This is my alternative to canvassing. The Chapo guys like to say that posting is not the same as “doing politics.” But I think the posting they refer to is not really meant to be persuasive. It’s meant to satisfy the poster’s emotional needs.
I don’t think there’s ever been a canvasser who changed my mind. Mostly I’m just suppressing my rage while I try to think of a polite way to exit the situation.
I feel guilty about not wanting to canvass (if you couldn’t tell), but I don’t like it. I’ve done it a few times. The last time was in 2016 for Bernie. I enjoyed some of it, but who knows if it did any good? Are there any statistics to support the efficacy of canvassing? (After a Google search, I can report that, yes, there are such stats, but they don’t seem to support the idea that canvassing is very influential.)
So it stands to reason that there are other people like me who don’t wanna get canvassed. This is intended for those folks, because political campaigns have to do more than canvassing. Do you know what I enjoy way more than getting canvassed? Reading essays online. Hence, I give you this online essay. And I’m a writer. This is what I do best.
But, seriously, you guys, Bernie is a great opportunity to trigger the elites. I’m so psyched/stoked/geeked thinking about how the Mainstream Media (or “MSM”) are getting super-nervous about Bernie and trying to warn people about him and how that’s just adding fuel to the fire. Ooh, it’s gonna be great!
It’ll be just like Trump in 2016, but for an insanely good candidate this time. I’m sure the media will draw plenty of Bernie/Trump parallels and insist that they’re equally evil (or, rather, “dangerous”). But I don’t think people are gonna buy it, like they mostly didn’t with Trump.
Of course, there will be many hurdles thrown in Bernie’s way. The funny part is the Democratic Party will be more freaked-out by this than any other segment of the Establishment. They will do everything they can (behind the scenes) to undermine Bernie’s candidacy, even if he’s the nominee, because Bernie winning would destroy their whole raison d’etre.
Centrist Democrats depend on the narrative that their “moderate-ness” is what makes them electable and effective at advancing their agenda. According to this myth, they can appeal to a broad swath of the electorate and, once in office, reach across the aisle and find common ground with the Republicans (never mind that this common ground is dominated by extremely unpopular policies like insane military spending and most of the economy).
Their whole careers are built on the lie that universal health care and other similar demands are Leftist pipe dreams that will never happen due to the obstructionism of the GOP and the generally Right-leaning American public.
The truth is that the real bulwark against these policies is the Democratic Party itself. Their Big Business benefactors don’t want these policies, so the Democratic leadership makes sure they don’t get anywhere. But, in order to keep the Left a captive constituency, they blame the Republicans and their “deplorables” for the failure to get these programs enacted.
There’s another argument that playing it safe is a losing strategy. Since the end of the Cold War, we Americans have craved change from our presidents. Clinton in ’92, Dubya in ’00 (with some help from the Supreme Court), Obama in ’08 and Trump in ’16. But they all (except, so far, for Trump) got second terms, so doesn’t that disprove my point?
Not when you look at their opponents. They all went up against status-quo challengers: Dole in ’96, Kerry in ’04 and Romney in ’12. Nobody was excited about those guys. They all wanted a “return to normalcy,” you might say, and they all lost. No matter how terrible Trump is, that doesn’t mean people wanna go back to the Obama days.
If “Far-Left Radicals” like Bernie can capture the White House, then the Left has no need of the mealy-mouthed, milquetoast Liberalism of recent vintage. We can just nominate candidates who will actually fight for our interests, instead of settling for “moderates” who buckle at the first sign of resistance from the Right.
The Democratic Party must defeat Bernie, so they can keep saying, “See? We told ya so. A Far Left candidate can’t win!” Even if they have to collaborate with the enemy to make sure this so-called truism stays true.
A Bernie victory would also drive them further into the political wilderness. But Pelosi is certainly due for retirement. (She’s the same age as Bernie: 79.) This is her last rodeo. It’s fitting that the Democratic field is top-heavy with oldsters. They’re out-of-touch and quickly losing relevance. But the party’s vanguard has only just started to emerge. They may not be able to take the reins until the current regime steps aside.
Of course, even if this is the end of the line for the Old-Guard (or “OG”) Dems, they won’t go down without a fight. After all, they have a shit-ton of money and corporate interests backing them, and they still have support from a good chunk of the middle class. Too bad the economic policies they instituted are rapidly shrinking that class. (Insert frowny-face emoji.)
There’s also the delusion of indispensability shared by all political elites. They truly believe the Republic needs them to keep piloting the Ship of State. They just can’t believe (1) that things in this country are that bad for most people or (2) that their policies have anything to do with it. Admitting those things would force them to face (1) their out-of-touch elitism and (2) their responsibility for the immiseration of most of the country.
But make no mistake: The Democratic Party establishment will be doing their darnedest to undermine Bernie behind the scenes (just like in 2016). Of course, they can’t let those efforts become too nakedly partisan or, if they are partisan, then they can’t let them go public. If it got out that they were deliberately undermining Bernie, it would (further) discredit them with most of the electorate. They would be exposed as lackeys of Big Biz, more interested in their patrons’ interests than their own party’s, only willing to pay lip service to Bernie’s platform.
That will be a top priority if Bernie is the nominee: keeping the Democratic apparatchiks honest and exposing any sabotage from within the party. Bernie will have much more to fear from the Dems than the GOP. All the supposed insults the Republicans throw at him (socialist, commie, radical) are considered by much of the country to be compliments.
And now, right on cue, we have the return of Hillary. I haven’t seen a comeback this ill-conceived since Palpatine’s. (Insert rimshot.) Ya gotta hand it to her. She just doesn’t know when to quit or when she’s beaten.
But now she’s shootin’ from the hip, tellin’ it like it is. Unfortunately, she keeps shootin’ herself in the foot. She wasn’t meant for this political era. The masks have come off, and Hillary au naturel is not a good look. There’s a reason she kept that shit to herself before: because it’s not flattering. Her handlers knew what they were doing when they kept her from flying off the handle.
I think Hillary was sending out a trial balloon for her new style when she went on that podcast and accused Tulsi Gabbard of being a Russian asset. But all she really accomplished was provoking an epic clapback from Tulsi and making Trump sound hinged by comparison. Not sure where she got the idea that the new attitude was working.
There may also have been a bit of projection going on when she called Bernie a career politician nobody likes who didn’t get anything done in the Senate. But it’s cool. If Hillary keeps attacking Bernie, he’ll just absorb her power like some inscrutable character from Dragon Ball. (Frankly, they’re all inscrutable to me.) She’ll inject more energy into Bernie’s campaign than all the other Democratic insiders put together. (Insert GIF of Bernie as Obi-Wan and Hillary as Darth Vader in that scene when Obi-Wan says, “If you strike me down, I shall become more powerful than you can possibly imagine.” Makes a nice allegory for 2016, don’t you think?) Like Felix said on Chapo: “They sent the Keystone Kops to kill John Wick.”
Too late will the Democratic Party realize how little power it has left. They will throw everything, including the kitchen sink, at Bernie. The Chapo gang has already predicted the media will call Bernie an anti-Semite. I fully expect that to happen. They just won’t be able to resist. They’ll get desperate because nothing they can do will derail his campaign.
Seriously, though: Imagine all those talking heads exploding at the thought of Bernie in the White House. ‘Tis glorious to ponder! But, for me, the sweetest revenge will be owning Hillary and all her bizarrely devoted fans.
I promised myself I would do something to contribute to Bernie’s campaign before the primaries begin, and now I have. So my task is fulfilled. Well, not exactly. But it’s a start.
