美国选民在中期选举中传递了一个明确的信息：他们想要改变。他们希望能在不必每月担心的情况下支付账单。他们想要负担得起的住房、食品杂货和医疗保健。他们不希望美国被卷入另一场战争。
American voters sent a clear message in the midterm elections: They want things to change. They want to pay their bills without worrying every month. They want affordable housing, groceries and healthcare. And they do not want the United States pulled into another war.
这一信息是针对掌权的共和党人的。但民主党也需要听进去。如果我们认为赢得中期选举意味着可以回到照常营业的状态，那么在2028年我们可能会遭遇一次残酷的觉醒。
That message was aimed at the Republicans, who are in power. But Democrats need to hear it too. If we think winning the midterms means we can go back to business as usual, we may be in for a rude awakening in 2028.
民众想要结果。他们想要理解在支付房租和购买处方药之间做选择意味着什么的领导人。如果我们认真对待改变政策，就必须愿意改变领导层。
People want results. They want leaders who understand what it means to choose between paying rent and filling a prescription. And if we are serious about changing our policies, we have to be willing to change our leadership.
这就是为什么我认为参议员查克·舒默应该退出参议院民主党领袖的位置。是时候让资深民主党人为那些设法以关注普通民众和变革的信息激发选民热情的更年轻、更有活力的成员腾出空间了。
That is why I believe Senator Chuck Schumer should step aside as the Senate Democratic leader. It is time for veteran Democrats to make space for younger, more energetic members who managed to galvanise the electorate with a message focused on ordinary people and change.
舒默在民选职位上任职近50年。我尊重他的服务。他了解华盛顿，经验很重要。但经验不能是唯一的资格。如果我们一直告诉年轻民主党人等待轮到他们，究竟什么时候才轮到他们？
Schumer has spent nearly 50 years in elected office. I respect that service. He knows Washington, and experience matters. But experience cannot be the only qualification. If we keep telling younger Democrats to wait their turn, when exactly does their turn come?
这不仅仅关乎年龄。关乎那些打造了该党旧剧本的人能否认识到那个剧本不再奏效。
This is not just about age. It is about whether the people who built the party’s old playbook can recognise when that playbook no longer works.
民主党人往往更习惯谈论在华盛顿什么是可能的，而不是民众生活中什么是必要的。与大额捐赠者和企业利益集团的长期联系可能会使这一问题恶化。美国以色列公共事务委员会（AIPAC）等团体的影响也已成为党内的一个分歧点，特别是在涉及美国对以色列及更广泛中东政策方面。年轻民主党人正在询问，当该党确定优先事项时，究竟是谁的声音被听到了。
Too often, Democrats have been more comfortable talking about what is possible in Washington than what is necessary in people’s lives. Longstanding ties to major donors and corporate interests can make that problem worse. The influence of groups such as the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, or AIPAC, has also become a point of disagreement within the party, particularly over US policy towards Israel and the wider Middle East. Younger Democrats are asking whose voices get heard when the party sets its priorities.
这并不意味着每一位资深民主党人都受捐赠者控制，或每一位年轻民主党人都是社会主义者。但该党日益壮大的进步派和民主社会主义运动正在提出一些无法回避的问题：为什么住房如此昂贵？为什么医疗保健依然让家庭陷入债务？为什么强势利益集团似乎总能在普通工人之前获得倾听？
That does not mean every longtime Democrat is controlled by donors or every young Democrat is a socialist. But the party’s growing progressive and democratic socialist movements are pushing questions that cannot be brushed aside: Why are homes so expensive? Why does healthcare still put families into debt? Why do powerful interests seem to get a hearing before ordinary workers?
该党也需要诚实面对2024年大选。民主党失利并非仅因某一位领导人或某一单一议题。他们未能足够有力地回应选民的日常关切。唐纳德·特朗普承诺缓解高物价、结束代价高昂的海外纠葛。许多选民愿意再给他一次机会。这本该向该党敲响警钟，说明负担得起的生活和和平有多么重要。
The party also needs to be honest about the 2024 elections. Democrats did not lose simply because of one leader or one issue. They failed to connect strongly enough with voters’ everyday concerns. Donald Trump promised relief from high prices and an end to costly foreign entanglements. Many voters were willing to give him another chance. That should have been a warning to the party about how much affordability and peace matter.
但光喊“让生活负担得起”是不够的。在下届国会，民主党应拿出实实在在的法案：降低处方药成本、强化医疗保健获取、扩大保障性住房、支持首次购房者，以及在证据确凿时打击哄抬物价。我们应做好准备，说明每项提案的成本、运作方式以及家庭将如何受益。
But saying, “Make life affordable,” is not enough. In the next Congress, Democrats should put real bills on the table: measures to lower prescription drug costs, strengthen access to healthcare, expand affordable housing, support first-time homebuyers and tackle price gouging when the evidence warrants it. We should be prepared to explain what each proposal would cost, how it would work and how families would benefit.
这意味着必须做出选择。这可能意味着向偏好现状的捐赠者和利益集团发起挑战。这也意味着在真正造福民众时与共和党合作，而不让妥协成为放弃让民主党掌权的那些承诺的借口。
That means making choices. It may mean challenging donors and interest groups that prefer the status quo. It also means working with Republicans when a deal genuinely helps people, without allowing compromise to become an excuse for abandoning the promises that brought Democrats to power.
我从政足够久，知道换领导人不会神奇地降低杂货账单。但领导层决定议程。它决定哪些法案获得表决、谁的想法获得倾听、哪些斗争值得打响。
I have been involved in politics long enough to know that changing leaders will not magically lower grocery bills. But leadership sets the agenda. It decides which bills get a vote, whose ideas get a hearing and which fights are worth having.
独立选民正在注视着。有人在2024年支持特朗普总统，有人在上周的中期选举中支持民主党。这并不意味着同一批人都倒戈了。这意味着没有哪个党派拥有他们的忠诚。兑现承诺能给民主党赢得他们信任的机会；无法兑现则给了他们在2028年另寻他处的充分理由。
Independent voters are watching. Some supported President Trump in 2024. Some supported the Democrats in last week’s midterms. That does not mean the same people all switched sides. It does mean neither party owns their loyalty. Delivering on promises gives Democrats a chance to earn their trust; failing to deliver gives them every reason to look elsewhere in 2028.
舒默因其多年的服务以及民主党近期在参议院的获利而值得肯定。但我认为，该党需要一位新的参议院领袖和新的活力，以引领党派兑现让生活重回可负担这一雄心勃勃的议程。
Schumer deserves credit for his years of service and for the party’s recent Senate gains. But I believe the party needs a new voice at the top of the Senate and new energy that can steer the party towards delivering on an ambitious agenda of making life affordable again.
如果我们希望选民在2028年继续支持我们，就必须给他们留下的理由。不是另一句口号，不是另一个让人等待的承诺。而是人们生活中的实实在在的变化，以及愿意推动这些变化发生的领导人。
If we want voters with us in 2028, we have to give them a reason to stay. Not another slogan. Not another promise to wait. Real changes in people’s lives, and leaders willing to make them happen.