Frequently when we are talking about conventional American political life we refer to ‘horse race’ politics, or ‘cart and pony’ politics, terms that describe how little edifying and uplifting the entire process is. We got a good demonstration of that in the misnamed “debate” between President Trump and former Vice President Biden, which featured a bewildering absence of style and meaning as it also exhibited none of the features that would be part of real debate or meaningful discourse. The only thing that might have induced me to watch would have been to have been invited to attend . . . on stage, as a candidate. Any reasonable person would have carried the day by simply showing a respectful understanding of the importance of the moment. Chalk it up as another illuminating example of the failure of our two party hegemonic and plutocratic political structure.
The term ‘low hanging fruit’ usually refers to things achievable with out a lot of stretch, juicy things within reach that could be done with modest amounts of focus and energy. I consider many of the issues at the heart of my campaign to be of that order if the United States were not the mess that it is today. Women’s rights, healthcare, help for people struggling with the pandemic, even ending our wars by repealing the authorizations of force are not moonshot level goals. They are familiar topics that have been in play for decades and enjoy the support of healthy majorities of the voting public. Instead we have a Congress that receives approval ratings in the teens and has a re-election rate of nearly 90% for the incumbents. What gives ? How will we ever get to higher, out-of-immediate-reach issues such as eliminating the Electoral College and having actual representative government embodying majority rule with full minority rights ?
It’s more than just money in politics, corporate ownership of media, and vain and ineffective leadership. There is fundamental failure of citizens from many different socio-economic and cultural groups to do the heavy lifting required to maintain a democratic and cohesive society. The Trump phenomenon is a Wizard of Oz level spectacular pointing to the inability of many to see behind the screen that there is just a short, bald guy with a bullhorn profusely barking out blather.
The wake-up call has been made: to quote Bob Marley, “Emancipate yourselves from mental slavery, none but ourselves can free our minds.”