So Dianne Feinstein was caught on camera in a confrontation with a bunch of school children over support for the green new deal, and it's gotten a lot of controversy. Personally, viewing the video, I have a very mixed view on the video, and it's largely a lot of negativity toward both sides here. I'll explain why.
Before getting into Feinstein herself, I want to focus on the school children. Let me ask you this, when you were the age of these children, were you into politics? I sure wasn't, and don't know of any kid who was. I was too busy watching Power Rangers and playing Pokemon. It seems to me like either the parents or the teachers, or maybe both, put them up to this. This rubs me the wrong way. First of all, I'm against childhood indoctrination into topics like religion and politics. I was indoctrinated into religion and to an extent politics as a kid and a teenager, and considering how my deconversion and changing my views are what inspired me to name this blog what it did, I have very negative views toward parents and teachers manipulating children into having political views at their age. They are not at an age of reason, where they can think about these issues for themselves. These opinions are imposed on them. It doesn't matter to me if they're on the "right" side of history or happen to agree with me, I dislike the concept of kids being involved in politics because that normally involves some level of indoctrination they have no control over. Second of all, sending children to do your dirty work is...well....dirty. The purpose of using children to send a political message is for emotional manipulation. It's the whole Mrs. Lovejoy "won't somebody please think of the children" routine. I'm against this because I support actual rational and open debate and consider using children to be more manipulative. It's a trap to make Feinstein look bad if she says no, because who can say no to children? The purpose is to try to trap her into a positive position in order to force her hand on the issue regardless of the merits. That said, I could almost forgive Feinstein for calling them out on this...almost.
Which brings me to the other half of the equation, Feinstein. I admit if I were in her shoes I would not exactly be the picture of grace under fire either. This is part of the reason I would suck as a politician. For all of the ideas I have, I often lack charisma and in moments like this when confronted, I would have barely more charisma than Hillary Clinton. Which is kind of why I have to rip Feinstein here. Feinstein reacted like I would expect Hillary Clinton to react. I mean, she not only failed to meet my admittedly low standards here, but she shattered my low expectations by going so low with this that I can only express extreme disdain toward her over this. Feinstein reacted arrogantly. She literally reminded me of Clinton's 2016 persona. Actually considering the video, she made Clinton look good. She went on about how she won her last election. She went on about how the kids didn't vote for her because they're too young. She told them to run for office if they think they can do a better job. She completely and utterly talked down to the kids and crushed their dreams in a way that I just find morally reprehensible, and she is exactly what I find so offputting about the old guard of the party. These guys think they know better than everyone else, that they are owed their seat, and don't have to listen to their constituents. Her challenge to the kids to run something comes off as even more offputting because let's be honest, she's in a safe district, and it's likely the DCCC would discourage primary challenges and powerful interests would work against them because "unity." Sure she wins elections, but it's because the demographics combined with the broken 2 party system make it where she is in a position of complete job security. And she will likely hold that position in the senate until the day she dies or retires. She knows it. She's untouchable. And it makes her words even more insulting. That said, screw Dianne Feinstein. This is exactly the kind of democrat we should not hold our nose and "vote blue no matter who" for. Screw party unity if this is the kind of people we have to unite with. We can do far better.
That said, I'm very mixed on this issue. I don't believe either side is really "right". I think both are, to varying degrees, wrong. I don't blame the children as they don't know any better, but I do blame the parents and/or teachers. Sending children to try to emotionally manipulate a senator and the public's reaction to the issue is...well...wrong. There are many good reasons to be for the green new deal and many reasons to be against it. I'd rather focus on actual debate rather than these kinds of underhanded tactics. At the same time, Feinstein's reaction managed to let down my relatively low expectations for a response here. I'm not expecting Feinstein to react perfectly here. She was put into a bind. But she literally outdid Hillary Clinton's arrogance and condescension in her response, and really reminded me of why I can't stand centrist neoliberal politicians. If you're not for the green new deal, fine, I'm mixed on it myself and question if it's the best approach. It's not that I oppose expansive government programs that provide economic security and try to tackle climate change, I just question if it's the right path to solving the problems at hand. But don't talk down to children simply because they're not old enough to vote for you. I didn't vote for Feinstein either as I don't live her your district, and if she were in my district, your attitude would send me backing to the green party so fast I wouldn't be supporting her in the future. This is exactly the kind of democratic candidate I actively refuse to support. This whole debacle is just failure all around.
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