We are in the midst the gravest constitutional crisis since the Civil War. In less than one month, the new administration has shredded the United States’ heretofore sacrosanct system of checks and balances—through the brazen expansion of executive power, the de facto disregard of Congress whenever expedient, the intimidation of adversaries including the press, and a brash confidence that President Donald Trump cannot be contained by the courts.
Fortunately, there is one weapon available to us, one that is large enough to combat a crisis of this scale, one that we as citizens can wield to contain, defeat, and roll back this fascist counterrevolution–the Democratic Party.
Not the Democratic Party as it is—so far, the response to the crisis by Democratic leadership in Congress has been anemic, an utter failure.
After four and half decades of neoliberalism’s marginalization of popular political participation, the American majority has effectively been hypnotized into accepting its own oppression.
Rather, the Democratic Party as it must be, and will be, when we do the only thing available to us to save our democracy, freedom, and constitutional republic: Enter en masse into the Democratic Party and transform it into an institution of, by, and for the people.
For better or for worse, we live in a two-party political system.
Since 1946 there have been over 17,000 elections for the U.S. House of Representatives. How many have been won by a third-party candidate? Zero.
In the U.S. Senate, there have been two third party candidates elected: William F Buckley’s brother, James L Buckley, in 1970 on the New York Conservative line (usually a fusion Party); and Joe Lieberman, founding member of the Connecticut for Lieberman Party.
Final score over the past 78 years: Connecticut for Lieberman 1 Green Party 0.
The record is just as bad statewide and in localities. There have literally been millions of elections since WWII. The number of third-party victories is infinitesimal, less than one-tenth of 1%.
Third Partyism in the United States is, at best, an utter waste of time and energy; at worst (and this is usually the case), left-wing third parties facilitate the rise of the right—both by siphoning votes away from Democrats, and, more significantly, by drawing well-intentioned progressives away from participating in politics that actually make a difference.
This is unequivocally true for a very simple reason: The rules and regulations that govern our society are still, to this day, determined by our elected officials, who are either Democrats or Republicans.
Indeed. Until Trump, Elon Musk, and their minions do considerably more damage to our democratic republic by changing the rules of our elections, this will remain the case. There are scheduled midterm elections in 2026—and it remains likely that they will be as competitive as recent U.S. elections. (The Trump administration is intent on whittling away voter protections, but anything like the wholesale transformation of competitive voting as in Hungary or Russia appears a bridge too far in just two years.)
As such, the Democratic Party remains our only hope to preserve our freedom and our civil, human, and political rights. The Republican Party is wholly captured by the authoritarian, anti-constitutional MAGA movement.
And, to reiterate, there are only two parties that matter in the American political system, in which elected officials establish the laws that govern our society.
So, either you enter the Democratic Party to reform it, or you are complicit in the rise of fascism.
If that sounds too straightforward or confrontational, I ask you to take a breath and seriously consider what’s transpiring in the country. I don’t mean to be condescending, and I certainly don’t intend to scold anyone (if anyone deserves that, it’s myself for not writing this sooner). But I’ve done my due diligence in writing this essay. I’ve challenged dozens upon dozens of people to negate the logic of my argument. No one who has tried has even come close—and 90% have conceded the point without even making a counterargument.
At this hour, the Democratic Party is the only instrument at our disposal that can deliver the results we need.
The time has come for us to take off our blinders, understand the lay of the land so we can engage our foes, defeat them, and then proceed to build a stronger democratic society.
This strategy has worked before, in the 1930s and 40s, to claw our society back from the brink of fascism. FDR’s transformed Democratic Party, defined by the mass entry of workers in coordination with the labor movement, then proceeded to build the most prosperous middle class in human history, and by the mid-1960s codified the demands of the civil rights movement.
This is the third essay in a four-part series outlining why progressive “mass entryism” into the Democratic Party is necessary at this hour of history in order to salvage American democracy, freedom, and our Constitutional Republic.
The first two installments addressed the main causes behind the rise of Donald Trump: widespread dissatisfaction with the economy and the political establishment. The first article made the case that only a progressive-Bernie Sanders-FDR-inspired set of policies can deliver the shared economic prosperity that Americans crave and thus vanquish Trump’s hollow populism. The second shows that, once again, only progressives will fulfill the wishes of the people by establishing a true “small d” democratic revival that ends the reign of plutocratic money and insures equal political agency for every citizen.
In this essay, the most polemical in the series, I make the case that all progressives, with no exceptions, must get over any qualms they have about entering the Democratic Party. They either do this or accept that they are failing to stand up for what they claim to believe. History will not treat them kindly if they fail to act accordingly.
The fourth and final installment will outline a two-step fail-proof strategy for transforming the Democratic Party in a progressive direction. Together we can build the party into a force that can save American democracy and deliver the fully inclusive, prosperous middle-class society that the vast majority of Americans want.
In the title of this article, the words “to transform” are just as important as those about joining the Democratic Party. Heretofore, and since Bill Clinton’s election in 1992, the mainstream of the Democratic Party has supported neoliberal policies. This must end, and end now, for the simple reason that neoliberalism begat Trumpism—and will always continue to do so.
Here’s why. If a society is organized, as it is under neoliberalism, so that all the surplus wealth flows into the coffers of an ever increasingly rich small minority (aka the idle investor class)—it simply follows that this group of people will use their unrivaled wealth and power to end any capacity the general population may have to influence how society allocates its resources. Four and a half-decades after former President Ronald Reagan and former U.K. Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher launched the neoliberal revolution, and 30-odd years since Clinton and former U.K. Prime Minister Tony Blair joined their team—this is exactly what Trump, Musk, and Project 2025 are doing.
It follows that mass entryism into the Democratic Party is not enough; we also must reform it along the lines that were outlined in the first two articles in this series. To sit idly by, allowing the Democratic Party to remain in its current state, is as good as handing Trump the keys to the kingdom.
While mass entryism may be necessary, it won’t be easy. At this hour of history, people’s resistance to becoming actively involved in Democratic Party politics is profound. On the one hand, party leadership has (with rare exceptions) obstructed efforts by progressives to gain a toehold, wearing down its grassroots wing. More significant for the general population has been the slow realization and then tacit acceptance of a central tenet of the neoliberal order—that money and capital have an iron grip on all meaningful political decision-making.
However, neoliberal ideologues, in their heyday, did not actively seek to dismantle the apparatus of elections. Rather, promotion of “democracy” was central to their world view—even as they declared themselves the winners in advance (witness Thatcher’s “There is no Alternative” and Francis Fukuyama’s “End of History”). The actual destruction of liberal democracy has been left to neoliberalism’s heirs—Trump and the emergent international alliance of authoritarians (the “reactionary international,” aka 21st century fascism).
Nonetheless, after four and half decades of neoliberalism’s marginalization of popular political participation, the American majority has effectively been hypnotized into accepting its own oppression.
As mentioned before, no one I spoke to could negate the structural reality that the Democratic Party is literally the only institutionally empowered channel in American society capable of beating back Trumpism. However, the very same people acknowledged that they hadn’t even considered mass entryism into the Democratic Party as the appropriate and viable solution to the current crisis.
When asked why, a common response was for people to look at me with a blank stare, then blink their eyes or look away as if seeing the sun for the first time after being in a cave for days. However, this was not a “seen-the-light moment,” only a momentary break in the hypnosis. Invariably, what I would hear next became a familiar litany of reasons why Democratic mass entryism just won’t happen.
Most prominent among these were:
- The Democratic establishment will never cede power.
- Too many people are making too much money through the Democratic Party, and they will block any attempt to shut down their gravy train.
- Capital will never allow one of the two parties to be taken over by the people.
- Progressives will resist being shepherded into a centrist party.
- The Democrats are a war party. Gaza.
- The Democratic “brand,” and the progressive brand, have been made toxic by effective right-wing propaganda.
- Resistance activism is adequate (The Resistance is a great thing. Necessary, but not sufficient; it requires a parallel positive program.)
- Social movement activism is the solution (Also, a great thing, but requires allies on the inside. Must be supplemented by Democratic Party entryism.)
- Labor Movement activism is the solution (Another great thing. Solidarity forever, and across all sectors of society through Democratic Party entryism)
- Working people simply don’t have the time for political activism.
- Americans have been conditioned to remain politically inert.
In the fourth and final article in this series, I will outline an effective strategy for transforming the Democratic Party through mass entryism. In the context of that strategy, I will address the objections listed above.
In the meantime, please internalize the message of this essay—nothing is more important:
Because of the structure of American society and politics, the Democratic Party is the only institution positioned to challenge, defeat, and reverse the Trump administration’s ongoing destruction of our constitutional order.
The Democratic Party is failing now. We cannot allow this to continue. Everyone reading this understands there must be change, and that requires action.
Either we get involved in transforming the Democratic Party into the means that will defeat Trump and 21st-century fascism, or we are complicit in its rise.
Join PDA’s efforts to create a truly progressive Democratic Party, which we desperately need at this crucial hour of our history.
