Objectively speaking, this year represented a significant improvement on the historic misery of 2020. We were able to escape the overwhelming confusion, anger, and fear that came with the rise of a mysterious viral plague and a maniac in the Oval Office, which, while a low bar to clear, offered an essential relief. The arrival of vaccines, a steady hand in the White House, and the ability to (safely) see friends and family this year provided a base of stability where there was only chaos in 2020.
And yet, for all the way that this year was infinitely superior to 2020, it feels as if this December is wrapping on a more dour and uncertain note than last. Trumpism didn’t end with Trump’s exit from the Oval Office, and the radical right’s ongoing hostile takeover of both the US government and the basic contours of our reality, paired with Democratic leaders’ largely flaccid response, has created a gathering storm over an increasingly fractured nation.
This year is ending on a cliffhanger — or if we’re lucky, at the end of Act Two, when the protagonist is at their lowest point before tapping into hard-earned lessons and summoning the strength to overcome the enemy and make things right.
Still, without downplaying the urgency of the moment and the frustration so many of us are feeling, a lot of good things also happened this year, including a score of key progressive victories in both elections and policy battles. Progress is a slow, uneven process, and in many places, activists and lawmakers took big leaps forward.
It’s important to celebrate wins when they come, so here’s my holiday gift to you: A look back on some of the biggest and more important political and policy developments of 2021.
Democrats Sweep Georgia
Joe Biden’s claiming of the state’s electoral votes, followed by Jon Ossoff and Rev. Raphael Warnock’s clean sweep on January 5th, handed Democrats full control of the federal government and affirmed the power of grassroots organizing.
Bad Senate candidates blew winnable races in Maine and North Carolina, while the party wasted gobs of money on an unwinnable race against Mitch McConnell in Kentucky. They had to run the table in Georgia, and Ossoff and Warnock won on the strength of the decade of organizing headed up by Stacey Abrams and a broad array of neighborhood activists that harnessed the state’s fast-changing demographics. Now, Abrams has become a national celebrity and organizing guru, and she’s once again running for governor in a state where
Democrats’ paper-thin control of Congress has led to a lot of frustrations, but it’s also made possible, directly or indirectly, a few items on this list.
American Rescue Plan
Somewhat marred by Democrats’ thumbs down — literal and figurative — to the minimum wage increase, Republican sabotage at the state level, and the dissipation of caucus unity that followed, the massive stimulus package that passed in March was nonetheless an immense accomplishment on behalf of families struggling during the pandemic.
The child tax credit reduced childhood poverty by 40%; expanded ACA subsidies provided health care led to a record-high number of Obamacare enrollees; the big unemployment benefit toppers helped struggling Americans stay afloat and build some savings; and is now providing states and municipalities billions of dollars for affordable housing, public health, transportation, infrastructure, and small business relief.
With governments so hollowed out and run by ideologues, the implementation and distribution of these benefits have been flawed in many places. Some of these programs, like unemployment benefits, were cut short by Republicans; while others, including the child tax credit, end with the new year. In many cases, municipalities have sat on the money intended to go to rent relief and other programs meant to help working people. Some Republicans have also tried to use the money to justify big tax cuts, which was explicitly prohibited by the legislation.
There’s a second tranche of ARC money coming to states, counties, and cities next May, as well as whatever they’ll get from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Act, so municipal budgets are flush. BBB could inject even more cash into those funds. The age of austerity should be washed away.
Remaking the Judiciary
The 50 votes in the Senate have also allowed Biden to remake the federal judiciary in an unprecedented way, not only reversing Trump and Mitch McConnell’s push to put white, right-wing militants on the bench, but creating a new generation of diverse, progressive judges at a record rate.
In a comprehensive report, Alliance for Justice has highlighted the many firsts among this crop of judges: the first openly lesbian judge on the Court of Appeals (Beth Robinson); the first Korean American to sit on the Court of Appeals (Lucy Koh); the first Muslim federal judge (Zahid Quraishi); the first Black judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (Tiffany Cunningham); the first woman of color to serve on the U.S. District Court in Maryland (Lydia Griggsby); the first Native American federal judge in Washington state (Lauren J. King)—the list goes on. According to Alliance for Justice, nearly 75 percent of Biden’s judicial nominees are women, and nearly 65 percent are people of color. For comparison, only 24 percent of Trump’s judicial nominees were women, and just 16 percent were people of color.
This is the sort of accomplishment that will reverberate for decades.
Sinema Primary Challenge
Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema have taken turns playing Senate spoiler for Democrats this year, holding firm on the filibuster and demanding giant cuts to the social infrastructure bill that the rest of the party finally agreed on. It would be naive to fully blame Manchin and Sinema for six months of failure and the ongoing imperilment of democracy, given the deeper political games and entrenched financial interests at play, but Sinema’s decision to revel in her corruption and obstruction like some unholy combination of pro wrestling heel and internet troll has made her DC’s uncomplicated Joker figure.
Unlike Manchin, who represents very Republican West Virginia and believes his continued employment depends on performative independence, Sinema has little political incentive to carry on with the obstruction and flippant antics.
As in Georgia, it took a decade of deep organizing by community organizers to turn Arizona from a reliably red state into one that went for Biden in 2020 and has two Democratic senators. Sinema owes her Senate seat to these activist organizations, yet she’s told them to fuck off all year, refused community groups’ requests for meetings, blowing them off in person, and wearing a ring that quite literally said “fuck off.”
In September, frustrated donors and volunteers went public with an official pledge to support a primary challenger against her if she doesn’t change her ways. It’s a serious challenge — the election won’t take place for another three years — and after a few months of blatantly ignoring activists in person, bad polls and good fundraising for the primary challenge may be getting to her.
While essentially killing a wealth tax, she signed off on the rest of the Build Back Better Act and has given somewhat softer statements about the filibuster. We’ll need more than baby steps to save the country, but after a year of pure obstruction, it’s a start.
City Progressives Take Power
While Democrats have a lot of work to do in rural and post-industrial America, the left continues to stake its claim on the country’s large cities.
Young progressives put together something of an urban mini-wave, with victories in mayoral races in Cleveland (Justin Bibb), Cincinnati (Aftab Pureval), and Boston (Michelle Wu), St. Petersburg (Ken Welch), and Atlanta (Andre Dickens) among others.
While conservative-leaning political chameleon Eric Adams was elected in New York, it was a deeply weird and fractured election in which the progressive choices were undone by scandal, while Adams was helped by many powerful union endorsements.
Meanwhile, populist ballot initiatives passed in Minnesota (affordable housing); Detroit (reparations); Tucson (minimum wage); Cleveland (police oversight and reform); Pennsylvania (equal rights for all races); and New York (right to clean air).
Biden’s Progressive Regulators
It’s been exceedingly difficult to pass progressive legislation through the Senate, but control of the upper chamber has allowed Biden to get a quietly revolutionary slate of progressive legal minds and policymakers confirmed to important cabinet and executive branch positions.
Leading anti-monopoly crusader Lina Khan is now the chair of the Federal Trade Commission, former union attorney Jennifer Abruzzo is the new general counsel of the NLRB (and already getting aggressive), and Elizabeth Warren protege Rohit Chopra runs the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (and is taking on Big Tech). Biden, too, has been aggressive in pushing anti-trust measures as at least partial solutions to a number of significant problems, like inflation.
Together, they have a chance to start a real reversal of the neoliberalism and monopolies that have choked off actual free markets, crushed small businesses, and denied workers fair wages for 40 years.
Bullying Works
The left hasn’t gotten much in the way of legislation, but time and again, it has been able to pressure the White House into reversing course and making key concessions.
In July, Reps. Cori Bush and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, along with other members of The Squad, slept on the steps of the Capitol until Biden extended the eviction moratorium — an important accomplishment even if it only lasted a month or so.
This month, an outcry against the White House’s convoluted, insurance-dependent “free” Covid test scheme — and Jen Psaki’s smug dismissal of the suggestion that the government use its size and power to directly accomplish something — led to a complete 180 in procurement policy. Now, the federal government is purchasing half a billion Covid tests, to be distributed next month. It’s late, yes, but a White House going around the private sector is a huge deal.
Finally, while Biden has steadfastly refused to cancel even $10,000 of student debt, pressure and brutal polling numbers amongst young people, combined with the rise in omicron variant cases, led him to once again suspend the resumption of repayment, this time for three more months.
The Great Labor Uprising
In 2020, while the rest of us sat at home tending to sourdough starters, millions of frontline, manufacturing, warehouse employees, and service workers were celebrated by employers as essential heroes and given small financial rewards for their tireless sacrifices. This year, those same employers tried to downsize, low-ball, and replace many of those same workers — and after 40 years of making concessions and watching their pay flatline, those same workers said “fuck it” and decided to hit the picket lines.
From the Amazon organizing in Bessemer, Alabama last winter to the nurse walkouts this spring and the Great Resignation and Striketober this fall, 2021 was the year that workers asserted their rights and demanded more. As a producer at More Perfect Union, I’ve covered this populist uprising every single day, reporting on the successful union drive at Starbucks in Buffalo, the long strikes at Kellogg’s and John Deere, and the earlier pickets at Frito-Lay and Nabisco. Lawsuits against Tesla, Amazon, and other major companies, meanwhile, have been settled in favor of workers, and more labor actions are in store.
Perhaps more significantly, these workers have inspired people across the country and enjoyed broad public support, earning labor unions their highest approval ratings in decades. Young people in particular have sparked to organizing and taking collective action against underhanded corporations (I talk more about that in this Daily Beast story). As I wrote last week, Democrats desperately need to harness this populist energy, shifting from the party of the management class back to a true working-class coalition.
P.S. This is from a story in my newsletter, Progressives Everywhere, which aims to counterbalance the corporate media that focuses on gossip and uneducated hot takes instead of calling out corrupt politicians, reporting on the issues that really matter, and working to explain how power really works.
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