Progressives vote for Democrats because they make better opponents, are less opposed to our goals, and do less harm than Republicans, but we also see that they are beholden to corporate and imperial power just like Republicans and both parties must ultimately be confronted.
Let's be clear: we are under no illusion that the Democrats are allies in the fight against the structures of power that uphold corporate dominance and the imperial state. The party machinery, like that of the Republicans, is bound by the same donor class—the same oligarchs, the same financial interests, the same engines of militarism.
While the interests of the ruling class diverge on the margins, it is what they share in common that you and I would best be served to unite against. Fighting for one half of the establishment or the other is playing into their game.
Our occasional “support” for Democrats (which is far from universal) isn't a sign of allegiance but a sign of tactical engagement. We recognize that as long as our options are limited to these two parties, we must choose the better opponent.
The Democratic Party, despite its rhetoric, is fundamentally a party of neoliberal economics and war. Like the GOP, it will not challenge the hegemony of the capitalist class or dismantle the structures that perpetuate endless war, privatized healthcare, and systemic inequality. It offers better concessions than Republicans, but those differences matter little to the millions of Americans who have felt abandoned by both parties.
Trump gives Americans a laundry list of false scapegoats to blame, and a direction to channel their anger. For the poor, it is an understandable anger rooted in material suffering, but for Trump's wealthy supporters, it is an anger misdirected and weaponized to support a partisan game that has them blaming one party and various persecuted minorities rather than the system that both parties operate under.
The fundamental mistake conservatives make when criticizing the left is assuming that progressives are Democrats by conviction, and that we are playing the same partisan game they are, just wearing different jerseys.
We are not.
We see the Democratic Party as an obstacle that needs to be confronted just as much as the Republicans—more so in fact, because the corporate Democratic stranglehold over the party is the primary reason Republicans keep winning elections. The party leadership has consistently shown their allegiance to status-quo maintenance over transformative change. They backed establishment politics over Sanders' democratic socialism, and would rather lose to Trump's American brand of fascism than allow the left to gain real power within their party.
Why then, would we choose Democrats as the better oppoent? The difference is strategic: Democrats, by their very hypocrisy, offer more openings for dissent and grassroots pressure. They claim to support working people while serving corporate interests, and that gap between rhetoric and reality creates space for organizing. They are an adversary that makes pushing for transformative change slightly more viable than operating under open authoritarian rule.
In truth, the fight is not between Republicans and Democrats; it is between the powerful and the powerless, the ruling class and the working class. Both parties fundamentally serve the interests of militarism and corporate elites.
The left understands this—while many liberals and most conservatives fight only one half of the duopoly while playing defense for their chosen side.
Our aim is not to get you to suddenly become a progressive, but to realize that Trump is not your ally, just as the Democratic establishment is not ours. He speaks the language of populism, but his policies during his first term and the first year of his second term have made it more than clear he supports the pro-war, pro-corporate establishment forces he publicly pretends to rail against.
This statement may defy what most know about Trump's actual policy record, but that is because conservative media—even so-called independent conservative media—is beholden to this partisan game and the revenue streams of their elite backers, and so they will never tell you the truth, just as progressives or liberals will never get the full picture from MSNBC, CNN, or overly-partisan online media.
Instead of dividing ourselves into partisan camps, we should be uniting against the oligarchs that own both parties. Our real enemy is not each other—it is the wealthy elite who buy influence and control policy to keep us fighting for scraps while they hoard unimaginable wealth. We have shared class interests, and it's time we fought for each other instead of letting these puppet masters use us against ourselves.
Together, we have the power to demand fair wages, healthcare, housing, and dignity for all—but only if we recognize that our strength lies in solidarity, not in defending politicians and working as willing foot soldiers for those who ultimately don't care about us.
Tim Hjersted is the director and co-founder of Films For Action, a library dedicated to the people building a more free, regenerative and democratic society.
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