Election 2020: Don't Lose Sight of the Big Picture

I've touched on my worries about the US pulling out of this death spiral it's currently in, but as that was in the context of seeing how likely it was to follow the example of the UK, I thought it would be worthwhile to write a post on what's happening right now, with the primaries.

Specifically I'm worried about how divided the Democrats are. Despite worries in the media of social media echo chambers, I'd say I have a pretty diverse range of Democratic viewpoints among my Facebook friends and Tweeps (defined here as the people I follow and/or who follow me). There are some who are dyed-in-the-wool for Pete Buttigieg–

OK, I can't finish that sentence without laughing, because who can actually be viciously partisan for Mayor Pete? But it's undeniable that some of my social networks are at least not entirely repelled by him or the centrist/establishment wing of the Democratic Party. At least they're calling into question the whole "Republican-lite" narrative that the more left wing of the party is lobbing at anybody who dares to question the orthodoxy of Medicare-for-all (which, incidentally, I think is a pretty good idea - Medicare for all, I mean, not the questioning).

Then there's that cohort, which considers Bernie Sanders the only candidate who can actually beat Donald Trump and who considers it a bit offensive that anybody should doubt that. Luckily they're cool with Elizabeth Warren, who's my preferred candidate, though I wish she'd go back to talking about corruption and being a wonk, which is, I believe, what let her ride the crest to where she is. Though she's doing so badly in the primaries at the moment that I don't think she'll make it to Super Tuesday.

I have some very close friends and family members in this cohort, so I don't want to be mean, but I do suspect they're the ones who are going to cost us the election, if Sanders fails to get the nomination and they decide not to vote at all. This isn't an idle threat: one such FB friend posted something recently calling Buttigieg a fascist and suggesting he's as bad as Donald Trump. While this is plainly laughable, the comment thread was full of people agreeing with him. One person questioned that narrative, but I fear that questioning will fall on deaf ears.

The plain truth is this, as elucidated by my girlfriend: this is not an election of Joe Biden vs Pete Buttigieg vs Bernie Sanders vs whoever else. This is an election of a Republican incumbent controlled by Russia, vs Democratic challengers who are not. Let me repeat that:

ONE PARTY'S CANDIDATE IS CONTROLLED BY RUSSIA. THOSE FROM THE OTHER PARTY ARE NOT.

This is the single most important consideration. If you think of it in terms of emergency room triage, the Democrats (all wings) are arguing about whether or not to treat the patient's broken leg, while ignoring that the patient is bleeding to death. And yes, I'm targeting my criticism at so-called moderate or centrist Democrats too, because they're also threatening to stay home if Sanders or Warren get nominated.

If this isn't enough to get you to vote for whoever the Democrats choose, then at least these partisans, whichever side they're on, need to vote down-ticket, to ensure that as many Senate and House seats (not to mention judiciary and state-level positions) go to the Democrats, because even if, by some miracle, the Democrat wins the electoral college, they will be hamstrung by a Senate majority that represents a small minority of Americans.

We can argue all we want about Medicare-for-all or Medicare-for-all-who-want it, but if the Democrats don't carry the executive and legislative branches, then there will be Medicare for none. No Medicaid. No Social Security.

If it feels like I'm targeting the left wing of the party here, then it's because I want this wing - which I consider my own wing - to build better arguments for its policies than they've been doing so far. I worry - nay, I shit bricks - when I read that trade unions are against Sanders's healthcare policy. Why hasn't he explained it to them better? Why is the default position that the policy is right but the voters are wrong?

I want single-payer healthcare not because of some ideological need to get closer to socialist utopia, but because I think it has better outcomes, a more fair system of rationing and because it's good for everyone - families, workers and even businesses. But my worry is that the idea gets tainted by being explained badly - or have we already forgotten how Hillary Clinton's attempt to rejig healthcare foundered in the 90s when her husband was president?

Now, when it comes to Mike Bloomberg, I remain slightly skeptical that I want to vote for him - after all, he literally is a Republican (at least, he was while mayor of New York City). More than that, he oversaw the dramatic widening of NYC's income inequality, to a level similar to that in Sierra Leone, and still (STILL) champions stop-and-frisk, a system that not only entrenches racial profiling in policing, but DOES NOT FUCKING WORK.

And yet.

He's not controlled by Russia, is he?

In the unlikely event he gets the nomination, I might just vote down-ticket.

But that's the point: vote. FUCKING VOTE. IN NOVEMBER. Even if the Democrats lose their damn minds and nominate Biden or Klobuchar or that guy from Starbucks. If you live in a safely blue state, like I do, VOTE DOWN TICKET. If you don't live in a blue state, then vote for the fucking Democrat, whether that's Sanders, Biden, Buttigieg or Bloomberg.

Vote for the Democrat whether they're black or white, straight or gay, male or female, rich or poor, left-wing or moderate. But vote for them - because four more years of Trump will make it harder to get healthcare or economic justice or racial justice for anyone.

Don't hand the Republicans another victory like 1972 (520 electoral votes for Nixon to 17 for George McGovern) or like 1984 (525 for Reagan vs 13 for Mondale). Don't hand them that victory because your preferred candidate, whether Sanders or Buttigieg or whoever, didn't win the nomination.