The Party of Transformation by Barry Rosenbaum

We have a crisis of faith in our political system that has been decades in the making.

The growth of this crisis can be traced directly to the rise in the gross inequality in the distribution of wealth in this country, with the top 1% of households now holding nearly as much wealth as the bottom 90% combined. It is axiomatic that people are far less likely to support and protect a political system if it has stopped working for them. For most people in this country, this is their belief and their experience.

If Democrats want to return to power, and more importantly, address the needs of the 90% in a transformative way, we must build a mandate for substantive structural political reform now, during this campaign season. While we must address bread-and-butter economic issues, we must also articulate the structural defects that have led to this gross inequality and propose measures to reverse this trajectory.

The electorate will expect to see results quickly—it has experienced massive disappointment for far too long. Trump is certainly the most despicable and extreme example, but Democrats have played a role in creating this malaise. We must own up to our failures and refuse simply to restore the broken systems from the past. We must be bold, with new leaders who can draw upon and synthesize the energy and dreams of the millions of Americans clamoring for an innovative and inclusive vision. The Constitution remains our lodestar, but it must be implemented anew.

Major lasting systemic transformation will require Democrats to capture the House, Senate, and the presidency. Only the House and the Senate can be changed in 2026. The electorate needs to understand that it will take Democratic victories not only in 2026 but also in 2028 to fully implement these modifications. But we cannot rely on unavoidable delay to stop us from articulating and advancing those measures necessary to put this process into motion, so that once we have a new president on board, this vision can be fully implemented. We can also use our victory in 2026 to stop Trump and his administration from further destroying democracy and to start the formal gathering of evidence that will put these criminals behind bars.

Now is the time to swing for the fences. Incremental change is wholly inadequate. Who knows, if we can inspire and awaken the American people, they might give us a veto-proof majority. The Republican Party now represents the death of America. We should be able to run against and defeat that everywhere. As they have shown us, they only seek power and personal wealth through whatever available means. We should never forget the stain they have left on this country.

May we one day soon be able to look back on 2026 as the year that America came to its senses and again pursued a vision of this country deserving of the Statue of Liberty—“Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free.” 

That is so true for all of us: we yearn to breathe free once again.