So, yeah. After reading Harris's book, I'm convinced Harris is more progressive than she's letting on in her heart, she's just being constrained by the democratic party and being in the shadow of Joe Biden. The democratic party is like a monarchy, where people are expected to conform to the system, they're not expected to be their own person, and Harris is kind of being an employee of the democrats and Joe Biden. As such, she's not being really allowed to pursue her own agenda outside of very narrow bounds, and she's kinda going along with them.
But...here's the reality of Harris. Even on my top issues, she at least SOMEWHAT gets it. Not saying she's a "true believer." Not saying she isnt throwing her own healthcare plan under the bus, but uh....imagine if the progressive left pressured Harris to pass a UBI style program or universal healthcare. Would she do it? I believe she would sign a bill that appeared in front of her.
In a sense, Harris is like LBJ. Kennedy's VP, but as he governed and was pressured by the progressive left on issues related to poverty and civil rights, he became the most progressive president of the new deal era, up there with FDR himself.
I said in 2016, if I knew Clinton was toying with UBI that year, I wouldve likely voted for her. It wouldve made a difference. Well, here we have the candidate who understands poverty, has praised stockton's mayor for innovating with UBI, and has proposed her own kind of plan in the LIFT act previously, is it a good idea to refuse to vote for them and split hairs just because they dropped it to be elected? Or what about medicare for all? She has signed on to bernie's single payer in the past, and has designed her own public option, not all that different from my endorsed backup plan of medicare extra for all. In other words, she clearly gets it. Once again, hiding her power level to get elected.
She also had a section in her book where she believed in being bold and not wasting political capital. It's use it or lose it, so USE IT! And again, if the public spoke out, and said clearly "hey we want these things", she would support them.
The problem right now is, as I said, this is bad year for democrats. Harris is already percieved as "too liberal" based on her prior stances. Shes at 50-50 as of yesterday (the debate might change that but no new polls yet). She's running right because clearly, Im outnumbered here. People dont want nice things in 2024. It's a relatively right wing year, progressive ideas arent gonna sell well. But if allowed? Harris would definitely be open to these things.
I think that voting for someone who actually does "get it" even if they arent explicitly showing it for political reasons is important. Will they act on them? Maybe not. I mean, look at John Fetterman and his hard right wing turn. Look at Biden being a hardcore centrist and running somewhat left. People can govern in ways different from their actual convictions. But you wanna know how you force changes? By pushing for what you care about. It's up to US, as citizens, to pressure our politicians to do the right things. If we're outnumbered, then, we're not gonna get what we want. We need to show WE WANT THIS.
So I'm gonna advocate the 2020 "vote for them but hold their feet to the fire" strategy. Support Harris, and pressure her left in office. I think she will listen. Much like AOC, she's kinda appearing more moderate for electability reasons. The people have to show they want these ideas. Now, if people show it and they still dont do it, yeah, hold them accountable, force them out. Dont enable a "clinton", (ie, an entitled person who sees fit to ignore what a significant number of voters want and expect them to show up anyway), but also don't purity test to such an extent that no one can win you over. Pressure them, let them pass good things, and then reward them with a vote.
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