Sunday, June 2, 2019

Hindsight 2020: June 2019

I keep seeing memes and posts on social media blaming men for the upsurge in anti-abortion laws popping up all over the country. Such post say more about the people sharing them than they do about the actual issue. When it comes to a woman's right to choose, men and women are fairly close on this issue. All the polling I see say that 65% of American women support abortion rights while 61% of men do. Yet, this doesn't stop people from posting some very nasty posts about men while a huge chunk of the anti-choice people are women. The issue isn't men. The issue is Republicans / Conservatives and we should be doing whatever we can to prevent every single one of them from getting elected.

All this shows me is that the left still hasn't learned their lesson. However much I despises the right wing of American politics, I have to admire their ability to plan, conquer and stay on message. They came up with a 30 year plan to get conservative judges on the courts. They have manipulated districts, prevented minorities and the poor from voting and elected stooges to do their bidding. One of the more effective thing they have done is they have divided their opponents. Divide and conquer, right?  They convinced people on the left that Al Gore is as bad as George W. Bush so you better vote for Nader. They convinced people that Hillary Clinton is as bad as Trump, so you might as well vote for Jill Stein. And you might as well blame men for the anti-abortion laws when it is Republicans you need to blame (both the men and the women Republicans). So when you share some bullshit on Facebook about men taking away your rights, you are only showing that you are easily manipulated, you don't think or research before you share and you are a man-hater (aka bigot). You are only aiding the opposition is dividing us. This is how we got here.

I am not a socialist, but I believe that the socialism can be a good part of the mix. I think the people on the left don't give markets enough credits and don't account for how unaccountable government can be. Socialized medicine sounds like a good idea, mostly because I work in the health care industry and I have seen government be a force for positive change. But my support for me socialization might stop there. This probably puts me in the moderate range of Democrat.

Joe Biden has a double digit lead in all the polls. Bernie is usually in second and Harris in third with Mayor Pete and Warren flip flopping on fourth and fifth. I am leaning toward Warren and Pete these days.


Qualifying for the debates this month:
All 20 spots have been filled for the first debates at the end of June. Williamson, de Blasio and Swalwell  received the last three spots.

Announcing:
Montana Governor Steve Bullock: He is originally from Montana and both his parents were educators. He is a two term Democratic governor in a a mostly Republican state. Some see this as a strength and that he may have an ability to cross the aisle more effectively than others, but Montanans don't have strong party affiliation. It is difficult to see that this would translate well in DC. He is considered a moderate but most of his stances are on the left with the exception of his support for the coal industry which is big in Montana. Here is a list of bills he vetoed while he is was Governor.

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio: He was born in Manhattan but at the age of five, his family relocated to Cambridge MA. When Bill was 18 years of age, his father committed suicide. Bill succeeded Bloomberg as mayor of NYC on a theme of inequality. His signature achievement as mayor has been the implementation of universal pre-K in the city giving a boost to the children of poor neighborhoods. So far he only seems interested in bringing Biden down.

Still considering:

Stacy Abrams is probably not running for President but is in strong consideration for VP by many candidates which she says she is not interested in. She said she still might run.

Mark Cuban is considering an independent run. Please ignore him.

Our Field:
Jay Inslee just signed into law the country's first universal health care bill. Washington State with have a public option by 2021. Green Peace released their grades of the candidate climate change records and Jay scored the highest with Biden getting the lowest with a D-. He was on Bill Maher's Real Time.  It is a good video to show what he is all about.



Bernie Sanders spoke at a Green New Deal rally earlier this month. Matt Taibbi wrote a profile of his campaign in Rolling Stone that is worth reading. He is doing something that none of these other candidates dare ... he is courting Trump voters. The New York Times also profiled his time as mayor of Burlington, VT.

Cory Booker released a plan to decrease gun suicides.

Julian Castro released his education plan that include universal pre-K and free tuition to state colleges and technical schools.

Tim Ryan introduced the Clean Up Our Neighborhoods Act of 2019 that would give HUD the power to give grants to states to tackle urban blight. He was on Bill Maher's Real Time. He also wants to create a Chief Manufacturing Office for the federal government which just sounds like more bureaucracy.



Amy Klobuchar did a Conversation with the Candidate forum on WMUR. She also likes to talk about being a mom a lot which is nice but since she is running for President and not for the PTA board, she should really stop. She was quite good on Pod Save America.


John Hickenlooper release his gun safety plan.

Tulsi Gabbard was interviewed by Glen Greenwald at The Intercept.

Eric Swalwell appeared on Pod Save America. The more I hear him talk, the more I like him.


Seth Moulton rolled a national service corp program that would engage young people in fighting climate change.

Michael Bennet release a climate change policy that focuses on farming and conservation. He also introduced the Opioid Crisis Accountability Act that would hold the executives of opioid manufacturers accountable.

Joe Biden suggests that Congress should codify access to abortion in law. Politico wrote a scathing review of his career on drug enforcement. He released his first policy since announcing his candidacy focusing on education.

Kamala Harris reintroduced the CARE act which attempts to tackle our national crisis involving maternal care.

Pete Buttigieg is interviewed by the NY Times' podcast The Argument.

John Delaney released an infrastructure plan which invest $2 trillion in public schools and renewable energy.

Beto O'Rourke released his plan for immigration reform.

Elizabeth Warren appeared on The View.


Power Rankings:
We have 24 candidates. If I had to rank the Democrats in order of my personal preference, I would do so in the following manner:
Warren
Buttigieg
Booker
Sanders
Biden
Inslee
Swalwell
Harris
Klobuchar
O'Rourke
Hickenlooper
Delaney
Castro
de Blasio
Gabbard
Moulton
Messam
Ryan
Bennet
Bullock
Yang
(I probably won't vote if the people below get the nomination)
Gravel
Gillibrand
Williamson

This is expected to change. 

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