something else, but the fact remains that there could be a lot more delay in Congress and it isn’t happening.