When Franklin Roosevelt took the podium at the 1932 Democratic National Convention, it marked the first time a presidential candidate of either major party appeared in person to accept his partys nomination. Roosevelt made it known that this unprecedented appearance symbolized his approach to guiding the country out of the Great Depression.

Let it be from now on the task of our party to break foolish traditions, he said.

President Joe Biden came into office with hopes of an FDR-sized presidency that would increase taxes on the very wealthy in order to spend large sums of money on health care, elder care and child care: things that the rich take for granted, but that are often out of reach for poor or middle-class people. He also pledged a historic effort to begin a transition away from fossil fuels.

This agenda pales in comparison to the power-shifting created by FDRs New Deal. It even falls short of Lyndon Johnsons Great Society . It certainly doesnt meet the needs to reverse our march towards a hotter, less habitable planet. But it would mark a shift, however mild, away from the consensus policies of austerity and upward wealth redistribution that have dominated the country since the election of Ronald Reagan in 1980.

Today, that agenda, and Bidens presidency, is threatened with failure due to his partys unwillingness to break foolish traditions. The filibuster still stands in the way of voting rights legislation and more. Senators deny their agency by pointing to opinions from the parliamentarian that cite little or no precedent. The threat of government shutdown is perpetual at least when a Democrat occupies the White House. The debt ceiling looms again as a tool the minority can use to reimpose austerity through threat of global economic meltdown.

All of these traditions flow from a political system that has coagulated since Reagans election. The refusal of Biden and congressional Democrats , in particular, to rid themselves of them is now preventing the government from functioning and giving the American people the policies that they voted for.