So regarding all of the discourse around the need to destroy both parties right away... it just comes across as unserious to me.
Hope we're not rehashing too much, but while I agree with the charges against the administration (if you think Biden's admin is guilty of aiding/abetting a Genocide, I think that's just factually accurate), I think you have to be a real about the actual mechanics of the systems in place - political, social, legal, mechanical. I'm just asking leftists to think about systems, material conditions, and the dialectic between the forces at play. Should be up everyone's alley.
I don't think the two parties can be "destroyed"--
These are not physical entities-- they are political niches shaped by the material conditions created by the people and legal framework that exists in the US. You can reconstitute/change the individuals/thinking (strategy/philosophy/values/loyalties etc.) to a certain degree, but no matter what, there will be 2 entities that fill 90% of the niche and do 90% of the work that the Democrats & Republicans are doing. They can't "be destroyed" in a real sense without massively reshaping the existing available niches from economy and culture (and even then, there will be 2 governing parties regardless).
Imagine, magically though, that Jill Stein or Cornel West could win with all other candidates' campaigns disappearing. They either would be completely unable to govern if the armed forces and executive branch organizations beneath them don't obey them, or they would end up in almost the exact same place doing the same things as the Democratic Party if they pick the same type of people and are constrained by the same Legislative branch, or they could/would be just completely incompetent without the right people with the right expertise in place.
Not to say that outsiders can't be effective-- FDR famously did a mass overhaul of the executive branch, he filled his staff with people from working class backgrounds/chose folks with academic/professional backgrounds radically aligned to labor, and was tremendously successful with this team of outsider new-to-governing bureaucrats. BUT... he was extremely prepared to do so, even from the campaign stage that strategy was robust and deliberate-- it was a team assembled with a mission.
There are no 3rd Parties in the US with that capability, that can pull together that robust human resource, or that ability to win and use political legitimacy to drive an agenda. Definitely helps that FDR was a Democrat... I personally could listen to Cornel West for hours as a rich orator on history, culture, spirituality-- but zero confidence the man could assemble such a winning bureaucratic team (Bernie 2020 on the other hand, absolutely has my confidence that he would have/could have if he had won).
Now, let's take stock of what is on the table. I WANT the Democrats to EXPERIENCE SUCCESS--
To feel rewarded for leaning HARD into Labor, for embracing populist rhetoric and culturally centering leftist fingers-- Bernie, AoC, Shawn Fain plastered in big prime time spots, the party owning the position of THIS IS WHO WE ARE-- to get the carrot. If they win BIGLY-- this cements the strategy's political validity in the minds of a generation of party staff and leaders.
Harris is acting this out, Pelosi and Obama have orchestrated this-- because they are desperate to win, AND because this formula of leaning in hard is the strategy to win. This is in and of itself critical-- so many on the left for many years believed that you couldn't incentivize the Dems with success, because the party didn't even seem motivated by success. They didn't care about winning, they would need to be "dragged kicking and screaming to victory."--Thomas Frank
Just getting them to genuinely swallow the "We REALLY can't let Republicans win", genuinely getting elite liberals to accept that letting Trump win is really existential IS a success, it IS progress for the left. That calling Trump existential isn't just a cynical talking point to squash progressives, but that at their core they believe that the Republicans are evil, destroying everything good, and that every weapon at hand must be employed to win. This belief is finally manifested and showing in a genuine way. The Biden pull didn't need to happen, but it happening is proof that the Democratic Party is FINALLY serious. Going from the loser energy of a couple months ago, or the barely existing Biden 2020 campaign, to the POWER of this week's DNC-- all of it is a showcase of a Party that's finally doing politics of committing to getting the win.
And not JUST committing to winning-- but believing even at the highest leadership that Left Populism is needed to win. That is ALSO a huge win for the left, it is a massive victory for Labor and for the Bernie Left.
This is exactly where FDR was-- Rich Elite Liberal, but convinced that he needed to demand the rest of US royalty that they needed to open their wallets, fork out the cash, and that "we must go fairly radical for a generation." It is where we WANT the Democrats to be (for now).
So we should let them enjoy the moment, we should do what Bernie/AoC are doing-- show them unity, applaud lead them to experience that our ideas can/will drive their electoral success. Make ourselves partners in preserving liberal democracy-- and of course, fight to get them elected.
Shawn Fain is on the stage driving the Harris/Walz win and contorting elite Democrats to yell "Trump's a Scab!" (sure there are many there feeling maaaanny internal contradictions as the words leave their lips, lol), even while in the background he's orchestrating for Union contracts across industries and across orgs to all come up for renewal togeher in a way that would threaten a MASSIVE General Strike that WOULD happen DURING Kamala's 8 years-- she's NOT going to like that when it happens; that don't matter. Fain is playing the game, and doing it brilliantly-- and the Biden->Harris labor department is creating conditions where that will be much, much, more explosive in Labor's future power.
Also, Republican Party collapse IS on the table.
Power, like anything, requires maintenance-- it can only happen if there are people to turn the wheels of its enterprise. The MAGA Republican movement is fundamentally weak in a way that Neocon Conservatives, Liberal Democrats, and Leftists are not-- they have no ideological core.
There is no ideology, there is not commitment to enduring ideas besides hatred of minorities-- it's ALL a cult of personality. So the Fascist swell is vulnerable to losing its leader in a way that Conservatives, Liberals, Leftists are not. These others can continue without their figurehead-- without Trump, MAGA has nothing. There is no real heir apparent, there is no succession once he's gone-- and he's more weak, and tired, and old than he's ever been. If Kamala wins, we can put him to bed, and that puts the whole Republican apparatus on its bed.
Surely, this fascist surge is extremely dangerous, and we should prepare for revolt, for more Jan 6th-ish treason after Trump loses, but once that's put down MAGA gets put down, and that means the entire Republican apparatus will be forced to deal with redefining itself.
Remember folks Parties can die-- the Wigs did for instance. The Republicans without Trump are in that type of situation. Now, most likely they would simply be in an exercise of re-defining themselves and regrouping, the odds of squashing it completely when it still has so many seats and people and infrastructure is slim to none-- but it will be on its back for a while and lead to huge, continuing Democratic electoral victories.
The best long term outcome would be if the GOP does collapse in a huge way, the Democrats grow to fill the entire right-left paradigm, and eventually is so successful that progressive Dems would split off and then there would be a new 2 party system of Democratic Socialist vs. Liberal (instead of the current Liberal vs Fascist one)-- but even if that doesn't happen, massive egalitarian transformation of economy and culture can happen in that window that permanently changes the material conditions of the world's most powerful Empire country.
All of that is significant opportunity on the table-- and it does include chances to find ways of bettering justice for Palestine. Not Guarantees-- nothing is ever guaranteed. The left needs to play its cards smart though to bring about the wins we want to see. This is NOT the time to turn over the table, it's the time to sit and continue playing the cards.
