Democrats: Where did we go wrong? Last fall, surveys showed Democratic voters were pleased with the range of candidates for nomination for our party’s alternative to the current president: for the first time in history, we had a half-dozen women; two Rhodes Scholars (one gay, one bachelor); several first-generation Americans, whose parents came here from Taiwan, Mexico, Samoa, Jamaica, India, Malta. They had funny last names, like Hickenlooper, Buttigieg, Yang, Klobuchar, Gabbards, and Castrob – (Can you imagine a US President Castro?)
Following the lead of Senator Sanders, many went by first names: Bernie, Joe, Amy, Tulsi, Pete, Tom, Mike – the last two were self-funded billionaires. Most Americans are happy if we may consider ourselves thousandaires – thank goodness these guys didn’t find purchase. Non-partisan voters and even die-hard Republicans were supportive of many of these folks.
It is often noted that the current president had neither military nor governmental experience – the Democratic candidates included mayors, governors, senators, congresspersons, veterans. They represented states from coast to coast, “fly-over country,” Colorado, Hawaii, and Texas (at least three Spanish speaking candidates). Somebody threw their hats into the ring or dropped out once a week.
So the first week of March, we are down to two old white men, either of whom would be the oldest president ever elected, including the old timer currently renting that space. The choice is pretty clear. Both Bernie and Joe grew up as working class guys – Bernie in Brooklyn, Joe in Scranton. Each has his own baggage – after all, each has been involved in politics for more than a half a century.
In college, Bernie campaigned for sexual freedom at his university, and joined the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee. How come he doesn’t have more significant African-American support? These are laudable perspectives, but his endorsement of the USSR, communist Cuba, and other regimes in central America cost him credibility with certain portions of the populace, not just the people who grew up in the Cold War, but people who escaped authoritarian “socialist” dictatorships to come to our USA.
For his part, Joe admitted to plagiarism in one of his previous presidential campaigns, and he made votes in the Senate for which Bernie attacks him. But now he’s earned a “default” position – endorsed by all those wonderful intellectuals, women, non-whites, gays, senators, billionaires. He’s not the guy we want, but we know he will appoint competent persons for the cabinet, ambassadorships, judgeships, and return a government of normalcy.
I learned a new word this year: kakistocracy: a system of government that is run by the worst, least qualified, and/or most unscrupulous citizens. This is where we are now. Julian Castro, who will never be elected president, the son of Mexican immigrants, was elected mayor of San Antonio and served in President Obama’s cabinet as Secretary of Housing and Urban Development.
His successor, Dr. Ben Carson, declared that “poverty is a choice,” and permitted his wife to spend thousands of dollars to buy new furniture for his office. Trump’s Education Secretary, Betty DeVos, endures continual criticism for her dedication to destroying public education in our country.
I don’t even want to go into the rest – corruption, incompetence, scandals, lying, firing people who challenge the notion of patriotism versus loyalty to you-know-who.
I like Bernie, a lot. I think his ideas are the best, but I recognize they cannot be passed into law unless lots of democratic-socialists are voted into office – which means the US Senate and the House of Representatives.
I am sorry that Uncle Joe is the default Democratic candidate – there were so many brilliant, qualified candidates, many of whom could serve in Bernie’s or Biden’s cabinet, or return to the Senate and fight Mitch McConnell.
But I don’t want to get in that camp that says Bernie is the Messiah, or Tulsi is the Messiah. They are humans – when Trump said, “I alone can do it,” Democrats, independents, and “future former Republicans” know it takes teamwork, not hero worship. More important than idolizing a flawed candidate, let’s dump the Trump-chump. Joe or Bernie – not a lesser of two evils but a major improvement.
Kirk Ashworth