I’m going to use my ability to write an opinion piece very literally for this article. This is a long one, buckle up.
About a month ago, I made a pitstop to Omaha to see someone I have long held respect for, despite him being from maybe my least favorite group of people. Independent Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders kicked off his “Fighting Oligarchy” nationwide tour in Omaha on Feb. 21 drawing an overflow crowd of more than 2,500, with hundreds more turned away due to how packed the venue was.
The tour included stops from all over the country and primarily touched down in “red states,” states that had a majority of the population vote for President Donald Trump in the 2024 presidential election and states that most likely have Republicans representing them at the state and federal level.
This decision to primarily tour in these red states is, of course, a tactical decision. Sen. Sanders said he chose Omaha specifically because of its working-class voters who were swayed toward Republican candidates in the 2024 election. He felt that people are being duped and they are voting for politicians who don’t have the best interest of the working class in mind. It also allows Sanders to galvanize supporters of his politics into acting while in these red states, to encourage them to try and change politics, whether that’s locally or otherwise, in hopes that they can help shore up some of the holes politicians may miss.
This is my opinion, after all, so I will be blunt. I like Bernie Sanders; he is, in my opinion, the exact opposite of the sleazy politicians we somehow keep in office for 40-plus years and come off millions of dollars richer than before they entered politics. Had I been able to vote for Sanders in 2016 and he won the Democratic primary, I would have. Had he won the primary Democratic primary against President Joe Biden, I would have voted for him.
I am also comfortable saying despite my respect for Sen. Sanders, I would not hesitate to cast my vote towards a different candidate if need be. I have some core issues with Sanders politics, but you have to make some level of compromise in politics.
I’m bringing up this nationwide tour and Sen. Sanders because I believe that now more than ever, we are in an age that will define American history, where suddenly, the powerful apparatus that is the White House and Washington is in jeopardy of being twisted and pulled away from the American people and into the hands of the few, the hands of the rich, powerful and hateful.
Some commentators and comedians, mainly John Stewart and Bill Burr, have called this the “oligarchy of nerds,” and they couldn’t be more right. Elon Musk, the Tesla and SpaceX CEO has become the new figurehead of the Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE and is attempting to make cuts to the federal government that they deem as wasteful. In practice this illegal government agency was created by skirting around the normal congressional process, is cutting programs that often aim to help our most disadvantaged and disenfranchised Americans, removing key services such as regulatory agencies and the national parks.
If we, as Americans, had the guts to admit it, we’d say Musk is cutting programs and agencies that directly police his companies and thus interfere with his profits. Musk has also very quickly allied himself with the alt. right and white supremacists, you can see it for yourself by opening his Twitter feed.
In Burr’s words, not mine, Musk and the other tech giants who have seemingly all aligned themselves with the White House and President Trump are finally getting their opportunity to parade around the power they always wish they had. To finally flaunt some level of influence and credibility that they have always felt they lacked and address their greatest insecurities. They want all the privilege of saying in public forums that they are “for free speech and democracy” while simultaneously being openly corrupt in their extraction of wealth at the expense of the American people, especially the people they deem as “unworthy,” people who are often LGBTQ, women and racial and ethnic minorities.
These outward attacks on these minority groups and the public’s criticism of a growing oligarchy are being left largely ignored by both career Democrats and Republicans. Both parties seem to be hoping to cozy up to their own billionaire and willing to put up with human rights being compromised in hopes they secure elections.
All of this “background” information leads me to my main point. They, these political parties and billionaires, will not save you. Even the “good ones” like Sen. Sanders. It’s time we as Americans, primarily young Americans like those in college, start looking across racial, cultural and state lines and see the larger issues.
There are policies and political futures for this country that are objectively a net good for the entire nation. We need to fight for those. There are people Musk and other politicians have painted as disgusting and deplorable, say trans folks, who in all actuality have done nothing wrong. We need to fight for them and start having hard conversations with ourselves about whether or not we contributed to hate in the past and present.
There are times when you must fight for people’s right to exist in this country, whether they are immigrants, or LGBTQ, or black or Asian. It’s on us to see across lines that might divide us and see people for who they are.
Politicians and the markets have to listen to us; if they only listen to each other long enough, sooner rather than later, they will bar us from ever even having a voice in the things that matter. Some people have thrown out the idea of a massive general strike or of massive protests that disrupt and disperse the power back into the hands of the people. These are, in my opinion, the best way forward.
Your politics need to be deliberately constructed in a way that empowers the most people possible and serves the nation at large. Not yourself, not the party you like, everyone. This era of American individualism has led us into a political and economic landscape that is devoid of empathy and compassion and is addicted to self-serving consolidation. The solution to this individualism is simple: to love your neighbors no matter how different they are and judge them objectively as they are, to be blunt in calling out hate and standing up for those who be unable to speak for themselves and to see across the divide and remove those who aim to sow it.
All oligarchs benefit from a never-ending culture war that pits good, hardworking people against each other over issues they should have no reason to debate. In that misguided anger they hoard the riches unnoticed. You should be angry instead at people like Musk, who are agents of chaos and sow instability; you should be angry at your senators and congressmen who act in a way that hurts your community. Not towards your fellow person, who is simply trying to make their ends meet and provide for their family.
We are long overdue for a national ego death and cleansing of the soul. Look across the line and start asking the hard questions: are my politics detrimental to the average person and are they actually empowering those who are hurting Americans?
