Why Liberalism Doesn't Work Right Now
Liberal politics cannot thrive while promising "moderate" change.
The fumble of Kamala Harris’ 2024 centrist campaign to right-wing populist Donald Trump has made it evident that maintaining the current status quo simply isn’t appealing to the broader public or masses anymore.
In the year 2025, working class people (as in, people who aren’t the elite capitalist 1%) aren’t comfortable with policy that promises little to no economic change. This is because the American working class’ conditions are ever worsening. You can see it in your own life, or the lives of others that you know. This sentiment can also be represented statistically. Life expectancy is going down in the U.S., home ownership seems virtually impossible for the up and coming Generation Z, and almost 40% of Americans reported they wouldn’t be able to cover a $400 emergency expense.
The working class is more stressed and materially strained than they have been for decades. Until the Democratic Party realizes this, this will continue to be a problem for their party at large. This will also continue to be a problem for our working class as well, presented with no real working alternative. Donald Trump gained a leg up on the Democratic Party by publicly recognizing that there are real economic challenges that exist for many Americans.
However, Trump pointed at the wrong causes for those challenges, such as immigrants, transgender people, and other marginalized groups that have relatively little to no power within the United States. Instead of this false consciousness, there should be more class consciousness, that is, consciousness between the two opposing classes of our time, the working class and the ruling / capitalist class. This sentiment has been partially represented in the social democratic movement around progressive figures such as Bernie Sanders or Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. They correctly assume that the problem is not transgender people’s existence or unqualified Black people in positions of power, but the millionaires and billionaires (e.g. the capitalist / ruling class) of our nation lobbying for their interests.
Among the younger generations, social democracy through the name of “democratic socialism” has become a popular ideological faction within groups of young people who associate themselves with the Democratic Party. Reuters reported that in 2016 that Sanders' support among 18-29 year olds hovered around 70%, compared to about 30% for Clinton. Former DNC Chairman Howard Dean even stated in 2020 that he’d “rather be where Sanders is than anyone else”. Younger generations have been dealt a bad hand and aren’t able to use their previous savings to make up for the economic struggle they encounter under our current conditions. However, social democrats or left-liberals like Bernie Sanders only promote resistance to the ruling class and not a solution to the dictatorship that the rich elites, or bourgeois, have over politics, culture, and other forms of ideology. He has endorsed moderate liberals for presidency and most of the time, social democrats do not critically support nations like Cuba, who is unfortunately suffering under a blockade from the world superpower of the U.S., neither do they support China. These countries are both trying to reach a more advanced level of economic production, one without economic classes.
As capitalism progresses and evolves as a system to try to capture the attention or complacency of the working class through quasi-populist political presentation, if we do not rise to the occasion of being active members of our community through having difficult and awkward conversations with our families or neighbors, or act through forms of direct action, the political machine will continue to ratchet towards supporting the interests of our capitalist or ruling class under a pro working-class facade. The capitalists will do this all while amassing wealth and making us suffer through recession on an average of every 6-7 years due to the economic system we are under. For context, economic recessions do not happen as severely under socialist economic systems, historically.
Through working class people’s pressure, not anyone or anything else’s, we were able to change government official’s opinion or policy on certain matters. We have not made our ruling class give us many concessions as of recent, and in fact, we are losing concessions by the second through Trump’s brand of right wing populism, such as the changing of federal standards for Medicaid benefits. Obama didn’t change his policy on same-sex marriage until we rose up, the 40 hour work week would’ve never became policy unless we rose up, and capitalism will never end until we rise up. It’s time for a different type of populism, a working class populism. It’s time for communism.