My Fragile Faith in Humanity / The Plague

I live with a fragile faith in humanity. I waiver, sometimes within moments, between being an all out humanist believing in humanity's unadulterated ability to overcome all to an occasional belief that humanity is a virus upon this planet. It is not an easy way to live, but I have growth to be accustomed to this dichotomy. I have adapted and it has become the norm for me. 

I go about my life like anyone else. I drive along picturesque, pastoral rural Vermont. I look upon the windmills on Georgia mountain and their awesome turning. I think of progress. I think to myself, "How wonderful we are leaning to live in harmony with our environment!" and then drive on and come across someone with a chorus of plastic blowup Walmart crap cluttering their lawn. It could be Christmas, there could be blinking lights with Santa, elves and reindeers. It is at this point when I change over to my other self. We are fucking doomed. I am in constant battle with myself. 

I just finished rereading Albert Camus' The Plague. It is a perfect book to read coming out of the pandemic. It is bubonic plague in the book but symbolically it is a different plague he is writing about. It is a plague of bad ideas. It is written shortly after World War II and it take place in his native Algiers in a small city called Oran in 1947. The world was fighting a plague of isms in mid-20th century: communism, socialism, capitalism and fascism. 

This is a philosophical novel so the journey is a personal one, one of thought and self reflection. Like most books of this nature it's soul, it's place where it sets the reader straight, it's denouement, if you will occurs towards the end of the book when the character Tarrou finally tells the main character Dr. Rieux what is on his mind. 

"... this epidemic has taught me nothing new, except that I must fight it at your side. I know positively ---- yes, Rieux, I can say I know the world inside out, as you may see --- that each of us has the plague within him; no one , no one on earth is free from it."

Life is a battle of internal dialogue in a search what is right and what is wrong. For me, the wind mills are right and a sign of progress, but the plastic blinking Santa on some idiot's lawn ... that is clearly wrong. All I can think is "What the fuck?!"  Plastic comes from oil. Roughly13.9 million acres, globally, are being used for oil production on this planet. All that habitat being destroyed so that blinking Santa can exist. Why is anyone buying this shit? If you bought it used or a long time ago, you don't have to use. You don't have to waste the electricity using it! I have to control myself not to pull the car over, in the dark, sneak their lawn and destroy this shit. I think of this each time I see one of these. My faith is fragile, but calmer minds do prevail in the end. 

The character Tarrou smiles a lot. He doesn't show his internal struggles. This is not true for me. My internal struggles are obvious. I bitch a lot, sometimes loudly. Here I go again, our plagues here in the early 21st century are different. We have global warming and the destruction of bio-diversity and it is capitalism that is bringing it on. The other isms are mostly gone but capitalism is alive and well and eating our planet, much like Galactus in Marvel Comics. Each time you buy some plastic crap, something you really don't need, you taking a bite, your bite, out of her. Capitalism is our plague. 

Camus' narrator says this early in the novel:

"In this respect our townsfolk were like everybody else, wrapped up in themselves, in other words they were humanists; they disbelieved in pestilences. A pestilence isn't a thing made to man's measure, therefore we tell ourselves that pestilence is a mere bogy of the mind, a bad dream that will pass away. But it doesn't always pass away and, from one bad dream to another, it is men who pass away, and the humanist first of all, because they haven't taken their precautions. Our townsfolk were not more to blame than others; they forgot to be modest, that was all, and through that everything still was possible for them which presupposed that pestilences were impossible. They went on doing business, arranged for journeys, and formed views. How should they have given a thought to anything like plague, which rules out any future, cancels journeys, silences the exchange of views. They fancied themselves free, and no one will ever be free so long as there are pestilences.

Camus is considered an existentialist, which is perfect for humanity's current predicament. We fight for our literal existence. But he didn't care for this term. He considered himself an absurdist, our search for meaning leads us into conflict with the world. This is me. Recently, I was having breakfast with some acquaintances and a young mother mentioned that she wanted to have five more children. I was screaming inside. I don't know why, but the pestilence of the plague is not obvious to everyone, even smart people. Denial is a lot easier than confronting reality. 

Let us not forget to be modest. 

 

I Speak for the Trees

I've had this discussion many time:

Friend: "You're an Atheist, you don't understand what 'sacred' means."

Me: "But I do, every tree I see is sacred."

Like the Lorax, I speak for the trees. Sacredness is readily available, not in an old and tired symbol from the Bronze Age, but right here in front of us. Life giving, carbon sucking trees. I don't hug trees, not at least until I get to know them. Even then, only after I have their permission.

But seriously, I am not the only person of this ilk. The idea of trees being sacred goes way back to Egyptian, Asyrian and Norse Mythology as well as Celtic, Germanic and Hungarian folklore predating many of our major religions. But I don't get my inspiration from these sources. Mine comes from personal experience. I grew up in a miserable town where they hated trees. Trees were hard to find and were talked about as if they were a nuisance. 

Dramatization from my youth:

Neighbor 1: Whatcha doing his weekend?

Neighbor 2: Removing that darn tree in my yard. I'm sick of it cracking the pavement and having to pick up those damn leaves?

Neighbor 1: You smell that? The stink in this city is getting worse all the time 

Neighbor 2: And hot as hell as well.

It didn't occurs to them that their hatred of trees, the stink and outrageous heat in the city were related. Luckily, I spent most of my summers of my youth in southern Rhode Island on the bank of a river not too far from the Atlantic. I got to know plenty of trees. I climbed a tiny oak to get away onto the roof of our family cabin to be alone, another two older oaks held my hammock where I escaped into books or several moored my boat as I adventured onto land. Trees were great hiding places, behind or among the branches. I can't imagine a childhood without them. If I believed in magic, it manifest itself as a tree. 

I look to literature for the spiritual. For the scientific minded, spiritual is just a word we use to describe the flush of emotions (aka chemicals reacting) that happen when something spectacular happens, when a connection is made. In this particular case, in a book. Trees as a symbol are all over literature. You can start with the Old Testament, Adam and Eve chomping at the Tree of Knowledge. I think more of contemporary references like Shel Silverstein's The Giving Tree, Herman Hesse's Trees and Siddhartha, W.B. Yeats or the marvelous ents in Tolkien' trilogy The Lord of the Rings whose slow and persistent power help usher in the age of humanity ... and of course, Dr. Seuss. 

Usually, a tree is a symbol of growth but not always. In To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee has the two children, Scout and Jem, use a tree as a conduit for communication with Boo Radley, the local recluse and scapegoat. They put mutual gifts in a knothole, but when the hole is cemented shut it quickly becomes a symbol of intolerance and injustice which is the greater theme of this masterpiece. 

I just finished reading Betty Smith's classic A Tree Grows in Brooklyn. The tree in the title is called a tree of heaven, really, that is actually the species name. It is an invasive species originally from China which is apropos for immigrant laden Brooklyn. Anyone that grew up in the Northeast US would recognize it. Check out this factsheet: Tree of Heaven. Nothing kills this thing which it why it grows so well in cities. Not only is it a symbol of growth but it is one of resilience and strength. It is probably the only symbol in the book. It grows through cement. The narrator is third person omniscient so we get to hear, Francie Nolan, the main character's thoughts on the tree. It "likes" the poor which describes her family and everyone she knows. Something is radical about this tree. Its leaves make "fugitive patterns" on her white pillow case. Francie says this about the tree after someone calls it a "homely thing:" 

"If there was only one tree like that in the world, you would think it was beautiful, but because there are so many, you just can't see how beautiful it really is."

This is a coming of age novel but it is unlike the many that come before it that it is often compared to. Little Women and Anne of Green Gables. It takes place in the gritty world of Brooklyn in the 1910's. This is a world of spousal abuse, alcohol overdoses, pedophile doctors, foot-fetish dentists and animal abuse. This is a not a pretty world Smith is painting. To make it even worse, their neighbors are mean. Poverty means you are cold and hungry and sometimes you have to do things you regrets to survive. Like the tree, you adapt. 

Chapter Ten is the last mention of the tree until the very end of the book, 46 chapters and over 300 pages later.  Spoiler: on the last page of the book she tells us that the tree was cut down because it was causing problems with the clothes lines, but a new tree is growing. Another generation gives us hope. They survive however stupid our priorities are. 

Before I end this, let me introduce you some trees in my yard. First off, we have the Big Ass Sugar Maple. I took a picture of this tree everyday for a year and made a movie out of it:

These two were transplanted from my backyard to the front where I am trying to create a forest to replace my lawn. As you can see, the one in the front is not doing so well and may not make it. But the other one was like this for at least a couple of years before it finally caught on so I am waiting for this baby to shine. 

One of these from the backyard is next to be transplanted:

And here is what the yard looks like in the winter:

Just lovely. I love these trees. 

The Longterm Social Effects of this Crisis

The greatest long term effect of the Spanish Flu pandemic in the early 20th century was its effect on World War I. It hit Germany and Austria before it hit France and England giving the Allies early advantages and the Allies eventually won the war. This flu is often considered the "forgotten" pandemic because there was so much else going on in the world at the time, not just a World War but other major illnesses also hit the world around the same time: yellow fever, diphtheria, cholera and typhoid.  History classes often overlook the diseases of this era because of the war. The Spanish Flu lasted 36 months and killed 50 million people. We all hope this pandemic won't be as devastating. At the writing of this sentence, the world is at three million and counting.

The long term effects I am talking about in this post are the social ones. The Spanish Flu left people with a lingering lack of trust in strangers. Strangers carry disease. This lead to isolationism and xenophobia giving way to fascists like Hitler, Mussolini and Franco. Of course, there were other factors, like a horrendous war, but the flu contributed to it. Anti-Semites have long linked Jews to the plague. Hitler famously referred to them as "racial tuberculosis" in "German lungs."  Such vile terms were more effective with the memory of the Spanish Flu fresh in their memory. .

It is impossible from this vantage point to predict the long term effects of COVID-19 on our society. Most lasting societal changes usually come as a surprise. Henry Ford had no idea that the mass production of cars would lead to more teenage pregnancies and air pollution. Did the flood of boys without fathers after World War II bring us rock and roll?  Did Roe v. Wade help bring us low crime rates decades later due to the lack of unwanted children? These are thought experiments. Let's do it, a COVID-19 version.

Celebrity: Celebrities have been showing us who they really are in this crisis. Maybe we'll finally stop making otherwise stupid, careless and mega-privileged people famous. Maybe we'll be more selective on who gets to be famous or perhaps put them on a lower pedestal. Of course not all celebrities are so bad. The smart ones know how to control themselves and shut up. You notice that Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt haven't stuck their feet in their mouths, but the hyper-narcissists and morons surely are.

• Ellen DeGeneres (aka Queen of Nice) compared her quarantine to being in a prison while she lives in a beachfront palatial mansion 
• Evangeline Lily urged people to ignore social distancing rules and isolation using terms like "Marshall Law" on Instagram which she obviously doesn't understand nor know how to spell. 
• Actress Jaimie King released a video thanking the virus 
• Gwyneth Paltrow is tweeting about what the best dildo to use during isolation, selling them as well. Some poor warehouse worker is risking his/her life to get someone a dildo. 
• Sam Smith tweeted the stages of his meltdown while he had to deal with isolation in his $15 million London mansion
• NBA player Ruby Gobert touched a bunch of mics at a media event as a joke. A few days later, he tested positive.
• Gisele Bundchen posted a picture of herself in front of a tropical waterfall meditating.
• High School Musical star Vanessa Hudgens suggested that people dying is "like, inevitable."
• Bette Middler is figuring out what her appliances do, no joke.

While many of their fans are living in tiny apartments, some of them under duress ... we get a crash course in how crudely unequal our society is. Our doctors, who keep us alive, don't live this way. Entertainers do. Will income inequality become an even bigger issue after this crisis?

Entertainment: When next year's television shows roll out, will they be including the pandemic in their story lines?  Do we want them to? Do you prefer them to have more of an escapist quality? Will we get to see the family on "This Is Us" in social isolation ... where will the plot line come from. We get to watch them binge watch other shows and argue ... not so fun.

Concert venues will be devastated by this crisis.Our days of hanging shoulder to shoulder in the dark listening to our favorite bands jam may be a thing of the past. They will be the last businesses to be allowed to open and for all we know, may not be allowed to fill them in like they used to.  This means that entry and/or beer will be more expensive ... I cried a little bit while writing this.

Environmental: Quarantine is only a few weeks old and already we see the environment recovering. Factories are idle, planes are grounded and commuters are staying home. We have cut carbon emissions worldwide by 8% and energy use is down in some places by 25% of last year. Some cities are reporting seeing constellations for the first time in decades. With the city streets desolate, wild life is returning to some areas that haven't seen them in decades. We will return to our old ways soon enough but this quick recovery might really inspire people to change. Stay home, use less, use mass transit, telecommute ... these are easy to do for some of us. We might just get into the habit.

Cities around the world have closed more than 1,000 miles of streets to cars for the use of bicycles. How much of that is going to be permanent? Seattle has already announced that 20 miles of their new bike only roads will be permanent. If the locals like it, it will stay. So if this is happening in your area. Contact a politician to keep it. They are probably desperate to find ways to make citizens happy right now.

Hate: Hate crimes are already a lot higher for anyone that looks Chinese. Trump hasn't helped with this. "Go back to China," "Kung Flu" and "Wu Flu" are all things being said to and about people from Far East origins. Hate will only subside until we get rid of the creep in the White House, but it will never go away permanently. The protests in Michigan and other states have been organized by white supremacy groups. Many of the people showing up don't even know this. I hope this is all temporary, but isolation breeds contempt and xenophobic (the evil twin of isolationism) is not far behind. I fear these people will get more powerful the longer this quarantine lasts. Here is a list from the Anti-Defamation League of anti-Asian incidents in America since this crisis began.

Sporting Events: Maybe we'll have standing ovations for doctors, scientists and other essential workers during our sporting events rather than for the military. Instead of players wearing khaki to honor the troops, maybe they will wear smocks to honor the real heroes, and not those who make invasions possible. We live in a violent nation, with a violent past. It would be nice, if our priorities could finally change.

Parades: Maybe our parades will celebrate these essential workers as well.

The Work Place: A lot of mangers are going to realize after this is over that remote employees are quite productive. I have been doing it for twelve years now and it has its distractions but compared to the distractions of being in the office, it is nothing. No one is coming into my office to talk about the game or the weather, and I have no commuter traffic to stress me out.  Telecommuting is the way to go. Those who can do it, will. Office spaces will become like empty warehouses, and food delivery, during work hours, will spike to new heights. This is not going away.

Teachers: The only real distractions, for a lot of us, these days is that kids are at home. Will there be more respect for our teachers now that many parents had to teach their own kids and they getting first hand knowledge how difficult their angels really are to teach? or how difficult teaching actually really is? I'm guessing that the snow day will no longer exist now that we know teaching can happen remotely. Teachers should have a national strike in the Fall, demanding more pay.  We'd all freak to think that we'd have to have our kids home anymore after this Spring and cave immediately. 

Essential Workers: Will people have more respect for essential workers? I am not talking about me, someone who supports a hospital's software system. But those who bring us food, stack shelves, drive trucks and buses. They are not staying home and they are keeping us alive. I am guessing once this is over, we will go back to paying them badly and not providing them health care. That's the America I know. Hopefully, I am wrong. But with scum like Trump and his loyalty cult in charge, I don't see how change for the essential worker could be possible. Can you imagine how bad it would be without Obamacare (aka the ACA)? And yet, Trump is still busy trying to repeal it. I'm guessing (and hoping) that Medicare For All will get a big boost from this crisis, but I have been very wrong about this type of thing in the past. I did predict a landslide victory for President Gore.

Trade: Isolation will raise its ugly head again. I am expecting that domestic manufacturing will make a comeback. We still have factories in the US now, but not like in the past. I expect factories, mostly with robotic workers, will increase. Buying American will give people a sense of security and consumers will pay more for that feeling ... but not a lot more.This come back will be short.lived. Businesses will find new and creative ways to trick people that something is made domestically and eventually, they will forget all about this.

The Economy - What industry will recover? Will people go to gyms anymore now that they know how easy it is to do the trainer thing on-line. I want to know how my favorite restaurants are going to survive this. Restaurants have such a thin profit margin. How could they possibly survive this? I have a friend who is a contractor who did two hours of work in April, doing a training on Zoom. The state of Vermont used that as a reason to reject him for a small business grant. You think quarantine has been crazy, the recovery is going to be completely nuts.

After the Spanish Flu, if you had the flu and survived, this gave you economic benefits over others who had not. At this point, we don't know if having COVID-19 makes you immune. If this does end up being true for COVID-19, I could imagine that anyone that works with the public would have the advantage in a pre-vaccine economy.

Privacy: Those in charge know that when we are in crisis, we are more likely to accept power grabs... think of the Patriot Act after 9/11. Some authoritarian countries are using this crisis as justification to monitor their citizens. I can imagine this will get worst before it gets better. Expect more invasion of your privacy. It will be justified under the moniker of public health.

New Cold War: Will this crisis spark a new Cold War with China. Should they pay for their negligence in the matter of the spreading of the virus and the lack of openness? As soon as healthcare workers started getting sick, they should have told the world about it. There was a three week period that we could have stopped this pandemic or at least saved many lives. Perhaps they should reimburse the world, but they won't so why push it? It also sets an awful precedence, especially with the recent discovery that the Spanish Flu started in Kansas. If we push this, they may just close their doors to the world. You think a world where is China is open is a bad thing, wait until they shut their borders!

Politics: Maybe we'll stop electing politicians who are ignorant of science. Germany elected a Chancellor that has a PHD in Chemistry who wrote her thesis on quantum chemistry ... the US elected a President who doesn't understand and rejects evolution. Guess which country has been better prepared for this crisis?  Perhaps the Republican Party's war on science will finally come to an end.

Trump missed a golden opportunity. Great presidents emerge in the midst of great crises. FDR with World War II and The Depression, Lincoln in the Civil War ... we remember them as great leaders for taking us forward. We barely remember Hoover and Buchanan ... because they faltered. This disease's second wave will be hitting us badly right around the time of the presidential election. Hopefully, people will remember Trump's disastrous performance and lack of leader while they go into the polls. 

The countries doing the best during this crisis are the countries with the strong safety nets: Germany, South Korea and Taiwan. The countries with libertarian bents, the US and the UK, are fairing badly. Will we learn from this lesson? COVID-19 is the first truly global event in human history. Perhaps it will make the world closer.  It is hard to be believe when yahoos with guns are storming statehouses.But maybe this crisis will just scare enough people to move us along on this matter. Government can be a good thing with the right people in charge.

Hindsignt 2020: October 2019 Edition

In the time that I last blogged about the election, our president has suggested we use a nuclear bomb to fight off a hurricane, he invited the Taliban to the Camp David on the anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks and asked the leaders of foreign governments (China and Australia as well as the Ukraine back in July) to dig up dirt on his political opponents.  Can you imagine if President Obama had done any of this? Members of the Republican party mentioned impeachment of Obama for many outrageous reasons when he was president --- including being born outside of the US (false), the Benghazi attack (bogus), Libyan intervention, an IRS non-scandal, a legal prisoner swap and a transgender initiative. Yet when one of their guys commits actual crimes, like say ... treason, most of them stand by their man. Their hypocrisy in this matter is astounding.

The question remains for the Democrats, how far left do you want to go with our candidate? If history is any indication, we may want to go with a moderates, because they win. McGovern, Mondale and Dukakis .... they all have two things in common, (1) they were all liberals that ran for president ... and (2) they lost. Obama, Clinton and Carter ... were all moderates and guess what? They won. Of the top three candidates we have now, Biden, Warren and Sanders, only Biden is a moderate. I would hope that the Democrats will learn this lesson from history and nominate a moderate. Buttigieg, Delaney and Klobuchar would all be excellent Presidents. But time is changing so perhaps four years of Trump has set the stage for finally having a leftist president which hasn't happened in my lifetime. The Republicans have been calling us socialists for decades; we might as well finally elect one and make good on this. I am torn.

Considering what has been going with Trump, regarding Ukraine, it is hard to believe that whoever runs against him would lose but I have been wrong before about this. I was amazed when W was reelected.

The last televised debate was the best so far. They actually talked about issues, pointed out their differences but remained clear on the point that any one of them is far better than Trump on every issue, on any given day. The only conclusion I came to from this debate is that Juan Castro needs to drop out. He was a complete dick to Biden and in a prior debate, he was a dick to Buttigieg. We don't need a dick running for President in the Democratic party. Trump has already wrapped up the dick vote. Castro, please leave quietly.

There are a few Republican candidates running against Trump. Primarying an incumbent president is an uphill battle but it just became more difficult because the GOP has cancelled primaries in four states already (SC, AZ, NV and KS). More are expected. This is just further proof that Republicans really don't like democracy. They like power.

All three of our top candidates are in their 70's and so is President Trump. I don't know if this is something we should be concerned about. Is it ageism?  Maybe. Being 70 isn't what it used to be.  It takes a lot to develop the experience to be presidential. Perhaps the other candidates are too young. Unless they show major health problems (which Bernie is), I don't think it is an issue.  Warren seems be the sharpest of all the candidates so I'm not too concerned about this.

Dropping out:
Bill de Blasio - good riddance.

Our field:
John Delaney appeared on Hardball. He released his digital privacy plan.

Amy Klobuchar released a climate policy. She appeared on WBUR's Here and Now and on Radio Atlantic.

Cory Booker released a climate policy and a labor policy. He was also on Jimmy Kimmel Live and on the New Yorker Radio Hour.

Steve Bullock appeared on the Daily Show.

Pete Buttigieg released a climate policy and a disaster relief program. He appeared on the Late Show with Stephen Colbert.

Julian Castro released his climate policy plan and his housing plan. 

Kamala Harris released her climate policy and her criminal justice reform program. She was also on the Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon. 

Elizabeth Warren endorsed Jay Inslee's climate plan. She also appeared on the Late Show with Stephen Colbert.

Michael Bennet released his education program. 

Joe Biden appeared on the Late Show with Stephen Colbert and on Jimmy Kimmel Live. 

Beto O'Rourke presented a clemency plan for drug offenders. 

Bernie Sanders wants to eliminate $81 billion in medical debt and proposed a wealth tax and a corporate tax plan. He also had a heart attack but has made it clear, he'll be on the trail again in no time.

Andrew Yang was on The View.

Power Rankings:

I count 19 candidates. I expect Booker and Castro to drop out soon and hopefully few others will as well. If I had to rank the Democrats in order of my personal preference, I would do so in the following manner: 

Biden

Warren

Buttigieg

Booker

Klobuchar

Sanders

Harris

O'Rourke

Gabbard

Bennet

Delaney

Ryan

Bullock

Yang

Castro

Messam

Sestak

(I probably won't vote if the people below get the nomination)

Steyers

Williamson

I expect this to change.

Hindsight 2020: September edition

A recession is coming. The only good thing about a recession is that a lot of people will blame Trump. Even though Presidents have little effect on the economy, it is one of the biggest factors that help determine whom people vote for. This could also have the opposite effect. The recession could take awhile to get here and people could blame the new president for the bad economy. Remember how some people blamed Obama for the mess he inherited? It could really stunt a new administration even if we elected the best possible candidate.

In watching the debates in the past two months, it appears that these candidates are trying very hard to lose the general election. They are spending their time debating old issues like busing and bashing Obama (who is extremely popular with their base). I am not sure what they are thinking. Surely, they know that everything they say will be used as sound bytes by Trump's people in the general election. I am concerned and yes, fear is setting in.

As expected, Biden is starting to scare me as well. I am reminded again why I didn't vote for him in the past. He is a gaffe machine: Here are some things that Joe has said this year that are downright awful:

“Poor kids are just as bright and just as talented as white kids.” 

... and ...

“We choose truth over facts!”

He also called Theresa May, "Margaret Thatcher" and claimed that England used bio-fuel to fuel their "steamships." No shit! He really said that. This wasn't Trump, but the Democratic party's leading candidate. I'm pretty confident that many of us would be hopping on Trump for saying such things. Trump's way ahead in the gaffe department. Biden has always been this way. I do think Biden can beat Trump, but I'd like see someone really smart rip Trump to shreds. Trump and Biden debating, sounding like drunk idiots I'd meet at Rira's five minute before last call, is not my idea of inspirational. Warren, Harris, Bennet, Gabbard, even Bernie ... they'd tear him a new one. Biden seems more like a nice, mildly liberal and slightly more competent version of Trump. 

Whenever I hear the word "spiritual," I prepare myself ... this word is a red flag. The word "spiritual" announces to the world that bullshit is being spoken. It means it is time for me tune out. There are a lot of things I could be doing with my attention right, listening to bullshit about spirituality is not one of them. So when I hear that one of the candidates is a "spiritualist" this is a huge red flag for me. Ignore Marianne Williamson! The last thing we need right now is more empty platitudes. They are just painful to hear. She represents everything that is wrong with the American left. No policies, just talking points. It pains me to hear this woman getting applause at the debates. She really needs to go away.

Trump now has three legit primary challengers: Joe Walsh, Bill Weld and Mark Sanford. Jeff Flake and John Kasich may get in the race as well.  I am looking forward to the Republican debate (this is sarcasm).

Dropping Out:
John Hickenlooper is dropping out of the Presidential race to concentrate on a Senate run, something I wish more of these candidates did. He recently wrote an Op Ed criticizing Trump's tariff.

Jay Inslee, Seth Moulton, Mike Gravel and Kirsten Gillibrand have all suspended their campaigns. 

Our Field:
Cory Booker introduced a bill that would eliminate the death penalty. He also announced his plan to fight hate crimes.

Elizabeth Warren proposed creating an office of Broadband Access to get more Americans connected. She also released several proposals regarding Native American issues and a criminal justice plan. He is a policy rock star.

Tulsi Gabbard left the campaign trail for two weeks to fulfill her National Guard training in Indonesia. She was the inaugural guest on Matt Taibbi's new podcast, Useful Idiots.

Pete Buttigieg released his healthcare plan, which would overhaul healthcare in rural areas, and a policy to combat domestic terrorism.  He also released plans to tackle mental health and addiction.

Amy Klobuchar released a plan to combat domestic terrorism and a farming communities program.

Bernie Sanders was on the Joe Rogan Experience podcast. He just released his plan to fight climate change.

Beto O'Rourke wrote an Op Ed about the shooting in El Paso. He released his economic plan and a trade plan.

Bill de Blasio wants to raise taxes on the wealthy.  He was interviewed on WBUR's Here and Now.

Kamala Harris released her plan to combat domestic terrorism.

Michael Bennet was on WBUR's On Point. He announced his idea for a national mentoring and apprenticeship program.

Julian Castro announced his economic and tax plan and proposed doubling our investment in wind power.

Tim Ryan appeared on one of my favorite podcasts, The Gist.

Andrew Yang released his climate change policy.

Power Rankings:

We are getting down to a manageable field. If I had to rank the Democrats in order of my personal preference, I would do so in the following manner: 

Warren

Buttigieg

Biden

Sanders

Booker

Klobuchar

Harris

Castro

O'Rourke

Gabbard

Bennet

Delaney

de Blasio

Ryan

Bullock

Yang

Messam

Sestak

(I probably won't vote if the people below get the nomination)

Steyers

Williamson

I expect this to change.

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. 

Hindsight 2020 - May 2019 Edition

Can we agree, you and I, that whomever gets the Democratic nomination, will have our support? We will not support a third party candidate whether they are a Green, Libertarian or Independent. The goal is to not have Trump as the president. Whoever wins the Democratic nomination will not be perfect. They will have something in their past that we don't like. They will have a stance that we disagree with.  We know this. The key thing we have to keep reminding ourselves is that on their worst day, they are still better than Trump on his best day. In the 2000 election in Florida, George W. Bush defeated Al Gore by 537 votes. Nader received 97,421 votes in Florida (and Pat Buchanan and Harry Browne received 17,484 and 16,415 respectively), which led to claims that Nader was responsible for Gore's defeat. Same thing happened in 2016 in state like Michigan, Ohio and Penn. If you are in a solidly blue state like California or Vermont, vote third party all you want. But if you are in a red or purple state (a swing state), you better go with the Democrat. If you don't, then you are voting for Trump by not voting for his only viable opponent ... plain and simple.

The books are closed on fundraising in the first quarter of the year. Trump leads the pack with over $30 million in his coffers.  Sanders, Warren and Harris have $20.7 million, $16.5 milli0n and $13.2 million, respectively. Don't dismay. This makes sense. The Democrats have a very competitive primary while Trump is an incumbent. Once the Dems are down to one candidate, there are many people like me, who will then donate. We have 22 candidates fighting for the same pool of money right now.

All but five candidates have qualified for the first Democratic debate Mike Gravel, Wayne Messam, Seth Moulton, Michael Bennet and Marianne Williamson. The first set will be on June 26th and 27th in Miami. A candidate will need to either have at least 1 percent support in three qualifying polls, or provide evidence of at least 65,000 individual donations from a minimum of 200 different donors in at least 20 states.

It is too bad we couldn't have all of these candidates as president and have them concentrate on their expertise. Inslee would be the environmental president, Booker would be the gun violence candidate, etc. We are very lucky to have such a great field of candidates. They are the most diverse group of candidates ever assembled. Why shouldn't they be?  We are America. We are a nation of immigrants and the candidates should reflect that. Not only in race and gender but in sexual orientation, religion, experience and age.  I love it. This is truly a big tent and a political junkie's dream. 

Announcing:

Ex-VP Joe Biden: He enters the race as a behemoth and on the top of the polls, but this is only because of his name recognition. Once the general public get to the know the other candidates, he will plateau. Once Joe starts opening his mouth and making those gaffs that we know him for, his numbers will drop. We've seen this before, Biden running for President, it is not a pleasant sight. Biden is from Delaware (born in Scranton, PA), was a US Senator for 36 years and Vice President under a very popular president Obama. In 1972, shortly after first being elected Senator, both his wife Neilla and daughter Naomi died in a car crash while Christmas shopping, Biden has a lot of baggage, particularly for liberal voters. The two big ones (1) his treatment of Anita Hill during the Clarence Thomas hearings and (2) his support for mass incarceration. He might have peaked already. I don't think we'll have a Joe Biden presidency.

US Rep. from California, Eric Swalwell: He was born in Iowa where his father was Chief of Police in a smallish town, Algona. His family moved to California when Eric was young. He's been in Congress since 2013. He has probably been the most outspoken anti-Trump voice in Congress. That is the only reason I have heard of him. Five Thirty Eight published a story of how he could win. He pledged to ask a woman to be VP on his ticket. He recently wrote an Op Ed for US Today about gun control and the NRA.

US Rep. from Massachusetts, Seth Moulton: He was born in Salem, MA to a secretary and real-estate attorney. He went to Harvard for undergrad (physics) and grad school (business and public policy). He is an ex-marine officer and lead one of the first platoons that entered Baghdad in 2003. Here is where he stands on five issues. Does it surprise you that the ex-marine wants to increase funding to the State Department?  If Gabbard is the dove candidate, then Moulton is the hawk.

Colorado Senator Michael Bennet: He was born in New Delhi, India while his father (who is from NJ) was working at the Indian embassy. His mother is a Polish Jew who survived the Warsaw Ghetto and is a school librarian. His family has political roots. His father worked for VP Hubert Humphrey and his grandfather for FDR. He's been a Senator since 2009. Before that he was the Denver Superintendent of Schools and the Chief of Staff to Denver Mayor Hickenlooper (who is also running for President). He is also the brother of NY Times editorial page editor James Bennet, who has recuse himself from editorializing on the campaign.

Drop-outs and not-running:
Ex-governor of Virginia, Terry McAuliffe, is not running for President. He is going to focus on helping Virginia Democrats.

Our Field:
We have a field of 22 now.

Booker has raised over $5 million in the first quarter of 2019 and 80% of the contributions are from first time contributors. That usually means he is attracting the young and/or tapping into something that everyone else is missing. He also introduced the Dignity for Detained Immigrants Act that would require a bond hearing for all detained immigrants.

Klobuchar has raised over $5 million as well with 85% of it coming from donors giving $100 or less. She reintroduced the Americans Giving Care to Elders Act (AGE) to give relief to people supporting elderly members of the families.

Mayor Pete got some bad press when Buzz Feed published a story about gentrification in South Bend. He appeared on Late Night with Seth Meyers. He does seem to be tapping into the hope and change phenomenon that none of these other folks are.

Bernie released Medicare For All bill. According to 538, he is doing better this time around in regards to media coverage, polling, fund raising and endorsements. Not having the spectre of Hillary in the race might explain that. He is calling for the reduction in defense spending to help pay for his programs which I love to hear. 

Warren raised $6 million in the first quarter with the average donation being $28.  Impressive! She also has the largest campaign staff among the 22 candidates.She released a Corporate Tax Plan and a plan to eliminate student debt.

Delaney announced a National Service and Climate Corp Plan for young people that has four tracts: 1) military service, 2) community service, 3) infrastructure and 4) climate corp.Also, he wants to create a Department for Cybersecurity lead by a cabinet level Secretary. He recently revealed his platform on mental health.

Harris is concentrating on California and the South rather than the traditional NH and IA.She reintroduced the Rent Relief Act to help renters recoup some of their expenses, if their rent is over 30% of our income.

Messam appeared on NPR's On Point and on an independent podcast called The Trail.

O'Rourke: Two of his top advisers left his campaign once he hired Jen O'Malley Dillon, Obama's old campaign chair, to run his campaign. He seems to be fizzling. Other than standing on tables and counter tops, he hasn't really done a lot.

Inslee appeared on Pod Save America for an interview (see below). He seems like a great candidate, but I am not sure how his "climate change is the #1 issue" goes over in middle America. I agree with him but I don't think he can beat Trump with this message. He also participated in the March for Science.




Castro says that he will create a department within the Department of Justice, just to investigate racial discrimination by police. He probably won't win the endorsement of the policemen's union.

Hickenlooper wrote an Op-Ed in the Wall Street Journal, apparently stating that he opposes both massive regulation and socialism. He said, “I’m running to save capitalism.” If he is looking for more exposure, perhaps he should write for publications that aren't entirely behind a pay wall. He did appear on Pod Save America. He kinda looks like a used car salesman.

Ryan introduced a bill that would require the Department of Justice to train law enforcement  in de-escalation.

Gabbard was recently called the best Democratic candidate by former Rep Ron Paul. He said she was "the best chance to bring about peace." His endorsement may be a good enough reason to move her down in my rankings.

Yang: To demonstrate Universal Basic Income (UBI), he is going to give two families in NH and IA $1,000 a month to show how it works.  I volunteer my family if he expands this to Vermont. 

Gravel doesn't really want to be President. He wants to qualify for the debates and push the debate to the left. Check out this Vice report. He's kind of a nut. He's a 9/11 truther. He should probably be ignored.

Power Rankings:
We have 22 candidates, soon to be 23 with Mayor de Blasio soon to declare that he is running. If I had to rank the Democrats in order of my personal preference, I would do so in the following manner:
Warren
Harris
Booker
Buttigieg
Sanders
Biden
Inslee
O'Rourke
Hickenlooper
Klobuchar
Delaney
Swalwell
Castro
Gabbard
Moulton
Messam
Ryan
Bennet
Yang
(I probably won't vote if the people below get the nomination)
Gravel
Gillibrand
Williamson

This is expected to change. 

Hindsight 2020 - March 2019 edition

Before I say anything the 2020 election, let us give thanks to the president. Thank you, Mr. Trump for setting a new precedent for presidential power. Traditionally, Congress has the power of the purse. Congress consistently told him "no" about funding the building of a wall on our southern border, but he is choosing to ignore it giving us a new tier of presidential power. We will surely remember this when a Democratic president takes over. We can declare emergencies also. If Congress refuses to fund the Green New Deal or the Medicare For All ... we say "Emergency" and pull out the funding reserved for disasters and invasion for our pet product.  Thank for having the foresight for giving us this power.

Trump's 2020 campaign has started collecting data on three Democrats, according to Politico: Booker, Warren and Harris. We look like we have some front runners at least in their minds.

Back to the issues: About those issue, David Leonhardt in the NY Times suggested that the issues don't matter much in the Democratic primary. Why? Because the candidates (12 now I believe), mostly agree with each other. So we should primarily be concentrating on one thing: Who can beat Trump?  He says that Sherrod Brown and Kamala Harris are the standouts.But they are all out there, still talking about the issues. You may or may not agree with them, but every single one of them is better than Trump. If you say that both parties are to blame for our awful political situation, then you are just announcing to the world that you haven't been paying attention for the last 30 years.

The Republican party is still the party of global warming denial, maintaining the status quo on health care and billionaire tax cuts. By the year 2050, there may be no maple syrup production in Vermont and no wine grapes growing in California, but yet, a border wall is the emergency. I think the existential and economic crisis of our environmental situation is the real emergency. How silly of me!

I would love another president, like Obama, that would make the right wing extremist freak out. This generally means we are going in the right direction as a society. So a Jewish, Hispanic or a Black Woman as a president would be a really good thing then we can watch every scumbag pundit on Fox "News" heads explode.

Announcing this month:
Vermont Senator, Bernie Sanders: Bernie was the dark horse candidate in 2016. He enters this race as one of the front runners, if not the front runner. At this point, they could all be chasing him if he gets the momentum that he did last time. He is 77 years old which for many makes him too old. Is this ageism or simple practicality? The presidency is a very stressful job so his health is something to take into consideration, but health and age are not the same thing. His VP candidate should be chosen wisely because of this. He has two scandals behind him: (1) his wife's problems with Burlington College and (2) the sexism in his staff during the 2016 campaign. Hopefully, both of them don't weigh too heavily in the general voter's minds. If you think about him running against Trump, these "scandals" are minuscule compared to anything Trump has accumulated in only two years in office. As a Vermonter, I like Bernie and I have voted for his for both Rep. and Senator. I also voted for him in the primaries in 2016. I have met him twice. I disagree with him on a lot (particularly on economics), but I know him as an honorable and honest person. I vote for him because I trust him. He represents us well. He'd be a fine president. Jamelle Bouie in NY Times, says that Bernie is the only candidate so far that has a clear and comprehensive message on foreign policy, something he lacked during the 2016 campaign.

Bernie has the passion without details while Warren has details but is lacking in the passion. This makes me think that among the two further left candidates, Bernie is more likely to beat Trump, but far left is still going to be tough to win in the general election.

South Bend Mayor, Pete Buttigieg: In last month's Hindsight 2020, I didn't mention Pete Buttigieg (pronounced Buddha judge), who is the two term mayor of South Bend, Indiana. What's a mayor of a city of 100,000 people doing running for president? Good question. One thing to point out, he has more experience in government than Trump did when he became president. He is another Rhode Scholar, an Afghanistan war veteran and is openly gay. Just on that last sentence alone, he is a better candidate than Trump. I've heard him speak a view times in the past few weeks and I like him, a lot actually. But the key question here is: will the general public vote for a gay man? a married gay man? It is hard to believe he'd win the general election.

New York Senator, Kirsten Gillibrand: She is very pleasant and personable. If you have watched Colbert at any point in the past, you may have seen her on one of his shows. She was conservative in her past, but has claimed to be reformed. She appears to me to be an opportunist and a hypocrite.When she talks about important issues she comes off as being quite trite. When sexual assault accusations came out about Senator Al Franken, he asked for investigations into the allegations and she lead the charge to throw him under the bus. Now that much worse allegations have come out about Lt. Governor of Virginia, Justin Fairfax, she is calling for an investigation. Not sure why Al Franken didn't get this respect. She is a lightweight and I wouldn't turn my back on her.

Governor of Washington Jay Inslee: He is the current governor of the state of Washington and used to be a member of the US House of Representatives. His campaign is the only one so far to have his campaign headquarters fully based on the West Coast. He is from humble stock with his mother being a clerk at Sears while his father was a high school counselor and football coach. His big issue is the environment which makes him appealing to me. Can a relatively unknown like this defeat a sitting president? Since that President is Trump, perhaps, yes.  Clinton did it to Bush and Bush (the first one) was a half decent President.

Marianne Williamson: She is a new age spiritualist author from Houston and is often called Oprah's "spiritual adviser." I don't take her very seriously and unless I see something that makes her qualified to run this country, I am not going to mention her again.

Those still not declared yet:
Former VP Joe Biden, former NYC mayor Mike Bloomberg, Ohio Senator Sherrod Brown, Governor of Montana Steve Bullock, former Governor of Colorado John Hickenlooper, former Governor of Virginia Terry McAuliffe, Oregon Senator Jeff Merkley, Rep. from Massachusetts Seth Moulton, former Rep. from Texas Beto O'Rourke, Ohio Rep. Tim Ryan, California Rep. Eric Swalwell and Mark Warner, Senator from Virginia.

The rest of the field:
Cory Booker: I have notice that eight of my friends, on Facebook, are following Mr. Booker. One of them is a staunch Republican so I know this doesn't mean much, other than he probably has the most name recognition in the Democratic field right now, among those who have announced. He made a visit to Iowa in February and is hiring staff in the early primary states of Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina. He is trying to draw a distinction between himself and his competition stating that they haven't run anything and while he has run a major city, Newark. He has released a plan to reduce housing costs.

Kamala Harris: California's primary has been moved up early this year. This gives a distinct advantage to Ms. Harris. She has visited Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina and Nevada in February. She advocated for universal childcare and has proposed the LIFT act to assist struggling middle class families.

Amy Klobuchar: The Senator from Minnesota raised $1 million within 48 hours of announcing her candidacy which is pretty impressive. She is the only candidate that is positioning herself as a moderate. She may do well if Biden stays out of the race. If he does enter the race, his name recognition alone may overshadow her.

Elizabeth Warren: While Bernie talks about blowing the system up and rebuilding, she talks about restructuring the system from within. She has proposed a universal childcare program.and a family leave act. She is a policy candidate, which may have a lot of appeal to someone like me, but many voters choose based on personality and the "would I like to share a beer with this person?" question looms bad for her. If I were voting on domestic policies alone, she may have my vote.

Julian Castro: He plans on visiting all 50 states during his campaign. I'm looking forward to seeing him here in VT if he lasts that long. Maybe he should just come on over when he is pounding the pavement in New Hampshire. Since we're overwhelmingly for Sanders, I doubt if we'll see him.

Tulsi Gabbard: If you are looking for the peace candidate, she might be your candidate. She has come out strong against US involvement in Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan. Here is an interesting fact about her. Her net worth is only $208,504.00. This is really amazing since she lives in a very expensive state, Hawaii.

John Delaney: Because he declared so early, he has already visited all 99 counties in Iowa. He is another moderate candidate who has gotten accolades from even conservatives like George Will who in a November 2018 opinion piece in the Washington Post, stated that Democrats should consider a moderate like Delaney to defeat Trump. While having a background in business might not appeal to the left in the Democratic party, it may be gold in the general election. He is pro-business but he still stands in all the right places on the issues that Democrats care about: health care, the environment and education etc.

Andrew Yang: He is another candidate I am not taking too seriously because he has no government experience, but it seem like others are. Rolling Stone Magazine puts him at #17 among 27 candidates (published in mid February 2019) which is not great but is higher than Delaney or Gabbard. So I will keep him on my radar.

Talk to you next month.

Hindsight 2020 - February 2019 edition

I would hope that most Americans learned their lesson from 2016 and stop to think, verify their sources, before sharing an article on social media. Just because an article reinforces what you already believe or fear, doesn't mean it is true or a real source of information. It is painful when I still see people sharing crap on Facebook or Twitter that is clearly garbage published out of Russia designed to divide us, not inform us. 

The 2020 election is creeping up on us. So far we have eight candidates officially announced that are running for the Democratic nomination for president. Some of them I have never heard of.  There are some big names that haven't officially announced yet: Bernie Sanders, Joe Biden, Beto O'Rourke,  Sharod Brown and Kirsten Gillibrand. I will discuss them once they have, if they do.

From the midterms, the Democrats learned that if they stay on message, namely health care and environmental protection, they can win. Medicare For All and The Green New Deal are two of the big flash points for the Democrats now. For a president to tackle even one of these would be a huge undertaking; tackling both seems to be setting us up for failure. I consider myself left of center politically. I usually vote for Democrats not because I consider myself a Democrat but mostly because I hate the Republican party so much. The worst the GOP gets, the more  Democratic I become. 

It is the intent of this Blog post to a log of my thought process of my decision making about the 2020 Presidential election. Whom I will vote for and why will be documented here. Please share your thoughts with me. If you have a candidate, tell me who. No Trump supporters please. The most important issue for me, is that we pick a candidate that can beat Trump. The second most important is the issues: environmentalism, health care, voter's rights and Judiciary nominees are probably my top four priorities.

I have to say I am impressed and excited with the diversity of these candidates.

The Candidates (in order of how well I know them): 

Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts: I like Senator Warren but I believe she is probably too far left for the general public. She is probably further left than Bernie Sanders, who is a Socialist. Like Bernie, I question her ideas on the economy. I also doubt her appeal to the general public. Nominating her might just fire up Trump's base to a defeat in 2020, but maybe my opinion will change. She is from Oklahoma City from a middle class family so perhaps that will help her appeal to the American centrist. She has no executive experience. 

Senator Cory Booker of New Jersey:  I like Senator Booker as well. He was born in DC but grew up in New Jersey in a middle class family. His parents were two of the first African American executives at IBM. As mayor of Newark, his environmental record is not great, but overall he was a good mayor. He is a Rhodes Scholar. I'd love to see Trump go up against someone this smart. 

Ex-San Antonio Mayor Julian Castro: Castro is a twin and his identical brother, Joaquin, is a member of the US House of Representatives.  He is from San Antonio and seems to be on the correct side of the issues for me. He was also the HUD Secretary in the Obama administration. He seems to be a political light weight. We'll have to see how he does on the campaign trail. He was one of the front runners for the vice presidential nomination for Hillary Clinton in 2016.  She may have won if she had picked him over the extremely unexciting Tim Kaine. The fact that he is Hispanic and from Texas might make him the perfect VP pick for whoever wins. 

Senator Kamala Harris from California: She is from a working class Berkley  neighborhood with both of her parents being economics professors and civil rights activists. Before becoming a Senator in 2017, she was the Attorney General of CA for six years and before that the AG of San Francisco for seven years. For a lot of people on the left this is a strike against her, but this will be a great asset to her in the general election. I could imagine her legal experience will be a great tool for her in the debates. She is a first generation American from Indian and Jamaican descent. 

Senator Amy Kobuchar from Minnesota: She is a seasoned Senator and with an excellent record on liberal issues. She is the daughter of a second grade teacher and journalist/sports writer/travel writer. Before becoming a Senator in 2006, she was an attorney. She has no executive experience. 

Rep. Tulsi Gabbard from Hawaii: Now we are getting to the people I know nothing about.  I had to look up all of this information. She is from American Samoa and is a Hindu.  She is an active member of the Army National Guard and did a 12 month tour in Iraq. Before she became a Rep., she was in the Hawaiian House and the Honolulu City Counsel. She seems to have a good environmental record but has no executive experience. 

Former Rep. John Delaney from Maryland: He actually dropped out of Congress to run for President. He was the first to announce. Before becoming a Rep. in 2012, he was a businessman in private sector in health care and commercial lending. He has no executive experience. 

Former tech executive and author Andrew Yang: He seems to be a one issue candidate. He supports a Universal Basic Income in response to the growing labor problem due to automation. He is from Schenectady and is another first generation American. His parents are from Taiwan. He has no executive experience nor any experience in government whatsoever.

If the election were held today, I'd have a difficult time picking from these eight because I know so little about them. Right now, my pick is Kamala Harris with Cory Booker as a close second.  I am looking forward to learning more about these candidates and I am sure I will change my pick several times.  Talk to you next month.