The Witness Chronicles, 3/13/25

Where are the Democrat visionaries?

Photo by Joel Johnson on Unsplash

The Gaping Hole in American Politics

Where is the new blood in the Democratic Party?

Let’s try a hypothetical. The Republican Party under Trump implodes due to some yet unseen factor. Maybe he goes nuts (more nuts). Maybe the economy tanks so badly that Americans get really angry. Maybe we find ourselves in an unpopular and unnecessary war. You get the idea.

So, somehow Trump is on the way out and things have shifted. The Democrats have a huge opportunity to step in and rebuild the country and government. Now ask yourself, who is going to take the lead? Who will have the character, charisma, and vision to bring us back, or better yet, lead us ahead?

Unfortunately, I have no answer to that critical question, and that is at the core of the problem we are dealing with right now. There is no emerging leadership on the left capable of rallying the country to right the ship.

The reality of what Trump and Musk are doing as they tear things apart is just how incompetent they are, how bumbling and arrogant. And they have surrounded themselves with sycophants, fanatics, and just plain stupid people. It’s a ship of fools.

It is quite obvious that despite this incompetence they are still capable of doing a lot of damage, ruining lives, and setting us back hundreds of years. And they are going at it as fast as they can, not worrying about the collateral damage they leave in their wake.

As strange as this scenario sounds, it is exactly what we are witnessing daily. What we are also witnessing daily is the stunningly lackluster response from the Democrats in Congress, the lack of dynamic leadership, the waffling of an old guard out of touch with the people.

If this democracy fails the blame needs to fall on the Democrats who stood by stunned and watched it happen.

It is telling that, in recent weeks, the only voice rallying large angry crowds against Trump’s actions is Bernie Sanders, an old school progressive liberal, a relic of sixties politics, and, frankly, an angry old man. At least he is angry enough to do something. And those crowds are hungry for a voice that represents them, starved for it in fact.

Bernie is not the solution, not even close, but he is doing something. Others, like AOC, are doing their part but that school of liberal progressivism is what Trump ran against and won. That message won’t cut it. So, what will?

The fact that that question remains unanswered months after the election is why we find ourselves in this situation. The message on the left is stale and mostly nonexistent and has been for years. Not since Barack Obama has there been a dynamic voice and vision in the Democratic Party. That was 17 years ago.

I’m not going to try and answer why because that is the job of historians and I write about what is going on right now. I’m an observer and what I am seeing is an opposition party that is doing no opposing. And a population that is getting increasingly angry at what the Trump administration is doing every day at breakneck speed.

The right knows this. They are hearing that anger from their constituents as Trump breaks promises he made to them for months, declaring himself the only man competent and capable of fixing everything. As we are seeing he is definitely not that. But he is something else. He never meant any of those promises, never cared about giving the voters what he promised.

And they are slowly starting to realize that. The anger that is growing has already forced Republican politicians to hide from their voters, to avoid appearing in public, and to remain silent even as their leader takes actions which may destroy his own party.

That silence is compounded with fear as the extremists on the right resort to physical threats if anyone dares to speak up against the increasingly dictatorial actions of the President.

As counterintuitive as this sounds, this presents a huge opportunity for the Democrats to take the initiative and regain power. So, why are we not seeing most of them do anything? It’s a leadership gap and no one seems to want to fill it or even be capable of trying.

Leaders emerge from unusual places and circumstances and their rise is often unpredictable. John F. Kennedy from old money and the desire for youth and an escape from the shadow of world war. Carter from the deep south out of frustration with inflation and the need for an honest voice. Clinton from a poor state, Arkansas, but overflowing with charisma and ambition. And Obama, an unlikely young black Senator with a thundering voice.

Not all were successful, but they were leaders. As I scan the news daily, I am looking for a voice with potential, with a scrap of vision, and to be honest, a younger voice, and a more energetic voice untainted by years of Washington politics.

If you have any idea who that might be, please tell us in the comments because I am not seeing it, and that saddens me more than all of this.

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Thank you,

Martin Edic