We have a lot to be proud of and whether we’re celebrating 40 million Americans with health insurance today thanks to the Obamacare or the countless Americans with new high-paying jobs, safer roads, cleaner water and lower bills thanks to historic investments in job creation, infrastructure, climate change and more, I want to talk about all of it.
But let’s be absolutely clear about something: people are suffering. Firearm deaths among Black men are currently at a 28-year high, new Covid cases are on the rise, extreme anti-abortion activists are targeting women in Texas and Ohio and violent white supremacy is rising with NAZI rhetoric in MAGA wrapping paper. Working families across our nation are facing real challenges every single day and to pretend otherwise would just be insulting.
Yes, people are suffering and we shouldn’t lose sight of that. But, ironically, that makes celebrating our progress all that more important because, if we lose sight of what we’re fighting for, we might forget to fight at all. We might feel like the wins we’ve seen over the past few years are Christmas presents sitting under the tree. But the fact is that the MAGA maniacs are doing everything they can to take those gifts back.
We struck a blow in the climate crisis investing $369 billion to tackle climate change with the goal of cutting climate pollution in half by 2030.
What if they took it back?
We invested $1.9 trillion to fight back the deadliest global pandemic in more than a century and secured $1.2 trillion to expand high-speed internet, rebuild roads and bridges across America, create countless new jobs and replace our lead water lines across America.
What if they took it back?
President Biden has helped drive Black unemployment to a record low and brought new Black small businesses to a 26-year high. He helped secure roughly $100 billion in federal contracts given to small disadvantaged and Black-owned businesses, made historic investments in HBCUs, canceled over $100 billion in student debt, banned chokeholds and “no knock” warrants from federal law enforcement, signed the Emmett Till Antilynching Act, launched a national database tracking law enforcement misconduct and is leading the way on marijuana decriminalization.
What if Trump took it back?
How many millions of Americans would lose health insurance if the MAGA lords repealed Obamacare, just like they’ve promised to do, bringing back pre-existing conditions, lifetime benefit caps and the Medicare Donut Hole?
Now that’s a pretty clear contrast, right? I mean, whatever disputes and disagreements we have within the Democratic Party pale in comparison to the wannabe tyrants in the MAGA movement who want nothing more than to firebomb the whole thing.
The fact is that I’m like you. I want to do more to raise wages, close the school-to-prison pipeline, strengthen voting rights and rebuild America’s middle class. Like you, I’m tired of fighting the fights that should have been settled a generation ago. Like you I get frustrated when my party doesn’t do a great job of communicating and cooperating and that leaves us feeling like we’ve been talked to instead of talked with.
But what the MAGA lords miss everytime is that when I say “we” in an article like this, I’m not talking about their “Democratic Establishment.” I’m talking about us, me and you, the everyday Americans who work hard everyday, who try to build a future for our families and whose lives end up on the ballot every election.
You see, no one gave us this progress. We earned it…me and you. We worked for it, we fought for it and we’re not going to let a bunch of MAGA extremists take it back. What will we do to stop them? Will we organize? Will we get on the phones and knock the doors taking every opportunity street by street? Will we vote in this election and the next and the next because that’s what it takes, that’s the only way we can be certain not only to protect this step forward but all the steps yet to come.
Let’s be honest, the MAGA Republicans have made it clear that none of our priorities are on their Christmas list, and they’re ready to take back the progress that’s already under the tree.
But this progress isn’t a gift. You earned it. What will you do to protect it?
Merry Christmas.
Antjuan Seawright (@antjuansea) is a Democratic political strategist, founder and CEO of Blueprint Strategy LLC, a CBS News political contributor, and a senior visiting fellow at Third Way.