Since the presidential election the focus has been on the Republican Party and how it has become the party of former President Donald Trump.
I think it is fair to ask the Democrats if they truly represent the American people and if their actions in Congress reflect the mood of their constituents?
And while we are at it, we should ask why the traditional blue states changed to a deep red? Why a once solidly Democratic state, like Michigan (and some others), are now tossups? Have the Democrats lost touch with the grassroots?
The Blade and the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette wrote a thought-provoking editorial a few months ago, underlining the lonely voice of U.S. Rep. Marcy Kaptur within Democratic politics in the U.S. Congress.
According to Ms. Kaptur, her party has been losing support among rural voters. While Donald Trump exploited their frustration, according to Ms. Kaptur, he did not do much for them. And neither did the Democrats.
The reality is that the Democrats have a thin majority in the House. The midterm elections, if history is any guide, do not favor the ruling party. It is quite possible that an aggressive campaign by the GOP would flip the House in their favor.
The problem, as Ms. Kaptur has said, is that the Democratic leadership is dominated by heavily Democratic-rich districts on both coasts. They do not realize that the people in places like Lorain, Youngstown, and many other places in Ohio are suffering.
Ms. Kaptur’s own district, representing Toledo, Lorain, and parts of Cleveland, has not recovered from recession as some other areas in the country. Ms. Kaptur says these people are not visible to Democrats in the House. Instead of paying attention to the swaths of America that have turned red, they are more interested in forming alliances and caucuses around identity politics. A House colleague, responding to the plight of the people in Marcy Kaptur’s district, suggested they should just move away.
It is a Democratic version of the French queen Marie Antoinette who, when informed that the peasants have no bread, has been credited, rightly or wrongly, for saying they should eat cake. The quote reflects that the French queen, like some of the contemporary Democrats in the House, have either frivolous disregard for the starving peasants or poor understanding of their plight.
It is strange that the longest-serving woman in the history of the House of Representatives she is constantly sidelined for key leadership positions by her party.
She was recently named to the House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs. In addition, she will be the senior member of the House Committee on Appropriations and chair of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Energy, and Water Development and related agencies. It is ironic that she fought for 17 years to bring about the construction of the World War II Memorial on the National Mall.
Why did that not qualify Ms. Kaptur to chair the House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs? I doubt there is another House member who has the insight in veterans’ affairs that she has. That goes for some veterans in Congress as well.
The U.S. Congress is a law-making deliberative body. The politics of identity and myriad caucuses rob the Congress of free debate and the option to disagree with their party’s stand on some issues.
Marcy Kaptur, among some other Democrats, kept her constituents in mind when in 1993 she voted against the North American Free Trade Agreement that was a signature legislation of President Bill Clinton.
Unfortunately, that connection between Democratic lawmakers and their constituents has become tenuous and weak. Unless a congressman from a rich district on the east or west coast can feel the plight of the working-class people in Toledo, Lorain, or Cleveland, the rhetorical flourish of feeling the pain of American people is nothing but farcical.
She has overcome many obstacles. One of the biggest was to retain her seat when the state Republicans in Ohio gerrymandered her district eight years ago. It was one of the most blatant and ridiculous carving up of a congressional district. Before the gerrymandering, it encompassed Toledo and surrounding areas.
Now her district stretches as a narrow strip along Lake Erie from Toledo to Cleveland. The “Snake on the Lake,” as the district has been called, would certainly see more changes in coming years.
Some people have said Marcy Kaptur has stayed too long in Congress. I disagree.
She has been a reliable representative of our district and she has not forgotten who she is and where has she come from.
S. Amjad Hussain is an emeritus professor of surgery and humanities at the University of Toledo. His column runs every other week in The Blade. Contact him at aghaji@bex.net.
First Published February 18, 2021, 5:00 a.m.
