Democrats Are to Blame

As the supposed adults in the room

Photo by Cody Chan on Unsplash

The Following is an opinion piece, and not necessarily reflective of the views of NCPA as a whole

Shoulda, Woulda, Coulda

Win or lose, Trump has yet again outperformed polling, as many of us feared he would. What to do if he’s elected? I’ll get to that, but first I want to address a few points that will inevitably be discussed in the coming days.

Of course Biden never should have sought re-election, as many of us argued well over a year ago. There should have been an open primary, allowing the eventual nominee (be it Harris or someone else) more time to develop a campaign. Whether there was time enough to hold a primary after Biden made his announcement is debatable, as is the idea that doing so at such a late stage would have been unifying and not fatally divisive.

Regardless, please don’t anyone say Biden shouldn’t have dropped out. He would have been crushed. Instead of clinging, at this late hour, to the slim hope that the urban areas of the blue wall states will miraculously save us from Trump, we would have known hours ago that Biden was toast.

Of course Harris should have distanced herself from Biden and US policy toward Israel-Palestine.

Of course Harris should have never strayed from supporting single-payer healthcare.

Of course racism, sexism, homophobia and anti-immigrant sentiment are primary motivators among the Republican electorate. We’ve known this for decades. 50+ years of increasingly cruel, unhinged rhetoric and policy (aided by the dominance of right wing media) has resulted in jaw-dropping ignorance.

Of course it’s absurd for anyone to think Republicans are ‘better for the economy’ or for the working class when the GOP is vehemently opposed to every policy or position that benefits the working class. Trump himself said, back before he adopted this phony right wing populist persona, the economy does better when Democrats are in power.

Likewise, of course it’s ridiculous to think Trump — the epitome of corruption and malfeasance — is going to root out corruption (fox guarding the hen house, vampire managing a blood bank, you get the idea).

But don’t blame the sociopaths

Ultimately, though, guess what? The Democratic Party is to blame. Why? Because, starting in the 1990s, the establishment embraced neoliberalism, albeit a relatively progressive version. Because Dems have been kowtowing to moneyed interests, many of the same ones to whom Republicans answer. Because Democrats have given up on organizing in rural America (read Dirt Road Revival by Chloe Maxmin and Canyon Woodward), even though it’s readily apparent that our political system has its thumb on the rural side of the scale.

How will Democratic Party leadership respond to this election? If history is our guide, they’ll convince themselves and much of the electorate that the answer is to move even further to the right, because that’s what moneyed interests demand. No matter how many times that strategy has failed, Democrats insist it’s the only way forward.

As I’ve written time and time again, all the talk about the Republican Party being at death’s door couldn’t be more absurd or out of touch with reality. Republicans control a large majority of state legislatures, a majority of governorships and the Supreme Court. They’ve controlled the US House for most of the 21st century, while controlling the US Senate and White House for approximately half of this century. If that is one’s idea of struggling, I hate to think what thriving would look like.

Where we go from here

So, what does all this mean? It means we’d better build working class solidarity and insist on redistribution of power, locally and globally. “Power to the people” is a simple slogan that can resonate across identities. The late Fred Hampton and others from that era had the right idea. We’d better start doing what we can to develop worker-run businesses, general strikes, participatory budgeting, community-controlled policing, sortition, and more. Organize, experiment and see what works.

We’d better get creative and strategic about helping people understand how racism, sexism, anti-immigrant hysteria (including lies about immigrants increasing the crime rate or stealing jobs) and hatred for our LGBTQ brothers and sisters are tactics. They are tools, manufactured and exploited in order to keep us divided and conquered. This will require a great deal of patience, persistence and reminding ourselves that hatred is not inherent but learned (while accepting that some are — to steal a line from The Elegance of the Hedgehog — “too far gone in their sickness”).

Unsustainable capitalism (known, in its current form, as neoliberalism) is already morphing into neofeudalism, or what some call technofeudalism, as this excellent 2020 LA Review of Books article makes clear. Absent an organized Left, absent class consciousness, that’s our future. That’s true even if Harris pulls out a win, but it’s doubly true if Trump wins. Having to fight a battle on several fronts is tough enough; having to fight on every front is exhausting.

One way to build solidarity is to acknowledge that the political and economic systems are rigged…just not in the way many Trump supporters seem to believe.

The mainstream/corporate media is abysmal…but not in the way Trump supporters believe.

The Democratic Party is failing people, not because it promotes socialism but because it doesn’t aspire to anything more than the pre-Trump status quo. The very social, economic and political norms that enabled Trump’s rise to power.

The working class is getting screwed, but Trump supporters have the details wrong.

We must take advantage of the fact that a large number of folks, including an unknown percentage of Trump supporters, are sorta, kinda close to understanding what ails us.

The overarching public sentiment is and long has been disgust with the status quo, which explains why some Trump supporters say they would vote for Bernie Sanders over an establishment Republican such as Rubio. Democrats would be wise to take that to heart, rather than align with the likes of Liz Cheney, who I will remind you voted in line with Trump 93% of the time (because Republican opposition to Trump has far more to do with style than substance — it’s actually the Democratic Party that is divided along substantive, ideological lines).

Do I think the US is primed for a leftist revolt? Of course not. But pointing to the lack of an organized Left as evidence that one can’t be built is circular reasoning.

Unfortunately, the Democratic Party will likely continue doing what it’s been doing, while claiming to expect different results. There’s a term for that.

Rather than embrace the platform and energy surrounding Bernie’s campaigns, the DNC undermined his campaigns and continues to marginalize progressive voices. They’ve fostered opposition to progressive economics and then point to that opposition as evidence. It’s disingenuous and the consequences are dire.

We can continue along the path toward neofeudalism or develop an alternative. That’s the choice.

Darkest before the dawn

The Democratic Party’s corporate obsequiousness aside, we’d be considerably better off if Harris was in the White House instead of Trump. There’s no denying that, and Democratic voters are far more likely than Republican voters to become allies in an effort to establish a new economic structure.

And we shouldn’t underestimate what it is the Right is seeking to do, and will be able to do if Trump is elected (and Republicans control one or both chambers of Congress). Not only will immigration policy be even more inhumane than it already is, women’s reproductive rights slashed to an even greater extent, and US support for genocide in Gaza even more horrifying than it already is, we’re going to see deregulation and privatization taken to extremely dangerous levels. The Supreme Court’s Chevron decision laid the groundwork.

Climate change will be exacerbated.

More and more people will be unable to take for granted clean drinking water, breathable air, safe food and drugs, etc.

And you better believe protections for workers — from overtime pay to safe working conditions to the minimum wage to child labor laws to Social Security — will come under attack.

I’m sorry to paint such a bleak picture, but we mustn’t be under any illusions about what we’re facing. Today, we must pick up our brushes and paint a better tomorrow while we still can.

To read more of Garrett's writings, please visit https://garrettsnedaker.medium.com/