Today is the day before Midterm Election 2026 ends. Throughout the USA, millions have mailed in ballots and participated in early voting. Tomorrow is the day that millions more will stand in long lines to cast their ballots. I will be one of them. We are living in a state of anxiety. We learned from a decade of MAGA extremism and its wider appeal to right of center and centrist voters to distrust each other as voters. As a non-gambler, I don't bet on anything. I certainly do not bet on Americans to vote rationally, sensibly, knowledgeably, or with Empathy for people and democracy.
Two articles suggest that my skepticism and worry has some merit. I lean hard on the side of skepticism and worry even in the best of times. I do not trust American voters, the wealthy class, or politicians. But this is mostly about two forces that will be hard to beat: centrist Democratic politicians who sympathize with Republican policies and the oligarchy.
Two Democratic politicians have recently, openly, without apology shown their true loyalties and beliefs... Michigan's Haley Stevens and Pennsylvania's John Fetterman. They are siding with MAGA and Donald J Trump in this election that will decide foreign and domestic policies for years to come.
Some political pundits and Democratic party loyalists will say that 'They have the right to vote their consciences'. But do they have that Right? These are two party leaders and elected representatives of Democratic voters who vowed in their campaigns to uphold Democratic party values and the Constitution. Before either of them publicly denounce their party's chosen candidate and the voters who decided the primary elections, they should publicly apologize for the lies they told in their campaigns and the millions of donation dollars they took. What they are doing today is betrayal.
I believe that each and every one of us has the right to change our minds and behaviors. We learn new information, study new ideas, have new experiences, grow and adapt to new environments. I don't trust an adult who is the same person they were three decades earlier. But we should remember that these changes in beliefs and loyalties do not happen overnight...especially when the people are in seats of power and wealth.
Stevens and Fetterman did not decide overnight to vote for MAGA. They've had ten years of what the rest of us had -- MAGA power that has eroded democratic progress and empowered far right fascism. They know what we know. Therefore, to suggest that Stevens' and Fetterman's votes for MAGA are strictly 'votes for Jews and Israel' is utter nonsense. Their 'consciences' reveal that they choose to empower America's oligarchs ( white Christians, Jews, and Fascists); that right-wing extremism under-pinned by Christian Nationalism is okay to tolerate and support as long as they personally benefit; that White Supremacy is alive among Democratic party power players.
Their betrayal is not unheard of. So what if two politicians renig on campaign promises, show more loyalty to the opposing political party than to their own, and use their power to benefit themselves? It's common enough to be the core of jokes about sleazy politicians, lawyers, and religious leaders. We laugh then go right back to being shocked.
But these most recent headlines reveal something that many Americans deny -- We are an oligarchy, not a true aspiring democracy. The oligarchs are White Wealthy Male Supremacists. They own most corporate media, powerful politicians, and the multibillion dollar agencies that carry out their policies.
Last week, the world got information that our American oligarchs and the politicians they own thought were secret and safe from public scrutiny. "On Wednesday, Oct. 28, a hacker group calling itself the Department of Peace dumped 41,191 Department of Homeland Security personnel records onto the open internet.Distributed Denial of Secrets, the nonprofit that archives leaked datasets, published the lot. Names. Offices. Contact details. Job assignments. And 55,603 internal groups.Customs and Border Protection took the biggest hit: 21,329 entries. ICE: 6,598. Homeland Security Investigations, the ICE division that is supposed to chase cartels, not grandmothers: 3,421." (Jack Hopkins, Jack Hopkins Now)
What many Americans will take away from this significant dump concerning secret government operations is that the Trump Administration and Republicans are cruel white supremacists. What we should take away from it is that powerful elected men and women in both political parties have for years secretly upheld this buildup of white supremacist enforcement programs. These programs are far worse than anything we ever knew about government-financed Slave Hunters or the KKK. They reach into other countries on other continents.
In fact, these enforcement programs are about keeping America safe for our oligarchs and granting them limitless power over its citizens. When a religious cult realizes the power it has over its followers, the leaders invent new ways to tighten that power. When a political party realizes the power it has over domestic and foreign policy, the leaders seek new ways to tighten that power.
Stevens and Fetterman can easily be replaced. Two people. Nothing illegal. Their betrayal might shift votes and election results but, it signals more than anything else that White Wealthy Male Supremacy fights to maintain its power in the USA. The hackers and the records they made public do not merely show us that ICE is too powerful; they reveal that our powerful oligarchs will stop at nothing to protect and empower themselves. That our party leaders are merely tools in the oligarchs' games.