Abandon hope all ye who persist in believing that you are going to be saved by the Democrats. Their record is tarnished by a long line of democratic presidents notable for their subservience to corporations and billionaires. Case in point, William Jefferson Clinton who “felt our pain,” as he kicked millions of needy families off welfare rolls, deregulated the financial behemoths and with the help of our current president signed a crime bill that made America the world’s largest penal colony. It wasn’t long (eight years) before Obama, the consummate shape shifter, gave the U.S. another first — world’s leading producer of crude oil. His other “accomplishments” — kicking ten million people out of their homes, enacting policies that led to a significant redistribution of wealth upwards and a decline in the standard of living for people of color. Following in the footsteps of these two charlatans, enter Joe Biden who never met an oligarch he couldn’t fawn over. All the “right” people, the mainstream media, his bros in Congress, his buddies in the fossil fuel and pharmaceutical industries and assorted billionaires are over the moon at how successfully he has unwound social reforms the overwhelming majority of Americans favor. Where do the progressives stand on the fate of their “non-negotiable” programs? In the usual place, on their knees gobbling about the joys of “incremental reform” and turning their gaze away from the pain corporate gouging and billionaires in the tax-free zone are inflicting on working Americans. Take heart, our newest Democratic president is not a complete liar. The one promise he made and kept was to his wealthy benefactors — “Nothing will fundamentally change.” If you believe the congressional “progressives’ that the porridge contained in these two bills is “historic legislation [that] delivers on many of the promises that Democrats made to invest in working people across America, you really should read “Progressives in Free Fall: Compromise and Capitulation.”