OPINION | POLITICS
Transcending Two Broken U.S. Parties
From uncommitted votes to uprisings . . . Time to #RevoltTheVote
I write as a mother in the U.S. hoping to raise conscientious children in a society whose leaders are morally bankrupt. An exploitative economy and broken political systems have steered this world for too long. To protect our children’s shared future, we must imagine new paths forward. Let’s begin with a look at the upcoming U.S. elections.
This essay explains why we must #RevoltTheVote in the November U.S. Elections. My next essay is a dream plan for how we could potentially pull off a third-party win in 2024.
Dreaming beyond an evil vs. evil ballot
Many U.S. voters are dreading November 5. Will we vote for a man hated by much of the world for aiding genocide? Or a racist misogynistic convicted felon who protects KKK-inspired insurrectionists? Most believe a third-party candidate can’t win in our rigged two-party system.
In 2019, RepresentUs proclaimed, “We are witnessing a total political system failure in America.” Our only hope is to rise above a broken two-party system and transform our entire government. RepresentUs has tried to achieve this with state-level reform. They’re promoting state-level ranked choice voting and campaign finance overhaul. They’ve shown this is the historic way to change federal election law. While they’ve had some successes, their strategy is way too slow. As they campaign, our freedoms and outlook for the future are fading fast.
The unpopular U.S. leaders we’ve been forced to elect are sponsoring genocide and allowing the climate to spin out of control. We need to stop voting for the lesser of two evils. This failed strategy has led to unimaginable atrocities in Gaza, eroding freedoms, and a boiling planet.
Rather than trying to differentiate himself from Trump, Biden is becoming more and more like him
Decades of evil vs. evil ballots have allowed Democrats and Republicans to slide farther and farther right. Rather than trying to differentiate himself from Trump, Biden is becoming more and more like him. In what appears to be a misguided effort to win conservative voters, Biden just issued “one of the most restrictive immigration policies ever declared under a recent Democratic administration”.
The U.S. Government has discarded the benevolent world hero mask it’s clung to since joining WWII as a latecomer and dropping atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Its corrupt bipartisan leaders profit from arms shipments Israelis used to bomb Palestinian families in tents in so-called safe zones. Democrats and Republicans seem to agree that a peaceful, healthy future for all is un-American.
Generation Z and Millennials have woken up en masse to the fact that the U.S. is a “Dying Empire Led By Bad People.” Democrats are hoping Trump’s recent conviction will give Biden a boost at the polls. In reality, it’s unlikely to deter the majority of his loyal followers.
I hated voting for Biden in 2020. There’s no way I can vote for Genocide Joe in November. The thought of another Trump presidency also gives me nightmares.
Biden is running a losing campaign
Two-thirds of U.S. voters and three-quarters of Democrats want a permanent ceasefire in Gaza. Biden appears blind to voters with a heart of stone. His “red line” for Rafah was another spineless lie.
His Morehouse campaign/commencement speech included yet another racist false accusation. He claimed to have seen “pictures of (Hamas) tying a mother and a daughter with a rope, pouring kerosene on them, burning them and watching as they died.” News outlets failed to mention this blatant falsehood. It’s in the official Whitehouse speech transcript. Before the commencement, students, professors, and alumni had tried to cancel Biden’s talk. During the speech, some graduates turned their backs on the President. Others walked out in protest.
On May 21, Reuters reported Biden’s approval rating had sunk to its lowest level in almost two years. A mere 36% of Americans approve of his performance. Despite this, John Nichols, National Affairs Correspondent for The Nation, told Briahna Joy Gray he doubts the Democrats will change course.
Gray, former National Press Secretary for Bernie Sanders’s Presidential campaign, was interviewing Nichols on her Bad Faith podcast. Nichols went on to explain why Democrats have chosen bad candidates for decades. The party ignores polls and chooses boring, often right-leaning candidates. They see candidates offering real change as a threat.
Obama was an exception. While many of his policies turned out to be harmful, his campaign was not boring. His “Yes We Can” slogan (a spin on Cesar Chavez’s “Sí, se puede”) fired people’s spirits.
Democrats could respond conscientiously to those showing solidarity with the heroic besieged people of Gaza. Instead, they’re reacting like playground bullies.
According to Nichols, the last landslide Democratic campaign was FDR’s 1936 run. The socialist-like New Deal programs were a huge hit with Depression-era voters.
He and Gray noted that the socialist-like measures introduced during COVID were also popular. The $2 trillion Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act gave stimulus money to families and small businesses and helped ensure medical access for all. Biden’s Build Back Better plan proposed making some of these measures permanent. He seems to have forgotten all about that commitment to helping everyday people. His campaign slogans claim the economy is great while many families struggle to make ends meet.
Uncommitted votes
The success of the uncommitted campaigns is further proof that Biden is likely to lose. “‘Uncommitted!’ Where Next? The November Midwestern Rebellion” by Ramsey Hanhan 🇵🇸 🌍 is thought-provoking and inspiring. The uncommitted movement is ready to alter the course of the 2024 U.S. Election. The mass uprisings for Palestine show the growing energy for transformative change at this moment.
Biden’s unwavering support for Israel has alienated the Arab American community whose support helped him win Michigan and other key swing states in 2020. Other antiracist empathetic voters who supported Biden in 2020 share their disillusionment. Most young people, see both Democrats and Republicans as corrupt. Many will be eligible to vote for the first time this November.
Democrats could respond conscientiously to those showing solidarity with the heroic besieged people of Gaza. Instead, they’re reacting like playground bullies. They want to guilt people into voting for Biden. They warn another Trump presidency will cause the U.S. to fall to fascism. This trite response ignores the fascist depths we’ve sunk to on Biden’s watch.
We’re already swimming in fascism
The recent House hearings on antisemitism sound eerily like the communist witchhunt The House Committee on Un-American Activities once led. False accusations of antisemitism aimed at radically inclusive groups of students who welcome all faiths and cultures are the new McCarthyism.
AIPAC and the Anti-Defamation League are lobbying for a modern Cointelpro. We’ve seen racist Zionist counterprotesters and police attack peaceful college activists. Professors are losing their jobs for standing up for free speech and civil disobedience.
The fear-based responses we’ve seen on campuses and in courtrooms show how worried “the establishment” is in 2024.
A vote for Biden will not innoculate the U.S. against the fascism we’re already experiencing. A popular mass movement supporting one third-party candidate might.
The growing popularity of Palestine solidarity encampments, the 2020 BLM marches, and the 2019 youth climate strikes have shown us that Generation Z are master planners. My next essay explores how we might this superpower to crush the U.S.’s corrupt two-party system.
We are unstoppable. Another world is possible.
Most of the young people trying to stay alive in Palestine today have never known freedom. Whether they’re serving in the resistance or simply trying to find food and shelter for their loved ones, their dreams are forever on hold. Still, they rise.
The Generation Z youth protesting in the U.S. — while safer than their Palestinian siblings — have never known the ‘normal’ world their grandparents took for granted. They’ve grown up in an era of mass shootings, live-streamed racist police violence, downward economic mobility, openly obscene politicians, endless war, and escalating climate catastrophe. Marching in the streets for the past decade, they’ve learned why we must dismantle the military-industrial complex. Many of those who have managed not to succumb to depression, have stayed hopeful by remembering: We are unstoppable. Another world is possible.
It’s time for parents, grandparents, and other elders to follow their lead. Together we can reimagine our way forward, transcend the U.S.’s broken two-party system, and begin again. #RevoltTheVote
Gail Marie Valker, Revolutionary Mama 🕊️🌱 is parenting three teenagers while getting to know herself and her parents who are in the late stages of life. She writes to explore how we can love our way through these times and work together to create the tomorrow we all want and need. If you’re dreaming about the future we can co-create as we save what we love, regenerate what we need, and learn to live in just and joyful ways, let’s connect!
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