1. United States
2. Vt.
3. Letter

I couldn’t help but notice that the overwhelming majority of Democrats in the House voted to fund the government through the upcoming midterm elections, mere hours after a whistleblower at USPS detailed how Trump and his cronies intend to corrupt and steal the election by selectively rejecting mail-in ballots. Were any meaningful concessions granted to ensure election security and stop Trump’s obvious scheme? Of course not, no. I want to be very, very clear: This institutional passivity in the face of a hostile authoritarian takeover of our democracy is exactly why the Democratic brand is in the toilet. I don’t vote for Democrats because they inspire loyalty, or have a clear agenda, or are effective messengers for policies and shared values, or have demonstrated a strong commitment to represent and protect their constituents in government. I (usually) vote for Democrats because they are at least somewhat better than the wannabe fascists who would deprive me of my rights and run this country into the ground. But actions like this, taken by Congressional Democrats, make me want to burn the party to the ground and try again with something new, even at the risk of it being worse than what came before. I want to especially call out the incompetence, moral cowardice, and outrageously misplaced priorities of Democratic leadership, like Hakeem Jeffries and Chuck Schumer. My god, they are *terrible* at their jobs, and I sincerely hope you will support challenges to their positions in the next Congressional session. Assuming representative democracy continues in a real way beyond the midterm elections, which the Dems have apparently decided not to defend.