Liberals need to get a grip about the GOP tax bill

This is not the end of democracy in America. Far from it.

Panic at the DNC.
(Image credit: REUTERS/Joshua Roberts)

The tax bill that passed the Senate in the wee hours of Saturday morning is atrocious — a giveaway to the wealthy and the corporate sector, rocket fuel for the plutocratic tendencies of our time, a recipe for substantial pain further down the income scale, and a near-certain guarantee of much bigger deficits and vastly higher national debt down the road.

But its passage does not mean that "America died," or that "American democracy died," or that "millions of Americans died." It's not "mass murder." The Republicans who passed it are not "psychotic drooling animals." A "coup" is not "underway." The GOP has not "killed the middle class in America." We do not live in a world in which "there's no America now."

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up
To continue reading this article...
Continue reading this article and get limited website access each month.
Get unlimited website access, exclusive newsletters plus much more.
Cancel or pause at any time.
Already a subscriber to The Week?
Not sure which email you used for your subscription? Contact us
Damon Linker

Damon Linker is a senior correspondent at TheWeek.com. He is also a former contributing editor at The New Republic and the author of The Theocons and The Religious Test.