{"id":45385,"date":"2025-12-02T11:59:12","date_gmt":"2025-12-02T19:59:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/?p=45385"},"modified":"2025-12-02T11:59:14","modified_gmt":"2025-12-02T19:59:14","slug":"democrats-look-in-the-mirror","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/2025\/12\/02\/democrats-look-in-the-mirror\/","title":{"rendered":"DEMOCRATS, LOOK IN THE MIRROR"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Nothing less will be sufficient<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Marianne Williamson<\/a> Dec 1, 2025<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Vector illustration<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This past Sunday I listened to a well-known Democratic influencer speak about the state of the country, particularly as it pertains to Donald Trump and the Republican party.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I agreed with his appraisal of Trump and the Republicans. His descriptions such as sociopath and psychopath work for me; I don\u2019t think they\u2019re hyperbole. But what struck me was a total lack of interest in looking at the mote in the eye of the Democratic party. No person, no organization, and no system that needs to reverse its fortunes can do so without looking in the mirror.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At one point he referred to George Lakoff\u2019s description of the Republican party as the critical father and the Democratic party as the nurturing mother. I remember in the 1990\u2019s when that seemed so astute, and perhaps at that time it was. But it isn\u2019t now. Over the years the Republican party went from critical to abusive; the Democratic party became a mom standing outside the door while the abuse was happening, doing little to stop it, then offering the abused child milk and cookies when the beating was over.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Guess which one of those the abused child grows up to detest more?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One thing I will say about the Republicans; they\u2019re willing to change on a dime if that\u2019s what it would take to win. That\u2019s hardly a compliment, just merely a statement about their corporate MO. More Republicans come from the business world, where if something isn\u2019t selling on Wednesday then you\u2019d better change something by Friday. And if you don\u2019t, the business could shut down by Monday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Democrats simply do what they do. If things aren\u2019t working on Wednesday, then you do them again on Friday. And if a disaster occurs on Monday, you just continue in zombie form. The mere mention of fundamental change is considered risky, critical, and unworthy of a \u201creal Democrat.\u201d The party is big on truth-tellers, as long as they\u2019re talking truth about the other side.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The problem with the Democratic party is not just the Republicans. The problem with the Democratic party is that it stopped offering the American people a cohesive alternative to what Republicans were selling. Unequivocal advocacy for the working people of the United States was at one point the party\u2019s heart and backbone. Democrats of old stood up to corporate overlords: they didn\u2019t play footsies under the table with them. And if the overlords didn\u2019t like, no big deal. Remember FDR\u2019s response to his gilded critics? \u201cI welcome their hatred.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Democrats in those days didn\u2019t care what rich donors thought of them \u2013 partly because prior to the Koch brothers they didn\u2019t have to, but also because it would have been against their principles to do so. Keep that word in mind: principles. The Democratic party, starting mainly in the 1990\u2019s, decided we could compete with the Republicans for the big boy money if we simply made enough deals with the big boys. As a party, the Democrats went from \u201cWe feel your pain and we\u2019re here for you no matter what,\u201d to \u201cWe feel your pain, and we\u2019ll do whatever we can to help you up as long as it doesn\u2019t threaten our donor base.\u201d The party took the big money, thinking it could have it both ways. Yet too often, it simply could not. The party sacrificed its spine at the expense of its principles. One has to ask \u201cWhat did that get us?\u201d The answer, of course, is that it got us two terms of Donald Trump.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You can\u2019t just blame the thief who came in during the night, if you opened every window and door and then went to sleep.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A perfect example, of course, is Obamacare. During the 2008 campaign, Obama said universal health care would be the top priority during his first term. Once he got into office, however, insurance companies clearly had a talk with him: You can go this far, but no further. <\/em>There was to be no more mention of universal coverage<\/em> or a public option.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

What emerged was the Affordable Care Act. Yes it helped a lot of people, but none so much as the insurance companies themselves. It still left tens of millions of people uninsured or underinsured. It still left over a million people rationing their insulin. It still left over half of our bankruptcies, medical bankruptcies. It still left many people mad.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I remember a young man being forcibly removed from a Congressional hearing on health care because he kept shouting out, Public Option! <\/em>In the 2010 midterms, Obama told Democratic candidates he wouldn\u2019t campaign for them if they mentioned the phrase. Such was the new Democratic party. Little compromises here and little compromises there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the first two years of both Obama\u2019s and Biden\u2019s presidency, both men had a trifecta. The House and Senate were theirs. Obama could have passed universal healthcare in his first two years, and Biden could have repealed that 2017 Trump tax cut in his first two years in office (immediately putting back in the middle class cuts). No one thing has done more to create our obscene income inequality \u2013 the $50T transfer of wealth from the middle class to the top .001 per cent \u2013 than that tax cut. Blaming Republicans for \u201ccutting needed services so they could pay for a tax cut for billionaires\u201d was really something this year, when for the first two years of Biden\u2019s term the Democrats could have gotten rid of the damn thing themselves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Compromise your principles a little here, a little more there, and over time you\u2019ve lost your moral authority. You can do a lot for people, but what they\u2019ll remember is what you didn\u2019t do.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

All this happened because the neoliberal corporatists \u2013 once treated by the party with appropriate and healthy skepticism \u2013 came to be seen as the grown-ups who were going save it. They would be the experts<\/em> in the room, arguing that you had to run the party like a business<\/em>. They didn\u2019t listen too much to those they considered the \u201criff raff\u201d in the party, who in their minds weren\u2019t sophisticated enough to navigate real power. They huddled in safe spaces like the Hamptons and Sun Valley, knowing nothing, not even a clue, about real lives lived by people outside their enclaves. I mentioned at a bigwig fundraiser once that we\u2019d probably get some good advice if we were to ask a few questions of the servers. I remember being looked at like I had two heads. Such were the new breed of neoliberal donors and the operatives they trained to serve them. They posed as saviors and clearly thought that they were. In fact they were invaders.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Under the sway of this elite, the party lost touch with its core principles. Losing touch with its core principles, it began to lose touch with its base. \u201cAmerica won\u2019t have to worry about a fascist takeover,\u201d said President Franklin Roosevelt, \u201cas long as democracy delivers on its promises.\u201d Too often Roosevelt\u2019s own party didn\u2019t heed those words, and now we are where we are.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Upgrade to paid<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

After the 2024 elections, I ran for Chair of the DNC. I did so because of all I had seen, all I experienced, and what I could see coming down the road. I knew the culture of the party would need to change, were it to survive as a powerful political force. I had seen the corruption inside the belly of the beast, and I knew it had to be expunged if the party was to emerge victorious in the future.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The DNC convention to elect its next Chair was mind boggling. Having won the Presidency again, Trump was putting together his next administration. And to me the dark clouds were looming. This wasn\u2019t a conservative government that was on its way in, but a neo-fascist coup that was revving up to destroy our government. How anyone could have not seen this even then, I can\u2019t imagine. Yet the convention was more like a frat party than a wake. People didn\u2019t seem to me to register the horror that to me matched the moment. I expected us to at least be somber. But there was more singing and dancing than there was serious conversation. I saw corruption at the top, cluelessness in the middle, and childishness at the bottom. It\u2019s not that I didn\u2019t encounter individuals who saw through the charade, because I did. But no one seemed willing to counter the establishment narrative, that \u201cBasically, it\u2019s okay. We just need to make sure we win next time.\u201d Obviously it wasn\u2019t okay, and it\u2019s not okay. Just blaming Republicans is not the answer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The other compromise with ethics, integrity, and most importantly democracy<\/em> that the Democratic party engaged in was with free and fair primary elections. Everyone knows by now that the DNC tipped the scales in favor of Hillary in the 2016 primaries. The proverbial grown-ups I mentioned earlier \u2013 the new iteration of Tammany Hall party bosses \u2013 considered Bernie Sanders an unacceptable choice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s important to remember the traditional, more ethical<\/em> role of a political party. First of all, parties are not mentioned in the Constitution; their outsized power today is preposterous. George Washington warned in his Farewell Address that they could form \u201cfactions of men\u201d more loyal to their party than to their country. Our second President, John Adams, considered them the biggest threat to our democracy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And in the words of Thomas Jefferson, \u201cThe only safe repository for power is in the hands of the people.\u201d Nothing should ever be considered a more important American creed. A party\u2019s appropriate role is to stand in the background until the voters<\/em> have chosen the party\u2019s nominee. Only then are they to step in and help that person win.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Millions of volunteers, mainly young people, came out to support Bernie in 2016, yet the party bosses simply weren\u2019t having it. If nothing else worked, their system of super-delegates would make sure voters wouldn\u2019t have a chance to make what the bosses considered an unwise decision. Those voters used to be called their base<\/em>, by the way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If the DNC hadn\u2019t put their finger on the scales that year, I don\u2019t know who would have won the election, Hillary or Bernie. But I do know this. Millions of Democrats wouldn\u2019t have been in a foul mood that year. The general election would have had a much different energy and I don\u2019t think Trump would have won.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After the 2016 election, a group of Bernie supporters sued the DNC for unfair practices. Incredibly, the DNC\u2019s defense was \u201cHey, we don\u2019t owe people fairness! We\u2019re a private corporation!\u201d Yes, they\u2019re a private corporation but they perform a quasi-governmental function; if they don\u2019t play fairly they are betraying the public. Even more incredibly, the DNC won the case!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At that point, all constraints were removed. In 2020 \u2013 and I would know \u2013 the party recognized, however begrudgingly, its responsibility to let any FEC registered candidate have a chance to present their message to the public. But by 2024, they figured to hell with that. A small group of White House insiders decided that there would be no primary, <\/em>that the threat Trump posed to our country was so great that the only way to save democracy was to suppress it. This was far too important a decision to leave in the hands of the people!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The DNC put out the word: Biden would be the candidate, and that was that. No other voices would be heard, or even tolerated. \u201cWe will all line up and support the President.\u201d I remember standing at the baggage carousel at the airport in Charleston, South Carolina, reading on my phone that DNC Chairman Jaimie Harrison had just said, \u201chelping Joe Biden win is our top priority,\u201d when the primary race had hardly even started. I thought, \u201cWow, that\u2019s not the role of the party Chair to say that.\u201d I had no idea what was coming.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Partnering with their media cohorts, the primary was effectively cancelled but not cancelled. It reminded me of the Soviet Union, when the party would brag of free elections yet they themselves had chosen the candidates. No lies, no infiltration, no shaming was too low to go in the effort to peripheralize whoever\u2019s voice they intended to shut out. When fate stepped in and President Biden gave a disastrous debate performance, the bosses simply appointed his successor. Yes, there could have been a blitz primary; many supported it. And yes, it could have been taken to the floor of a convention. It would have actually been very exciting, and a boost of energy we sorely needed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Don\u2019t let anyone tell you the problem was that the President should have gotten out sooner. They\u2019re all saying that now simply to cover their own asses. It should not have mattered<\/em> whether or not the President was still running. Eugene McCarthy and Robert Kennedy Sr. ran against Lyndon Johnson, and McCarthy doing so well in New Hampshire is what made Johnson drop out. \u201cWe don\u2019t have a primary when there\u2019s an incumbent President\u201d was just one of the many gaslights put on the internet, constantly repeated, and allowed to roam freely in people\u2019s heads.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rehashing history is not my intent. My concern is not with the past but with the future. Do I want the Democrats to win next year? I want them to<\/em> crush it. <\/em>Do I want a Democratic presidential candidate to win in 2028? I want him or her to crush it.<\/em> But it won\u2019t happen if the party doesn\u2019t reclaim its principles, because without them it lacks what Martin Luther King Jr. called \u201ccosmic companionship.\u201d There is more to win than individual elections; we have to win the hearts and minds of people who no longer trust we will do what we say. Democrats will only win those voters if we return to our core: an unequivocal dedication to things that actually serve the average American. And to a dedication to the democratic process. Just complaining about Trump won\u2019t win the future for the Democrats. Looking at ourselves, and cleaning our own house, is the only power great enough to override the darkness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I agree with Sunday\u2019s speaker that the crisis we face now is as great as any in our nation\u2019s history. For those of us who see in the Trump administration a neo-fascist threat to democracy, nothing could be more important than that the Democratic party be strong. But the needed strengthening will not occur without some brutal self-awareness and acknowledgements of the party\u2019s defects. We won\u2019t be able to help course-correct the country if we\u2019re not willing to course-correct ourselves. When and if we do, everything will change. If we recognize the mistakes we made, with humility and sincerity, heeding the call to make good on democracy\u2019s promises and our responsibility to its principles, then the future will be ours.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Nothing less will be sufficient Marianne Williamson Dec 1, 2025 Vector illustration This past Sunday I listened to a well-known Democratic influencer speak about the state of the country, particularly as it pertains to Donald Trump and the Republican party. I agreed with his appraisal of Trump and the Republicans. His… Continue reading → <\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45385"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=45385"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45385\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":45386,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45385\/revisions\/45386"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=45385"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=45385"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=45385"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}