Unrestrained by a GOP dominated Congress, President Trump has exercised his latest executive whim: the capture and removal of Nicolas Maduro from Venezuela.
If Americans, including MAGA voters, finally grow anxious about unchecked, rashly improvised power in the White House and usher a Democratic majority into Congress, then what?
Rep. Jake Auchincloss (D – Mass), the latest centrist Democrat to criticize his party, recently observed that many voters view Democrats as “weak, woke, and whiny.”
That perception, as well as the substance, has to change if we are serious about returning the United States to a lawful, Constitutional democracy.
I am an unaffiliated voter, so I’m OK with a Congress of either party reining in a White House gone AWOL. So far, Republicans have demonstrated unwillingness to do the jobs for which they were elected, fearful of being “primaried,” or victimized by Donald Trump’s poison pen.
If disfavor with Trump gives Democrats the midterm elections, I fear they will trip over themselves reviving the unpopular positions that cost them the 2024 national and statewide elections. That mistake would ditch our best chance of saving democracy in 2028.
I pray that, if returned to power, Dems won’t revert to their customary one-dimensionalism: OK, if Americans are disgusted by ICE’s stormtrooper tactics, let’s do the opposite and reopen U.S. borders.
They need to remind themselves of nuance.
Dems need to remind themselves and American voters we no longer live in a simple, binary world. The two dominant parties in American politics today have also fostered the belief that only two positions exist – it’s either black or it’s white. What happened to all the shades of grey in between? And why can’t we acknowledge that each side has legitimate gripes? We should give them their due. Why can’t we do that?
We may be on a brink: Our economy is weakening. What we see so far may only be surface perturbations, a warning. Kitchen table issues like affordability and jobs (the lack of them), not social issues, may become top of mind for voters. I hope Dems will laser focus on these, not pie in the sky.
However flawed, our democracy is worth saving.
Ranked choice elections may be another building block in shoring up our democracy? In how many past national elections have voters been faced with deciding between two unappealing candidates? Is this the best we can do?
Our first order of business in 2026 is to fill both houses of Congress with responsible men and women. Then, we begin the real work of making this country more bulletproof against autocracy. That, or we’re lost. 2025 has demonstrated how dangerously fragile our democracy can be. Ultimately, we need the kind of elections where the best candidates rise, like cream, to the top. Ranked choice elections may be the answer.
Phoebe Huang
Stonington