Democrats and Republicans—Two Sides
of the Same Coin
Only a party independent of the capitalist class can represent the interests of the masses of workers and the poor. There is no political party that can fairly represent our interests and the interests of capital at the same time.
For example, and clarity, I am sighting the young and very charismatic, left-leaning campaign of a local, San Francisco Democratic Party candidate for Congress, Saikat Chakrabarti. He was one of the most “radical” candidates for congress in San Francisco vying for Nancy Pelosi’s seat in the 11th District. He lost the election.
Popular slogans—capitalist framework
Chakrabarti rightly called the U.S./Israeli war and occupation of Gaza genocide. He opposed sending any U.S. weapons to Israel. He’s in favor of abolishing ICE. He’s for a “Green New Deal.” He supports Medicare for all. And he is for federally funded universal childcare. And he calls the war on Iran “horrific and illegal.”
He also donated $600,000 to the campaign for Proposition D, known as the Wealth Tax—an initiative that aimed to change the top executive-pay tax that the city collects from some large businesses when their highest-paid managerial employee earns more than 100 times the median compensation paid to other employees. It also sought to increase the top executive-pay tax rates and introduce a voter approval requirement for future changes to the tax rates.1
However, Chakrabarti is also a multi-millionaire worth at least $167 million2 and, had he been elected, would have been one of the top ten richest members of congress.3
His campaign centered on the idea that he wanted to “change the Democratic Party.” In one of his many TV advertisements he stated, “We need a Democratic Party that will fight to create a society that works for all, not just the richest few.”
The fox can’t be trusted to guard the hen house
The major flaw to this argument is that you can’t have it both ways—capitalism itself is a system based upon the oppression of the poor and working class in order to protect the wealth of the ruling capitalist class—to constantly insure increasing rates of profits for themselves.
But the American people are becoming more and more aware that the U.S. political system is definitely not run in their interests, but, indeed, in the interests of the wealthy.
In a May 20, 2026, New York Times article by Ruth Igielnik titled “Latest Indicator of Political Discontent: 43 percent of Voters Dissatisfied With Both Parties,” she reported:
“Forty-three percent of voters are dissatisfied with both major political parties, according to a recent New York Times/Siena poll—the latest sign that the frustration that has built over the last decade will continue to roil American politics for the foreseeable future. …Overall, the Times/Siena survey found that just 26 percent of voters felt satisfied with the Democratic Party and that 33 percent felt satisfied with the Republican Party. …Eighty percent of dissatisfied voters said the economic and political system needed major changes or to be torn down entirely, and 77 percent said the economic system was generally unfair.”4
The American working class is finally realizing that the economic interests of the overwhelming majority of workers and the poor—are diametrically opposed to the interests of the capitalist class—because the only ways the capitalist class can increase their rate of profits are to cut the costs of production by:
- replacing workers with machines;
- using cheaper materials resulting in inferior products that workers have to buy;
- speeding up production by reducing workers’ health and safety regulations on the job;
- ignoring environmental safeguards;
- limiting workers’ pay.
All of which negatively effects the economic welfare of the masses while insuring increasing profits for the capitalist class.
Mr. Chakrabarti left these points out of his campaign promises. If he were serious about his left-leaning politics he would have been championing a mass, independent workers’ party in opposition to the capitalist class and their two-party system of economic and social exploitation of the working class for their own selfish interests.
The power of workers’ solidarity independent of capitalist interests
Capitalism can’t end income inequality any more than the capitalists can end wars. Wars are how they maintain and expand their power in the world. Wars target the masses not the wealthy elite.
It is the poor and working class in every country that fight and die in the catastrophic battles for control of the world’s resources.
The capitalist governments bomb infrastructure forcing the masses to flee their homeland because under capitalism, it’s profitable for them to do so. The victors of war aim to gain control over natural resources, and at the same time, profit from the necessity to rebuild a new infrastructure that they can then own and control.
Three concrete examples showing how capitalism holds hostage over the world
- In an April 25, 2026, New York Times article by Stephanie Nolen titled, “AIDS Creeps Back in Parts of Zambia, a Year After U.S. Cuts to H.I.V. Assistance,” exposes that U.S. H.I.V. aid is tied to U.S. access to Zambia’s mineral resources.
“During President Trump’s first month in office, his administration upended much of the flagship global H.I.V. program that had saved the lives of hundreds-of-thousands of people in Zambia. … Today, a pared-down system is operating on reduced U.S. support, and Zambia may lose that help entirely in the next few days. The Trump administration has set an April 30 deadline for the Zambian government to accept a new health funding agreement that is tied to giving the United States expanded access to the country’s mineral resources.”5
- And in a more recent New York Times article dated May 26, 2026, also by Stephanie Nolen titled, “A Powerful H.I.V. Drug Lands in Zambia. But Will It Reach Those Who Need It?” Nolan explains:
“The Trump administration’s other aid cuts have left the country’s health system so fragile that it may not have the infrastructure—to do tests, to deliver the drug, to keep records—necessary to get the drug to all those who need it. And it’s not clear whether Zambia will receive enough donated doses—or be able to buy enough—to have a meaningful impact on rates of H.I.V. transmission. Gilead Sciences, which developed lenacapavir, sells the drug for more than $25,000 per patient per year in the United States.”6
- In another example of capitalism’s “profit over people” choices, in an earlier, May 11, 2026, Times article by Bernard Mokam, titled, “They Were Promised New Septic Tanks. Trump Called It ‘Illegal DEI’” the author reported:
“Behind Dana Anderson’s home in central Alabama, a plastic pipe carries waste from her toilet through her backyard, discarding it outdoors. Three or four times a year, a spell of heavy rain forces the excrement back up into the house. … The soil is dense and holds onto water. Today there are more than 50,000 people in the region who pipe raw sewage into open trenches and pits. Now, a seeming solution to the public health problem has been stymied by an unlikely force: the Trump administration’s war on diversity, equity and inclusion programs. …The state agreed to an interim agreement that unlocked millions of dollars in federal funding to provide homeowners with septic tanks that could handle the difficult soil. But soon after President Trump returned to office last year, the Justice Department ended the settlement, calling it ‘illegal DEI.’”7
Independent workers’ power can change the world to benefit all
The Democratic and Republican Parties are doing what they have always done, pretending to be on the side of the poor while protecting the profits for the rich—ultimately threatening the destruction of the planet rather than share the profits they have stolen from the labor and sacrifices of the masses.
Capitalist “democracy” is democracy for the rich and the rule of capitalist totalitarianism for the masses.
Workers will never prosper under capitalism. We will only proper when we rule ourselves democratically and universally by bringing down capitalism and its private ownership of the means of production, and building socialism—the democratic ownership of the means of production by those who do the producing.
1 “San Francisco Voters Appear to Reject Tax Hike on Highly Paid C.E.O.s” by Soumya Karlamangla, June 8, 2026
2 “This founding Stripe engineer running to replace Nancy Pelosi may be even wealthier than her,” by Bryan Metzger, Business Insider
https://www.businessinsider.com/saikat-chakrabarti-net-worth-nancy-pelosi-primary-challenger-2025-8
3 Over half of the members of the U.S. Congress are millionaires, with estimates consistently showing that at least 50 percent to 55 percent of lawmakers have a net worth exceeding one million. This far outpaces the general U.S. population, where millionaires make up roughly seven percent of adults.
https://www.opensecrets.org/news/2020/04/majority-of-lawmakers-millionaires/
4 “Latest Indicator of Political Discontent: 43 percent of Voters Dissatisfied With Both Parties” by Ruth Igielnik, May 29, 2026
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/05/29/polls/dissatisfied-voters.html
5 “AIDS Creeps Back in Parts of Zambia, a Year After U.S. Cuts to H.I.V. Assistance,” by Stephanie Nolen, April 25, 2026
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/04/25/health/pepfar-hiv-aids-zambia.html
6 “A Powerful H.I.V. Drug Lands in Zambia. But Will It Reach Those Who Need It?” by Stephanie Nolen, May 26, 2026.
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/05/26/health/lenacapavir-hiv-zambia.html?searchResultPosition=3
7 “They Were Promised New Septic Tanks. Trump Called It ‘Illegal DEI.’”
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/05/11/us/alabama-sewage-trump-dei-voting-rights-act.html