Though I am an incredible cynic about the larger-scale state of American democracy, I am not one of those people who just sits out the vote altogether. Local governance is still an important thing that hasn’t been completely corrupted by forces of capital, and when done right, can substantially better the lives of community members.
Here in Los Angeles, we have an incredibly important mayoral race that will very much determine whether or not this city even has the potential to improve over the next decade. If Nithya Raman can pull off a win, there’s actually hope that this city can change some of the issues that are currently being completely ignored by city hall. There are also broader California measures—such as taxing billionaires—that are not remotely close to what I want but still better than nothing. (This would be a one-time, five-percent tax that I believe should be annual and closer to 35%.)
Yet, nationally, everyone is expecting a blue wave of Democratic candidates to win seats in the US Senate that are currently held by Republicans. Like, cool, good for y’all who care, but I really don’t understand the psychology of people excited about this. The Democrats have long-proven they will do nothing on major issues. Even if they had a supermajority in the Senate, I bet they’ll say, “Trump will veto our legislation and we can’t get a 2/3 majority, so why bother?”
It is a party of corrupt, mostly right-leaning Zionists and capitalists who have always voted to fund ICE and Israel. To think they’ll do anything about either of those—much less somehow control the global economic landscape and bring down gas or food prices—is legitimately insane at this point. Let’s not forget when Obama was elected, the Democrats also had a supermajority in the Senate and held the House and still didn’t pass universal healthcare or close Guantanamo Bay.
In 2026, to believe in the Democratic party, much less expect anything from them, is a fool’s errand. It has been nearly 20 years of complete disappointment that goes even further back to Bill Clinton rolling out a fairly right-wing agenda in law enforcement, telecommunications, and public services. While I understand any measure to curtail the insanity of the Trump administration is at least a step in the right direction, I will be shocked if the liberals do anything more than write strongly-worded letters about why the United States is doing bad things.
At a national level, Election Day has become a moment where pundits on the news networks try to justify their existence and the people can feel a remote garnish of hope to temporarily mute the stink of the pile of shit that is the US government. It is a profoundly stupid day, a performance of smoke and mirrors by a bunch of snake-oil salesmen, and the continued belief in it is exactly why the people are doomed to a future of ruin.
