Democratic Party leadership claims that the threat to democracy posed by a second Trump presidency and Republican-dominated Congress is real, and they are correct. The Republican Party is clear in its intention to undermine essential market regulations and basic individual rights. With the backing of a loaded Supreme Court, Trump’s administration stands to finally break the promise held out by Democrats throughout the rising tide of fascism: that we can defend democracy through our legal system. When that tide breaks, it will most immediately impact trans and reproductive rights, the unhoused, immigrants, and asylum seekers—but it ultimately will affect us all.
Nevertheless, the Democratic Party’s actions contradict its own apparent concerns. For example, while touting the value of free speech and protest, the Biden administration has overseen the crackdown on student protest across campuses nationwide. This does nothing to distance Democrats from the charge of repression that it levies against Republicans. Furthermore, instead of allowing for a competitive primary process (ironically, something permitted by the Republican Party), the Democratic National Committee saw to it that Biden was effectively the only candidate on the ballot. Even before Biden’s disastrous debate and the question of his cognitive decline, unprecedented thousands of Americans expressed their will for another candidate by voting “uncommitted” or “no preference” across the country—not least because of his commitment to funding Israel’s genocide of Palestinians. Democracy may be under threat, but it is already compromised today.
People want to stand up for democracy, yet with Biden at the helm, the Democratic Party reveals itself to be unable and unwilling. Following the recent attempt on Trump’s life, Democratic Party leadership has been more interested in the symbolic high ground, calling for national unity against “political violence.” The hypocrisy is blatant. On one level, this calls for unity with a candidate and party who incite the very violence at issue. On a deeper level, however, the Democratic Party fails to reconcile this call for unity with the state of violence it has perpetuated. Biden may be the first president to stand on a picket line, but he has done little to nothing material for the American and global working class. While Biden has focused our attention on “shrinkflation” and “hidden fees” (admittedly insidious practices), the prices of housing and healthcare continue to rise. Instead of moving to socialize these costs, the Biden administration funds war abroad, which benefits everyone from landlords and developers to insurance agencies and weapons manufacturers. Meanwhile, working people suffer degradation and death.
Given these conditions, the Democratic Party rightly appears bought by capitalist forces, which allows the Republican Party to (falsely) claim it will oppose “elites” in the name of those most desperate. Behind the culture war he stokes, Trump (like populists the world over) taps into real pain felt by the working class. In order for the Democratic Party to stake any claim to legitimacy, it must field a candidate who will rise to the moment and confront the threat of fascism without hesitation, all the while attacking its root economic causes. That candidate is not Joe Biden.
From the City of Charlotte to Mecklenburg County and beyond, join the call: it’s time to drop Joe!
Let the following know it’s time to drop Joe:
Alma Adams: (704) 344-9950
Chuck Schumer: (202) 224-6542
North Carolina Democratic Party: (919) 821-2777