The Rose Caucus is not seeking to become a separatist movement from the Democratic Party at this time:

“We aren’t seeking to replace any existing structures. Instead, we’re trying to fill gaps, so it’s very much a principled effort, but also a practical one. A lot of great candidates with serious commitment to advancing the movement simply don’t have resources or experience, and we can help meet that need as we run. We feel like it’s part of the “Not me, us” mentality. It doesn’t hurt us at all to take the time to help each other grow and succeed.” — Joshua Lee Collins

For my entire life, the U.S. Democratic Party has been the only option that has been presented to the American people as advocating for their interests. As I grew up and became interested in politics, I jumped headfirst into the Democratic Party. I voted for Barack Obama believing in the Hope and Change he was peddling. I believed in much further social protections that the temperance that Obama preached, but at the time, I believed that it was still a positive left-leaning trend, and much better than what we had experienced under Bush. Then I watched his presidency do horrendous and unnecessary things to immigrants, civilians in Iraq and Afghanistan, the Water Protectors of Standing Rock, the excruciatingly slow and lackluster progress on LGBTQ+ protections, and the ballooning of the prison-industrial complex. I was demoralized and felt disaffected towards the political process until Bernie Sanders entered the race in 2015.

After the crushing theft of the Democratic nomination by the DNC and the subsequent crowning of Hillary Clinton as the establishment’s choice for the nominee, I had a much different reaction than in the previous election, as did many Americans. We were angry. Incensed. The wool was abruptly pulled from in front of our eyes, and we were ready to revolt at what we saw. The sausage-making process of who gets to do what in liberal politics was not only horrifying but just plain unacceptable. We felt betrayed and were in too much shock to organize effectively against the naked display of undemocratic behavior by the “Democratic” Party. Even though it was too late for 2016, seeds of political and economic rebellion were planted in the hearts and minds of working-class people.

We went to ground and licked our wounds, learned about progressive movements of the past, and started to organize in greater numbers than any time in the last 70 years. Under the Trump administration, as economic inequality grew at a breakneck pace, the American Labor movement saw a resurgence of similar proportions. Generation Z didn’t grow up with the anti-communist rhetoric and bias that previous generations had been indoctrinated with. Young people have done their research and watched the disastrous effects of Capitalism with fresh eyes. The ideas of Marx, Lenin, Trotsky, Kropotkin, and the like make sense to them. They have easily convinced me and many of my Millenial peers that they are onto something. We are newly radicalized and we’re armed with a secret weapon: compassion and a deep belief in dignity and mutual aid. This shared belief has been enough to galvanize the left into a formidable movement of the working class.

This year people are getting ready for the coming fight within the Democratic Primary process. Even under the best-case scenario, we are preparing for the possible eventuality that the DNC will cheat Bernie out of the nomination in Milwaukee this July at the Convention again. A large and growing contingent of the rank and file progressives who consider themselves Democrats and Independents understand what is at stake this year. If Bernie can secure the nomination, that will be the beginning of many more uphill battles. He will be limited by the rules of the DNC and will need to depend largely on people organizing for the ideas that we all have become invested in, minus his direct participation.

Anticapitalist sentiment is at historical highs, not only in America but across the globe. Revolution has been a major theme from France to Iran, Hong Kong to Chile, Brazil to the Wet’suwet’en Territory. We need to be ready to stand up for our right to benefit from the economy that everyone tells us is booming. We need to be ready to take away the biggest tool that the establishment is using to manipulate us and our country: Fear.

If regular people refuse to back down and get back in line when the corporate media tells us that our only choice is to take the incremental scraps that the political establishment offers us or to be left behind, we remove the Democratic Party’s ability to weaponize our uncertainty against us. There are far, far more of us than there are of the ruling class. We have all of the building blocks that could potentially be used to assemble a party that is made of, by, and for working people. We have a significantly raised level of class consciousness that is spreading rapidly among historically ignored populations and also those who have previously considered themselves mainstream liberals or progressives.

We need a movement that does not hinge on the failure or success of one anti-capitalist candidate. Getting an ally in the White House would be great, but it’s just the beginning. We can’t stop there, or all of these ideas are destined to fail. We must embrace the concept of constant struggle, knowing that our movement will have days where we see historical advances against the crushing grind of capitalism. We will also see defeats and setbacks. Make no mistake, the corporate elite are organized, well-funded, and relentless. They will be there fighting against any gains for workers and families at every step.

We deserve a choice in who represents us in government. We need public servants who are democratically accountable to the working people they represent, forging an actual democracy, not the farce that our current system offers up as a paltry substitute. We must fight for the public ownership of megacorporations and call for an end pay-to-play politics that leave most of us out in the cold. We need to ensure housing and a viable planet for all of our children. We need another party in America. Are you willing to do the work it will take to make it happen?