By: Team Sherrod

The far-right elite grows its movement best in the fertile soil of economic inequality.

Out of the ashes of Jan. 6, a new president and new majorities in Congress have three historic charges — defeat the pandemic, build back our economy, and repair the damage done to our democratic way of life. Americans saw — in the terrorist attack against our country and in the most bipartisan impeachment in our nation’s history — just how fragile our democracy is.

We save democracy for today, and for the next century, by making government work; by showing people in the most meaningful way that their votes matter, and that their votes count. And right now, that means a wartime-level mobilization to get Americans vaccinated and get our country through this pandemic. The best chance for our democracy lies not with the vain hope that Republican leaders will grow spines, but with Democrats’ ability to show Americans that they do not have to settle for a government that’s set up to fail.

We learn from history. The far-right elite grows its movement best in the fertile soil of economic inequality. Phony populist leaders eagerly exploit people’s anxieties; once in office, they use that power for corporate tax cuts, to amass more wealth for themselves. Then, when government fails everyone else — when the middle class shrinks, when wages stagnate, when corporate profits soar — people lose faith in democracy itself.