The right has had their chance. After 40 years, time to veer left.
As a political independent, I am loyal to no party but to values. In any candidate I look for:
- HEART (demonstrated love and compassion for others)
- BRAINS (values education, diversity, culture, and sees the interconnectedness of the world)
- VISION (soars high, looking ahead not backwards, sees a way forward that is good for all)
- BACKBONE (stands up for values and for others, takes responsibility, and does not weakly and cowardly shame, blame, point fingers, or demonize anyone else, but treats all, even opponents, with respect.)
- HUMILITY (demonstrates servant leadership, as embodied by Jesus Christ)
- LIFE SUPPORT (cares for all life, including unborn humans from conception and birth to the grave, as well as the interconnected life on the planet which is the parent company of all human economy)
- INTEGRITY (what they do when no one is looking-do they do all the above?)
Like anyone, I care about and prioritize certain issues. In voting for leaders, I look independently, regardless of party, for those who share my values (above) and my priorities (below).
My issues, this year, are to
1) SOOTHE people and prevent civil war, which we are on the brink of.
2) RESTORE TRUST in each other as American, not partisans, and restore our vibrant, classless Representative Democracy
3) REPRIORITIZE spending to address crisis: care for people first
4) ADDRESS ALL CRISES, leading support of the New Green Deal and many related spin-off initiatives that will simultaneously remake a sustainable strong economy and end the climate crisis.
5) RETHINK and replace all failed ideas with new ones. Like how we see money. Money does not equal identify. Money has no value. Money is a symbolic tool for a better life. See the interconnections of all humanity, the economy, and all planetary life as one large organism: a living body with different parts, that all function together. Money is symbolic oxygen; money’s value is when it circulates to take care of all the diverse parts of the body. Direct spending to stop bleeding, take care of people starting with those most vulnerable and in need. Remove tourniquets that block the adequate flow of cash. Reward companies and systems that nourish people the most, like Gravity Payments that pays all staff $70,000 annually. We can all thrive if we give up ideas that don’t serve us.
Those are my priorities.
This is the year to hand the reins back to the Democrats
While I am not a card-carrying Democrat, this year, the leaders most aligned with my values and priorities are found in the Democratic party. (They may also be in other third parties, but timing is crucial and 2020 is not the year to vote third parties.)
Further, the Democratic party arguably has the strongest track record historically to roll up their sleeves and fix messes. Including:
- Democrats cleaned up the mess of the Great Depression with the New Deal
- Democrats led the US to bipartisan victory over fascism in WWII
- Democrats set the vision and succeeded with bipartisan support at landing the first men on the moon
- Democrats established with bipartisan support Earth Day and numerous protections of the rights of people, planetary life support systems, and now promote a vision of a sustainable economy with the Green New Deal
- Democrats led clean up of the mess left after Watergate — and President Jimmy Carter has gone on to lead an exemplary life of servant leadership (My opinion: most exemplary presidential leader ever)
- Democrats led consistent records of the biggest drops in abortion rates during their time in leadership (this occurs because Democratic measures mitigate socioeconomic crises which drive abortions; no woman in crisis wants an abortion; it is crisis that drives abortion and the GOP is loathe to admit or address that FACT, nor the fact that there is a vibrant and growing pro-life wing of the Democratic party whose goal is bipartisan efforts to make life better for all human beings.)
- Democrats cleaned up the mess of the housing crash in the Great Recession of 2008–2012
Democrats have the best record, aligned with values and issue priorities that put people and environment first as the basis of a sound economy and democracy.
Of course the Democratic party, being made up of humans, is not perfect. I did not vote for Bill Clinton because of his support for NAFTA, which I vehemently opposed for the overall harmful effects it clearly would have and did have on US manufacturing and national security. (Ross Perot and others predicted NAFTA would devastate US manufacturing and create a humanitarian crisis by displacing millions of desperately poor people who had been eking out a subsistence farm life; the corporations would force them off the land, disrupt family structures by forcing parents to flee to look for work, inviting the influx of drug lords, leading eventually to today’s horrendous terrorism down south and the resulting immigration crisis.)
I also have been been disappointed in the Democrat’s failure to protect structures that check and balance power such as anti-trust laws, anti-propaganda, and media ownership rules — all of which are the foundational tenets of our Representative Democracy.
Democrats have repeatedly acquiesced to Conservative-led efforts to erode the system of checks and balances, allowed them to stack the courts, allowed them to break faith and law, and move us further and further to the right, so far that now, according to Pew, only 28% of Americans can discern fact from opinion. That is the result of 35 years of state sanctioned propaganda — we must restore belief and understand of the value of the Fairness Doctrine.
People cannot tell when they are being conned. People see a cult leader as a savior, willing to fall on the sword of the coronavirus, becoming vigilante assassins, go to prison and death for their cult leader. The blind cult loyalty is striking in how so many buy the lies and misperceive their fellow Americans as “baby killers” and now even as “demons” instead of beloved brothers and sisters. Instead of human beings.
I have in my life cast votes for leaders who were independents and third party candidates. I organized for H. Ross Perot in ‘92 and support Bernie Sanders.
This year the stakes are the highest ever
We have drifted farther and farther to the right as a society, towards the chaos of fascism, allowing a con man criminal narcissist cult leader who has already turning troops against citizens.
We are hanging on by our fingernails, inches from losing our Democracy.
We must choose the Democratic ticket top to bottom. Veer left, friends, while we still can.
I thank God for the good that has come from this crisis, in the form of the wave of new leaders appearing. For decades, we’ve created a system in which no one in their right minds would run for office. And so we have had a plethora of candidates—and representatives—not in their right minds. Thanks to the insanity, this year many right-minded people with heart, humility, brains, vision, backbone and integrity have come out of the woodwork. Particularly the women.
Truly, there is great hope!
I first voted in 1980, we have gone farther and farther right. For 40 years now.
The Right has had its turn. How’s that turned out?
It’s time for a serious course correction. Time to veer left.
