i'm not a progressive, i'm a leftist. there is a very different history, and we have very different policy aims. i have no patience for capitalism, and see no future for it, and i'm not interested in working with religious groups or even in respecting concepts of religious freedom.

my analysis is consequently from the liberal left, and not from this authoritarian conservative space that progressives exist within.

what focusing on impeachment means is that the democrats will spend the next 15 months focusing on ways to elect the next democratic candidate president, rather than on writing legislation.

and, so, your view on this really depends on why you supported a democratic majority in the house. did you vote democrat because you want the democrats to pass laws? or was it a protest vote against donald trump?

and, if it's the latter, and there are a lot of you, you might want to get the point out: because out here on the actual left, we don't vote democrat out of protest, but rather out of pragmatism. if we're doing protest votes, i'd rather cast mine for the greens or the socialists, thanks.

worse, there's also a lot of voters in the middle of the spectrum that may actually consider voting republican in 15 months if the democrats don't actually accomplish anything, which i'll remind you is what happened the last time they let pelosi run the house: she sat on her hands for how many years and let the republicans run the government, with minimal interference.

we have the same problem with the liberal party in canada, now, although this is more recent. if you're actually serious about building democratic support for this election and the next, you need to address the fact that voters are fed up with them because they don't actually do anything: they get elected on strong mandates to do things and then just sit on power for years. it kills morale; it's deflating.

in order to build a broad base of support, the democrats need to do things like pass anti-war legislation, reform the tax code and focus on serious health care reform. it doesn't matter that it's going to get vetoed - make him veto it. make him do it. the american people elected a democratic majority to the house, and they have every right to expect it to govern as one.

focusing on impeachment is an escape hatch, a distraction, a way out from actually governing. and, it's not going to build support for the next democratic president, but rather fuel cynicism amongst voters, who are going to conclude that the democrats squandered yet another majority, and are not a worthwhile pragmatic option - from either the center or the left.

democrats that are supporting impeachment are doing so because they don't actually give a fuck about any of this - they just want an opportunity to run in 2024, and consequently want to avoid electing a democrat in 2020.