The Democratic Party tries to appear like the party of change and progress. But they’ve held the presidency for 12 of the last 16 years, and they’ve controlled many state and local governments for decades, overseeing the very policies that have brought us to this point. They sometimes pass small reforms, or give a sympathetic speech, but in the end, nothing really changes.
Whenever there are protests or social movements, the Democrats are there to tell people to stop protesting, to get out of the streets, and direct all of their energy back into the ballot box to get Democrats elected. Powerful and popular movements end up dead and buried and the Democrats stay in power. The Democratic Party is the graveyard of social movements.
When regular people were outraged that billions of dollars were being spent on wars, while we couldn’t afford medical bills, presidential candidate Barack Obama told people to put that energy into getting him elected. And it worked, and the protests stopped. Then, as president, he increased the military budget and gave trillions of dollars to the banks as millions of people lost their homes. And he passed a healthcare bill that enriched medical and insurance companies, while millions of people remained in medical debt.
It’s the same strategy every time. Ever since Roe v. Wade was overturned, and there have been major protests, the Democrats have worked hard to channel that energy back into elections, telling people to vote for them, to donate to them, and that they will fix everything. But for years, Democrats promised they would pass legislation to make abortion access a federal law, and they never did. And now they are promising to do it again as we approach another election.
With the Black Lives Matter movements against police brutality, the Democrats promised all sorts of changes if they got reelected. But once they did, nothing changed, and the killing of Black people by the police has continued.
And they’re using the same method today as hundreds of thousands of people have been demanding an end to Israel’s genocide. Vice President Harris says that a vote for her is a vote for a ceasefire. But meanwhile her administration continues to provide Israel with the weapons to carry out this massacre.
And when the Democrats can’t stop a movement by redirecting it back into the elections, they won’t hesitate to block it with violence and intimidation. At every level, from police commissioners to senators, Democratic politicians have been willing to suppress free speech, criminalize protests, and impose harsh sentences on those who speak out.
No matter their campaign speeches and their endless promises to fix things, like the Republicans, the Democrats defend the capitalist system, which is the cause of the problems we face.
