Notes on the red, white and blue

Independence Day has come and gone again, but this year felt palpably different for many of us. Today, the aspirational democracy that we celebrate hangs by a tenuous thread.

While the Republican Party has morphed into a MAGA death cult,  the opposition party seems to have become a particularly feckless and divisive mess.

From my humble vantage point, the Democrats appear to be eating themselves alive. They seem to be completely incapable of presenting a unified vision. This will need to change, if we are to take back our democracy. The rapid transformation to an authoritarian state is alarming and it’s well underway. Voter suppression and ongoing attempts at disenfranchisement are continuing, as evidenced by the President’s obsession with the SAVE Act. As the Trump regime ramps up ICE terror and expands its network of concentration camps, the Dems seem to be busy fighting amongst themselves.

The ongoing struggle between the moderate mainstream and the energized left has become increasingly intense. In some ways it is a distraction.

Young DSA candidates have swept to victory in a wide variety of primary challenges. Everything from taxation and policing to Gaza and Ukraine is on the table and Democrats hold a very broad range of views. Primary battles may be a fine place to clarify the issues, to have the debates, and to engage in real dialogue. Even so, the goal must include some level of compromise. This need to compromise applies to the rigidity seen on the  left — as well as to that of the old and entrenched Dem party establishment.

The story is very different for the general elections ahead. These elections will require a strong and unified opposition party. The general election must demonstrate absolute and unfailing unity this time around. Democrats will need to vote for some candidates with whom they have significant differences. This is the only way to take back control from Trump and his enablers.

This will be imperative for the midterms as well as for the 2028 elections that follow. The consequences of anything less seem too catastrophic to contemplate.

Sometimes history is very instructive in finding a winning strategy.

During the second World War, the allies employed a plan that ultimately worked. The Americans joined with the Soviet Union to defeat the Nazis. Everyone understood that the ideological differences would have to wait until the greater threat to humanity had been squashed. This was the key to a hard fought victory and to my mind, it’s an important lesson for us today.

Trump likes to steal his lines from Adolf Hitler anyway. When he describes refugees and immigrants as “vermin”, for example, he’s showing us just how apt the analogy may really be.

Let’s take his words and actions very seriously this time. As the great Maya Angelou counseled , “…when people tell you who they are, believe them the first time…”

There are real and deep divisions within the democratic resistance to this current authoritarian regime. There will surely be important decisions to be made in the years to come. For example, fundamental structural changes will need to replace years of tepid incrementalism by Democratic administrations. However, the task before us for now, is to take back our country from ever-encroaching fascism.

Let’s get to work, even if we need to pull out a slogan and an approach that some of us would have surely rejected at earlier historical moments. In the 2026 midterms and in the 2028 elections, it really is the time to - “Vote Blue, No Matter Who!” It is only this strong resolve and absolute unity that may save us now.

Can we do it? Let’s go America!

Silvia Blumenfeld is a local resident, writer, artist and activist.