In a recent article Robert Reich, former Secretary of Labor, accused Congressional Democratic leaders of being lax about the wealthy, who donate to their campaigns as well as the campaigns of Republicans.

He points out that these “wealth supremacists” have quietly joined white supremacists to become a powerful anti-democracy coalition.

According to Reich, some wealth supremacists have backed white supremacists’ efforts to divide poor and working-class Whites from poor and working-class Black and Brown people so they will not join forces and disrupt a system that is working very well for wealth supremacists if not for others.

Are Biden and black establishment Democrats bowing to the wishes of wealth supremacists?

While White supremacists are whipping up fears about nonwhites usurping their dominance, wealth supremacists are spending large sums on campaign donations and lobbyists to prevent the majority of the population from usurping their money trough.

The proposed “For the People Act” admirably takes on both parts of that coalition. It sets minimum national standards for voting, and it seeks to get big money out of politics by public financing of election campaigns. But the Act is stalled in the Senate. According to Reich, Biden and Democratic leaders are firmly against white supremacists but are bowing to the wishes of wealth supremacists.

But the situation is worse than Reich’s description.

One of the primary ways the establishment Democrats have “carried water” for the wealth supremacists is their opposition to Bernie Sanders. It was vicious in 2016 and more so in 2020.

But there is a new thing. We now have several Black establishment Democrats, and they are very aggressive as surrogates for the wealth supremacists.

It is currently exemplified by Black leaders opposing Sanders’ (and Martin Luther King’s) Democratic Socialism ideas by their aggressive campaign against Nina Turner’s candidacy for the Cleveland Congressional seat. Nina Turner was co-chair of Sanders’s presidential campaign in 2020.

James Clyburn, the third-ranking leader in the House of Representatives, went to Cleveland and campaigned for Turner’s opponent, a little-known local politician, Shontel Brown. And amazingly, Turner is opposed by the Congressional Black Caucus and a new political action committee (PAC) led by Hakeem Jeffries of New York, the Democratic Caucus chairman.

Congressional Black Caucus Chairperson Joyce Beatty (D-Ohio) and Representatives Gregory Meeks (D-N.Y.) and Bennie Thompson (D-Miss) also spent the final weekend of the race storming the district for Turner’s opponent.

Why so much opposition to Nina Turner? Is it because she is progressive?

Is it because she is a Democratic Socialist like Sanders? Well, so was Martin Luther King. And so is everyone who supports unions, Medicare for All, abortion rights, free four-year public colleges and universities, the Green New Deal, and free early-childhood education; and believes we should increase taxes on the wealthy and corporations.

Just what is Democratic Socialism? Briefly, they do not believe in or support an authoritarian government. On the contrary, they believe strongly in democracy and democratic principles. Furthermore, they think the government should help provide for people’s most basic needs and help all people have an equal chance of success.

If you think that sounds reasonable, you are with the majority of the American people. Let’s look at the public’s support of the issues pushed by Democratic Socialists.

• Sixty-nine percent of registered voters support providing Medicare to every American.
• Sixty-five percent of Americans approve of unions.
• Seventy-five percent of Americans support Roe v Wade.
• Fifty-eight percent of registered voters support making public colleges tuition-free and canceling student debt.
• Sixty percent of voters approve of the Green New Deal.
• Seventy percent of Americans want federal support for all children to have pre-school education   
• Sixty-nine percent of voters support raising taxes on the wealthy and corporations. 

Nina Turner supports these things the public wants. But James Clyburn, Hakeem Jeffries, and their colleagues in the Congressional Black Caucus oppose her; therefore, if they do not support what the public wants, what are they supporting?

The old saying remains true. He who pays the piper calls the tune. The wealth supremacists are apparently successful in calling the tune. And it is working. As some media said, the Democratic establishment dealt a crushing blow to the progressive movement as they prevailed on Tuesday as Turner lost to Shontel Brown. And this time the face of the Democratic establishment were African American congresspersons.

These black congresspersons may be worse than Uncle Toms, as they have a bit of power.

 Wornie Reed is Professor of Sociology and Africana Studies and Director of the Race and Social Policy Research Center at Virginia Tech University. Previously he developed and directed the Urban Child Research Center in the Maxine Goodman Levin College of Urban Affairs at Cleveland State University (1991-2001), where he was also Professor of Sociology and Urban Studies (1991-2004). He was Adjunct Professor at the Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine (2003-4). Professor Reed served a three-year term (1990-92) as President of the National Congress of Black Faculty, and he is past president of the National Association of Black Sociologists (2000-01).