Evident Demands of the People for a
Democracy of Their Own Making

– Kathleen Chandler –

On October 17, people from all walks of life demonstrated in every state in the U.S., with 3,000 actions taking place under the banner of No Kings Day. Defending the right to vote, they are making it known that they are angry with the existing institutions, the electoral process and the efforts of the rulers to deny even the right to vote, considered a bare minimum when it comes to democracy.

The theme of this latest No Kings Day action is Our Vote, Our Voice, Our Democracy. The slogan itself raises a key question facing the peoples in the U.S., Canada and worldwide which is who comprises the our? If that our is the people, what kind of democracy is required for it to be a democracy of, by and for the people?

The actions themselves show that working people are speaking out in their own name, with their voice and demanding a role in decision-making concerning issues such as war, poverty, health care, housing and the environment. The many banners and signs and repeated actions show theirs is an anti-war, pro-social stand. The anger is such that efforts to divert the movement into a self-serving electoral machine for the Democratic Party are failing.

Indeed, consciousness is such that people closest to the Democratic Party within the movement cannot make voting for the Democrats, or winning the Senate or House, the focus of the movement, as the slogans indicate. The general rule for the actions was no endorsement of candidates and no candidates running for office as speakers. The main thrust is that Our Vote means defending the right to vote for all and Our Voice is reflected in demands like No War on Iran, Stand with Palestine, Stop the Genocide, Hands Off My Vote and Abolish ICE. The call for early voting is an expression of the anger and resistance to attempts by the executive to manipulate the vote using ICE at polling stations on Election Day.

The broad anger that exists is with all the institutions, the presidency, Congress and courts. There is distrust and dissatisfaction with governments all down the line. One example, a recent survey of more than 6,000 Black voters in all 50 states and Washington, DC, showed that 87 per cent of respondents said there is no justice or equality at all in the systems that govern them – not at the federal, state or local level. Only three per cent had trust in the federal government.

The survey brought out that Black people are not interested in restoring the old democracy. They want a government where they have decision-making power. These sentiments are not limited to Black workers, who are commonly among the advanced section of the working class. The survey and stands being taken reflect that there is broad rejection of the current set up. The battles for rights, including the right to vote, are bringing forward political discussion and organizing among the people to look into exactly what Our Democracy means and what a democracy of the peoples' own making would look like.

At the very least more than $1 billion would not be spent on the elections as is occurring for these mid-terms. Instead, public financing of the process would be required. Worker politicians chosen by their peers, not some party official or oligarch, would be brought forward, representing the interests of the workers.

The rulers and their politicians in both parties try to pretend that how people vote reflects what they stand for. It does not. It is not beliefs or values that people want represented, it is their interests and rights as workers and human beings.

The stands individuals take on issues like war, mass detention and deportation, the environment, attacks on workers, often have nothing to do with how they vote. Claims that the 77 million people who voted for Trump are all backward, racist workers are false, a falsehood again being promoted as part of the current disinformation. Such claims are a means to blame the workers as the ones responsible for President Trump and his crimes, not the unrepresentative political system and certainly not the oligarchs who selected and back him.

The rejection of the government brutality and racism seen in the raids and detentions by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is also apparent. Everywhere the demand is to Abolish ICE and to close all the detention camps. Just last week, tens of thousands demonstrated in New York City after once again ICE shot someone, this time a father sitting in his car with his five-year-old son after picking him up from school. He fortunately survived but was detained. The cruelty of these actions targeting parents and children at schools and churches has generated great outrage and again exposed the government's racism and complete disregard for the rule of law.

People defending the refugees and immigrants being targeted, most of them workers and many in the country for decades, contend with the reality that legal means for defending them and even finding them once detained have been eliminated. Self-reliance by the people themselves is what characterizes these battles today, with whole communities organizing and providing support and protection.

This is also reflected in preparations for Election Day, November 3, when many are expecting President Trump to have ICE and other federal policing agencies at the polling stations, which itself is illegal. Many forces, including unions, churches, local officials and No Kings organizers, are doing training for people to be at the polls and ensure people can vote. They are also promoting early voting as another form of defending the right to vote, with the dates varying from state to state but usually starting 10-15 days before Election Day. Some states have already started early voting. It is likely the many organizations defending immigrants and the right to vote will be out in force across the country on Election Day.

There is also a concerted effort by the rulers to try and divide the people at the polls November 3. Alongside the sizeable mobilization by the many rights organizations for the safety of voters and to protect against ICE, Trump and forces like the racist Proud Boys are also planning to be present. Elon Musk gave $70 million for a "ground game" leading up to the election and on Election Day. It is likely that Trump will have ICE present at certain locations and that there will be an effort, using provocateurs, to instigate conflict between the forces to pit the people against each other. Then Trump is positioned to declare an emergency, or use the Insurrection Act, which allows him to use the military inside the country against the people. He threatens to do so time and time again.

The military, however, has repeatedly said there will be no troops at the polls. This shows the conflicts between the presidency and military and indicates they will not go against people voting as that would undermine their authority. This is a problem for Trump as he does not want to antagonize the military and cannot afford to have them refuse orders if he invokes the Insurrection Act. This makes it more likely that, at least for now, Trump will rely on ICE, his paramilitary force.

The problem the rulers face is that any such effort to police and interfere in the elections will only further expose the failure of the existing institutions, already distrusted, and more forcefully bring to the fore the need for a democracy of the peoples' own making. It will also further intensify conflicts among the rulers, especially between the federal government and state and local governments, who all have police and military forces of their own.

Federal Versus State Rights

Elections in the U.S. are run by the states, not the federal government, and by local counties and cities within each state. The federal executive power under Trump has, since his first term, tried numerous ways to take federal control of elections, including demanding the states turn over voter lists, by controlling mail-in balloting and using civil organizations like Social Security to gather information on voters. But this has so far not succeeded. What has happened is that the contradictions among the ruling factions and between the federal and state authorities have intensified, further increasing the danger of open violent civil war among them and against the people. None of the rulers want this, so, how to avoid this, is a factor which will also explain Trump's actions on Election Day.

Whether President Trump will succeed in using the mid-term elections to gain even greater powers for the presidency, using a national emergency or federalizing the elections or even declaring them invalid, remains to be seen. He has put in place what he needs to instigate such a national emergency. He will also likely target states like California, New York and Illinois, along with places like Ohio, Michigan and Minnesota. He will need the unrest to be widespread to call for a national emergency. What is clear is that despite their use of force, brutality and detentions, the paramilitary forces and federal agencies cannot as yet control or stop the resistance of the peoples, in the U.S. or abroad.

In trying to control resistance, there has been intense disinformation and diversions concerning the mid-term elections for Congress and state-level positions, now only about two weeks away. This often centers on whether Democrats will win the House or Senate, with even Republicans now saying the Democrats will get a small majority in the House, while the Senate remains an even 50-50 split. For Congress, all 435 members of the House of Representatives are up for election and one-third of the Senate. The large majority of those already in office will keep their seats.

If Democrats do get a majority in the House, it is more a reflection of the rejection of Trump and the attacks on rights and opposition to wars being waged, not support for Democrats. This was evident in the mobilizing done during the primaries this summer. The strength of the peoples' demands across the country is such that candidates running as progressives had to take stands in support of Gaza and to oppose or abolish ICE, along with others like the right to housing and health care, and stands reflecting the anger with the role of billionaires in the elections. Elon Musk, for example, has dumped $276 million into the elections just since September.

In New York, Michigan, Minnesota, Colorado, Florida and elsewhere, tens of thousands of organized volunteers knocked on hundreds of thousands of doors and engaged people in discussion centered not so much on the individual candidates, but rather on their platforms, reflecting these demands of the people. The confidence gained from learning that door after door, people stood united in support of Palestine and against ICE encouraged further mobilizing and discussion. There was also pride that these candidates won despite tens of millions being spent and ruthless negative campaigns, especially against those who were Black or Muslim. The American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) spent $60 million on one primary campaign and lost. This too reflects the strength of the pro-social anti-war movements – AIPAC and the Zionists are repeatedly losing even in New York City, once considered their bastion.

Texas remains a key battleground. Trump loyalist and a main force for eliminating rule of law, Attorney General Ken Paxton is losing in the race for governor, which Trump needs to win in terms of the border and potential invasion of Mexico.

The peoples are working to further strengthen the resistance and refusing to submit to the vicious threats of the government to brand them terrorists and jail them for 50 or more years. They contend with some Democratic Party supporters trying to instead direct the movements away from political discussion of demands and independent actions, and into winning control of the Senate and House for the Democrats. Illusions are being spread that this is how to fight the fascists, and that they will continue after the elections to "hold their feet to the fire."

The consciousness in the movement is such that these old promises have little meaning. People have learned from their experiences – in elections, in being self-reliant in defending their communities from ICE and troops. As slogans put it, they recognize that Only the People Can Save the People. As a result, these efforts to divert the pro-social anti-war movements are failing.

Labor Day and many more actions regularly held across the country show that the workers, women and youth are undaunted and will continue to strengthen resistance. Preparations to be at the polls show the same. The rulers are frightened and haunted by the fact that peoples everywhere are rejecting this failed U.S. system and its unrepresentative democracy and organizing alternatives where the people themselves decide.

It is also important to recognize that today supreme power is exercised by the presidency with the role of Congress diminished. Legislation, like Congress itself, no longer plays a main role in sorting out conflicts and doling out money among the ruling factions. Whatever legislation is passed has far less impact given that rule of law, both inside the U.S. and internationally, is being trampled and eliminated. This includes refusal by the presidency to uphold court orders and existing laws.

This reality is one reason why focusing on who controls Congress will not provide analysis of developments in the U.S. It diverts from both the decisive role the peoples' resistance plays and from the fact that the powers of the presidency, with growing impunity to use police powers in the U.S. and abroad, are key.

Trump has said the elections will not affect him. What he means by it is that it is the presidency that has the power to wage wars and unleash policing forces. He will continue to rule with impunity using executive police powers, whoever controls Congress. Indeed, given his failures on every front, such as in Palestine, Iran, Yemen, Cuba, the growing movements against genocide and ICE and concerning elections and the right to vote, the likelihood is that he will continue to act with impunity using executive orders. He will necessarily continue to implement the demands of the rulers for increased U.S. domination and control, in the Americas and worldwide. Failing control, extreme violence and obliteration are unleashed. Congress does not determine such matters, with wars being waged by the presidency without Congressional authorization since World War II.

Another aspect to consider is the fact that Congress is dysfunctional and much hated for its refusal to use its authority when it comes to war and funding the rights of the people. The federal budget is one place Congress does still have a role, but Congressional dysfunction means the budget does not get passed and instead government shutdowns are threatened, as occurred again in September and another showdown is likely in December. Working people have not forgotten the government shutdown at the end of 2025. It lasted 43 days and caused great harm, especially to all those relying on social services, many of them women and children, and the federal workers laid off without pay.

Confronted with any opposition at all, as seen in Palestine and actions to defend her, in the struggles against ICE, those by health care and public sector workers and many more, the U.S. state is compelled to use extreme violence. The rulers cannot control the broad resistance and striving of the peoples for change, as is evident worldwide. They also cannot control the huge human productive powers that now exist, as seen in the technological revolution for example. These objective powers, independent of individual will, including Trump's, are exerting pressure to be released from all the constraints of the imperialist system of private ownership of social production by oligarchs.

While the media and establishment politicians focus on control of Congress, the issue of control that needs to be examined is this: How to advance society so that it is the working people that control these huge human productive powers, which are already capable of providing for the human and natural environment. To control them in the interests of humanity, the work of organizing for political empowerment of the people is crucial.