A LONG & WINDING
ROAD TO THE WHITE HOUSE
A 2020 Presidential
Election Analysis from Pretenders to Contenders
Part One: The Pretenders
By Jack Random
Having been engaged in the political debate for decades, it
is both frustrating and infuriating to be subjected to the same specious
pragmatic argument every four years.
Individuals that I hold in high regard and whose ideological principals
are harmonious with my own, present the case with a straight face and in all
sincerity as if on cue from the Democratic Party talking points.
The argument holds that the Party cannot nominate a true
progressive because he or she will lose the general election. The same message can be applied to all
third party or independent candidates in perpetuity. We must all tow to the centerline where we will almost
inevitably be smashed by the big rig of true believers on the right.
The argument is particularly galling this time around
because last time around it was used to nominate Hillary Clinton over Bernie
Sanders despite the stone cold fact that all the energy of the progressive left
belonged to Bernie and all the doubt belonged to Hillary.
It was not just the fact that Hillary didn’t show up in the
critical rustbelt states in the weeks before Election Day; it was the fact that
she didn’t have anything to say to the working people of the lost industrial
middle class. They would turn to
the neophyte Donald J. Trump in a protest against the duplicity of corporate
Democrats – and why not? No one
could have done a better job at playing to Trump’s hand than Hillary did. And yes, Bernie would have beaten Trump
and left him bruised, battered and exposed to face the legal fallout of his
campaign in the Southern District of New York.
Now we are faced with a broad
and growing field of individuals – qualified or not – lining up for their
chance to bring down The Great Con.
Most of them have borrowed from Bernie’s playbook: Medicare for all, a living wage, fair
trade or something like it, access to higher education, humane immigration
policies, a transition to a green energy base and a promise of non-intervention
in civil wars abroad. Still, the
mainstream media portray Bernie and friends as radical leftists while the
political class continues to pretend that the mythical middle ground is the
Shangri-La of presidential politics.
The mainstream of the Democratic
Party base is Bernie Sanders. The
mainstream of true progressives is Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. The Party operatives stuck with the
Clintons where they now find themselves sinking in the quicksand of yesterday’s
politics. Those of us with no
viable alternative moved on a long, long time ago. We never wanted a return to the Clinton years. What we want now is a government that
recognizes the challenges of the new and the next generations. Moderation has become a code word for
corporate domination. The massive
multi-national corporations that finance traditional politicians on both sides
of the aisle have proven beyond all doubt that they are ready, willing and
eager to sell us all down the river for the almighty profit margin.
No one really likes a
moderate. A moderate is someone
who doesn’t have the courage of his or her conviction. A moderate is a weasel in the smiling
mask of an insurance salesman. A
moderate doesn’t know where she’s been or where he’s going. Despite all his flamboyance, Donald
Trump is a moderate pretending to be extreme. He is extreme on race and immigration but there it
stops. Even there he has no
conviction. It is all
braggadocio. It is all Clintonian
triangulation. It is all
calculated to win, baby, win.
Okay. Let us concede that Barrack Obama was a moderate politician
that many Democrats and progressives remember with warm affection. He was portrayed as a leftist by both
the opposition and an accommodating media but he never lived up to the
label. Had he been the man he was
advertised to be, he would have delivered a hell of a lot more and better than
Obamacare. He would have delivered
more and better than a Lilly Ledbetter Act limited to federal employees. He would have delivered as promised the
right to organize in the workplace.
He would have decisively ended the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and
limited our engagement in Syria to humanitarian assistance. He would have created an international
economic alliance with the power to replace drones and missiles with targeted
economic sanctions.
Obama is the past and the
Clintons are ancient history. The
times demand that we elect a bold new leader to take the reins of a progressive
government. The times demand that
America lead the world in a bold new and green direction. The times demand that we cast off once
and for all the debilitating barbarity, isolationism and narcissism of Donald
J. Trump.
We need a president that is not
afraid to take a stand.
It has become clear in recent
weeks that (a) every politician of age believes he or she is qualified to take
up residency on Pennsylvania Avenue and (b) it is never too early to begin the
long and winding road to the White House.
Likewise, it is never too early
to begin our analysis of the candidates and to initiate the inevitable process
of elimination.
TIER ONE: THE PRETENDERS.
Don’t get me wrong: I love the pretenders. The pretenders have nothing to lose and
something to gain. They represent
causes. They lay it on the line. They tend to be uncompromised. They have no need to roll out trial
balloons or test the waters. What
you see is what you get.
Every presidential election
attracts any number of pretenders.
Past elections have given us the pizza man, the flat tax joker, the
sleepy-eyed brain surgeon and Carly “the CEO” Fiorina. None had a reasonable chance to become
the party nominee but they did gain notoriety, book deals or invitations to
social events. They gained one of
the most valued commodities in business or politics: name recognition.
MAYOR PETE BUTTIGIEG
This year’s pretenders include
most notably the mayor of South Bend, Indiana, Peter Buttigieg – that’s
Boot-Edge-Edge. There is no
denying the mayor’s eloquence or intellectual prowess. He’s a Rhodes scholar and a Harvard
graduate. He is also the only
openly gay candidate in the Democratic field. I applaud his candidacy. His rebuttal to the openly bigoted views of vice president
Mike Pence is brilliant and refreshing.
He is also smart enough to know
that a mayor of South Bend, Indiana, is not qualified for the highest office in
the land. He lacks experience in
foreign policy. He has no
practical knowledge of the inside workings of Washington D.C. Still, his candidacy forces the
Democratic field to embrace the civil rights of gay and transsexual
communities. He has a powerful
voice and will be heard at the Democratic National Convention and beyond.
CEO HOWARD SCHULTZ
With apologies to Joe DiMaggio,
Mr. Coffee stepped into the race with the same argument that former NYC mayor
Michael Bloomberg trots out every four years. He is convinced that America is yearning for a middle-of-the-road
moderate and that both major parties have drifted to ideological extremes. He is wrong on both accounts. What really concerns Schultz is
protecting his own interests. He
is a proud member of the one percent club and he doesn’t want to pay proportionately
higher taxes. Sorry, Howard, wrong
party.
BILLIONAIRE TOM STEYER
To his credit, Steyer jumped on
the impeachment wagon before it had wheels. To those who agree with him that alone is an admirable
resume. The fact that he amassed his
fortune as the manager of a hedge fund is an effective antidote. A San Francisco Democrat with liberal
credentials and deep pockets, Steyer threatened to run for US Senator before
backing out and he has done the same with the presidency – twice. Let’s take him at his word: He’s not running “at this time.” Translation: His impeachment campaign has not made a mark in the polls.
Here’s an idea for all those
billionaire progressives: Fund
green communities and industries in Montana, Wyoming, Arizona and throughout
the Midwest. Establish residency
there and run for Governor or the US Senate. We have reached a point where two or three senate seats
could have a greater impact than winning the White House.
HIGH TECH ENTREPRENEUR ANDREW
YANG
A big brain with a big idea,
Andrew Yang epitomizes the candidate who runs to publicize and gather support
for a concept. That concept is a
universal basic income. Yang read
Martin Ford’s Rise of the Robots: Technology and the Threat of a Jobless
Future. It is a poignant warning of a not-so-distant future where
robots and robotics take the bulk of jobs from industrial workers to
white-collar professionals. For
years advocates of Fair Trade have opposed the inevitable job exportation of
Free Trade policies. For decades
opponents of Fair Trade have fallen back on the argument that technology will
take those middle class jobs in any case.
Now that time has finally arrived.
Yang proposes an answer: a
basic universal income by right of birth and citizenship. Here’s another solution: the government
as an employer of last resort.
Shades of socialism?
Sure. Why not? Would you prefer mass
unemployment? The Mother of all
Depressions? It’s coming and like
global warming it’s coming fast.
And it doesn’t care if you believe it or not.
AUTHOR MARIANNE WILLIAMSON
An adherent of the spiritual
teachings of A Course in Miracles,
Williamson is the best-selling author of inspirational books. She wishes to awaken the spiritual
culture of America to the realities of the democratic process. Williamson is a true believer and a
genuine good deed doer so I will not doubt her intentions or cast aspersions on
her character. She is not running
for president but if she can awaken a segment of the non-voting majority to
engage the political process, she deserves our heartfelt appreciation.
MAYOR WAYNE MESSAM
The black mayor of Miramar,
Florida, Mr. Messam is the first member of his family born in the United
States. He is the son of Jamaican
immigrants. His father worked in
the sugar cane fields of Glades, Florida.
He is running to highlight the plight of immigrants in Trump’s
America. He advocates gun control,
expanded healthcare, a woman’s right to choose, progressive taxation and
climate change initiatives. He
knows the issues and would make a solid candidate for congress.
FORMER SENATOR MIKE GRAVEL
At age 88 and technically
qualified for the presidency, former Alaska Senator Mike Gravel is voluntarily
being used by a trio of young tech-savvy libertarians to shake up the
race. Gravel stands against
imperialism and demands democratic reform – both discussions worth having and
ones that may or may not come up in his absence. The campaign is refreshingly candid about his chances. They don’t want the White House. They want a place on the stage. To attain that goal they must gain a
one percent in three national polls or donations from 65,000 individuals with
at least 200 donors in twenty different states. If they make it the DNC will raise the stakes.
This completes the current crop
of presidential pretenders who have managed to gain some notice because of
their status and/or financial resources.
In some ways they represent the best of American democracy. They bring sincere and pressing issues
to light. They press when more
traditional candidates would back down.
Some may well go on to great accomplishments in the political
arena. Others will boost sales and
attendance on upcoming book tours.
But none will be president in this cycle.
Jazz.
JACK
RANDOM IS THE AUTHOR OF THE JAZZMAN CHRONICLES AND FOUNDER OF CROW DOG
PRESS. HIS NOVELS INCLUDE PAWNS TO
PLAYERS: THE CHESS TRILOGY.
