The Probable Nominee Vs The Trouble Maker
At some point early on in the primary season people around here picked sides. If they picked Hillary they quickly stopped viewing the race as a contest people people with policies and ideas, and viewed it as a race between the “Probable Nominee” (PN) and the “Trouble Maker.” (TM) I don’t blame anyone for this choice and the mindset that resulted from it. That lens is exactly how I would have viewed the race if I had picked Clinton, and trust me I was within a single micron of picking Clinton.
Like the Clinton supporters here, I would have viewed any attack on the policies of the PN as a weakening the PN in the upcoming general election. I would have looked at TM with scorn and shut out his transparently liberal and Democratic message because it was not something that “helped” the PM in the long run. I would have had an a moral compass that narrowed my thinking to stark black and white and provoked venomous pronouncements that supporters of the TM were reading off of Mitch McConnell’s play book.
But that is all behind us now. Now the trouble maker can be viewed as a man named Bernie Sanders. Now we Democrats can look at his policies and proposals in the clear light of day and ask ourselves if they are things that we Democrats, that all Americans who value peace and justice can support. We can turn our attention to the genuine enemies of a rational and just America and work together to make sure that we live up to the ideals enshrined in founding documents. That we sincerely and diligently work to secure the blessings of liberty for ourselves and our posterity.
Because if this campaign has proven anything, it has proven that the country needs at least one political party that is steadfast and unshakable in its conviction that all men are created equal. It needs one party to be the party that does not take our prejudices as a given, but takes it as a given that we can, we must, and we will do better in the future.
Agree wholeheartedly. Peace in our time. And by the way, the Civil War banner comes down today. The War is over.
“Now we Democrats can look at his policies and proposals in the clear light of day and ask ourselves if they are things that we Democrats, that all Americans who value peace and justice can support. ”
I’d like to think so. But I think the takeaway is we don’t have to think about those things anymore now that that meddlesome man is gone. Worse, the thought is likely to take root that those ideas have been “defeated.”
He has said that he is going to carry on to the convention, and in the meantime he is going to be filling halls and giving speeches. I don’t think I could have written this post this morning if I thought, even a little, that it was all for nought.
“Worse, the thought is likely to take root that those ideas have been “defeated.””
That’s why we never shut up, puck. It is possible (and i’ll prove it) to support Clinton and work toward her election, while still pushing HARD to address the disgusting income inequality, started by Reagan and continued by people in both parties, that has come to effect most Americans. Not as something that is more important than any other equality, mind you, but something that must be included and fought for ALONG WITH all those other battles. I still reject the notion that you should only fight for what you think you can get. That’s a good way to come up well short. You fight for what you want in an ideal situation, and know you’ll only get a part of it…. It could end up being more than you thought.
Income inequality has existed since the dawn of the industrial revolution. It did not start under Reagan.
If you don’t understand what has happened to incomes over the past 20 years you are stupid, or willfully ignorant.
Here’s the thing, I am willing to fight for income inequality and all of the issues that Bernie fights for. I’m happy to bash Hillary on those things. I just don’t want to bash her for things that don’t matter.
This is an excellent post, BTW.
Could I get a copy of the banner?
Perhaps you should save the original file so that you can resurrect it for the General Election… The Trump side could feature the likenesses of Trump, George Wallace, Bull Connor, etc…
Joe, I will email it to you. You can also download it off our Facebook page.
DD, I would like a copy of the image too, please. This post includes the e-mail address i actually use. ty.
@J “If you don’t understand what has happened to incomes over the past 20 years you are stupid, or willfully ignorant.”
Make that 16 years. The Gini index shot upwards when GWB instituted a few “changes” at the behest of his “friends” shortly after assuming office.
Did you notice that, only now, Obama is moving to fix some of these (e.g. pay bonus policies, rejecting too-big-to-fail plans,…)?