The November 3 general election, as it was in 2008, 2016 and 2018, is a reality check for America. It tells us that workers across America are hurting and the capitalist system refuses to help them. U.S. workers are undergoing, a period of anxiety, desperation, uncertainty and a deep divide. Anxiety as they live one paycheck period away from falling into poverty. Desperate as their loved ones fall ill or die due to the pandemic. Afraid of falling ill to the virus and ending up in a hospital without health insurance coverage, a job, earnings or savings.
In the 2020 presidential election, workers are uncertain of their economic outlook, split between Democrats and Republicans. A total of 78 million people voted for Biden, six million more votes than Trump. All the wrongdoing of the Trump administration for the past four years energized the anti-Trump sentiment and helped Biden.
In Arizona, Nevada, Pennsylvania, Minnesota, Wisconsin and Michigan workers flipped their states from red to blue. In the Midwest, the elimination of high pay jobs in manufacturing and the introduction and conversion of workers to low-paying jobs or unemployment had workers unhappy and resentful of the political class. In past presidential elections workers flipped Midwestern states from Democrats to Republicans and now Democrats. In this election as in past elections, workers struggling to pay for housing, food, and health care have been key as they went out to the polls and voted.
Latinos energized by Trump’s anti-Latino rhetoric helped flip Nevada, Arizona, Georgia and Pennsylvania to Biden. Native Americans angered by the government’s abandoning them to the coronavirus also helped flipped Nevada, Arizona and Wisconsin.
The question now remains, can Biden and the Democrats deliver their promises for a living wage, regulations to protect the environment, immigration reform, racial justice, and health care? The push within the party is for the Democrats to become more moderate and govern from the center-right and take care mainly of the needs of the rich.
As we move into the next election cycles, can the two-party system and the process of electing the president through the Electoral College survive? In this election cycle, the Democrats were barely able to glue a coalition together. There’s no question that the two-party system is collapsing.
The progressive motion in the United States can give birth to a party organized around the needs and desires of the workers which can arouse their hearts and minds.
The American capitalist system is dying. As this happens, workers will continue to scramble to provide for food, shelter and clothing for their families. At the polls, picket lines and the streets are where U.S. workers will continue to battle for their future.
