This coming week, U.S. voters will head to the polls for the 2026 midterm elections. In many ways, this vote will be a referendum on the leadership and decision-making of President Donald Trump and his Republican allies in Congress. More generally, it is the latest in a series of global democratic tests for the emboldened far-right – tests they have recently failed in Hungary, Brazil, and Serbia. As such, the election is hugely consequential, not just for the U.S., but also for the world.
However, and regardless of the result, deep structural problems will undoubtedly remain embedded in the heart of the U.S. political economic system. Twelve years ago, in the immediate aftermath of the 2014 midterm elections, The Democracy Collaborative co-founder Gar Alperovitz wrote an op-ed for Truthout, Playing the Long Game, which lays out the fundamental challenge of the modern era: The problems our societies face are systemic, not simply political.
In that election – held midway through President Barack Obama’s second term – Democrats suffered significant losses at both the federal and state level. The election was also mired by the lowest voter turnout since the 1940s. “In a profound sense this election changes very little,” Gar wrote. “The dominant reality we face is one of substantial ongoing political stalemate and decay, and this sets the terms of reference for those serious about long term, more fundamental change.”
Gar’s point was not that the election didn’t matter; or that there were no ideological or policy differences between the Democratic and Republican parties. It was that the underlying political economic system was weak and had been decaying for decades.
Wealth and income inequality had increased significantly, average wages had barely risen at all when adjusted for inflation, housing and education costs had skyrocketed, collective and community organizations (including labor unions) had declined precipitously, poverty and racial inequality remained entrenched, environmental damage was increasing, infrastructure was crumbling, corporate money and billionaire wealth was flowing into the political system, communities were caught in a cycles of violence and incarceration, and the economy was becoming increasingly financialized.
These systemic “trends” were outcomes of the systemic “arrangements” that had been instituted and advanced since the 1970s by Republicans and Democrats alike – including privatization, liberalization, deregulation, globalization, financialization, and marketization. In essence, the conscious and deliberate creation of a political economic system that puts the interests of capital over the interests of workers, and the interests of the individual over the interests of the community.
In Playing the Long Game, Gar wrote that the problems we face can no longer be “solved by electing the right people in the next local, state or national election.” This was a prescient insight, as the past 12 years have seen increasing political volatility in the U.S. and around the world, with frustrated electorates routinely replacing their ineffective leaders. For instance, in the six U.S. federal election cycles between 2014 and 2024, party control of the presidency and the Senate flipped three times, and the House changed hands twice. By contrast, in the preceding six election cycles, party control of the House changed two times, and the Senate and presidency just once.
The only solution to the system crisis, Gar wrote in 2014, is to build “a movement that embraces a long-term vision of alternative systemic arrangements in addition to achievable short-term goals.” That includes developing institutions and strategies from the ground-up that will “look beyond traditional progressive policies to experiment with ways to democratize wealth and ownership.”
While we would argue that the events of the past 12 years only reinforce that this is the correct path forward, looking back at the op-ed demonstrates the complexity of the task ahead. Many of the potentially transformative examples Gar cited never came to fruition or have yet to reach their full potential. Santa Fe still doesn’t have a public bank. Via a combination of legal maneuvering and massive corporate spending, Xcel Energy was able to defeat the energy remunicipalization effort in Boulder, Colorado. And exciting efforts like the Cincinnati Union Cooperative Initiative and the Evergreen Cooperatives have experienced numerous challenges and limitations.
Yet, as the title of the article suggests, the struggle to create a new political economic system is a “long game.” Out of every failure and setback, there emerges new learnings, and new hope. The public banking movement is alive and well, and closer to creating new local, democratic financial institutions than ever before. Energy remunicipalization campaigns are still underway in many communities and are now intersecting with growing popular anger over data centers and spiraling energy costs. And Community Wealth Building projects are underway in dozens of cities around the world. While the midterm elections this coming week are vitally important, the underlying challenge will remain the same on November 4th as it did on November 2nd. We must continue to build towards a new democratized political economic system, one that is rooted in inclusion, sustainability, and shared prosperity.
Thomas Hanna
November 1, 2026