What if the Democratic Party was a Lie All Along
Confluence Daily is your daily news source for women in the know.
By: Lisa M. Hayes
There is a moment—maybe you’ve already had it, maybe it’s coming—when you realize no one is coming to save us.
Not because the battle is unwinnable. Not because the enemy is too strong. But because the very people we’ve been told are standing in our defense—aren’t.
For years, we’ve taken shelter under the Democratic Party like it was some great fortress against the storm. We’ve told ourselves that no matter how many times they faltered, no matter how much they failed to deliver, they were still better than the alternative.
But what if that was never the whole truth?
What if the walls we’ve been huddling behind were never built to protect us at all?
What if, all this time, we’ve been hiding in a house that was never ours—watching as the rot set in, as the floors caved beneath us, as the people we trusted to guard the door held it open for the very forces they swore to fight?
And now, as fascism marches forward—not creeping, but sprinting—the great defenders of democracy are once again doing what they do best.
Nothing.
Complicity Disguised as Strategy
They tell us they want to fight for us. They tell us they wish things could be different.
But then—over and over again—they sit idly by, watching as the fire spreads.
They had the House. They had the Senate. They had the White House. They had every single tool they needed to protect abortion rights, pass universal healthcare, raise the minimum wage, secure voting protections.
And what did they do?
They told us to wait.
To be reasonable.
To vote harder next time.
And all the while, they funded police budgets at record levels. They expanded fossil fuel drilling. They let a fascist Supreme Court gut our rights while offering nothing but platitudes and fundraisers in response.
They have never been powerless. But they have always been unwilling.
The Betrayal of Al Green
When Representative Al Green stood against Trump’s fascism in Congress—when he called out the illegitimacy of this regime, when he refused to pretend that we are not on the brink—he didn’t just stand alone.
He was left alone.
Democrats should have been beside him. They should have been walking out with him, shutting down the entire damn chamber in protest.
Instead, ten of them crossed the aisle to censure him.
Ten so-called defenders of democracy, voting in step with Republicans to punish one of their own—for daring to tell the truth.
This is what loyalty to the party gets you. A knife in the back, held by someone who will still ask for your vote in November.
The Democratic Party Needs Fascism to Survive
If you take nothing else from this moment, take this:
The Democratic Party has no real incentive to fight fascism.
Not because they secretly want it. Not because they like it.
But because they need it.
They need the fear of it. They need the looming specter of it. They need it just close enough to keep you terrified, just dangerous enough to keep you in line, just brutal enough to make you feel like you have no choice but to cling to them for survival.
They have built their entire strategy on being the only alternative to Republican destruction. And to maintain that position, they don’t need to win.
They just need to never lose completely.
They need you to believe that fascism is always one election away, so you never notice how much of it is already here.
No One Is Coming to Save Us
We have spent our entire lives being told that change happens within the system. That if we just elect the right people, sign the right petitions, wait for the right moment—justice will come.
But justice is not coming from inside the Democratic Party.
Liberation is not coming from career politicians whose power relies on keeping us desperate and afraid.
No one is coming to save us.
So we have to save ourselves.
We have to organize outside of them.
We have to build real power—power that isn’t dependent on their approval, their institutions, their rigged system.
We have to take back what was stolen from us—our labor, our wealth, our autonomy, our futures—by force if necessary, because they have never given us anything freely.
We have to stop begging for protection from people who refuse to fight for us and start preparing for the battle they won’t wage.
A Manifesto for Revolution Without the Democratic Party
We have been waiting for saviors who will never come. We have pleaded with power that will never serve us. We have knocked on doors that were never meant to open.
No more.
Revolution will not be found within the rotting halls of a party that profits from our desperation. Liberation will not be delivered by those who maintain their power by keeping us weak.
We do not need them. We never did.
Here is what we need instead.
1. We Build the Systems They Refuse to Give Us
They will not give us healthcare—so we will create networks of care.
They will not give us housing—so we will occupy and reclaim what is already ours.
They will not give us food security—so we will plant, share, and sustain each other.
They will not protect us—so we will defend ourselves.
They have abandoned us. We do not wait for their return. We replace them.
2. We Turn Solidarity Into an Unbreakable Weapon
The old world is built on division—on keeping us fractured, isolated, and afraid.
But when we refuse to turn against each other, when we see our liberation as bound together, we become an unstoppable force.
An injury to one is an injury to all.
A victory for one is a victory for all.
A revolution for one is a revolution for all.
We do not fight alone. We do not leave anyone behind.
3. We Withdraw Our Consent from Their Broken Systems
They hold power only because we allow it.
They rule only because we submit.
The moment we decide we are done—truly done—the system begins to crumble.
We withdraw our labor.
We withdraw our money.
We withdraw our compliance.
We will not fund our oppressors.
We will not fuel our captors.
We will not be complicit in our own suffering.
4. We Stop Begging and Start Taking
The time for asking nicely has passed. The time for petitions and polite appeals is over.
We take back what is already ours.
We seize the wealth stolen from our labor.
We reclaim the land hoarded by the powerful.
We take space. We take resources. We take control.
We do not ask permission. We do not wait for approval.
Revolution is not an invitation. It is an inevitability.
5. We Do Not Fear the Ashes—We Build from Them
The world as it stands cannot be reformed.
It cannot be gently convinced to let us live.
It must be dismantled.
Lisa Hayes is a life coach, writer, and editor of Confluence Daily, specializing in social issues, political issues, and mental health. Her work has appeared in publications like Huffington Post and Real Simple. She is also the Communications Director for a local fire department in Mexico and runs a life coach training program called The Coaching Guild.
