Two years ago, in the months before the presidential election, other columnists and I stressed the importance of political reform. Our concern was directed at the mainstream parties ignoring public concerns, third parties not having an independent platform and the place of religion in politics nationwide.
Arguably, the one common thing we still demand is reform. With Republicans soon starting the search for a new candidate to replace President Donald Trump and the Democrats still reeling from the disappointment of 2024, a significant character shift in national politics is expected. In the case of character, the Democrats have a very brief window to accelerate the changes demanded of them for many years.
The core of the issue, as I described in a column in April 2024, is that the Democratic Party is hesitant to move beyond institutional centrism. As a mainstream party, the Democrats face the issue of bureaucratic inertia — the tendency of the political establishment to resist change. The Democratic Party’s decision to maintain a middle-ground position — the position from which the most amount of campaign donations can be secured — overrides any concerns for welfare, justice and peace.
The end result of bureaucratic inertia is the Democrats’ current state of opposition. Representatives like Rep. Hakeem Jeffries ‘92 and Sen. Chuck Schumer, people who are the faces of the “establishment” within the party, have drawn much criticism from the Democratic voter base for their inaction in the face of the controversies and crises under Trump.
Most notably, during the government shutdown last fall, the image of leading Democrats in the public eye has become increasingly negative. Especially in the eyes of the more progressive elements of the democratic voter base, their inaction on the use of the government budget as a hostage by the Republicans has been criticized as capitulation to Trump.
From this point on, the next move can only follow one path — a deep and fundamental reform of the Democratic Party. The current neoliberal program emphasizes defending the status quo at the highest echelons of the nation, ignoring key issues such as wealth inequality and the cost of living.
In the next two years, the Democratic Party must emphasize an approach to the public through its most essential material concerns. Whether education, healthcare, law enforcement or housing, all major domestic issues of the United States today are undeniably rooted in inadequate income for the working class. For those who already advocate such changes, none of this is particularly news. And yet, this is exactly the moment when the progressive elements in the country must recognize the need for a shift in tactics, specifically in public relations and rhetoric.
In the past year, the Democratic Party gave rapid notoriety to names like Zohran Mamdani and James Talarico. Both have become popular in public consciousness in a very brief time, yet they now catch media attention not only for what they stand for as individuals, but also how they approach the masses with their positions and language.
Politicians who have become successful in recent months have done so because they don’t see welfare and income issues as matters tangential to the status quo, but as symptoms of its stagnation. Mamdani and Talarico are both “untested” in the sense that not enough time has passed for us to make an objective assessment of their policy. Nonetheless, the fact that they successfully “launched” themselves into the mainstream is a larger sign of needed changes in rhetoric in the Democratic Party.
The next two years must have a political vision fundamentally different from the last two. If, and that is a major hypothetical to consider, the Democrats can gain victories from 2026 to 2028, it must not be in the name of simply returning to how everything supposedly was some years ago, before Trump. The “If Kamala/Hillary was president, we’d all be at brunch!” slogan only reflects the lack of commitment to deeper issues of income and justice that are left to be addressed. It is the symptom of institutional centrism that wants to preserve the status quo, but not progress beyond its own electoral victory.
Politicians who lean into social and economic issues and those who mobilize the public around a popular cause are the necessary shifts the Democrats must undertake. The upcoming shift in political rhetoric must therefore enable a broader debate on issues most directly affecting the working class in the United States.
Deniz Gulay is a junior double-majoring in history and Russian.
Views expressed in the opinions pages represent the opinions of the columnists. The only piece that represents the view of the Pipe Dream Editorial Board is the staff editorial.