“The United States was born from a fundamental contradiction that has never gone away. On the one hand, the beauty of democracy, opportunity, freedom, and equality. On the other hand, the brutality that made that beauty possible: colonization, genocide, enslavement, occupation, and war.
So long as that contradiction is not resolved, it will return, and the country–and the world–will be haunted by the original sins that made this country and are still a part of this country. Too many Americans benefit from the contradiction. Some willingly embrace the brutality, others are willing to look away from it. That’s why the Democratic loss of its moral compass on Gaza and calling what Israel is doing a genocide was not simply a “single issue,” but a symptom of the rot within a party that hopes that the beauty of multiculturalism and diversity will somehow be enough to overcome the brutality.
Much of the blame for a Trump victory goes to Trump voters and the deep wells of racism, misogyny, transphobia, and homophobia, as well as the country’s weakness for spectacle, wealth, individualism, and anti-intellectualism. But the Democratic Party has allowed itself and the country to move ever further right, as the Republican Party has moved the center in its direction. This is a losing proposition for the Democratic Party.”