The Political Pagan Performs A Political Autopsy

Well, dear friends, I was quite wrong in my prediction that Kamala Harris would win the election and ascend to the presidency of the United States. Instead, the worst case scenario has materialized with Donald Trump en route to a second term which looks to be even more cruel, stupid and destructive than his first one.   Many have been offering their ideas on what went wrong with the Harris campaign, so why shouldn't I offer my own diagnosis? 

I think the campaign suffered most of all from a lack of boldness, offering a bland but positive message of progressive values and a grab-bag of helpful but small-scale programs to help this or that group. These were some good ideas of how to make life better here and there, in various small ways, but lacking a larger narrative of why the American economy is not working well for many people. A little Bernie Sanders perspective might have helped: "I know you are hurting because we have an unfair economy of massive corporate profits for the few and bare survival for the many. I will stand with you and fight against this unfairness and inequality." 

I also think Harris should have spoken more about two particular issues, Covid-19 and Climate Change. By ducking discussion of Covid, Kamala Harris allowed people to avoid thinking about how chaotic and horrible Trump's "leadership" was during the Covid crisis. She also lost the opportunity to explain that the terrible price inflation that has been so hard for many people over the last three years was not caused by anything Joe Biden did, but resulted from the global, Covid-related interruptions in manufacturing and shipping that caused a worldwide inflation crisis--not only in America. In fact, Biden handled the inflation quite well, as it never got as bad as in many other countries, and has been on a steady downward trajectory over the last two years. Biden's team steered the American economy to a safe landing without causing a recession, as many had feared. 

By not placing more emphasis on the literally "burning issue" of Climate Change, she let Trump get away without having to defend his absolutely horrible environmental policies of the past and equally terrible proposals for the future, and she missed the chance to speak loudly and proudly about the very impressive achievements and forward-looking policies that she and Joe Biden put in place. As a college instructor, I know that even conservative students with a sweet spot for Trump do not like his lack of concern for Climate Change and are not enthusiastic about his awful environmental policies. 

I think if Harris had talked more about these issues, it would have given a lot more substance to her campaign, and while it might not have been enough to win it would have laid down a good foundation for future Democratic candidates--including, possibly, her. I think Kamala Harris is a very good speaker and campaigner with real charisma, and I would happily support her again, though I would of course require that she embrace all my political ideas 100%!

The Triumph of Diversity in the "Blue Wave" Election of 2018

Readers, I have been away from this blog a long time. It is partly that I have been very busy, with academic and political involvements, but is it more so because I have been too depressed and dispirited by the unending cruelty, venality and inhumanity of the Trump era. I have never felt so afraid that America might devolve into a brutal, Fascist state as I have been this year, in light of  the Trump administration's disregard of law and ethics, and racist obsession with demonizing and abusing immigrants, particularly Latino immigrants, not to mention various expressions of hostility toward African-Americans and Muslims. But as of Tuesday night, Nov. 6, 2018, when the results of the 2018 midterm election started to come in, and the evidence of a Blue Wave of Democratic party victory across the country began to mount, my spirits have lifted, though I was heartbroken by the defeat of the truly inspiring Texas Senate candidate Beto O'Rourke as well as the apparent losses of two very impressive African-American candidates in southern states, namely Stacey Abrams running for governor in Georgia and Andrew Gillum for governor in Florida. It now seems that Abrams and Gillum might yet emerge victorious as the final counts and possible recounts proceed.

In my own home region in New York State, I saw a racist campaign against a highly qualified African-American House of Representatives candidate, Antonio Delgado, fail to derail Delgado's ascent to victory, and a progressive State Senate candidate, Jen Metzger, prevail over a Republican candidate who in the past would have been a shoo-in, this being a generally conservative-leaning part of the state. This kind of Democratic victory at the state level was part and parcel of a vast Democratic surge nationwide, with 350 Democrats elected to state legislatures and 7 states opting for Democratic governors, shifting the balance of governorships from 32 Republican vs. 16 Democratic to 26 Republican vs. 23 Democratic, with one of those Florida not entirely certain, and Georgia still to be decided.

Overall, the election shows a real triumph of diversity over the Trumpian preference for white male leadership and possibly also white supremacy. Consider how many barriers were broken, how many "firsts"  were registered. In Colorado: the country's first openly gay governor, Jared Polis. The country's first two Native American women  were elected to Congress: Debra Haaland, in New Mexico, and Sharice Davids in Kansas, who is also the first lesbian congresswoman elected in the state. The nation's first two Muslim women were also elected to Congress: Rashida Tlaib in Michigan and Ilhan Omar in Minnesota. In Massachusetts, the state's first African-American female was elected to Congress, Ayanna Pressley. In Texas, the state's first two  Latina congresswomen: Veronica Escobar and Sylvia Garcia. In New York, the youngest ever congressperson was elected, Democratic Socialist Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. There was just one such "first" on the Republican side: Tennessee's first female Senator, Marsha Blackburn. Overall, the Republicans had their best showing in white-majority, economically struggling, rural areas, while the Democrats prevailed in urban and suburban areas with more diverse populations.

I believe that this nationwide embrace of racial, ethnic and religious diversity represented by these Democratic victories shows the tolerant, open dimension of the American national character coming to the fore, and demonstrating that it can stand up to and indeed face down the specter of ethno-national Fascism offered by Trump and his ilk.  This may be the start of America waking up to its "better angels," in the phrase made famous by Abraham Lincoln, the American leader who chose to stand up against the slavery of African-Americans rather than acquiesce to it, which would have been the easier path, which the pundits of the time might well have assumed was the logical, pragmatic course. Lincoln stood up for the more idealistic option, choosing to embrace diversity rather than deny it, and on Nov. 6, so did America.

There is hope!