It’s time to take our power back from the political establishment 

We can — and should — build our government from the bottom up, not the top down. 

The New Hampshire primary is over. Ron DeSantis has dropped out. Republican frontrunner Donald Trump leads in delegates against Nikki Haley, the last remaining contender against the former president for the GOP nomination.  

The political establishments have lined up behind Donald Trump and Joe Biden. It’s time to submit.  

House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) said after the primary — the first in the nation, following the Iowa caucuses — that it’s “past time for the Republican Party to unite around President Trump.” Biden, the Democratic incumbent, was able to defeat Dean Phillips through a write-in campaign. It’s still early, but it looks like the duopoly has spoken, leaving voters with a choice voters don’t actually want. 

It's time for voters to take their power back. 

In 1948, the Democratic and Republican parties were out of touch with the people. Democrats clung to white supremacy, and Republicans were intertwined with corporate America. White middle-class and Black Americans were unrepresented. The political establishment didn’t recognize this then, but Harry Truman did. While running for president, he boldly embraced civil rights and took his plain-spoken message to the people.  

Harry Truman grew up a farmer in Independence, Mo. His Southern upbringing and political heroes, Andrew Jackson and Robert E. Lee, shaped his view of race in America. However, Truman was a man who was always learning and growing. As president during the end of World War II, Truman saw the sacrifices soldiers made first-hand. When he saw African American men returning home and being beaten and treated like second-class citizens, Truman had a change of heart. He believed it was his duty as the president and commander and chief to stand up for all Americans and make change.  

Truman saw the Democratic Party was living in the past. As an astute study of history and Jacksonian democracy, he knew what he had to do. It was time for reform.  

The Democratic Party leaders living in the past broke off and formed the Dixiecrats. They wrote Truman off, but instead of giving up, he took his message directly to the people with his whistle-stop tour. The result was the upset of the century over heavily favored Republican candidate Thomas E. Dewey and the beginning of the Civil Rights era.  

The civil rights movement was a continuation of our founding principle “that all men are created equal.” It was a reform movement. It secured the right to vote for all Americans — the right to representation. What Harry Tuman tapped into was the power of people. He reached out to those underrepresented citizens, and by doing so, he reformed his party. 

The truth is, the people still have a choice in November, and it doesn't have to be what the establishment tells them. American democracy is not supposed to be when the president goes to the people — it’s supposed to be when the people go to their representative in Congress.  

Citizens fearful of the end of democracy should take the reins into their own hands. While the presidential candidates given by the parties are elite, old and out of touch with most Americans, there are candidates for Congress across the country right now who are much more representative of their communities. Citizens should find them, talk with them, volunteer for them, donate to them and help them in the spring primaries and fall general elections.  

We can — and should — build our government from the bottom up, not the top down. 

Congressional approval at the end of 2023 was 15 percent. Americans do not trust their leaders. Citizens have become discouraged by the concentration of power in the parties, corporations and political PACs. This has made it difficult for the individual citizen and family to be represented. 

With citizens focusing instead on congressional candidates, the power shifts from the executive branch to Congress. Citizens getting involved at their local level shifts power from the parties to the people. It taps into the people's representative power. It ensures the political establishment does not have a mandate from the people to do what they want (which is often nothing). It gives people power. It tells the people in charge to get serious or get out. 

By nominating Biden and Trump, the political establishment is saying they are OK with the status quo of confusion, corruption, failed policies and inaction because it helps them retain power. But the American people are not. The American people want to be heard. It’s time for the American people to speak up.  

Jeff Mayhugh (@jmayhugh28) is the co-founder of the Madisonian Republicans, a former congressional candidate and a political consultant for John Beatty’s 2024 campaign for Virginia’s 10th Congressional District.