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Don't Fall for the Two-Party Scam

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Don't Fall for the Two-Party Scam

At the leadership level, Republicans and Democrats work for the same bosses.

Peter Daou
Jan 19, 2022
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Don't Fall for the Two-Party Scam

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Photo by Jim Watson via Getty Images

Let me juxtapose two images.

The first is a CNN headline from today (January 19, 2022).

The second is an unsolicited text message I received yesterday (January 18, 2022).

Nancy Pelosi’s net worth is estimated to be as high as $100 million. She’s been credibly accused of insider trading, and is currently resisting constraints on stock trading by members of Congress. Yet within the same 24-hour period that Democrats are fighting to defend Trump’s abusive border policies, Pelosi is asking people to send the Democratic Party $40, when millions can’t afford food and medicine.

Twitter avatar for @LauraMiers
Laura Miers @LauraMiers
“During the pandemic, 3/4 of workers said it was very or somewhat difficult to make ends meet, 40% said they couldn’t come up with $400 in the event of an emergency and around 20% said they went hungry because they couldn’t afford enough to eat.” nbcnews.com/health/health-…
2:43 AM ∙ Jan 18, 2022
160Likes74Retweets

Pelosi’s defenders will argue that there’s nothing wrong with fundraising. But what they refuse to see is that she helps preside over a system that funnels unimaginable wealth to the biggest Republican and Democratic donors, and that $40 from a working class contributor reinforces that oppressive system.

Twitter avatar for @AssalRad
Assal Rad @AssalRad
World's 10 richest men made $1,3000,000,000 *a day* & their wealth is now 6x greater than that of the world's poorest 3.1 billion people. This is disgusting. https://t.co/TOlmOqcuKZ
Twitter avatar for @CNN
CNN @CNN
Billionaires added $5 trillion to their fortunes during the pandemic, according to Oxfam, exacerbating economic inequality as the pandemic pushed millions of people around the world into poverty https://t.co/wp3wP1CXcl
3:06 AM ∙ Jan 17, 2022
840Likes311Retweets

Most Americans are conditioned to think inside a red-blue binary, so that you either back one “team” or the other. And the two party monopoly (or duopoly) wants it that way. As long as people are stuck inside their system, the ultra-rich and ultra-powerful get richer and more powerful, and party leaders keep their cushy positions.

Ruling party leaders see their supporters as unwitting dupes. They keep them in line with sophisticated propaganda, convincing the public that political leaders are noble fighters for justice, and that if only people would vote harder and donate more, things will get better. Yet mysteriously, decade after decade — no matter which party is in the majority — the poor remain poor, the homeless remain homeless, millions lack healthcare, gun violence ravages the nation, immigrants are abused, systemic racism maintains its ugly grip, police brutality continues, trillions go to a bloated military budget, Wall Street gets bailed out, and the climate emergency goes largely unaddressed.

All this is by design. Which is why leftists equate (and attack) the Republican and Democratic parties alike, not because they naively believe there’s no difference between individual Democrats and Republicans, but because they know that at the highest levels of government, the overarching mission is to preserve the status quo.

Harsh leftist critiques of the Democratic Party are not meant to denigrate every single elected Democrat, but to draw attention to systemic obstacles to progress. Cori Bush and Marjorie Taylor Greene are not remotely similar. They occupy two completely different universes. There are principled candidates who run as Democrats, believing they can “push the leadership left” and bring about meaningful change once elected.

I’ve been there. I was an anti-Bush activist who started out as a Democratic liaison to the progressive community and ended up in the party’s upper ranks, thinking I could bring my ideals and values with me. But I learned the hard way that no matter how good my intentions, the system itself was structured to absorb and disempower me. While I worked behind the scenes and never held office, I see how that process is playing out for elected progressives I’ve admired. They are used as mouthpieces for the establishment then blamed for anything and everything that goes wrong.

Democratic and Republican politicians are not all the same, but at the leadership level, they work for the same bosses. Status quo stalwarts like McConnell, Pelosi, Biden, Pence, McCarthy, Romney, Manchin, Schumer, etc. keep their jobs for decades and are well-rewarded precisely because they preserve and protect the power and wealth of the ruling elites. The obscene inequality and injustice tearing our society apart is a feature of the two-party system, not a bug.

If you’re waiting for real progress from a system that cages children, bails out billionaires, causes hundreds of thousands to die in a pandemic, and leaves people homeless, hungry, and without healthcare … you’ll be waiting forever. The entire structure needs to be dismantled and replaced. And that is the sharp dividing line between leftists and just about every other political faction in America. Leftists refuse to suck up to politicians in the futile hope that electing a few more will magically end centuries of entrenched plutocratic power.

The saying goes: If you don’t know who the mark is, you’re the mark. Isn’t it interesting that both parties claim “democracy is at stake” if voters don’t pick them? Or that as Joe Manchin supposedly single-handedly blocks the Biden agenda, Democratic leaders do nothing to diminish his power? Or when Trump was in office and being called “an existential threat to democracy,” Pelosi was pushing to give him more surveillance powers? That doesn’t add up unless someone is getting scammed. Unfortunately, far too many citizens buy into the charade.

One of the most common liberal retorts to leftist critiques of the Democratic Party is “stop criticizing Democrats, you’re helping Republicans!” Another one is “voting third party is voting Republican.” Both of these arguments are pure propaganda — anyone perpetuating them is being manipulated by the duopoly to quell dissent.

Think about it: Are leftists the ones helping Republicans or is it Democratic leaders who warmly embrace the likes of Bush, Cheney, Bill Kristol, Jennifer Rubin, and the Lincoln Project? After all, it’s not leftists calling for a stronger GOP.

“You’re a man of word and a man of honor. Thank you for being my friend.” — Joe Biden to Mitch McConnell, February 2022

“This country needs a strong Republican Party. They've made great contributions to our country.” — Nancy Pelosi, February 2022

“You’re the grand old party of America, you’ve done wonderful things for our country.” — Nancy Pelosi, September 2021

“I think our country needs a strong Republican party. It's very important." — Nancy Pelosi, February 2021

"We need a Republican Party.” — Joe Biden, January 2021

“The country needs a strong Republican Party that’s done so much for our country.” — Nancy Pelosi, September 2021

Worried that the GOP might get “clobbered” in 2020. “I’m really worried that no party should have too much power.” — Joe Biden, December 2019

“In my view, we need a strong Republican Party. We need a Republican Party that’s united.” — Joe Biden, November 2011

I’ll leave you with this photo:

Photo by William Thomas Cain via Getty Images

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Don't Fall for the Two-Party Scam

www.directleft.com
1 Comment
Matthew Hoh
Jan 20, 2022

Peter, you absolutely nail why I launched my campaign for US Senate in NC on Tuesday and you describe exactly the response I have received from friends and former colleagues who are members of the Democratic establishment.

I would love to have a conversation with you.

My campaign website is https://www.matthewhohforsenate.org and my twitter is @matthewphoh.

Thank you for what you are doing my friend.

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