Democratic party fundraising emails promise to “save the Republic”. The more unsettling truth is that Americans are not living under threat of future democratic breakdown; we are living inside the aftermath of one that has already occurred. The government that expanded formal rights only to hollow them out through mass incarceration, voter suppression, racialized wealth extraction, and – enabled by the supreme court – corporate capture of public institutions and elections? What’s giving me hope nowEven as Democratic party leaders retreat into caution, empty rhetoric and procedural theater amid the rise of fascism in the United States, many ordinary Americans have stopped waiting for them. These efforts are emerging not because the Democratic party has suddenly discovered courage and principle, but precisely because it has not.

Source: The Guardian March 08, 2026 12:31 UTC