Most of you may know that I’m a very big fan of Bernie Sanders.
I don’t normally pay a lot of attention to politics south of the border, but the 2016 primaries totally grabbed my attention. Senator Bernie Sanders seemingly came out of nowhere, then went on to nearly capture the Democratic nomination for president. It might be said that there are many “flavours” of left-of-centre politics. Bernie is definitely my flavour, and not just for the month.
Some political analysts also say there are two wings to the Democratic Party: The corporate wing dominated by just that: big business and corporations, and people who favour similar values. Then there’s the progressive wing, which is also just that — progressive. Less articulated, it includes people such as Bernie, along with what’s become known as The Squad — four first-term, powerful, articulate congresswomen: Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, Ilhan Omar of Minnesota, Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts and Rashida Tlaib of Michigan.
I think — and I’m not the only one who thinks this — that the Democratic Party has been dominated and controlled for far too long by its corporate wing. Bernie, on the other hand, was a ray of hope from the progressive side, someone who really captured my, and so many other people’s, imagination.
Given all the above, you may be surprised to learn that I’m now strongly backing Joe Biden.
Partway through the 2020 primary campaign, Bernie (as all of us fans call him) put his campaign on hold and later endorsed his rival, Joe Biden. I was terribly disappointed. But now I’m behind Biden. Two reasons: 1. Trump must be defeated at all costs, for, as Bernie himself tweeted on Tuesday, “the price of failure is just too great to imagine.” 2. Biden’s acceptance speech at the DNC touched me in ways I never dreamt.
Last week, I watched all four nights of the Democratic National Convention. It was a very moving and persuasive production, concluding on Thursday night with Biden’s acceptance speech for the presidential nomination.
It was one of the most uplifting political speeches I’ve ever witnessed, and I’ve been tracking politics since I was in high school! It instilled real hope and optimism in the midst of these very dark times. By the end of it, I was convinced we must do everything in our power to ensure that Joe Biden defeats Donald Trump.
Biden is no socialist. If he’s elected president he will maintain the status quo when it comes to America’s economic system. However, he will also bring some sanity to US foreign policy, especially on the Iran file, and he’ll be a real leader in getting the COVID nightmare in the States under control.
Biden will also make at least some progress on the climate file. Under his leadership , the US will rejoin the Paris Agreement, and it’s also almost certain he’ll set a goal for the US to become carbon neutral by 2050 — a totally inadequate plan, but still order of magnitude better that what would happen under Trump’s watch.
We have only a little over two months until American’s election day, Nov. 3.
Trump and the extreme right are already throwing everything they have at Biden. At the Republic’s National convention this week, they’ve already accused him and his supporters of being socialists. If only it were so!
As Canadians, there’s nothing of significant impact we can do to support Biden in his efforts to become the next US president. But we can pay attention, inform ourselves with the facts, and share our deeply felt belief — whether it’s through tweets, letters to the editor, or conversations with our friends — that our powerful neighbour to the south will be far better off with Biden at the helm.
At least in some small measure, our attitude and public conversations will add to the momentum to get Joe Biden elected.
Daily atmospheric CO2 [Courtesy of CO2.Earth]
Latest daily total (Aug. 26, 2020): 411.99 ppm
One year ago (Aug. 11, 2019): 409.44 ppm
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Biden has my luke warm support. Bernie couldn’t win as he terrifies too many centrists and right wingers to garner the votes. Trump has few if any good qualities, I still can’t believe he is a sitting president.
It really is unbelievable that Trump was elected. Hopefully this time he will be defeated. Biden’s negative ratings are much, much lower than Hillary Clinton’s negatives were in 2016. Currently, the website 538, which is an amalgam of all polls, has Biden ahead by 7 percentage points. Fingers crossed until November 3rd.