Reclaiming the Nation from Political Extremes
Cornel West speaks at a 2020 campaign rally for Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) at the University of New Hampshire, in Durham, N.H. West is running for president in 2024 as third-party candidate. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik, File)
By Cliff Hamill
It seems to me that multiple groups are aligning to take our country away from us.
Most U.S. citizens would call themselves patriots. We have been raised with the belief that we live in a democratic nation, where we elect and unelect our leaders, and where our voices and desires are represented by the legislators, senators, and the president we vote into office. We care about this nation and believe this republic is worth preserving. We see ourselves living our lives and raising our children in this country—a place where we work hard to reach our goals and provide a future for our families.
Those of us paying attention now see groups aligning to threaten those freedoms.
The Democratic Party’s Power Plays
What many people don’t realize is that during the 2024 election, the Democratic Party made multiple attempts to deny third-party organizations ballot access. These blatant efforts were intended to preserve the Democratic Party’s political advantage in Congress while bolstering hopes for a Democratic presidential victory. One such attempt involved torpedoing the No Labels Party’s presidential candidate search by sabotaging its brand through a complex scheme orchestrated by Democratic Party-affiliated political consultants and insiders. In reality, these were undemocratic operations, conceived and carried out by the Democratic Party itself.
Beyond manipulating elections, the Democratic Party has sought to divert Americans' attention away from real and pressing national issues by pushing identity politics and other far-left social agendas. This distraction keeps the public from focusing on matters that truly affect us—such as immigration and the national debt.
But it’s not just the Democrats.
The Rise of MAGA and Its Consequences
The MAGA movement consists of people who voted against their own economic interests in support of a bully whose primary concern is his own advantage. Trump’s entire worldview is transactional—every move is about maximizing his own gain. To believe that he would represent anyone else’s interests is a risky bet. His track record shows that he is driven by money and power above all else.
Compounding this issue is the unprecedented control he exerts over the Republican Party. In a nation where only two parties hold power, this is a massive problem. Many Republican politicians have tied their political futures to Trump, often deferring to his policy positions in fear of alienating his base. Some have gone so far as to pledge unwavering loyalty to him. This dynamic grants Trump an alarming amount of leverage over both houses of Congress, allowing him to push his personal agenda at the expense of true governance.
Trump’s lack of interest in compromise and his frequent disparaging remarks about Democrats—both as a party and as individuals—are unprecedented. He is deliberately condescending, regularly engaging in public displays of hostility, including attacks on minority groups and even children. For decades, his go-to strategy has been brute force, wielding insults and threats like a social media troll.
This shift in behavior has trickled down to other Republican members of Congress, further eroding the decorum of public political discourse. A particularly troubling example is the rise of hate speech from self-identified Christians who use biblical language to justify their intolerance. These individuals direct their disdain toward anyone who dares to challenge their rigid ideological views.
The Christian Nationalist Movement and Oligarchic Influence
Christian nationalists have allied with wealthy oligarchs in a push to reshape America into a Christian state. However, James Madison and the Founders intentionally omitted religion from the Constitution to prevent the sectarian strife that had plagued Europe for centuries. In many European nations, government-backed religions led to widespread persecution of religious minorities. Madison saw the separation of church and state as essential to maintaining both peace and religious freedom in the new republic.
This alliance between the wealthy elite and the Christian nationalist movement is a direct threat to our democracy and way of life.
Meanwhile, oligarchs have unleashed their immense wealth to manipulate Congress and the presidency, aiming to transfer even more of the nation’s wealth to the ultra-rich. This modern-day Gilded Age mirrors the era of the robber barons. According to the St. Louis Federal Reserve, the wealthiest 1% of Americans now control 31% of the nation’s wealth—up from 23% in 1990—while the poorest 50% hold only 2.4%. This extreme disparity is a recipe for societal unrest.
The Two-Party Stranglehold
The Democratic Party, the Republican Party, the degradation of public discourse, the MAGA movement, the Christian nationalist movement, the oligarchs, and even foreign adversaries—all of these forces are working against the interests of the American people. Our adversaries prefer a world of autocracies rather than one led by a democratic republic that holds over 30% of the world’s investable liquid wealth and 37% of the world’s millionaires, according to the 2024 USA Wealth Report published by Henley & Partners.
Much of the public’s discontent stems from Congress’s dysfunction, which can be traced back to the two-party system. The Democratic and Republican parties have created arbitrary rules that empower themselves while stifling competition. These parties exist to maintain their dominance, suppressing the constitutional order envisioned by the Founders. Nowhere in our founding documents are political parties mentioned, yet they have entrenched themselves in power.
Rather than serving the people, both parties are consumed with their own power struggles. They threaten members who refuse to toe the party line, withholding primary election funding as punishment. This system forces elected officials to prioritize party loyalty over the will of their constituents. In this way, Congress—and especially the current president—have fueled the hostility that now defines American politics and social media discourse.
We cannot allow these two parties to destroy our nation and the unity that has existed among American citizens since our founding.
We want our country back.
