By David Sole
For weeks a unified Democratic Party fought to preserve health care subsidies while the government shutdown ground on. Trump and his Republicans were being overwhelmingly blamed for the shutdown hardships as public opinion polls revealed. On Election Day, November 4, voters across the country handed Democrats victory after victory, confirming this shift against the Republicans. Then, on November 9 eight Democratic Senators broke ranks to approve the Republican measure to end the shutdown with no protection of health care. What can explain this capitulation?
The Republicans needed exactly 8 Democrats to join them for this vote to pass. It is no accident that precisely 8 Dems crossed the aisle to hand Trump a victory. Two of these eight are retiring from politics and the six others are not up for election in 2026.
It is clear the leadership of the Democratic Party gave orders for just enough Senators to vote with Trump to end the big battle that had been going on for five weeks. The way it was done minimizes the damage to the Democratic Party apparatus because, make no mistake, this collapse will damage that party’s standing in the eyes of poor and working people. Polls clearly showed people were supporting the defense of their health care.
Why would the “corporate” Democrats take this action that will inevitably weaken their own party just at a time their popularity was growing?
Let’s remember that there is a powerful billionaire ruling class in the United States and that class gives support to both big parties to protect the interests of the capitalist system which makes them super-rich. The job of the Democratic Party is to give hope to the poor and working people that they might get some small crumbs from the table of the wealthy.
But what happens when the “huddled masses” start to organize and take action that might, even a little bit, threaten the billionaires’ power and privilege? That puts fear in the hearts of the ruling elite who move immediately to crush the danger.
Masses in New York City Rally Around a Socialist
The election of Zohran Mamdani as mayor of New York City is not just another Democratic Party electoral victory. Mamdani is a self-proclaimed socialist who is not part of the “establishment.” The ruling rich fear he may actually intend to institute what he promised the poor people. And even if he is blocked from implementing many of his policies, the movement he inspires may take to the streets to win them and much more. Such a radical, even revolutionary, movement could easily get out of control – especially if tens of millions of people are forced to go hungry and lose their health care at the same time.
Establishment Didn’t Want The Democratic Candidate to Win in 1972
There are other times in modern history when the ruling class had similar worries. In the 1972 presidential election rank and file anti-Vietnam War delegates took control of the Democratic Party machine, putting in George McGovern as a candidate who promised to end the war. The machine politicians withdrew support from McGovern and Wall Street big money flowed overwhelmingly into Republican Richard Nixon’s campaign. Nixon won in a landslide – but the Democratic machine preferred to lose the election than allow the rank and file workers to take control. They knew that over the next four years the apparatus would fall back into their own hands.
1988 Jesse Jackson Presidential Successes Terrified the Ruling Class
In 1984 and 1988 Jesse Jackson ran grass roots campaigns for U.S. president inside the Democratic Party.. He was not an “establishment” candidate, not firmly tied to the ruling capitalist class. His program was rather moderate focusing against plant closings, for jobs, for small farmers, women’s rights, civil rights, LGBTQ+ rights, even for some justice for Palestine.
The ruling class didn’t take him seriously at first. In 1984 he garnered about 18% of the primary vote. In 1988 Jackson won 7 primaries and 5 state caucus votes. Remarkably he won almost every county in Michigan’s caucus process, in urban centers as well as white rural areas. Then a massive, coordinated attack began against him, with the cooperation of every major media outlet. A stray, inappropriate comment by Jackson was magnified, derailing his campaign.
Democratic Party Bursting With Contradictions
The Democrats will be seriously weakened by this perfidy. That is okay with the billionaire class – after all they just got a trillion-dollar tax break from Trump and the Republicans.
But cutbacks are coming one after another to the livelihoods of tens, hundreds of millions of people. So-called democratic rights are being destroyed as the Republicans flirt with a fascist regime. Protests of every variety are growing daily. These conditions cannot be contained inside today’s Democratic Party. A new political formation can and must arise to present a program of survival for poor and working people which may start out as an electoral struggle but will inevitably challenge the very foundations of this exploitative, racist, capitalist system.
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