So I’m going to vote Democrat in the primary, and I’ll vote for as many Democratic candidates as I can in November. But I’m wrestling with the idea that this might be the last election I participate in while officially a Democrat. The reason? Because I’m starting to doubt that it’s enough to fight tooth and nail, just to not lose more ground on the issues I care about. And right now, that’s the Democratic method of operation. They talk a lot about progress and hot-button issues (guns, public schools, LGBTQ rights) to get people on board, but the closer to the finish line we get, they gradually move more toward the center, looking for ways of offending the least amount of people in hopes of coming out on top.
So now that I’m thinking about it, what are the issues I really care about? Basically, it’s these: I think that guns need to be harder to get, their effects should be studied more, and play as small a role in public life and policy debate as possible; I believe that women should have more (if not all of the) say in their reproductive health; public schools need to be near the top of the best-funded programs we have; universal health care in general should be a thing, along with the closing of gender pay gaps and a minimum wage that will keep the majority of us out of poverty; I think that America needs to stop pretending that Christianity is the only religion worth protecting the freedoms of; find the appropriate balance of ethnic diversity in public organizations, and penalize those that don’t conform to it; legalize recreational marijuana, using alcohol as a model, and remove mandatory minimum sentences for non-violent drug offenses; standardize the immigration process – because right now there’s literally no “line” to get into, despite what most people imagine; eliminate not only gerrymandering, but also unlimited corporate donations to political causes, and the electoral college entirely; and above all, realize that America’s best financial prospect for the future is to incentivize, develop, manufacture, and export clean energy and improved infrastructure technologies to the rest of the world (instead of, oh, I don’t know, hobbling the EPA and giving huge tax breaks to the fossil fuel corporations that are keeping climate change on a fast upward track).
There’s more, and they may not be stated perfectly, but those are the top ones, and I don’t particularly care anymore what the name of a system that heads in these directions is called. I grew up during the Cold War, but you can’t throw some form of the word “socialism” at me and expect me to duck. If that’s the word for what I just outlined, then that’s fine. Let’s just get it done.
Here’s the thing: I believe *most* people in America want these same things, and the only reason they don’t trust the government to handle it is because we don’t trust the government the way we used to in general. Through many hard lessons, we’ve learned that our current political climate is more representative of what big businesses want, instead of us the people. Unfortunately, that means “Democrat” is no longer a name that can rally enough people who will turn out to overcome the hurdles that have been put in place to keep things the way they are.
That’s the crux of my dilemma… Is it enough to win? Is it even possible to win playing by the current rules? And now that we’re thinking about it, does a prejudiced system deserve to be played in at all? What if the only way to properly represent the people is to totally upend the current state of things? Shouldn’t we be fighting to become the country we want, even if lowers our chances of winning?
All these thoughts are making me lean harder toward the more revolutionary side of things, and I by that I mean changing not only the mindset of the government, but maybe even redefine the role that government needs to have in people’s lives. We’ve seen what happens when capitalism is given too much rope: everything gets privatized and run by the money motivations of fewer and fewer people, instead of by improving the general population’s lives. On the other hand, I heard a quote recently, attributed to Cyril deGrasse Tyson by his son Neil: “It's not good enough to be right, you have to be effective.” And now I have to decide whether I agree with that or not. If I do, then I should stick with the Democrats, because we all saw what happened with the Jill Stein voters in the last presidential election. And if not, then I have to stand behind progressive causes without willingness to compromise, regardless of how futile they might be.
It’s just so frustrating. Some days I can envision so clearly, up against the stark contrast of reality, what I think this country should be. See the third paragraph to get an idea of what that vision is… and I feel we’re letting opportunity after opportunity pass America by. We could be a world leader again, if the people we elect weren’t so afraid to piss off the big corporations with decisions that stand up for average citizens and the environment, if they weren’t determined to secure their jobs by playing into the nostalgia of an idyllic country that never existed – well, not unless you were white and at least middle-class. Our current president is a perfect example of this, someone who still has the mindset of doing what he wants, throwing an expensive legal team at the resistance, and usually getting away with it. It’s how businesses used to be run, but not governments, and not in the here and now. Part of realizing that all people are equal means that you might have to *become* equal with others. There are two ways to do this: either give up your inherent advantages, or work to raise everyone up to your level. Neither is easy, but the results are at least sustainable.
I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again… If government doesn’t continually improve its ability to help people in their efforts to make their lives safer, easier, and happier, then what’s the point of its existence?
