There are certain events which serve to clarify political cleavages and fault lines. We are witnessing one right now in the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas. And it is worth considering. When she was elected in 2018, AOC said that she and others like her on the left were not really Democrats—they had a fundamentally different worldview from the Democratic Party establishment and in a multi-party system they would be a completely different Party. This is true.
Let’s ponder a few of these inflection points because they help to show how those of us on the left have a fundamentally different worldview from the Democratic Party. We are not and have never been Democrats. (I may write a political theory follow-up that explains in more detail why these fundamental differences exist).
Signature Clinton 90s bills.The move to the center championed by President Clinton, the DLC, and the “new Democrats” was an inflection point that strongly divided the left from the mainstream of the Democratic Party. Clinton, working with Democrats and Republicans, signed into law welfare reform that transformed Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) into Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), repealed the Glass-Steagall banking regulations, enacted a large crime bill that contributed to mass incarceration, and signed into law NAFTA. Each of these was supported by Republicans, mainstream Democrats, and opposed by those on the left. Clinton’s policies contributed to three million disillusioned people, mostly on the left, voting for Ralph Nader in 2000.
Iraq 2003. There is no greater litmus test. It split the Democratic Party nearly down the middle, with a slight majority of Senate Democrats supporting the Iraq War vote and a slight majority of House Democrats opposing it. It remains a fundamental dividing line to this day between, on the one hand, leftist independents and left-leaning Democrats, and, on the other, the establishment center of the Party. It was still a consideration when those of us on the left supported Sanders in the 2016 and 2020 Democratic Primaries against his rivals, Hillary Clinton and Joe Biden, each of whom voted in favor of the war.
Signature Obama policies. Contrary to popular perception, Obama did not sign the Wall Street bailout into law, which was signed by Bush. But he did inherit about half of the remaining bailout dollars to oversee, which he did while simultaneously offering little mortgage relief to the millions of families losing their homes. Other dividing lines? No prosecution of Wall Street crimes, a decision to expand the war in Afghanistan, and the use of endless drone strikes. Those of us on the left welcomed Obama’s unwillingness to fully invade any new countries and his determination not to create another Iraq debacle. But by celebrating and expanding the fight in Afghanistan as the “good” war, he did not do nearly enough to draw down the forever wars. Still, he was clearly better than Clinton and Bush.
The Saudi War on Yemen. Virtually unmentioned in the mainstream press, Saudi Arabia has been waging a vicious war against Yemen since 2015. Some combination of indiscriminate airstrikes and subsequent humanitarian catastrophe has led to the death of hundreds of thousands of Yemenis and an ongoing Cholera outbreak. All of this has been rather unquestioningly supported, through the provision of intelligence and weapons, by the United States under Obama and Trump (no surprise). Only the left has documented these crimes, called for an end to US support, and called directly on Saudi Arabia to end its murderous war.
Biden’s Foreign Policy. First, the good news. Under Biden the US has stopped supporting offensive Saudi operations in Yemen. The mass drone strikes of the Obama and Trump years are down considerably. And the withdrawal of US forces from Afghanistan, however poorly executed, was long-overdue. Due to changing circumstances, popular pressure from the left, and distaste for the forever wars across the political spectrum, Biden has been a better president than Clinton, Bush, Obama, or Trump. At least that was the case.
In the wake of the brutal terrorist attack from Hamas, it is easy to give in to calls for revenge. Israel’s President and Defense Minister have openly dehumanized Palestinian civilians and called for war crimes. What has Biden done? Pledge unwavering support for Israel as its government calls for and systematically commits war crimes in Gaza (and in the West Bank, where soldiers and settlers kill Palestinian civilians with such routine occurrence that it is simply a daily fact of life).
This is unjust and it is wrong. Nothing can justify the mass slaughter of civilians. No past injustice can justify what Hamas is doing. And nothing can justify what the Israeli military is now doing.
Where We Stand Today. Rather than a few differences here and there, these are some of the most important issues and votes of the past thirty years. Indeed, the Iraq war vote was probably the most important vote of the 21st century. When around half of the Democrats heroically voted against it, one could argue that there was room for the left within the Democratic Party.
When it comes to unconditional support for the war crimes of the Israeli military, however, the Biden administration and Democratic members of Congress are making it clear that those calling for peace are an isolated, fundamentally distinct minority. Thirteen Democrats signed onto the recent call for a ceasefire in the House of Representatives. Thirteen out of more than 200. The overwhelming majority of Democrats have joined all Republicans in pledging unconditional support for war crimes.
This is reflected in the media as well. The left, both longstanding magazines like The Nation and the Progressive, as well as newer places of analysis such as Jacobin and Current Affairs, have uniformly condemned the terrorism of Hamas while also condemning the massive and ongoing war crimes of the Israeli government, which as of October 16 had killed more than 800 Palestinian children in Gaza. They also all correctly call for an immediate ceasefire.
Meanwhile, the right-wing media, no surprise, demands retribution, violence, and even borderline calls for genocide. Where do the centrist and establishment media stand? Basically next to those on the right. NBC coverage of the conflict looks like a press release for Netanyahu, while the morning rundown (October 17) from the New York Times reads like a press release for the Biden administration and its support for Israel’s ongoing war. The framing of support simply varies from bloodthirsty calls for revenge (Fox) to dispassionate necessity (New York Times).
But when you systematically target civilians and their homes, schools, roads, and hospitals, it matters not what you say but what you do. Does anyone care about the Hamas justification for its mass murder of Israelis? Of course not, because nothing can justify it. And nothing can justify the hell that the Israeli military is raining down on Gaza.
This is where we are today. Almost the entire Democratic Party is joining an increasingly right-wing Republican Party in professing unconditional support for Israel’s war in Gaza, which features a daily raft of well-documented war crimes.
And a small minority on the left are calling for peace. This is a reminder. Don’t call us Democrats. In place of endless recriminations, war crimes on both sides, and dead bodies, those of us on the left call for a ceasefire. We call for peace.