Looking backward, though the liberals will claim that the story of the Trump presidency was that our democratic institutions held firm, that our republic is strong; in fact, the true story is quite the opposite.
Looking forward, what better way to summarize the prospects for the future than to use Biden’s own words, “nothing will fundamentally change.” So threatened were established elites even by the tepid social democracy being offered by Bernie Sanders, he was sabotaged at every turn. So threatening was the message of Howie Hawkins, he had a virtual media blackout imposed on him.
Joe Biden will “accomplish” much by the standards of identity-politics-obsessed liberals by having racial and gender diversity overseeing the capitalist-imperialist war machine abroad, and maintaining the neoliberal austerity regime at home. By the standards of helping working people, there can be little hope that a Biden administration will do anything of substance to lift the broad working classes out of the mire they have been trapped in for decades.
Whether there is a Democrat or Republican in the White House, the socialist movement and the Socialist Party have struggled for working people. The changing of the occupant of the Oval Office has never changed the conviction of the Socialist Party that working people must have a party of their own, a party that represents their interests. Neither of the dual parties of
capital does anything for working people because they serve another class, the bourgeoisie.
This is why, despite the change in administrations, nothing seems to change for the great majority of workers. This is why, Democrat or Republican, the rich get richer and the poor get poorer; why the poor live with the worst effects of environmental degradation and climate change while the wealthy enjoy comforts and luxuries and clean and healthy environments.
