My son will turn two in April. Everyday, he amazes his parents with his ability to understand the world and to make connections. Everyday, we fall more in love with this kid. But every night, I worry.
I was raised in the Labor Movement and my parents always wanted me to understand what was wrong with the world and how I should try to change it. I want my son to feel the same sense of urgency to really make a difference. But today, the future he faces looks so bleak I feel that I have somehow failed him. I lay in bed at night and think about what it will be like to grow up in an age of global warming, environmental catastrophe, violent inequality, eroded civil liberties, and possibly war without end.
That is why I care so much about this election. I know one person cannot save us. Yet I also know that to have a leader who believes that we can and must immediately address global warming, fight inequality, and dramatically change our foreign policy could prove an important catalyst in creating a better future for the next generation. I also know that eight more years of Bush policies under a Romney, Huckabee, or Guiliani presidency will not only mean an end to workers rights, it could literally mean an end to the planet as we know it. (Remember those graphs about how few years we have before global warming becomes unstoppable in An Inconvenient Truth?)
This election will not be easy. Look at the last one. We had an experienced, capable candidate who had even been a war hero and he lost to a president with a dismal record and some of the lowest favorability ratings in history. I will not even suggest that John Kerry ran a strong campaign or was a great choice for our nominee, but all the voters I phonebanked in 2004 who said "I’d vote for a dog over Bush," clearly don’t speak for the majority of the country.
We must acknowledge that our nation is deeply divided over the issues that many voters feel matter: "values" which means gays, abortion, guns, and God. As Thomas Frank writes about in What’s the Matter with Kansas, the corporate media has persuaded the American people that it is not about issues, it’s about "authenticity." Republicans are skilled at packaging their corporate candidates as the "everyman" who drinks beer, not wine; wants black coffee, not lattes; drives a truck, not a Volvo; and represents traditional American values, not MTV-style immorality.
Here’s the thing: in this election, we can have it all. There is one candidate on the Democratic side who actually is an "everyman." He grew up working class, was the first in his family to go to college, worked as a UPS loader at nights to get through college, married his sweetheart and has been with her for 25 years, speaks with a Southern accent, and goes to church. John Edwards breaks the mold created by the Republican spin machine because he’s not a latte liberal, he didn’t go to Ivy League schools, and he doesn’t act arrogant or entitled to anything-he has truly had to fight for everything he has ever had in his life, including the fancy house.
He is also (yes, I’m going to say it) a white man, the only kind of candidate that has ever actually been elected to the Presidency. Maybe you don’t know people who would not vote for a woman or a Black man. I do. I live in Northern California and yet I see racism and sexism everyday. I see people who claim not to see color yet refuse to hire those who don’t look like them. I see white people who claim to have black friends, yet don’t want black neighbors. I see men who judge me for working when I have a young child, who resent women who are educated and intelligent, who still call me "good looking" or "sweetie" when I am talking about the need for labor law reform.
In my world, race and gender and class still matter. In my world, working-class men who stopped voting Democratic because they thought we were the party of affirmative action and abortion actually like Edwards because he wants fair trade policies that don’t outsource jobs. In my world, working people across the Midwest and South and even here in California can see that Edwards represents the best of traditional American values: hard work, sacrifice, family, faith, and equal opportunity for all. Like most Americans, he was not born into high expectations, private highschools, or college trust funds. Like most Americans, he faced incredible challenges and overcame incredible odds. (Can you think of any president in recent history who was the first in his family to attend college?)
John Edwards is not just a compelling personal story. He is the most progressive on the issues, the most courageous in the stands he has taken, the most persuasive advocate for everything we believe in. And yes, he is the most electable.
In my world, we need every vote we can get, not just those who voted for Kerry. In my world, the Republicans will stop at nothing to keep power and we need a candidate who has been fully vetted, who has no surprises, who has no baggage. In my world, John Edwards wins every head-to-head matchup against every GOP candidate by the greatest margin of any Democrat. In my world, he’s the candidate Republicans are truly afraid of and that is why the corporate media has ignored him. I think John Edwards is our best chance to chance the course of our country and of our world. I think he would make the best president and I definitely think he will make the best general election candidate.
So Iowa, it’s all up to you.