The past two nights have been most enlightening for me,
regarding the state of affairs in our political lives, as we, The People, hold interviews for the applicants to the job of managing the overall afairs of the nation on our behalf.
I was pleasantly surprised at the high tone
of the first Democratic debate and highly disappointed to see the second
devolve into a pissing match. What I was
heartened to see was that MOST of the candidates on each night enthusiastically
endorsed a platform of principles that I wholeheartedly support:
- Curbing the power of the Economic shadow elites who have hijacked our national governance
- Combating the impending Climate Crisis
- Making the economy work for the benefit of those who put the most work into it and at long last putting FDR’s Second Bill of Rights into law
- Restoring basic human decency in our legal, immigration and sick care systems.
- Ending the free-for-all of deadly weapons that plagues our streets and schools
- Kicking out the Nazi regime currently occupying the White House
I could live with that platform, at least for the short term. No, it doesn’t fully address every issue on the
table that affects the average person, but it covers a lot of major and
pressing ones. Politics is the art of the possible, as Ben Franklin once said. There is no Savior-King who will fix everything with the wave of a magic pen overnight. Ideological purity tests don't change that reality. We have to work with what we've got.
I myself have misgivings
about each individual candidate in one way or another, so I came at these debates rooting
not for an individual candidate, but with an eye to build an effective
coalition of the Left to successfully take up the fight. Lincoln set the precedent of reaching out to
his election opponents in the backroom to create one of the most effective
governments that this country has ever seen.
I strongly urge the candidates on the field to do the same – make a deal
with one another to present a united front against a common enemy, even if that
means losing the limelight as individuals.
To that end, I’ve arranged my preferred choices of the field
into positions that I feel they’d most effectively fill to achieve the result I
so dearly wish for this country.
Think of this as my recommendation for a Justice League
of sorts – a team that, together, can get far more done more quickly and
effectively than any individual could do alone.
PLEASE NOTE: Each
candidate has been linked to their Financial backers and I strongly suggest the
reader examine each link, so that you can have an effective idea of who these
candidates are REALLY serving.
FOR THE PRESIDENCY:
Elizabeth
Warren and Kamala
Harris came out ahead, from what I could
tell, at least rhetorically. Warren was
direct, no-nonsense, well-informed and projected an image of gravitas that has
been long absent from the White House.
Harris was a firebrand who held her opponents to account without mercy
or hesitation. Either one would be a
strong, effective employee who would at least try to do right by the average
person, although I get the impression that Harris would hide behind the letter
of the law as an excuse to do less for us than Warren would.
FOR THE VICE
PRESIDENCY:
Kirsten
Gillibrand impressed me
greatly, with well-thought-out answers and, I think owned the evening, given
that every single one of her opponents spent the better part of the next hour trying
to restate ideas that she had already put forth. She has experience and strength that would
make her a most effective leader of the Senate.
Given the state of our society, though, I don’t think that the poster
child of Aryan femininity is appropriate to be given top billing. That said, think of how clearly she would own any debate against Pence. One wink at him and he'd be a complete mess.
Pete
Buttigieg also did well, I thought, especially in calling out the hypocrisy
of the Dominionist theocrats on the Right.
While his heart is in the right place and his story is fantastic, I don’t
believe him to be experienced enough to handle the job. The Vice Presidency would give him experience
that, down the line, would enable him to make an effective executive in the
future.
Bernie
Sanders, the grand
old man of the Left, sadly, came across as doddering in these debates, but
paired with a younger partner, he would make an excellent VP, with a bully
pulpit of his own and the President’s ear when it comes to policy. Sadly, though, I agree with his younger opponents
that his time has passed, and our focus needs to be on the future.
FOR ATTORNEY
GENERAL:
Julian
Castro is my hands-down favorite for this position. He’s fierce, strong-willed, has an incredible
grasp of the law and will absolutely prioritize humanity over profiteering. He would make a wonderful AG, in the finest
tradition of RFK. He also had the
benefit of being the only candidate on the stage who didn’t come across as insincerely
pandering when he spoke Spanish. While I
could also see Beto
O’Rourke in this position, I greatly prefer Castro.
FOR CABINET POSTS:
As I’ve long maintained that Warren would be a perfect
choice to run the Treasury or the FED, I would strongly urge anybody who wins
the nomination from her to appoint her to that position. There’s nobody more ethically or
intellectually qualified to run it.
Amy
Klobuchar seems to have good head and good heart, but in our age of shiny
super-celebrity, she’s not someone who can realistically compete on the
field. I could absolutely see her
running HUD or the HHS Departments.
Tulsi
Gabbard’s war-hawk temperament kicked her out of my top choices for the
Presidency. I do, however, feel she
would be ideally suited to Secretary of State or the Department of
Defense. Her foreign policy experience
would nicely round out a Progressive team and give us the best chance of having
the military go along with ending perpetual war.
Cory
Booker would possibly make a half-way decent Chief of Staff or Attorney
General, but given his ties to the Corporatist shadows currently running our
nation into the ground, his good rhetoric rings hollow enough to knock him to
the bottom of my preferred lists.
Andrew
Yang I laughed out loud at the idiotic way he presented Basic Universal
Income, but his business acumen would be useful as a Deputy in the State
Department.
Marianne
Williamson came across as a lovely woman whose heart is in the right place and
who would have no clue at all how to govern in any way, shape or form. That said, I would love to see her as Press
Secretary, presenting a voice of humanity and compassion on behalf of the
administration.
TIME TO BOW OUT:
Joe
Biden and Bill
de Blasio both need to go. Biden not
only came across as more doddering than Sanders, but got his head handed to him
last night – rightfully – for his long and tarnished record. His brand of Corporatism is absolutely the
wrong way for this country to go. And
while de Blasio talks a good game and I was happy to vote for him for Mayor
when I lived in NYC, by all accounts he has failed to live up to his soaring rhetoric
there and the likeliest outcome is that he would fail as President as well.
Jay
Insley and John
Hickenlooper each had a point when they said, “I’ve already done it”, but
neither seems to have any clue how DC works and both have the charisma of a wet
sponge. I might be able to live with either
of them in some lower Cabinet post, perhaps in charge of finally legalizing
Marijuana, but neither of these players is ready for Prime Time.
Finally, Michael
Bennett, Tom
DeLaney, Tim
Ryan and Eric
Swalwell all need to learn that discretion is the better part of valor and
that bowing out now is preferable to trying to make the policies and rhetoric of
George W Bush look at all appetizing to a Progressive American Public. Trying to make Republican policies look Progressive is a fool's errand.
In conclusion, the American nation is indeed at a major crossroads,
where our core values of openness, kindness, diversity and teamwork are under direct
attack from cruel Fascists and Nazi sympathizers, who celebrate inhumane
treatment of children and demand nothing less than totalitarian rule. We cannot allow their efforts to divide the
rest of us to succeed.
Let us form a true coalition to defeat them, as we did in
WWII. We did it before. We can do it again.
COALITION NOT
COMPETITION
E PLURIBUS UNUM
