After the 1990’s “end of history” came to a crashing halt with the advent of the 2000’s “War on Terror,” broad political culture within the US has become more divided between an increasingly far-right base which has taken over the Republican Party, and an ever-centrist Democratic Party that has had to contend with an increasingly disillusioned, left-turning base of activists. On the surface, the differences are real enough. One party wants to radically do away with bodily autonomy, LGBTQ+ rights, voting rights, immigrant rights, and ecological safeguards while enabling the powerful private sector to run amok as it sees fit. The other party desperately tries to cling to an imagined center, working to maintain a status quo based in the 90’s that, at this point, exists only in tatters and ghostly apparitions of its former self while offering nothing in the way of meaningful reforms which could address threats to our dire planetary and human situations. In both circumstances, these two major parties have developed different embraces of death. And while there are some contrasts between the two, no matter which one we choose, rest assured, it’ll be a party of death at the helm.

Let’s quickly dispense with the easiest death cult to identify, the current Republican Party. Since the rise of Trump in 2016, most Americans who oppose his brash style of politics have been more than happy to point out that his base includes a large number of people who actively work for the further detriment of human rights and environment. From calling for oil drilling in wildlife refuges, to supporting state bans on abortion, to planning mass deportation offenses, to outright saying they don’t believe in human-made climate change, they’ve made clear that they have no regard for human life or the planet that sustains us. What they support are the rights of the rich to oppress, exploit, and destroy. Theirs’ is the most outwardly evil on moral grounds, and the most short-sighted on survival grounds. Backed by multi-billion dollar industries, individual billionaires, and a swath of working and middle class folks attracted to their populist buzzwords and allusions to greatness, today’s Republican Party is no more than Death itself wrapped in the purple and gold of a Roman patrician. Or, if you like, it is the Pied Piper leading followers into a pit of misery with its triumphant messaging.

But this is all known about the current Republican Party. Unless you’re a true believer in their hateful rhetoric, even some who held their nose and voted for Trump and his endorsed acolytes admit that they find much of the GOP’s platform distasteful. But, for many voters, at least the Republicans were responding (albeit in a repugnant, reactionary, and xenophobic way) to broad demands that the system must change, and they practiced what they preached. Compare that to the Democratic Party, which has for decades sung the same old tune: talk big about real reforms (public-option healthcare), only to turn around and deliver either watered down corporate-friendly versions (Obamacare), or don’t deliver at all (student debt forgiveness). This brings us to the second, and harder to identify embrace of death in American politics: the Democrats.

An easy way to see how two roads diverged in a wood is to look at the two parties’ primaries in 2016 and 2020. While the far-right base took control of the GOP by nominating Trump both times, the Democratic establishment worked overtime to hip check their growing left-wing base by making sure the leftist Bernie Sanders was drummed out in 2016, and then worked even harder in 2020 to ensure he lost to an establishment candidate by coalescing forces before Super Tuesday as Sanders was on the rise. They’ve pulled the same tactic with lower ballot candidates running on a left-wing ticket, either by backing centrist incumbents or, more recently, backing challengers to incumbent left-leaning members. While the Democrats are happy to entertain this or that leftist occasionally as a cute nod to their base, they have never had any intentions of allowing one to be a Presidential nominee or major national figure.

So, as the Republican death cult is best expressed through the bigoted far-right takeover of the party, the Democratic Party’s embrace of death is expressed by its establishment’s refusal to let go of the dying neoliberal order, and unwillingness to let leftist ideas for reform come to the forefront. In one way, this is revealed by how the Democrats encourage members who are experiencing mental decline or serious health issues to continue on in their posts, because they can be trusted to tow the status quo’s line. If one were cherry picking, we could point to Joe Biden’s run in 2020. Some media outlets, like this piece in Politico, were already talking about his mental awareness as early as 2019. But there are deeper cases of this same phenomenon where centrists are propped up even while it’s become clear they might not have the acuity to continue. Look at Dianne Feinstein refusing to step down in 2022 and 2023 before her passing, even after staffers and colleagues had gone public questioning her cognitive health; Nancy Pelosi’s confused interview and “Good morning, Sunday morning” gaff on This Week in 2020 (who also recently fell and broke her hip in Luxembourg); David Scott, who some Democrats have openly asked whether he has the cognitive fitness to continue serving; and Kay Granger, who has apparently been living in an assisted living home since July, and hasn’t shown up for floor votes, but refused to resign before the end of her term. 

This isn’t about age necessarily, it’s about having the cognitive ability to properly represent one’s constituents. For example, the GOP has Chuck Grassley who, at 91 years old, is the oldest Senator. And while his politics are atrocious, and his mental acuity likely isn’t what it was twenty years ago, he hasn’t shown such a steep decline that would warrant great concern over his capacity. Same with Senator Bernie Sanders who, at 83, is one of the oldest Senators currently serving. He’s old, but his cognitive awareness still seems sharp and hasn’t been questioned. So this isn’t an age question. Rather, it’s an issue about the Democratic establishment consciously trying to protect their favorite centrists from scrutiny long after it has become evident to staffers and insiders that they’re no longer fit to serve. Why? Because they can count on them to tow the status quo and not make any ripples about reform.

This is how the Democratic Party embraces death, not with a bang but a whimper. Rather than the GOP’s mask-off approach where they openly announce their deadly intentions, the Democratic Party fends off the more leftist, anti-corporatist elements within its ranks by propping up a decaying gerontocracy of establishment-approved centrists who will happily side with the interests of wealthy donors while placating an unhappy and downwardly mobile public with hollow words of reform. No doubt, as age catches up with the establishment’s favorites, they’ll find some younger centrists like Hakeem Jeffries to take the reins. But between 2020 and this moment, they’ve been scared. They would rather risk death than to give way to a leftist-progressive platform. Just look at the recent internal defeat of Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (35) who has shifted slightly more toward the center recently but is still considered progressive. She was running to be the ranking Democrat on the Oversight Panel, but lost to centrist Rep. Gerry Connolly (74) who is battling esophagus cancer. The DNC establishment cannot stomach the idea of a progressive, let alone a leftist, coming into actual power, even if that means propping up a seriously ill and aged Party member who will more readily tow a centrist line. 

So, we find ourselves stuck between two parties that embrace death. One that openly admits that it is working to further harm the planet, organized labor, and anyone who isn’t a hetero-normative white cis-male. And the other that continues to pay hollow lip service to reform while working overtime to ensure its declining gerontocracy of centrists remain in power, even if it’s in the form of a bag of bones, until they can grow a new crop of competent boot lickers. Because, they’ll be damned if one ounce of actual working-class leftist ideas creep into their precious platform. And until there is an actual challenge from the left-base, this author can’t foresee either party letting go of Death’s cold hands.