The Democratic Party is at it again. The Democrats act with abandon trying to create the illusion they are the only political party that can save this nation from catastrophe. Lately their catastrophe is a return to the presidency of Donald Trump, but their catastrophe also includes third-party candidates.

In a New York Times opinion piece, Ross Douthat writes: “Despite all my doubts about the abnormalization strategy, despite Trump’s decent poll numbers against Biden at the moment, my guess is that this will work out for the Democrats,” (New York Times, “The Normal Paths to Beating Trump Are Closing,” August 5, 2023). Trump is a catastrophe, and he could be dangerous in a second term if his base instincts of hate are loosened to a greater degree than they were from 2017 until 2021. But how much more of a catastrophe is he than the Democrats who have pissed away billions of dollars on the proxy war in Ukraine that will leave that country a wasteland if diplomacy isn’t incorporated into the equation of Russia’s war there? 

True to their neoliberal principles, the Democrats will jettison or gut every program for social uplift and leave ordinary people vulnerable. The Democrats tinker around the edges of what governments are supposed to do. Where are higher wages? Where is the substantive reduction of student debt? Where is the support for vulnerable children? Where is affordable housing? Where is universal medical care? Where is income inequality addressed? These are not topics the duopoly or their wealthy paymasters wish to address!

The environment tanks as oceans heat and the ice caps and glaciers melt. The climate and the weather it drives has been despicable this summer and the species that populate our planet can’t depend on a political party that encourages more drilling for fossil fuels and backs fracking:

Where are the wind farms, solar panels, and other means of producing renewable energy? Where are the advances in producing electric cars and trucks? Where is leadership championing the environment?

In 1964, the Democrats spent the election cycle perseverating about how Barry Goldwater would launch a nuclear war if elected as a Republican. The Democratic Party  produced a campaign ad that was quickly withdrawn showing a young girl (the “Daisy” ad) against the backdrop of an imagined nuclear war. Lyndon Johnson escalated the already simmering Vietnam War and the larger war in Southeast Asia, then withdrew as a candidate in 1968. Johnston facilitated, and ushered in, Ricard Nixon, who considered using nuclear weapons in Southeast Asia during his presidency. Estimates are that about 3 million Southeast Asians were killed through a bipartisan effort during the Vietnam War era and more than 58,000 from the US died. Ronald Reagan turned the war in Southeast Asia into  a “noble cause.” We choose our leaders carefully in the US.

Where’s the totally absent foreign policy that engages both Russia and China and pushes back on about 750 military bases around the world? Those bases and our wars both hot and by proxy burn vast amounts of fossil fuels. These wars turned into a raison d’être following World War II. The US fought wars of conquest as far back as the 19th century and into the early 20th century preparing this nation for global dominance. The Spanish-American War and the Mexican-American War were a kind of warmup for the US wars of global dominance. They were a kind of bullpen for global control, both economically and militarily. It is as if the bully on the block is the only bully left standing today and is unstoppable. There are certainly other vicious actors in terms of militarism today, but no nation comes close to the mayhem the US sows, although there are many understudies.

The Democrats refuse to allow anyone into the debate about what their party stands for and who’s allowed into the tent of Democratic politics. The Democrats sabotaged Bernie Sanders’ campaigns in both 2016 and 2020. Democrats refuse to acknowledge the strength of Trump among his stalwart base of supporters and refuse admittance to others in anything resembling a democratic debate about policies. Here’s a discussion on The Katie Halper Show of viable Democrats who are kept from anything resembling a debate (“Obama & Biden Staffers Admit Bernie Was Sabotaged,” August 5, 2023). 

The newspaper of record and the Guardian are two examples of the mass media that stoke the flames of fear and war. Cheerleading for a unanimous point of view on war is what also happens on CNN and on MSNBC. These media outlets are both undependable and laughable. Recall how the mass media’s talking heads developed intricate schemes to show just how Russia interfered with the political system and elections in the US. That proved to be a monumental hoax. However,  the profits of the giants of the weapons industry continued to skyrocket in unison with the media hoax about Russia. Demonize other nations and the weapons manufacturers continue to live on easy street. Here is the Guardian’s coverage of the bogus Trump-Russia connection:

Add a third party into the mix of the Democrats’ election paranoia and the insanity about political contenders will go through the roof. Once it was the champion of democracy, Ralph Nader, who was pilloried with the lie of the Democrats’ loss in 2000. Then Jill Stein and the Green Party, all blamed, along with Russia, for Hillary Clinton’s weak candidacy and uninspiring policies. Now, the threat is leveled at Cornel West, a person who actually has meaningful policy positions (“Democratic jitters grow over Cornel West’s third-party bid,” The Hill, July 12, 2023). The Democrats’ long-standing refusal to move away from neoliberalism is never the problem: It’s always someone or something else: Russia, China, Ralph Nader, Jill Stein, Bernie Sanders, and now Cornel West. The finger pointing is endless, but sound policies are sparse. 

The late antiwar and antinuclear protester Philip Berrigan was right about elections in the US amounting to very little in terms of substantive change. If elections meant anything, they’d be illegal.

Howard Lisnoff is a freelance writer.