The Ratchet Effect
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The Blue voting masses in the United States are equally to blame for the Donald Trump ascendency and our current state of endless war.
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This essay will seek to characterize the political paradigm that is the left, militant, radical, revolutionary, and anti-capitalist/war, through the examination of the "ratchet effect". All other leftish political alignments are positioned within the diverse venn diagram that comprises liberalism. The most important factor which distinguishes the left as a distinct outlier, with the capacity to exist partially outside the capitalist sphere, is sacrifice. Being able to relate socioeconomically with the majority of the people on this planet is the only way to get to the heart of our humanity. This can involve any number of actions within the material realm that go beyond the boundaries of acceptable activism. This forfeit taking place under capitalism is almost always in the form of self-imposed financial hardship. This is principally, the life-altering tactic of war tax resistance. Also included are all forms of debt strike, general strikes, removal of oneself from the credit/debit system, and the reporting of leftist independent media. In defining and reclaiming the left we can begin to reclaim it and understand the truth we lost regarding the mystified concept of morality. The further we escape the gravitational pull of capitalism's sickening sweet allure, the more we can visualize ourselves living revolution.
Beginning with the first Obama Presidency to the present we have witnessed the almost total absorption of the left into the capitalist paradigm through the vehicle of neoliberalism. This sequence actually began before 2008, but this essay will point to this time period as an acceleration of the impacts this ratchet effect to the right has had on American political consciousness. The left's demand to observe this phenomenon would be exemplified by the ascendancy of Barack Obama and perfectly illustrated by Glen Ford during a panel discussion at the Left Forum, on March 17th, 2012.
"Let me say from the very beginning that we at Black Agenda Report do not think that Barack Obama is the Lesser Evil. He is the more Effective Evil."
For the eight years of the Obama presidency there was a demand from radicals on the left to reject the post racial fantasy being peddled by the Democratic Party after the election of the first black man to the office of the presidency. The militant left also refused to buy into the endorsement of Hilary Clinton espoused by the liberal majority, and failing champions of the left like Noam Chomsky in 2016 [1]. Again, we were told to vote for war criminals in 2020 as precious political capital was exhausted with a plea to vote for Joe Biden by good peace-loving people, fed and led by captured corporate news. There are people whom Martin Luther King accurately characterized as the "white moderates." Today we can also place people of color and any other groups within the identity politics sphere, who vote for Democrats to be counted within this "white moderates" category because multiculturalism has allowed for access by formerly excluded groups to the illusion that is the American Dream.
I must confess that over the past few years I have been gravely disappointed with the white moderate. I have almost reached the regrettable conclusion that the Negro's great stumbling block in his stride toward freedom is not the White Citizen's Counciler or the Ku Klux Klanner, but the white moderate, who is more devoted to 'order' than to justice; who prefers a negative peace which is the absence of tension to a positive peace which is the presence of justice [...]
-Martin Luther King Jr.
And even with the beginning of the fully documented and accessible genocide of the Palestinian people in 2023, a little over a year later we learned that for millions who voted for either the Republican or Democratic candidates there was no difference in their compromise, leaning further to the far right towards war, genocide, and insanity. The confluence of neoconservative policies pushed by both U.S. corporate political parties and their political puppets is the result of good people unwilling to let go of the false promise that there can be an end to capitalism's insanity through electoralism. From Obama to Hillary Clinton, Hilary to Biden, and Biden to Harris we have seen the ratchet effect to the right such an extreme that by the time Kamala Harris was running for president there were as many billionaires, corporatists, neocon war criminals, and vicious psychopaths in the upper echelons of the Democratic Party as within the Republican Party. An important difference is the Harris war chest, outraising her opponent nearly 5-to-1 [2].
"Over time, the Democratic Party has assumed the role of ensuring that the countervailing pressure from the Left doesn’t happen. The party contains and neutralizes the Left, or what there is of it. Left voters are supposed to support the Democrat, come what may — and it’s amazing how many of us have internalized this supposed obligation — but they are not allowed to have any influence on the party’s policies, either during the campaign or during the Republicans’ infrequent holidays in opposition" [3].
-Michael J. Smith 2005
For the above progression to be understood as a prime example of this ratchet effect, one must have knowledge of the rhetoric, policies, and history of these Democratic presidencies. The lack thereof is the very fuel driving this effect and continuing a lock out to any third-party momentum. As Democratic presidential candidates accept more and more corporate campaign contributions through the various means of legalized bribery, the Overton Window is shifted steadily to the right. For someone to understand the power of this phenomenon they have to become informed, a difficult task as it will inevitably bring up the terrible decisions of the past made by millions to vote for vicious war criminals within the Democratic Party. Instead, the intentional amnesia is incredibly effective at diluting the imperial legacy of past administrations, replacing reality with a fuzzy, mythical like, impression that is neither hot nor cold but lukewarm and a complete betrayal of the truth. This blindness is well illustrated by the reaction to the second term of the Trump administration by millions who see him as an unprecedented evil the likes of which have never been seen. If we look at the recent history of the United States, we can understand that Donald Trump is one in a long procession of vicious psychopathic elitist leaders of this empire and is nothing new.
A defining example of how far this ratcheting to the right has gone would be the endorsement of Kamala Harris in 2024 by the former US Vice President Dick Cheney. Further lubricating this massive leap to the right was Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris's honored acceptance of his endorsement. This was a complete and utter betrayal of the left by Democratic voters across the United States. From enhanced interrogation techniques to global state terrorism, the list of crimes against humanity perpetrated by the Bush/Cheney administration are extensive. Democrats and their voters understood this at one time, but in the era of Trump derangement syndrome this endorsement by the Democratic voter was classified and deemed a necessary evil. So, with Democratic blinders perfectly situated and working correctly, limiting their voters' gaze downward to the path laid out ahead of them always leading towards increasingly neoconservative Democratic candidates, this ratcheting to the right has been marked in four-year intervals.
The interesting and pressing question is why there are so many people that can still be lumped together within the Democratic voting constituency, election cycle after election cycle. Democratic voters, liberals, moderates, centrists, and progressives who have no idea they are all are suspended within the neoliberal gooey blob comprise the majority of this group. The intense desire to remain within this paradigm is so strong that there are some even from the radical left who, despite their radical activism, continue to dip their feet into the polluted waters of the Democratic Party. This should better position them to see the hypocrisy and immorality in voting Blue No Matter Who. But it does not. Why?
Mark Fisher's prophetic statement illustrated in his book, Capitalist Realism - Is There No Alternative? points to the primary motivation to which all other incentives are nestled within, fear.
"It is easier to imagine the end of the world than the end of capitalism."
-Mark Fisher
I have had the meaning behind this statement illustrated beautifully during discussions and disagreements. I have had a conversation taken to a point where the immorality of continuously voting for Democratic candidates whose propensity for war is understood to be on par with their Republican counterparts. Rather than coming to terms with this reality, there is an instinctive reaction to double down on the Democratic choice through moral gymnastics. Their response is startlingly similar, being some variation of the above statement or the completely unoriginal and uniformed idea of moving to Canada (a very junior partner in the western capitalisms' race towards fascism).
To live in the United States, one must strike a bargain to adhere to the tenets of capitalism which liberalism can deliver but only truly benefits the ruling elite and their wealth accumulation. To do this some peddle fantasies, that if true capitalism were able to flourish, we could all share in a more just world and that the bad that is happening in our society is only because of a perversion of this economic system. They cry, predatory capitalism, disaster capitalism, surveillance capitalism, only ever able to contemplate the failed ideology of reformism as it requires no real sacrifice. But in reality, the flow of capitalism has grooved out this insane course and no other, and therefore we should repackage all these evil-sounding handles back into capitalisms most defining and unchangeable characteristics.
It is terrifying to have to glimpse into the unknown abyss that is the world under a new paradigm of global governance, but not because this potential new concept of economic governance is terrifying or worse. It is terrifying because we have all seen and experienced the intensity and totality to which capitalist ideology has indoctrinated everyone no matter their political slant. The false truth we all bow down to is that capitalism is what we have now and can be the only way forward. Red or Blue believe this to their core, and because of this, it has been completely understood by the anti-capitalist left that we are fighting against all those who occupy the purple center. The 2024 United States Presidential Election undeniably solidified the truth that the throngs of people endlessly voting Red or Blue are not passive and are indeed fighting against the left to preserve capitalism. Through silence, apologies, gaslighting, false equivalencies, and an entire arsenal of misdirection attempting to obscure genocide and war, these people are making it obviously clear what they stand for. The left must fight against this ideology and those who espouse it, or we will lose the ability to define truth and with-it morality.
Both political positions of the duopoly in the United States have their own version of American Exceptionalism attached to it, perpetuated by, and not always consciously, an underlying belief in the potential for the American project to one day return the country back on track to the superior ideals of its founding fathers. In the United States where the undemocratic two-party system has had a lock out for over one hundred and fifty years, this hope has been manifested in an individual savior. The power of duopoly has created such a strong narrative of omnipotence that they only require a sprinkling of populist rhetoric every four years and the masses line up and divide obediently into these two camps, each represented by a savior. But today, both sides of the political divide in the United States represent almost the exact same neoconservative policies, being most pronounced within the geopolitics of transnational corporate exploitation and endless war.
As the working class and poor come face to face with the harsh realities and austerity of late-stage capitalism, they are constantly gaslit. This pain and suffering is more and more right outside the places we live thoroughly discrediting the legitimacy of what is called democracy, as completely incapable of countering the capitalist positive feedback loop destroying the world. And for the militant left arriving at this reality, we understand that it is leading us towards the inevitability of civil unrest and ultimately civil war within the United States. The left must face down and confront the confused, complacent, comfortable, compromised, indoctrinated, believers of the great purple capitalist masses and recognize that the state is employing violence maintain the illusion of control.
The almost universally shared characteristic within those who espouse lesser evil ideology and those flying the Blue MAGA banner is that it is always associated with comfort, normality, civility, and faux security. Also, in most cases, accompanied with a certain standard of living not enjoyed by the poor and working-class. This sanctuary is for those citizens of the United States who can access and enjoy the limited and shrinking rights/privileges granted to them allowing membership in the capitalist project. The Democratic voters in the United States have their own patriotic variant. This Blue flag salute appears to be in contrast with marginal aspects of imperialism. Differentiating them from their conservative (red) counterparts is their ignorance to their own closeted American flag waving. It is a silent form of the Pledge of Allegiance which allows for complacency and ignorance of the pivotal contributions of the Democratic Party to endless war and imperialism. For this large voting group, there is also a desire to harken back to a better time in the United States, one which was not perfect but better. A fiction to its core.
While this tendency in the past was more pronounced within the Republican Right, today is also perfectly situated and accepted by the Blue MAGA Democratic Voter. Both parties offer revisionist historical accounts, but the blue brand is labeled with lite on the bottle. So, in choosing the imperialist lite option, those who vote for Democrats are able to stay within the boundaries of capitalism without any real risk or even the uncomfortable feeling associated with existence in the political wilderness during each election cycle. It is uncomfortable to them for what it might mean for the only future they have ever imagined. This was a future their parents were able to live through, one where there was a possibility to justify their standard of living despite the few United States war crimes scattered in here or there and always far away. Many who are in the generation that can enjoy retirement now have put in the time and by the rules defined by capitalism should be allowed to live those golden years. They have doubled down on hope and change in all its forms over the years. To allow even the possibility that they could have been completely wrong in their failure to realize their own collective contribution to this ratcheting to the right, is incomprehensible.
The ratchet is the perfect analogy because it permits movement in only one direction. The "ratchet effect" has become glaringly obvious, driven on by its main immoral driver, "lesser evilism". This cycle has continued through the unwitting participation of the Democratic voter. From Obama to Trump 2.0, the Democratic voter has refused to critically examine the deadly course they have captained under capitalistic governance equaling that of their Red counterparts. The comfort and ease of modern lifestyles encourage existence with bent moral lines and endless cycles of reflectionless mistake-making fostering a murky immoral justification to live within a lie. The counter to the "ratchet effect" and the only way to pursue morality is through truth. When we refuse to reflect and when our moral measuring stick slides away from war, genocide, and imperialism, the ratchet effect kicks in.
When Democrats win, their voters are put to bed by the blue lullaby disseminated down from the Democratic Party elite. When they lose, the position they find themselves in currently, Democratic Voters ramp up and go out into the streets for the "hands off" political rally. In actuality these gatherings across the country are anti-Trump rallies representing the position that all the bad that is happening and has happened only started at the beginning of Trump’s second term. The official "hands off" protest messaging, absent of any reference to the genocide in Gaza and with the explicit inclusion of NATO, the West’s apparatuses for war and intervention, indicates the direct involvement and total control of this movement by the Democratic Party elite. Bernie Sanders and AOC will use their letfish rhetoric to sheepdog all those Democratic voters who do not contemplate the consequences of their choice's election cycle after election cycle. And because of this lack of reflection and humility they are ignorant as the blue candidate's platform and policies rapidly become indistinguishable from red, thus creating the capitalist purple.
Consequently, we have a refusal by the Blue voter to acknowledge the state terrorism wrought around the globe under the four years of the Biden/Harris administration. There is no recognition of the loss of constitutional rights, and the unbridled push for war and genocide which has been a collaborative effort between both sides of the duopoly in the United States. Ultimately the Left finds itself fighting against the Democratic voter who is siding with corporate war profiteers and the Pentagon arguing for the justification of some wars like the proxy war with Russia in Ukraine.
Those on the left understand that with the forces allied against them, there is going to have to be a massive expenditure of life-changing energy which will require material sacrifice. In a failed Democracy like the United States voting is a trivial act, and possibly the only positive we can glean from this process is that we can see who is lacking the courage, foresight, and the morality to fight for nothing less than revolution. I am surprised every time someone who considers themselves an anti-war/genocide peace-loving person and will openly share without hesitation that they voted for Kamala Harris. This cycle continues endlessly because no one is registering this history, but instead they have slipped into eternal amnesia and deny acknowledging their misconceptions and deadly endorsements of the past.
I declare now in 2025 that it is as much the Democratic voters' fault for both Trump terms as it is the MAGA Republicans. How long will the left ask nicely of the Democratic Voter, "is it ok to vote outside the Democratic party now?" "I know we can't vote for the Green Party in 2024 because Trump is running but, would it be alright with you if we considered leaving the Democratic Party in 2028?" To all the Democratic voters who refuse to acknowledge the ratchet effect, let me give you a glimpse of the future. In 2028, J.D. Vance will be running for president, and the Democratic Party will for sure, pedestal a neoliberal, neocon, war mongering, genocidal Zionist, corporatist, as their candidate. The liberal Democratic voter will again have to answer the question, "how long will you continue to compromise your morality for the sake of normality and the comfort granted to you temporarily under capitalism?"
This truth has to be said. Because of this ratcheting to the right, we have lost the meaning behind the words that used to explain suffering on an imaginable scale like war and genocide which are now only of concern when Trump-like figures are at the helm. Grassroots organizing as a solution has become a nebulous term, defining an undescriptive and always distant avenue towards future reform which worked in the past. Most of the creative and well-intentioned tactics of the left have proven ineffective in creating movement away from the capitalist model. When the militant leftism of the past manifested through the Black Panther's community outreach and development or the Occupy Wall Street movement which sought to force change outside the boundaries of Capitalism, the state under both political parties' leadership used violence to remove these powerful anti-capitalist forces of change. The defining characteristic of these two actions that distinguish them from the many other actions that have been attempted since then is sacrifice. Most other forms of activism, while inviting some risk, can ultimately be absorbed or tolerated by capitalism.
The solution which is also the only remaining non-violent off-ramp from capitalism, is war tax resistance (WTR), and the handful of other actions that require a separation from this economic system, and with it sacrifice beyond acceptable risk. Because of its inherent rejection of the fundamental principle of capitalism, demanding wealth accumulation above all else, WTR cannot be absorbed or manipulated. A person choosing this form of resistance can begin resistance immediately and does not have to wait for the organization of others and more importantly, the promises of elected officials. War Tax Resistance or any of these sacrificing actions that have the result of moving a person further to the outskirts of the capitalist paradigm and the purple brand, are the only way to end this ratcheting to the right. Revolution will most likely be violent and will be initiated by the state against those pushing for this real change. If we do not have the courage to examine the truth of this "ratchet effect, at some point sooner rather than later we in the United States will have to face the consequences of this willful blindness, a truth most of the world has had to suffer for centuries.
"Doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different outcome."
-Albert Einstein
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