So, I was watching the Daily Show lampoon how race and gender plays a role in the VP pick and ugh, I'm going to be honest, I HATE this. This weird conventional wisdom that Kamala Harris HAS to choose a "safe" boring centrist white male VP pick. Like if you have the first black woman president, that's HISTORIC and THE MOST PROGRESSIVE THING EVER! But TWO women of color on the ticket? Can we do that? Isn't that going too far/
Look, I know I'm kind of the bull through the china shop on race issues lately with this crap. I mean, I'm unironically using the term "DEI" to sub up this weird mentality the left has on race. But honestly? I don't do it from a place of racism. i do it from a place of "screw this stupid race crap". In 2016, I was called a sexist for not wanting Hillary as president, and in 2024, I'm supporting this black Indian woman who may actually be the most progressive option we got this time. It's never been about race or gender for me. It's ALWAYS been about policy with me. And that said, I dont like the idea of "balancing the ticket." Because that tells me you're not serious about progressive policy. You're gonna moderate.
Look, if the best candidate for VP is a white male, so be it. But I wouldnt choose a white male just for the sake of it. Especially a moderate one who wants to make the ticket worse. If say, Gretchen Whitmer is the best VP choice, I say go with it. Don't force yourself to limit yourself to white males, especially boring centrist ones. Because if anything makes me go "ugh" over voting democrat, its voting for this boring centrist candidate who I dont like. It's why I hated Hillary, the woman who ran in 2016. And it's why I don't like most of Harris's prospective choices.
At this point, Harris is a possibly good candidate. if anything, Biden dropping out of the race is actually quite fortuitous for progressives. We end up positioning ourselves to get a candidate MORE progressive than Biden, because this "balance the ticket" nonsense led to Biden choosing a relatively progressive woman of color. But now they wanna tone it down again with choosing a white male, and that just really makes me gag reflex kick in.
Like, I dont think democrats realize this, or they dont care, but idk, it's like having a reflex due to autism. You cant eat certain foods with certain tastes or texture issues, it just makes you gag. And that's how I feel about voting for centrists. i feel like it goes against my very being to support centrists who I know actively work against my goals. And honestly, let's face it, just as Kamala suddenly got the in to take over for Biden, who do you think is gonna be the presumptive frontrunner for the 2032 primary 8 years from now? Whoever Harris picks. If Harris doesnt die or get early onset dementia that causes her to step aside like Biden is doing now. Do we want a boring centrist white guy? I mean, the fact that we went from hope and change with Obama to 2008's sloppy seconds with Clinton is why she was so well recieved, it kicked in that gag reflex where i just couldnt vote for her and stay true to my principles. Same thing here. I don't know how Harris is gonna govern. She could either be the most progressive president since Johnson or even FDR, or she could just be another "Obama" who has the aesthetic of being progressive, while being as corporate and centrist as it gets. All I know is in 2032, I'm probably gonna want someone even BETTER. More progressive. Trump will probably be dead in 2032. Who knows what the MAGA movement will look like. It could scatter without Trump in charge. And I'm going to be honest, I might approach 2032 like I did 2016. I'm gonna be advocating for UBI in all likelihood. What my other priorities are depends on what Harris does in her presidency. I mean, if she does a good job, I might just drop healthcare from my priority list, and green policies, and education. Who knows? If she does such a good job it knocks out some priorities, it might make me lean into others. And I'm gonna be leaning into UBI. Because I KNOW I ain't getting that from her. Too ambitious. And will a centrist wanna give us UBI? NO! They're gonna run on being a steady hand and not doing anything. And my electoral gag reflex will probably kick in and I'll go third party again.
That's just how I see it. I don't care about the race or gender of the person who wants to do nice things. I just want them to do the thing. If anything, I dont want a candidate who DOESNT do the thing. And that excludes a lot of quite frankly bring white males.
I'm so sick of diversity discussions. And it goes both ways. I dont care about someone being a woman or not being white, I mean, does that make my life better in any way? NO! Same thing if they ARE a white male. Hire the best people for the job. I don't care what they look like. I care about their policies. I'm just so fricking over all of this identity politics crap. Just give me good leaders who think like me and care about the same policies I do. That's literally all I care about. In 2024, it just means pushing the ticket the furthest left it will go. Which is why I favor Tim Walz. Or, given we are in the underdog position, I can accept the electoral argument, in which case Shapiro is my overwhelming favorite pick. Because PA is THE pivotal swing state, it's the key to hitting 270 for both parties, and it has 19 electoral votes, whereas other states are in the 6-16 range and would leave us at 267 or something statistically. So yeah. I mean, I'll admit, if pushing the overton window left means focusing on electability, so be it, but go with Shapiro then. There's no reason to go Mark Kelly or Andy Beshear in those instances. Because they dont bring electability to the ticket like Shapiro does. So thats how I feel. Either go Walz for policy, or Shapiro for electability. Dont make some weird choice in the name of corporate centrism. I mean, even though I'm opinionated on policy, I do understand the fragility of our electoral situation and that's why Ive been as accommodating as I've been. But seriously, a lot of the picks floating around are centrist brain garbage by corporate democrats who wanna force the party to the center. They're the same idiots who thought Beto O Rourke would actually be a thing. Ya know, centrist, white, but also kinda low key progressive socially? Yeah. I dont go for that. Might work in the sun belt, but as a rust belt dude, yeah no, screw that. Turns me off.
And yeah. I'm rambling, I'll stop.
No comments:
Post a Comment