COVID is sickening us; capitalism is killing us. Our nation passed a grim milestone this week as we mark half a million lives lost to the COVID-19 pandemic. We reach this sad benchmark not far beyond the one-year anniversary of the start of the outbreak.

While it is true, in a pandemic of this sort, many people were going to die, it should in no way escape attention the scale of the death toll in this country is also a direct product of the ineptitude, partisanship and shameless profiteering by the dual parties of capital in their response to the crisis. The kind of political vision and resolution required to construct policy to meet the scale of the challenge presented by COVID, however, is utterly beyond the politicians of the capitalist duopoly.

The allegedly progressive Democrats have no plan to hold accountable the negligent, profit-seeking owners of nursing homes and other long-term care facilities where the greatest proportion of the COVID deaths has occurred. Yes, they will ensure Pfizer, Moderna and other Big Pharma firms make billions for their shareholders; included among whom one will find a great many of the same politicians who agreed to the price the government would pay these private firms using public tax money.

The same is true when one considers any of the converging crises we face. Whether it is climate change, deepening inequality, rising neo-fascism or systemic racism, neither Republicans nor the Democrats have the ability to think on the level required to address these problems. Capitalism and the bourgeoisie once served a progressive role in history. This epoch, however, has ended, and the future of human civilization now hinges on the united working class placing both in the dustbin of history.

The Socialist Party is dedicated to this task.