What Democrats in the House Should Do

Expand health coverage, reform our democracy, restore upward mobility through high-paying jobs, combat armed violence and repair the immigration system.

Oh, yes, and protect our constitutional republic of President Trump while eliminating corruption.

This should be on the agenda of Democrats in the House of Representatives. Already, some experts warn that the new majority will "outgrow". But this is not the problem of a party that controls only one House of Congress.

The biggest threat is underperformance. The Democrats will waste their victory – their biggest gain in seats in the House since 1974 – if they do not use their power to show what the alternative to Trumpism looks like.

Yes, many of their ideas will die in the Senate. But the Republicans of this less and less representative body must pay a heavy price for thwarting progress. If the cost is high enough, good things could happen before 2020.

This is not to say that Democrats are going to "left", a phrase we will hear a lot in Fox News. What unites progressive enthusiasts and their less openly ideological brethren who won many of last week's competitions is the desire to demonstrate that government, used intelligently, can improve the lives of the vast majority.

Finding common ground in the center-left, one of the political imperatives of the new majority, does not mean a policy of the least common denominator. This means listening in the right direction: more people receiving health care, higher wages and family leave; more with unfettered voting rights; feel more safe from violence more with confidence that our system is not a cesspool.

Democrats are also not advised not to become the party of investigations and investigations. But these warnings imply that party leaders are idiots. It will not be difficult to follow the normal course of the House proceedings to hold hearings that highlight both the political failures of the Trump presidency and the corruption it has fostered. Chairpersons should carefully plan investigations so that scandals do not repel and do not penetrate the public consciousness.

Much must be said of Trump's betrayal of his fundamental promises – to defend the forgotten Americans to whom he has committed nothing but odious demagoguery, most recently his vanishing interest in "caravans"; and to dry a marsh, it pollutes even more.

All of this would be easier if the rule of law did not face such a serious threat from Trump. His almost certainly illegal appointment of the swampy Matthew G. Whitaker as Acting Attorney General is such a danger. Given the Senate's sycophanity with Trump, it is incumbent on the House, the media and lower court judges to protect us from autocracy. (We will learn if the Supreme Court can fulfill its constitutional responsibilities.)

It is dangerously false to claim that Democrats have to choose between legislating and holding Trump accountable. History does not give them the choice to do everything in their power to prevent Trump from destroying the investigation of special advocate Robert S. Mueller III, destroying evidence and politicizing law enforcement. . If the president says that the price of a decent infrastructure bill is the acquiescence of the Democratic government to break the law, let Trump pay the cost of breaking one of the his signature promises. It is in his interest to build these roads and bridges.

Remembering what you have been campaigning on is always a good idea. Democrats have committed to taking swift action to protect the confidence of Americans with pre-existing health problems and to adopt a comprehensive package of democratic reforms with strict voting rights provisions, campaign finance reform, abusive distribution and the fight against corruption under the Trump era.

The next step would be to expand health coverage through a public option or Medicare membership that meets new members' perspectives.

Also a priority: aggressive action against gun violence. The mbadacres continue unabated. Inaction would be immoral. It would also break the commitments made by so many new elected officials.

In the longer term, Democrats should listen to Tom Vilsack, former secretary of agriculture, as well as writers Alec MacGillis and Michael Tomasky, about the need to develop a new agenda for the regions rural, small towns and small towns of America. Limited opportunities in major metropolitan areas will deepen national divisions and, at the same time, promote long-term Senate control by Republicans.

Over the last century, Democrats have held the House without controlling the Senate for only six years, between 1981 and 1987. The novelty of their situation underscores the need for both realism and vision. Combining them is not easy. But this is their only way to seize the opportunity that is offered to them.