Thank you for yet another fantastically precise & surgically accurate diagnosis of the Democrat Party Scarlet. This is a great piece to put out right now - especially in the midst of the current discourse unfolding from that viral clip of Hasan. It's causing a lot of people to take that step back, really grapple with what he's saying, & arrive at the conclusion he articulated - which you then expertly emphasize, highlight, & further all throughout this piece. I'll always highlight this quote of yours because it continues to be an evergreen fixture in my mind that routinely proves to be true: "The irony is, of course, that liberalism is what paves the way for fascism. There could be no Trump without a useless liberal party that consistently fails to meet the people’s needs. The Democratic Party fails because their existence contains an immutable contradiction: they claim to work for the people, and are expected to, but no one can serve two masters. They are first and foremost a party of capital, and the interests of capital are diametrically opposed to the interests of their base." The system is working as intended, and the Democrats are playing their role as the stabilizing wing of capital - actively managing it's ongoing decline. A growing number of people are beginning to awaken to that reality, which is why I think this discourse (aided by your excellent piece) will ultimately backfire on these centrist shitlibs & Democrat loyalists. As you closed with: "We must return again and again to the difficult truth that it is only we who can do this. We are all we got." It's on us to save ourselves & build a world that truly works for working people everywhere - something the Democrat Party will never genuinely champion. The demand for real, transformational change is only growing louder, & only we the people can truly bring about that better world for working people. I believe in humanity, & always will. Thanks again for an important read Scarlet. The people benefit greatly from pieces like this.
I could not agree more. The Democrats are never going to come up with a new vision. We know that. If that's ever going to happen it's up to us to do that as you say, "from below." That's why I wrote you to ask if you would care to join a committee initiated by myself, Howie Hawkins (former Green Party candidate) Les Leopold (Wall Street's War on Workers) and others to launch an explicitly working class party, a new social democratic Party of the 99%. I invited you to read our very tentative initial draft program: https://systemchangenotclimatechange.org/article/its-time-for-a-party-of-the-99/. But I never heard back. Would you be interested? Let me know. Richard Smith
Let me make this very clear. This is a very rough draft of a possible platform for a possible Party of the 99%. It's not presented as a finished product but as a point of departure for party members and others to contribute to, to edit, and to expand. It was drafted back in January so needs updating and revision. For example, while it includes a good argument for abolishing police unions, it has no point on ICE. And there are other inadequacies. We need more people to contribute and build this effort. We have to start somewhere. Most Americans are crying out for a real alternative, a new pro-working class "vision" and program that the Dems refuse to come up with. Who is going to come up with that? The trade unions are too timid, too weak, to depoliticized to break from the DP so they're not going to do it. The sectarian left has crazy unelectable politics. The DSA is by design hopelessly disorganized and undisciplined despite having made impressive gains. If we on the social democratic left don't bother to try to launch an alternative party, who will?
You had me with this part: " I remember the thousand excuses we got as to why the Democrats couldn’t raise the minimum wage, or pass the PRO act, or deliver on the BBB. I remember watching Democrats attack me and my comrades for daring to criticize their genocide. I remember the gaslighting about the state of the economy and grocery prices, while people around me struggled to make ends meet. And I know that all of these things, taken together, gave us an even worse Republican Party in 2024. "
I remember that too, all that and more. I remember Obama promising to don "comfortable shoes" and go to protest but never doing so. I remember Harris helping to protect California banks that defrauded people.
And I remember bringing concerns like these to elected Democrats and having them treat me like a lunatic, then ask me to donate to their campaign.
In my view the Democratic party is staffed by a cadre of self-serving consultants and aged incumbents who cannot and will-not let go of their donor dollars and have little concern with those outside their core. Indeed some of the party leadership like Schumer seem so desperate to capture Regan's magic that they run further and further to his right with each passing year and fight harder to protect Israel than they will to protect America. I agree with you that we need something else and the Democrats will never deliver on it unless forced to do so. Until then all we will get are more empty gestures like Land Acknowledgements and kneeling poses which do nothing to actually change lives.
I read/heard somewhere that the job of Democrats is to keep the oven warm for the next Republican administration and it's kind of perfect.
To paraphrase Freire, the elite are incapable of liberating themselves let alone the people.
Thank you for yet another fantastically precise & surgically accurate diagnosis of the Democrat Party Scarlet. This is a great piece to put out right now - especially in the midst of the current discourse unfolding from that viral clip of Hasan. It's causing a lot of people to take that step back, really grapple with what he's saying, & arrive at the conclusion he articulated - which you then expertly emphasize, highlight, & further all throughout this piece. I'll always highlight this quote of yours because it continues to be an evergreen fixture in my mind that routinely proves to be true: "The irony is, of course, that liberalism is what paves the way for fascism. There could be no Trump without a useless liberal party that consistently fails to meet the people’s needs. The Democratic Party fails because their existence contains an immutable contradiction: they claim to work for the people, and are expected to, but no one can serve two masters. They are first and foremost a party of capital, and the interests of capital are diametrically opposed to the interests of their base." The system is working as intended, and the Democrats are playing their role as the stabilizing wing of capital - actively managing it's ongoing decline. A growing number of people are beginning to awaken to that reality, which is why I think this discourse (aided by your excellent piece) will ultimately backfire on these centrist shitlibs & Democrat loyalists. As you closed with: "We must return again and again to the difficult truth that it is only we who can do this. We are all we got." It's on us to save ourselves & build a world that truly works for working people everywhere - something the Democrat Party will never genuinely champion. The demand for real, transformational change is only growing louder, & only we the people can truly bring about that better world for working people. I believe in humanity, & always will. Thanks again for an important read Scarlet. The people benefit greatly from pieces like this.
I could not agree more. The Democrats are never going to come up with a new vision. We know that. If that's ever going to happen it's up to us to do that as you say, "from below." That's why I wrote you to ask if you would care to join a committee initiated by myself, Howie Hawkins (former Green Party candidate) Les Leopold (Wall Street's War on Workers) and others to launch an explicitly working class party, a new social democratic Party of the 99%. I invited you to read our very tentative initial draft program: https://systemchangenotclimatechange.org/article/its-time-for-a-party-of-the-99/. But I never heard back. Would you be interested? Let me know. Richard Smith
I’ll take a look :)
Let me make this very clear. This is a very rough draft of a possible platform for a possible Party of the 99%. It's not presented as a finished product but as a point of departure for party members and others to contribute to, to edit, and to expand. It was drafted back in January so needs updating and revision. For example, while it includes a good argument for abolishing police unions, it has no point on ICE. And there are other inadequacies. We need more people to contribute and build this effort. We have to start somewhere. Most Americans are crying out for a real alternative, a new pro-working class "vision" and program that the Dems refuse to come up with. Who is going to come up with that? The trade unions are too timid, too weak, to depoliticized to break from the DP so they're not going to do it. The sectarian left has crazy unelectable politics. The DSA is by design hopelessly disorganized and undisciplined despite having made impressive gains. If we on the social democratic left don't bother to try to launch an alternative party, who will?
You had me with this part: " I remember the thousand excuses we got as to why the Democrats couldn’t raise the minimum wage, or pass the PRO act, or deliver on the BBB. I remember watching Democrats attack me and my comrades for daring to criticize their genocide. I remember the gaslighting about the state of the economy and grocery prices, while people around me struggled to make ends meet. And I know that all of these things, taken together, gave us an even worse Republican Party in 2024. "
I remember that too, all that and more. I remember Obama promising to don "comfortable shoes" and go to protest but never doing so. I remember Harris helping to protect California banks that defrauded people.
And I remember bringing concerns like these to elected Democrats and having them treat me like a lunatic, then ask me to donate to their campaign.
In my view the Democratic party is staffed by a cadre of self-serving consultants and aged incumbents who cannot and will-not let go of their donor dollars and have little concern with those outside their core. Indeed some of the party leadership like Schumer seem so desperate to capture Regan's magic that they run further and further to his right with each passing year and fight harder to protect Israel than they will to protect America. I agree with you that we need something else and the Democrats will never deliver on it unless forced to do so. Until then all we will get are more empty gestures like Land Acknowledgements and kneeling poses which do nothing to actually change lives.
Glad somebody else sees it.
Preach.