The secret hedge-fund conference already courting newly elected Dems

I continue to rejoice over the extraordinary wins — including Senator-elect Scott Colom’s remarkable victory in Mississippi, and Governor-elect Jonathan Kreiss-Tomkins’s great win in Alaska.

I expect you’re rejoicing, too. America feels different. Finally, after almost two years of Trump darkness, there’s light on the horizon. We have reason to hope for progressive change.

Look, I know some of you are worried. I’m hearing from many of you who say: “Don’t blow it like you usually do, Democrats.” “Don’t f*ck up.” “Don’t once again grab defeat out of the jaws of victory.” “Don’t form your normal circular firing squad.”

I understand the worry. Once they get into office, Democrats have too often wimped out or picked fights with each other, or get outmaneuvered, or get bought out. (Anyone remember Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema?)

I’ve been there. I still have scars to prove it.

Here’s what I tell the cynics and doubters: It’s up to us. Rather than worry, start preparing for January 3 — just seven weeks from today — when the new Congress is sworn in (and shortly after, when many of the new governors and state lawmakers are sworn in).

Our work is just beginning. The fight has just begun.

I’ve been in or around politics for over 50 years, and I can tell you that even the best members of Congress, governors, and state legislators can’t get anything important done unless the public is actively behind him. Nothing good happens in Washington, D.C., or in state capitals unless good people are organized and mobilized to put pressure on the people they elect to make good things happen.

As Franklin D. Roosevelt said in the reelection campaign of 1936 when a voter insisted that if she were to vote for him, he must commit to a long list of objectives he had campaigned on: “Ma’am, I want to do those things, but you must make me.”

The people we just elected need us to make them do the right things. We can’t assume they’ll do the right things because they promised and we trust them to keep their promises. They may sincerely want to do what’s right, but sincerity is not enough.

Never underestimate the power of the moneyed interests, corporate and Wall Street lobbyists, Crypto, AI, AIPAC, corporate PR and law firms, CEOs, and billionaire tech bros. They’re now restarting their giant political machines. They’re already mobilizing. Already courting new members of Congress.

Groups claiming to be “moderate Democrats” — such as Third Way — are backed by corporations and Wall Street. They don’t want progressive change. They want to preserve the current structure of wealth and power in America.

Last week, “Majority Democrats” hosted an invitation-only “What’s Next” conference for newly-elected Democrats in Denver. “Majority Democrats” is mainly financed by hedge-fund billionaire Steve Mandel. Political consultants (i.e. lobbyists) showed up at the conference. But no labor leaders were invited, nor any civil rights or environmental or Black or Hispanic leaders.

I’m not advocating a purity test for newly-elected Democrats. They may feel they can socialize with big money without losing their integrity. Perhaps they can.

But they’re being thrust into an ocean of influence-peddlers who are expert at creating false realities that have nothing to do with the reality average working Americans are coping with. That ocean has powerful undertows, fierce riptides, ferocious sharks. Anyone swimming in it is imperiled.

They need us to be their lifeguards — to help them survive these regressive forces. They need to know we have their backs. That we’ll continue to organize and mobilize for what needs to be done. That we’ll continue to build progressive power. Raising money. Raising a ruckus. Keeping the pressure on. Helping them keep their promises.

It’s also why we must support Democratic leaders who reject the old politics of big money — leaders such as Senator Chris Van Hollen. Chuck Schumer has done a good job but he’s been there too long, he’s of an older generation, and he’s too close to Wall Street and corporate Democrats. Van Hollen has the right values and will steer Senate Democrats in a progressive direction.

By all means, let’s celebrate and savor the extraordinary victories of the last week and a half. We’ve all worked hard. We have ample reason to cheer. What has been accomplished is nothing short of remarkable.

But also know that our work has just begun.