If Democrats sweep Congress this year, it will be the first time in history that Democrats will have a congressional majority without also having a majority of congressional seats in the south. In the post-election aftermath, we will also have an opportunity to shift the center of political discussion in this country significantly to the left. If the coming Democratic landslide is accurately recognized as largely originating from the netroots and the progressive movement, Republicans of all stripes will, at least briefly, try to team up with LieberDems. If Joe Lieberman thus becomes to icon of the American right-wing, the center of political discourse in this country will have dramatically shifted in just six years. From 1990-2000, people like Joe Lieberman were supposed to be the savior of the American left, or so we were told.
Perhaps because it is happening so quickly, I am not sure if people realize how much a post- New Deal, post-Dixiecrat, and post-DLC Democratic majority would represent a significant shift in power in this country. I am not sure if I grasp it yet either, but I think it would represent the first real break with conservatism this country has seen since the days of FDR. No matter how much further the progressive movement would still need to travel, a Democratic victory on November 7th would be no small event in the history of our movement or the history of our country.
Discuss.
