Let me make this clear from the start: No, I am not supporting the Democrats.
I have reached the understanding that the working class in America must abandon the duopoly and build our own political party entirely divorced from Wall Street & Silicon Valley — along with establishing direct citizen ballot initiatives in every state and a new form of union that includes all working class people regardless of vocation or employment status.
In other words, to unite as a class against the capitalist class and capitalism itself, rather than align ourselves with parties of capitalists & begging and pleading with them to throw us more crumbs; and to try and convince them to run capitalism in a way that is somehow better for the working class than it is for them.
Other members of my class, including those who consider themselves on the Left, must do the same. The Democrats are captured and controlled by the same multi-billionaire donors as the Republican Party. They both pre-select billionaires to sit on the Oval Office throne as a mere figurehead for the corporations and the banks.
Moreover, the Senate is filled with multi-millionaires getting even richer via insider trading they never get punished for. And the House is filled with PMCs (Professional Managerial Class), i.e., elite 15 percenters who are far more interested in becoming capitalists themselves by using this route of serving that class than they are with helping us plebeians who vote for them.
Yet so many on the Left continue to have this stubborn connection to the Democrats and insist on seeing them as at least “marginally better” than the Republicans. This is all based on emotion and tribalism — including the specific type of emotional appeal garnered by a party’s identity politics and their various wedge issues — but nothing that is actually substantive or based in demonstrable reality.
Yet the liberals and dissonants are aghast that the Democrats are faltering severely in the polls to the likes of Trump, the latest Republican faux “Hitleresque” boogeyman to trigger their tribalistic impulses. And this was before some tragic fool helped Trump immensely by attempting to assassinate him live on a televised rally.
So, they are now in panic mode, ramping up the already prodigious fear-mongering and insulting and “othering” their fellow working class voters and pushing their identity politics to an even stronger extent — and thus inadvertently helping Trump further by driving more and more working class people away from the Dems.
Some are unfortunately going over to the Republicans, desperate for “change” of the most predictable sort (with the duopoly!). Others are registering Independent; others are abstaining from voting altogether. Still others like me are going the post-duopoly, third party route (the one I recommend).
But the point is, the Dems are faltering terribly, and both they and their supporters totally deserve it because they brought it on themselves.
However, the capitalists among the Democrats will not suffer anything more than a blow to the ego for the loss.
The working class supporters of the Dems are the ones who will suffer. And they will suffer no matter which capitalist of the duopoly wins in November.
But… how about I play devil’s advocate and try to give genuine advice to the Democrats — both capitalist and working class — about what they must do to regain the mass working class support they lost?
The capitalist Dems will fight to the last man against implementing these common sense, entirely pragmatic bits of advice. But the working class Dems need to goad and push the party to do the following if they want to actually see it regain the working class support they insist the party deserves.
In short, it means they need to cease continuing to do all the same things that have proven to be ineffective for years now and start doing what will actually work.
And this means sometimes putting aside the emotions in favor of practicality. Or do you want the Dems to keep losing support and continue to expose themselves for what they really are?
So, What Must Be Done?
#1 — Hold the Democrats accountable for what they do and do not do.
The polls have made it clear that the working class has had it with their constant lying and broken promises.
They need to start helping the working class in a substantive economic sense. And that means in ways that actually have a very strong positive impact on our lives.
This includes freeing everyone from poverty, college & medical debt, and the insecurity of losing a home or not being able to afford one in the first place. And the ability to afford food and utilities, for crying out loud!
Identity politics are not a substitute for that! Get this important point into your head once and for all.
Put the resentments you have for certain demographics in the working class (even if it happens to be your own demographic) aside and start seeing everyone in your class as your potential ally on that basis — not on the basis of what they have in common with you, or with those whom you may strongly sympathize with, on a superficial physical level only. Or lifestyle choice or choice of religion etc.
#2 — Stop blaming the Republicans for every failure of the Democrats!
In his most recent press speech covered well here by Sabby Sabs, she noted all the promises Biden made for the first 100 days of his second term if he gets re-elected (assuming he is permitted to run against Trump for the duration rather than being convinced or compelled to drop out).
This laundry list was a bunch of the same things he has promised before and didn’t deliver on, and some of which he could do right now with the single swipe of a pen if he wanted to — not during the course of 100 days starting in 2025.
But he is clearly setting himself up to fail on purpose because he knows some of these matters must be brought before Congress. And most (if not all) Republican senators can be counted on to vote against them — as can just enough Democratic senators to prevent the legislation from getting passed.
Just like he did, for instance, with that paltry joke of a college debt relief bill by deliberately means testing it via the CARES Act it so that it was certain to get tied up in court just long enough to get shot down by the Republicans in the Senate. As opposed to bypassing this eventuality by immediately signing it into law via the federal Education Act of 1965 like he could have easily done.
And then blaming every failure and broken promise on Republican obstruction. So that it never gets done… again. And again. And delayed until some future point when we have “enough” Dems to “get the votes.”
And so that — at least up til now — the Dems continued to garner support because they could claim that they “at least tried.” Or holding out false hopes that the next time they promise it, they’ll actually make it happen.
Sort of like how a person you think is romantically inclined towards you keeps you hanging by presenting you with false hopes that “someday” it will happen for you two “when they are ready.” Mm-hmm.
As explained well by Sabby in the above-linked video, Biden and other Dems before him could have done any of those things right away (including immediately) or have found ways around Republican obstruction by not deliberately setting it up to fail by presenting the legislation in a half-assed manner (as with the above example).
The working class are rapidly becoming wise to this constant breaking of the exact same promises and then blaming it on the Republicans — over and over and over again.
So, you need to goad the Dem leadership to defy their donors’ wishes and get this legislation pushed the correct way with real results behind it — and quickly, if not immediately. Otherwise, those disappointments and let-downs are going to keep mounting up, and people are going to grow sick of what is clearly empty talk — and empty promises.
The people no longer care about talk alone or what the intentions of the Dems allegedly are. They want results. And substantive ones at that, not just superficial policies (like that inflation reduction bill) that actually change nothing discernible.
#3 — Enough with the identity politics! Focus on the economic issues.
One thing the general public, including those on the Left, are clearly fed up with in massive numbers is divisive identity politics. And their dislike of people who push or promote them is starting to get palpable.
Let’s take a look at what those sliding polls are making clear:
Struggling workers see far more instances of people like themselves regardless of race or gender etc…
losing their homes;
being unable to afford the rent, mortgage, or property taxes;
being unable to afford groceries;
being unable to afford medical or veterinary costs;
being crushed by student, medical, or credit card debt;
or being forced to go without items they require to live comfortably or much-needed vacations…
… than they do examples of white supremacy or misogyny in 21st century America that impact the lives of PoC & women to remotely the same degree as these economic matters.
These material issues are what is hurting them the most. People need to be able to afford basic necessities as well as relieve the psychological stress of worrying how they will afford food, shelter, medical treatment, or anything thing else they might need first and foremost.
They also dislike being goaded into finger-pointing at their neighbors while glorifying capitalists who are the true holders of privilege no matter their race or gender et al.
#4 — Stop with the wars and start putting that money into economic issues.
Biden and other Dems before him pushing towards a world war is terrifying people far more than the idea of another Trump presidency. This is especially true when you consider that this alleged Hitler-like figure is the only president in recent memory who did not start any new wars and eased down on the ones that were ongoing.
People notice these things and see this strange disparity you are presenting them with in your rants vs. actual reality. A true dictator constantly fights and provokes wars. Biden has been doing that. Obama did that before him. Trump did not.
Which leads to…
#5 — Stop with the Trump (and Putin) fear-mongering because the real reasons behind them are now too obvious.
This is why the Trump Derangement Syndrome and some on the Left continuing to express a ridiculously disproportionate hatred of The Donald is coming off more and more unhinged than reflective of objective reality. And more and more of a distraction and act of desperation than actual pushing for a worthy cause.
It also manifests as insults directed at workers who are defecting from the Democrats, and those who are — wisely, IMO — going post-duopoly altogether. This includes screaming at them and calling them fascists or fascist-enablers that goes well beyond reasonable passion for a cause. Instead, it sounds far more like the rantings of a lunatic or narcissistic crybaby who doesn’t get his way because you decided to play on the other kid’s baseball team instead of his.
Demonizing and insulting people who disagree with you and who are fed up with the Democrats for their constant failures and promise-breaking is not going to convince them to support your party.
It’s only going to make them want to run further away from you and find an alternative that speaks to them like they are human beings who are understandably desperate for a better world and serious improvements in their lives.
Blaming Trump or (as noted above) Republicans in general now sounds more and more like passing the buck of responsibility.
And it begs the important question: Why are you not directing that fiery ire against the Democrats and insisting that they do better instead of demanding that we continue supporting them no matter what?
Consider all of the above before the next time you go on a mindless rant about how Trump is Evil Incarnate, or how racist this country is, or how it’s somehow pragmatic to vote for a party that never does anything for us.
Instead, consider all of the economic issues along with those relating to world peace that working class people of every demographic are most concerned about as the polls clearly prove.
And the fact that the refusal of the Dems to deliver on these important material issues concerning all of the 99% is what is costing them support and causing people to turn to Trump or elsewhere in the first place.
To be fair, the most likely reason Biden resorted to using the existing CARES Act (on shaky ground) to partially forgive student loan debt, as opposed to simply passing a new law forgiving the debt, is that Biden is not a king or dictator. He cannot arbitrarily make laws himself, that's what Congress is for, and it is highly unlikely that there would've been enough votes in our increasingly gerontocratic and plutocratic Congress to get it passed.
As for using the Education Act of 1965 as the basis for an executive order forgiving the student loan debt entirely, that would also likely have been tied up in court as well, since that would have been on legally shaky ground as well. I still think both options would be legal, but the Republican-dominated courts likely would have seen it differently.
Maybe he could have minted a trillion dollar (or higher) platinum coin?
Christofer-
Let me get this straight from the start. If you don’t support the Democrats in this election, then you support Donald Trump.
You are a nihilist, pure and simple. No thanks! I’m with John Lennon, and not V.I. Lenin.
You say you want a revolution (that’s you, Christofer)
Well, you know
We all want to change the world
You tell me that it's evolution
Well, you know
We all wanna change the world
But when you talk about destruction
Don't you know that you can count me out…. (that’s nearly all of us)
It’s nice when you remind me of the sort of leftist (classical?) that neither I, nor anyone I know, is, thankfully. With the “Classical Left” it’s binary: all, or nothing! With the “Classical Left,” there’s nothing in between, while It’s the smooth creamy sweet left-of-center where stability resides, and the wants and needs of the most people are gleaned.
But, in the end, it’s nice chatting with you, as always.