Robert Reich hits the nail on the head with a reality I wish more Democrats would realize. Buying into the fallacy that America wants a Centrist candidate is a pathway to defeat.
The fear I see in older Democrats is palpable but unnecessary if one examines the numbers. One must not allow fear to dictate electoral methods and policies going forward.
Firstly, Hillary Clinton, a candidate that had one of the lowest favorability ratings won the popular vote by 3 million votes even with Trump’s Russian help, voter suppression, and other deceptive techniques. She ran on a decidedly Progressive platform negotiated at the Democratic National Convention, one more so than any before.
Secondly, when one polls Americans, the policies they want are decidedly Progressive. This reality supersedes any party. Why then would we cripple our expectations by attempting to run any Centrist especially given that it is clear the voters Democrats need the most will see no value in voting for some mythical center, a status quo. They are already in dire straits. To them, what’s the point.
Robert Reich points out a reality that we must understand.
Something else I’m hearing is that the contest is between someone who’s a moderate and a candidate who’s on the left.
Well, that’s rubbish. All the babble about moderate or left assumes we’re back in the old politics where the central question was the size of government.
But today the real contest is between the people and the powerful – the vast majority of Americans versus an oligarchy that’s amassed most of the nation’s wealth and power.
That small group of hugely wealthy and powerful people got a giant $2 trillion tax cut from Trump and his Republican enablers, and they want to pay for it by trashing Medicare, Social Security, Medicaid, and the Affordable Care Act.
The oligarchy would rather we fight among ourselves for the scraps they’ve left behind than see what’s really happening. Divide and conquer: Middle class against poor, white against black, native-born American against immigrant, Christian against Muslim. That way we don’t see that they’ve been looting America.
Trump’s followers don’t see he’s really a tool of the oligarchy, doing their bidding, reorganizing America so they accumulate even more wealth and power. And as long as we fight among ourselves, we don’t join together and reclaim our economy and our democracy.
Guess what. The Oligarchy is not Democratic or Republican. It controls both party establishments. That is the reason thus far irrespective of party, the economic trajectory for most Americans is downward as that of the Oligarchy is on an exponential rip. And as such the goal is to ensure we do not get an optimal candidate lest they are satisfied with Trump. You do not see too many of the super-wealthy, from Gates to Oprah, criticizing Trump in any discernible manner.
I so wish more rank and file Democrats would consider refocusing away from a failed status quo and embrace something new. After all, insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result.