Collectively deciding what comes next for our state and our country should, by any measure, be a momentous occasion. Democracies are, after all, a unique, wonderful thing — the kind of political system where, given the chance, common people can wield their voice and elect their champions to public office.
It is hard to look at the current political landscape, however, and not sigh in disbelief. We have, on one side, a Republican Party that not only has gone far off the deep end on many, many policy issues but has decided to stand behind a presidential candidate who emphatically refused to leave power after losing an election. Supporting a political party led by someone with such a dubious commitment to the very central tenet of having an election in the first place already seems like a bad idea, but things get worse when you pay attention to their actual track record and policy proposals. Republicans are running on massive tax cuts for the wealthy paired with a gigantic tax increase on working families, authoritarian calls to suspend the Constitution, concentration camps and mass deportations, and a continued effort to ban abortion nationwide. Donald Trump is a man who has vowed, repeatedly, to attack our freedoms. His attempts to overthrow the 2020 election make clear he means it — and this is why we, at the Working Families Party, have made blocking his return to power our main priority.
If the Republican Party can only be met with alarm, the Democrats standing against them are often a source of disappointment.
Democrats, to be sure, do accept the very basic concept of open, competitive elections, which by itself should be reason enough to pick them ahead of Donald Trump. They also have, by any standard, a much more sensible policy platform. For starters, Kamala Harris wants to raise taxes on the wealthy and cut taxes for working families. She also supports a policy of securing the border while providing a path to citizenship for immigrants and a robust, orderly legal immigration system. She has vowed to go after big businesses that take advantage of their market power, and she has a proven track record, as Attorney General of California, of going after the fraudulent practices of big banks.
The source of disappointment, however, is that we would like them to be more than “not utterly terrible Republicans.” Running on an agenda that is not insanely destructive or openly authoritarian counts for something, sure, but considering the issues we face both here in Connecticut and the rest of the country, we might want them to be a bit bolder. We can ask and should ask for more — and we can do this at the ballot box this November.
Consider, for instance, the role big businesses play in our healthcare. The U.S. has the rare distinction of paying more than anyone else for our prescription drugs, as part of the world’s most expensive healthcare system. Democrats have been willing to expand health insurance coverage to millions of Americans and make some efforts to control costs (Trump wants to repeal the Affordable Care Act wholesale), but they have fallen short of truly going after the rampant profiteering and fraud that plagues the system. A bolder policy would, instead of small increments on healthcare coverage, push for a public option that provides an alternative to private insurers and really negotiates down prescription drug prices. In order to call Democrats to move in this direction, we can do just that — not by voting for them this November, but by casting a vote on the Working Families Party line for the candidate of your choice.
In Connecticut, you can vote for a third party and do it in a way that doesn’t risk throwing the election to the MAGA cult. Our election law allows candidates to appear on the ballot on more than one line, with their votes being added up to the total. This system is called fusion voting, and it has the distinct advantage of allowing voters to not just elect politicians but tell them what they want from them. In this case, you can cast a ballot against the MAGA crowd and also ask the non-MAGA candidate to support policies for working people, by casting your vote in Row C.
And in a blue state like Connecticut, Democrats have plenty of opportunities to support working people. Big corporations routinely take advantage of working families with impunity across the economy, from abusive credit card fees to subprime car loans, or massive corporate landlords taking over whole blocks only to raise rents to unaffordable levels. Labor laws, from workers’ schedules to having a separate, lower minimum wage for tipped workers, consistently skew the playing field in favor of employers. Democrats at least try to block some of the most egregious abuses, but our economy is full of regulations, laws, and subsidies directed to protect big businesses, their lobbyists, and campaign donations. By voting on the WFP line, you are calling on them to put working families first, not appease special interest groups and big corporations.
Then there is the consistent, frustrating tension between talking big about supporting working families and falling short of delivering on what we need. Childcare is a good example; Democrats unanimously believe that affordable childcare should be a priority but never manage to find the will or the resources to make it happen. Connecticut has a tangled, complicated mess of programs and funding streams that serve some parents and kids but always fall short of fulfilling current needs. Instead of some extra childcare subsidies, a vote on the WFP line makes clear that you demand childcare for everyone. Housing is even more frustrating; everyone in our state agrees we don’t have enough of it and the rent is too darn high, yet Democrats in power run for the exits the moment anyone suggests taking action. By voting for WFP, you demand they truly go after corporate landlords and build more housing, instead of making small tweaks on the margins.
Elections have become an exercise in frustration, but we do have the option to call for a better alternative. We can say, loud and clear, that we want candidates to defend our values; to push for affordable housing, universal healthcare, childcare for everyone, and good jobs. We can have better politics, with leaders who put working families at the center of their agenda. The best way to accomplish this goal in this election is by building a powerful bloc of voters that want this change to happen — voters casting their ballot on the Working Families Party line.