WHAT'S AT STAKE

"What will happen if the blue wave in the midterm elections falls short?" NYT columnist Paul Krugman asks in his op-ed piece this morning. "Clearly," he adds, "at this point it still might: Democrats will surely receive more votes than Republicans, but thanks to gerrymandering and population geography, the U.S. electoral system gives excess weight to rural, white voters who still have faith in President Trump. What if, thanks to that excess weight, the minority prevails?"

What if, indeed? Krugman foresees yet another attack on the Affordable Care Act, and this time it will probably be successful. Watch out for a vast new increase in the number of uninsured Americans... including, um, yourself?

Worse--just as bad?--Krugman plausibly predicts more Republican attempts to shred the already delicate social safety net. To compensate for the deficit their tax cuts have created, they will return to the familiar call to balance the budget. And what remains to be cut? The military? That's a laugh. No. What remains to be cut is the benefits you and I--and sooner or later the vast majority of Americans rely on. As Krugman concludes, in his worries about November: "Rule of law is definitely on the ballot. So is health care. But voters should realize that the threat to programs they count on is much broader: If the G.O.P. holds its majority, Social Security and Medicare as we know them will be very much in danger."

We must not be lulled into counting on the "blue wave." We can't allow ourselves to forget decades of Republican manipulation of the electoral system on every imaginable front, from "gerrymandering and population geography" to the travesty of Citizens United to the assault on Americans' right to vote. 

It's time for each one of us to add our weight to the pendulum, if we want it to start swinging the other way. I pledge to send another contribution to the Harley Rouda campaign today. Please join me! As we've discovered to our dismay, in politics, it's money that talks. It's our stake in the future of this country.