Dear Friends,
I recently turned 80 years old, I do not have the energy and stamina that I used to have, and I am thinking about the incredible life I have lived and how privileged I am. So, I am feeling my age, but that is not all that is causing me to suffer from a malaise. My generation is leaving this world to future generations facing multiple existential crises.
As an American, I am embarrassed that my country, the country that has given me everything, and the country that I love is now at the forefront of virtually everything that is wrong in the world – violence, bigotry, hatred, authoritarianism, climate change, economic inequality, etc.
Our country was founded on values (“truths”) – “We hold these truths to be self-evident that all men are created equal that they are endowed by their creator with certain inalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.” Of course, these words were completely aspirational as they were written by white men who owned other people. Our founders were deeply flawed, but they knew that aspiring and striving to achieve these truths could produce a great nation.
We have never lived up to these values, but many Americans have worked hard to achieve a country and even a world in which these truths can become a reality. Unfortunately, there has always been a significant minority of Americans who reject these truths. During my lifetime, we have had leaders who have enabled that wretched, bigoted minority to feel empowered to come out of the shadows, to be openly bigoted and to spew hatred and commit violence.
Trump and the current Republican party who support and enable him are the clearest examples of leaders who have rejected the truths of our founding and have focused our country on hatred, bigotry, greed and authoritarianism. Unfortunately for all of us, but especially for minorities and those on the fringes of society, we find ourselves on the brink of losing our democracy and the truths on which it was founded.
I am somewhat optimistic that there will be a “blue wave” that flips control of the House and the Senate. I even have some hope that in 2028, Democrats will take control of both the Legislative and Executive Branches of the government. Unfortunately, even if both those elections go well from my perspective, I have trouble seeing a path to (a) fixing all that Trump and the Republicans have broken, (b) ridding the country of hatred, bigotry and greed (or at least pushing it back into the shadows) and (c) creating a government that will pursue the truths of our founding and will work to improve everybody’s lives, especially working people.
To even attempt to do these things the United States needs authentic, moral leaders which unfortunately have been in short supply during my lifetime. There is no hope that a moral leader will emerge from the immoral morass that is the Republican Party. I’m not much more hopeful that the Democratic Party will select an authentic, moral leader as its Presidential candidate in 2028.
Most of the leadership of the Democratic Party today is completely old-school establishment that is too tied to big money interests, too afraid of making substantial changes to the status quo, too afraid of losing power and position, and too controlled by what the “political consultants” tell them to do and think. The dividing line is often old versus young but not always - Bernie is old but is a true populist and fighter for working people, and Hakem Jeffries is young, but is so tied to the establishment, he cannot lead with principle.
There were 90 million people who could have voted but who did not vote in the last Presidential election. The non-voter candidate won the popular vote by a landslide.
Non-voter 90 million
Trump 77 million
Harris 75 million
Other 3 million
There were even 18 million registered voters who did not vote. There are many reasons given by people for why they don’t vote, but most are versions of “it doesn’t make any difference”, "the candidates/parties are all the same”, and “it won’t impact my life”.
To turn this country around, to save our democracy and move towards the aspirations of our founding, we must get more people to vote. How can those people be enticed to vote? They must believe that they are voting for candidates/political parties who care about them, who believe that working people are the heart and soul of this country, who are willing to fight for them and who are moral and authentic people. It is up to those of us who are Democrats, independents and former Republicans who have rejected what their former party has become to demand that the Democrats put forth candidates and policies that will give disaffected members of the electorate a reason to vote.
Thanks for reading and please comment,
The Unabashed Liberal
