I like to think I’m not unsophisticated in political manners. I remember talking with friends 6 months ago and telling them that I was supporting Sanders instead of Clinton. They incredulously reminded me that I was their template for pragmatic politics. WTF! I replied that I didn’t think Sanders would win BUT that I thought his core issue of economic inequality was the supreme issue of our time and needed to be forcibly promoted so that Clinton would not triangulate…After Clinton was nominated, I dutifuly promoted her (I vociferously tore into one of my daughters when she said she was voting for Stein.)
But this election has afforded me with the painful epiphany that sometimes the way to proceed is to proceed from the heart. Consider this ‘old’ article from 06-25-15 in the Washington Post:
At a breakfast in Washington on Thursday, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) dismissed any perception that he's radically outside the American mainstream. Referring to his core campaign positions, he said: "It is not a radical agenda. In virtually every instance, what I'm saying is supported by a significant majority of the American people."
That's a claim worth double-checking. We pulled the key components of his announcement speech and looked at the most recent polling on each to see just how much support Sanders's proposals had. It doesn't take very long before we get mired in the ways polling can fail to capture the nuance of the issue but, spoiler alert: Sanders was generally right.
Here is the simple truth of the matter. The vast majority of Sander’s position are supported by the American people by a substantial margin. More to the point, he was absolutely correct about the core issue of our time: (really, do I need to say it?...) “It’s the economy stupid”. Hillary’s close embrace of moneyed interests doomed her because it fed into the narrative of economic elites lording over the average Joe…
I thought, whoa, if we nominate Sanders, the Republicans will have a field day with this ‘socialist’. They will paint him as a commie, etc. etc…
But guess what folks? Labels don’t fucking matter. Trump is a white supremacist and neo-fascist. It doesn’t fucking matter because he touched people’s emotions. We need to be equally unwavering in supporting our view of the world because it is a vision of ‘what could be’ that is manifestly more uplifting and inspiring than the Republican dystopia.
Let’s embrace who we are! Keith Elllison as DNC chair! Yeah, he’s a Muslim. Fuck the optics!