Joe Biden

Rant of the Day

As someone who has never recoiled from the word “socialism”, I am disappointed that both Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders have thrown in the towel. Their versions of socialism would have made FDR proud.

The good news is there is plenty of time for everyone to calm down.

The other good news is that topics that once were non-starters have been given a voice and are being discussed. Progressives may have lost their standard-bearers, but our army of ideas pushes forward.

Since history seems to be repeating or rhyming or playing a cruel joke (The Gilded Age, the Spanish Flu of 1918, an incompetent POTUS, a looming Depression), progressivism’s time is surely soon to arrive. This would be the pendulum finally swinging back in the other direction I’ve heard about for my entire life. Predominantly from my glass half full middle brother. The one with the multiple PhDs. Whenever I would turn bleak about the general state of affairs, he’d mention the pendulum.

Maybe like a scythe it will wipe out all the trickle-downers during its swing left. Give those who have sculpted this political hellscape their 40 years in the wilderness.

First, Americans who are capable of voting, need to register to vote.

And second, Americans who have registered to vote, need to get off their sorry asses and do so.

As I’ve said and written a thousand times before, if you have not even registered to vote, you have zero reason to raise a complaint. If that is you, you’re the pawn “they” play with. Cannon fodder in their high stakes game of chess. You are a conservative’s wet dream.

Personally, I will crawl across cut glass uphill, both ways, in the snow, in the dead of night dragging as many people with me as possible in this upcoming election.

Everything you love is at stake.

Your public spaces. Everything from wilderness to land managed mostly for the benefit of cattle. From rivers to harbors. From sea to shining sea.

Your personal liberties. Because a government led by grifters are going to grift. And you are their mark. And even as I type they are aiding and abetting your data points to the highest bidder. How do I know that? They’re con artists. And we are in the age of the con.

Public radio. The postal service. Our flimsy social safety nets - social security, medicare, medicaid, SNAP - will be made flimsier.

I read a book this winter by a former Republican operative titled Running Against the Devil. The author has a long history of figuring out how to defeat Democrats by getting under their skin, finding the soft underbellies of their arguments, cudgeling his client’s opponents relentlessly and staying on the offensive. Couple that with voter suppression via any means necessary and - voila! - 40 years down the line you have a reality television, faux-billionaire playboy president who makes the president in Idiocracy look scholarly.

I mention the book because the writer wants Democrats to understand what they’re up against and that the only thing that matters in the presidential race is the Electoral College. Which means - there are only about a dozen states in play (meaning they could go red or blue) - and they are the only states that desperately need our attention, money and organizational efforts. Win the right majority of those, and the man will have been “voted off the island”.

And, immediately thereafter, I will go on a bender for weeks in celebration. Either in isolation or in every pub, tasting room and tailgate party I can find in my little faux Bavarian tourist village.

But - and it is a very big ‘but’ that does not negate everything I said before this - we also must win back the Senate and hold the House. Those are equal priorities because what ails our democracy is not just found in the White House. It’s endemic to our politics.

Why in the world is this piece titled “Joe Biden”, you may wonder?

Well, because he is now our standard bearer. For better or for worse.

Uncle Bernie has endorsed Uncle Joe. The hatchets are buried. It’s time to get on with the hard work of rescuing the country from impending authoritarian rule.

I read a long thread on Twitter that resonated with me in regards to Joe Biden. I’ve liked the vice president but I’ve not been inspired by him. Like many, when there were 24 Democrat hopefuls, I placed Joe Biden above John Delaney and below Kamala Harris.

I titled it “Joe Biden” because I think, after reading that Twitter thread, we may be overlooking something about Joe Biden. And that is, to an overwhelming number of black Americans, particularly the ones who take their right to vote seriously, he had Barack Obama’s back for eight years.

If those black Americans come out for Joe Biden, in similar numbers to 2008 when they emerged like a tsunami for Barack Obama, our odds are looking pretty good. And, if we are lucky, the wave may break against the political shores with such energy that it wipes away the stench of decades. For decades.

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If you haven’t listened to this Taylor Swift song, you really should. Do it right now. It’ll get you going about your day. I’m also including a video explaining the meaning within the ‘music video’ of that song. Very interesting. Enjoy.

Also, don’t take for granted that you are registered to vote. Check here: Vote Save America.