Why I Gave Up on the Democratic Party
I once hoped that Democrats could defend democracy and restore faith in American politics; instead, I see a party filled with its own hypocrisy, double standards and arrogance
I happened to stumble across the television broadcast of a 1973 boxing match between Muhammad Ali and Ken Norton a few days ago that I thought provided a perfect analogy to our dysfunctional political system, where truth and facts too often take a back seat to blind tribalism and loyalty.
For boxing aficionados, this fight is forever remembered for the then-unknown, heavy underdog Norton breaking Ali’s jaw in the second round, before going on to win a huge upset in 12 rounds. It was only the second loss of Al’s legendary career, after falling to Joe Frazier in the “Fight of the Century” two years earlier.
Watching the television broadcast by the iconic Howard Cosell, I wondered if and when during the fight it would become clear that Ali had suffered a devastating injury. As the rounds progressed, and Ali’s struggles mounted, Cosell began to suspect that something was wrong with him. At one point, he surmised that Ali may have cracked a tooth by the odd way his mouth looked in the ring.
This is where the analogy to today’s politics came into view. Cosell, who was always tight with Ali and his camp, turned to Ali’s trainer, Angelo Dundee, and doctor, Ferdie Pacheco, during the fight and put them on the spot on national television: What is wrong with Ali? Is something wrong with his mouth?
But Dundee and Pacheco refused to acknowledge the obvious. Nothing was wrong with Ali, they told Cosell. He was doing fine. Cosell, incredulous at what he was hearing, went back to calling the fight as Norton continued to dominate their boxer, who clearly was not fine.
Whether Dundee and Pacheco were just lying through their teeth, or blinded by their loyalty to Ali and the idea that he could not possibly lose this fight to the unknown Norton, I don’t know. But it reminded me of what I see in our political parties these days: Politicians, and their supporters, see only what they want to see, or acknowledge only what will advance their agenda, regardless of facts, regardless of what anyone can see with their own two eyes, the way Cosell could see with his two eyes that something was wrong with Ali during that fight.
Of course, the situation is far worse on the MAGA-controlled Republican side of the political aisle. Flooding the political zone with hate-filled lies and propaganda has been the M.O. of the Republican Party since Trump arrived on the scene. This is a party that has gone all in on fascism, racism, homo and transphobia, and saying and doing whatever it takes to cement its grip on power, even violating the U.S. Constitution and every bedrock principle of democracy itself.
During Trump’s first term, I held out hope that Democrats, for all their flaws, could save us from this descent into fascism by rebuilding Americans’ trust in the political process, by committing to honoring facts over ideology, by reckoning with their own blind loyalty to favored special interests, and by making clear that the public interest — and not the interests of deep-pocketed political supporters — would always be paramount. In short, they would send a message to the average American that no matter what forces seek to control our political system to advance their own interests, that everyone’s voice mattered, and that the facts underpinning every issue — regardless of who stood to benefit from the issue at hand — would ultimately rule the day.
How wrong I was.
Instead, what I’ve seen, at both the national and local levels the past eight years, is a party that plays the same games that Dundee and Pacheco played with Cosell during the 1973 Norton-Ali fight. They see only what they want to see — or will only acknowledge what serves their interests.
How so? Let me count the ways.
A party that continues to portray itself as fighting for the “working class” and marginalized has watched the cities and states it runs become ground zero for a housing affordability crisis, with out-of-control homelessness and more and more people living paycheck to paycheck and barely able to put a roof over their head. Because too often NIMBYism, and the money and influence that supports it, has triumphed over any true allegiance to the working class, disadvantaged and forgotten.
A party that pretends being “pro-working class” is synonymous with being “pro-union,” even though the vast majority of the working class are not union members and have no prospect of becoming one. Like all special interests groups, unions ultimately fight first and foremost for the best interests of their own members, even if that comes at the expense of other unions, or non-union workers (see the unions that opposed Medicare for All because it would upend their hard-won private health benefit packages; or the teachers unions that held up school re-openings during the pandemic, even though the impact of the closures was disproportionately felt by working-class families who didn’t have the luxury of staying home with their children; or the public sector unions that forced a public pension crisis that continues to burden taxpayers). But establishment Democrats, addicted to the campaign money that unions pour into their coffers even as they’ve steadily cozied up to corporate and Wall Street interests, continue to pretend that anything that benefits their union backers automatically benefits the entire working class, even when the facts show otherwise. How else to explain why almost every major union in New York City backed scandal-ridden centrist Andrew Cuomo in his run for mayor against the true working-class candidate, Zoran Mamdani? Yes, unions have done a lot of good throughout American history when it comes to improved working conditions and livable wages, but that doesn’t mean every union is beyond reproach on every issue, or that they aren’t susceptible to the same abuses and corruption that infect other other powerful interests — particularly when granted the blessing of blind loyalty that Democrats so often bestow.
A party that continues to largely back the status quo in a broken public education system that is fundamentally unequal and leaves behind disproportionate numbers of disadvantaged students, including students of color, denying parents any semblance of choice. While quality public charter schools have offered countless disadvantaged students a lifeline from failing traditional schools, the party continues to largely treat the charter movement as a pariah — or worse — because of its blind allegiance to teacher unions (no, not all charters are good, and even the quality ones are no panacea to all that ails public education, but they do have a place — along with other reforms — in offering families an opportunity for better outcomes for their children).
A party that continually preaches the values of diversity, equity and inclusion but too often practices its own brand of racism in the areas mentioned above. Its loyalty to those values often takes a backseat to its blind loyalty to its favored interest groups. When a highly qualified Latino applicant was unanimously appointed to fill a school board vacancy in my hometown, becoming the only minority on the board of an ethnically diverse district, the local Democratic Party chapter chose to get behind a special election that bounced her from the seat and endorse her opponent, largely because the other candidate was a longtime leader of the local teachers union.
I could go on and on, but suffice it to say, that on far too many issues, the liberal, mostly white elites that control the levers of power in the party have turned a blind eye toward the economic and other struggles of the people who have been left behind — even as they pay lip service to being their champions. For years, they turned a blind eye to the racism and abuse in law enforcement, until the sight of George Floyd being murdered before the eyes of a nation became too much to ignore. For years, they engaged in the same militaristic cheerleading as Republicans, leading us into one foreign policy fiasco after another. In championing the importance of environmental protection and combatting the climate crisis, they’ve also allowed that movement to become infected with a brand of elitism and NIMBYism, using it as an excuse to treat any housing development as an affront to nature, to inflict more economic pain on those who can’t afford a hybrid vehicle, let along an electric one, and who remain at the mercy of steadily rising gas prices.
Don’t get me wrong. None of the party’s sins come close to matching what we’ve seen during the Republican Party’s horrific MAGA slide into fascism. I’m thankful that the Democratic Party still, by and large, respects the sanctity of free and fair elections and the bedrock principles of the Constitution. And to the degree that it continues to stand firm in its support of marginalized groups such as the LGBTQ+ community and those being denied due process during Trump’s immigration crackdown, I’m also grateful.
But words are one thing, and actions are something else. In too many ways, Democrats have failed to walk the walk on the values they claim to espouse. They’ve failed to effect fundamental positive change in the lives of the people they claim to be fighting for. And that’s why so many of those people are leaving the party, because they don’t like being treated as pawns, they don’t like being promised things that the party never seems able to deliver — and barely even tries.
Fed up with the hypocrisy and arrogance I’ve seen with Democrats in my own community, I recently changed my voter registration status to “no party preference.” Practically speaking, it won’t make a difference in how I vote, because as long as the Republican Party remains in the grip of fascists and racists who have no respect whatsoever for bedrock principles of democracy, I will have no choice but to vote for Democrats in head-to-head elections. I so wish there were a third option.
Our entire political system — including the Democratic Party — is as broken as Muhammad Ali’s jaw was in that fight against Ken Norton a half century ago. And as much as Democrats try to convince us otherwise, the way the men in Ali’s corner tried to convince Cosell, we can see the truth with our own two eyes.
But am I ready to give up hope? Never. Just as Ali’s jaw healed from that devastating defeat to Norton, and he went on to some of his greatest triumphs in the ring, so it can be with the party that is currently our only real hope for preserving democracy, the rule of law and the Constitution. Maybe someday Democrats and Republicans alike can find a champion or two able to float like a butterfly and sting like a bee against the political forces of hate, lies and corruption that have currently left our nation down for the count.