The argument that Senate minority Leader Schumer offered for leading a small group of Democratic Senators to vote in favor of continuing resolution bill to keep the government funded was basically nuanced.

Schumer asserted that Trump and Musk would have greater leeway to carve up the government if it were shut down than they would with the expanded authorities to carve up the government contained in the actual legislation itself.

The problem with that tact was that it ignored entirely the will of the democratic leaning voters and … 95% of all elected Democrats in congress. The Schumer 10 commandeered the political agenda of moderate-republican-center-left coalition. The is no tactical political strategy that justifies that. It was is an absolute abdication and a betrayal. Chuck Schumer traded a powerful grassroots political movement for a nuanced tactical theory.

No one should be surprised. In Wilding v. DNC Services Corp. a 2016 lawsuit brought by supporters of Bernie Sanders alleging interference in the primary process by the Democratic National Committee and Debbie Wasserman-Schultz there were ominous signs. The suit ultimately failed but not before DNC Services Corp. argued that as a private corporation they had every right to favor one candidate over another. What Chuck Schumer is telling us is that he agrees.

This not your parent’s Democratic party. Chuck Schumer is not Robert Byrd, Tom Daschle or Harry Reid all former democratic leaders prior to Schumer. They were fighters. Harry Reid would pick a fight with the Republicans for the fun of it, just because he didn’t like them.

The transition within the Democratic party has been away from political organizing and social idealism and towards the business of DNC Services Corp. They don’t get paid to take chances or to become embroiled in the messy political details, they get paid to achieve and maintain political power.

That comes at a very bad time for American Constitutional Democracy. If ever a viable opposition political party was needed this would be the moment. The mood in the country is fearful and short of patience. People want action and particularly from their elected officials. The overseers of the interests or DNC Services Corp. are apparently content to let the rage build until it delivers control of congress to them neatly wrapped.

The problem is that massive damage is rapidly being done to the vital institutions that serve the American people. The need to fight and fight hard has reached a crisis stage. Congress is not the only battle ground in this fight but it is a critically important one. 95% of the Democrats in congress heard and acted in concert with the people who put them there. 5% hijacked the process and changed the outcome to their liking.

The 95% must overcome the 5%. Many Democratic leaning voters communicated with their elected representatives in the run-up to Friday’s CR bill vote. That must continue and intensify. There must be a power struggle within the Democratic party and every voter that opposes the Trump-Musk agenda must participate. The Democratic leaders must not be overseers of the party’s interests but servants of those from whom their power flows.

Chuck Schumer’s leadership must be challenged and there is no time to waste. Just as it was necessary to urge Senate democrats to vote against the CR bill, it now becomes of equal or greater importance to impress upon your Senators the need for a change of leadership. It’s not just about a new Senate leader it’s about a new party.

Marc Ash is the founder and former Executive Director of Truthout, and is now founder and Editor of Reader Supported News.

Reader Supported News is the Publication of Origin for this work. Permission to republish is freely granted with credit and a link back to Reader Supported News.