ACORN is the future of the Democratic Party
Don't count on Congressional Democrats to save themselves.
The Trump administration is moving forward with plans to attack liberal-left organizations and donors through the IRS, the Wall Street Journal reported this evening. On one hand, I can’t say that I feel much sympathy for the big donors and the institutional superstructure they have used to dominate the Democratic Party for decades; Trump forcing his opponents to rebuild from the ground up could very well be remembered as a fatal error in the very long run. On the other hand, however, no one who is alive now is likely to see the very long run. If Trump’s campaign against the Democratic financial infrastructure succeeds it is hard to imagine any check on his movement in our lifetime.
As it happens, I am currently reading a book about a closely related moment in history: Seeds of Change, which chronicles the rise and fall of ACORN. For readers who are unfamiliar, the Association of Community Organizers for Reform Now was just what its name suggests: an umbrella group for community-based organizations throughout the country that advanced left-wing causes. They were did everything from national lobbying to local advocacy to — crucially — voter registration campaigns. This made them an important part of the Democratic Party’s GOTV infrastructure, but it also made them a target for precisely the sort of attacks from Republicans that we are seeing today. Particularly in the wake of Obama’s 2008 victory, the GOP maintained a ruthless campaign of legal and political attacks meant to destroy ACORN and thus hobble the Democratic electoral machine.
What I found striking at the time — and what seems ever more striking now as I read Seeds — is how little Democrats did to save ACORN. You would think Democratic politicians would have been more invested in defending it if only for the sake of self-interest, understanding what a crucial role its voter registration drives played in turning out hundreds of thousands of Democratic voters. But that’s not at all how it actually played out:
The [Obama administration’s] U.S. Census Bureau dismissed ACORN after Republican representative Darrell Issa of California…objected that ACORN would destroy the 2010 population count…On the heels of the Census Bureau action, the [Obama administration’s] IRS decertified the group from conducting taxpayer-assistance programs…in a rush to judgment, the [Democrat controlled] U.S. Senate voted to strip federal funding from ACORN, blocking HUD from giving it grants….no one from the Obama administration, including Donovan and Obama, uttered a word in ACORN’s defense…Republicans called for a Justice Department investigation. The [Democratic controlled] House voted 345-75 to Defund ACORN…
Only seven senators — six Democrats and one Independent — came to ACORN’s defense, notably Democratic senator Richard Durbin of Illinois and Independent senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont. Although New York senator Chuck Schumer voted against ACORN, he called Bertha Lewis to say he was still a friend…
If you didn’t pick this up from all of my editorial interpolations above: this happened when Democrats controlled the House, the Senate, and the Presidency. I understand that it is easy in the era of Trump to say that Obama should have leveraged his executive power to make the supposedly apolitical institutions like the Census Bureau and the IRS stand down, and that at the time that would only have compounded the scandal. But Democrats controlled Congress. They did not have to participate in the right’s brazen witch hunt against ACORN, but they did so anyway.
John Atlas, who wrote Seeds, blames a whole constellation of circumstances for this mass Democratic abdication of responsibility: imminent midterm elections and a wildly successful media smear campaign waged by the GOP. One factor that I think deserves more attention, however, is class. On one hand, ACORN was overwhelmingly focused on advocating for poor voters, a constituency that Democrats felt at this point they could take for granted and who certainly didn’t have the deep pockets to maintain the interest of federal politicians. On the other hand, meanwhile, every single House Democrat who was defeated in the 2010 midterms had voted to defund ACORN. Was this the end of their careers? Hardly — here’s how defeated ACORN defunder Rep. Ron Klein talked to Politico, for example:
“…this moment becomes a unique time to take [to the private sector] the experiences of having served on the Financial Services Committee or having been involved in passing health care,” he said. “It sort of allows me to be in a unique place to understand that.”
Klein’s background as a corporate lawyer and former state and federal lawmaker means he’ll be selling his ability to provide legal, political, policy and business advice to prospective clients. By law, Klein is banned from lobbying for one year after leaving office…But it [Klein’s job is] lucrative — even more so than traditional lobbying — because of its complexity.
Stories like this emerge over and over again in the post-Congressional careers of ACORN’s defunders. As it turns out, Democrats don’t necessarily need to prioritize the long-term success of their party since there are always cushy jobs waiting for them in the private sector.
If Trump’s attack on Democratic institutions becomes expansive enough this could conceivably change. The more likely outcome, however, is that he will imagine to hurt enough organizations to seriously hobble the party but not enough to hurt the career prospects of current Democratic electeds. If nothing else, major corporations will always be happy to offer former officeholders lucrative contracts to use their connections as lobbyists.
I would not take for granted, then, that Democratic politicians are going to do what it takes to save their own party. When the GOP inevitably finds some scandal to rationalize revoking the tax exempt status of opposition organizations and creates a climate of hysteria and outrage about it in the media, don’t be surprised when Democrats start to roll over. They did it with ACORN, and they’ll do it again.
Refer enough friends to this site and you can read paywalled content for free!
And if you liked this post, why not share it?