I suspect the Dems had better get ready to get their asses handed to them again. On the one hand, they know they couldn’t have beaten the dumbass without the support of Progressives. On the other hand, they know that the Progressives didn’t come out for the Democrats so much as in their own interests – the enemy of my enemy is my friend, kind of thing. But here’s the thing; both statements are true. Progressives were serving their own interest…but Democrats CAN’T win without Progressive support – and they’re quickly squandering said support.

Progressives who manage to make it to Congress find themselves marginalized. The center-right Democratic party just doesn’t want to hear from anyone trying to help the American people. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (‘AOC’ to most) is arguably one of the most outspoken Progressives in Congress. She was fighting for a seat on the House Energy and Commerce Committee, which oversees everything from health care policy to climate issues. Establishment Dems stood squarely against her. They were concerned that she would bring Progressive ideas to the committee.

The cracks in the alliance began almost immediately after the “election” as Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren were bypassed for office after office in the new Democratic administration, though the logic of not plucking Democrats from states with Republican Governors from the Senate is inescapable. So the Dems had built-in protection for snubbing Progressives that way. But marginalizing AOC specifically BECAUSE she’ll work for the majority of Americans? That’s a bad move with bad optics. Progressives are watching – and not happy.

The corporate supported/supporting Democrats tried to dictate to Progressives in 2016, remember? They insisted that Progressives will do as they’re told by the party, thereby inflicting Donald Trump on the world. Progressives allied with Democrats in 2020 – it’s true, for their own protection – to help the party undo the damage they created in 2016 but it was a temporary alliance, dependent entirely on gaining a bit of recognition for our contribution regardless of our motivations – because the Dems STILL need us. Putting AOC on the committee would certainly have been a way to throw Progressives a bone but they wouldn’t even do that…

Stupid Democrats. Independent Progressives have NO loyalty to your stupid party and I don’t expect they ever will. Democrats get to dictate to party loyalists and no one else. You do not, have not, will not dictate to Progressives how they vote and, for their part, they will not stay allied with a group that keeps poking them in the eye. We did not come out FOR your incremental baby-steps, corporate candidate. (Sadly, Progressives expect very little…well, progress…from the Biden Administration.) We came out against the Orange Moron. So far, Democrats have “recognized” the Progressive contribution by slapping Progressives in the face over and over. That’s probably not going to engender support going forward.

Look, everyone knows the Republicans are the Vanguard of the One Percent’s class war against Americans but Progressives see the Democrats as little more than the One Percent’s second rank. Sure, Progressives will help the Democrats against Authoritarians and/or Fascists but we STILL oppose the Democrat’s corporate, one-percent-loving agenda. Progressives STILL want to see the complete annihilation of this stupid, failed, and fraudulent “Supply Side” (aka, “trickle-down” or “voodoo”) economics and a return to the balancing effects of FDR’s New Deal – the system that made America great in the first place. The Dems are going to have to give us something – or they’re going to have to go it alone…