ARE WE SHIT OUT OF LUCK?
ARE WE SHIT OUT OF LUCK?
By Deborah Long
Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity. So, the question is begged: Are Democrats shit out of luck?
But first some well-deserved thanks are in order:
Thank you meatheads who voted for Jill Stein. Was this really the time to place “Climate Action: Protecting Mother Earth and Humanity” at the top of a third-party presidential platform? Do you know that your party siphoned off Democratic votes and elected Donald Trump, a decidedly anti-Green sort of guy who, upon taking office, took the US out of the Paris Agreement? Do you believe that Jill Stein even knows what the Russian word “Kompromat” means as she guilelessly sat at Putin’s dinner table? Well, maybe now she does, but do you?
Thank you, Bernie Bros, who thought that a backbench socialist Independent should be permitted to run on the Democratic ticket for president and would be elected in a country that is divided 50-50 between Democrats and Republicans. What could possibly go wrong with that? When they say, “These campaign attack ads write themselves”, Bernie is who they’re talking about. Bernie split the Democratic vote by dampening Democratic turnout. And that’s why the Russian disinformation campaign championed him with such gleeful enthusiasm. Your support for him was the triumph of form over substance.
• Did it occur to you that Bernie’s specious attacks on Clinton’s integrity would affirm Trump’s attacks on her while delivering a weakened Democratic candidate to the general election?
• Did Bernie’s end-run on healthcare-for-all obviate the fact that Clinton championed universal healthcare in the 90s and personally chaired the task force that crafted the legislation for it? It was her idea. The ACA was intended to get all Americans used to the notion of mandated healthcare so that Universal Healthcare could eventually be passed in Congress. But killing the ACA was the raison d’être for Republicans running in 2016! Way to go, Bernie.
• Was Bernie right (along with Trump) in opposing the TPP and walking away from a trade pact with 11 other countries that represent 40% of the world’s total gross domestic product of $107.5 trillion, supply 26 % of global trade, and 793 million of the world’s consumers? This, instead of demanding responsible legislation to disincent corporations from off-shoring jobs? Trade Pacts do not have to cost jobs. But uninformed demagoguery does.
• Would Bernie’s “break up the big banks” sloganeering prevent a future financial collapse better than legislating even broader regulations that preserve and enhance Dodd-Frank?
• Would Bernie’s exhortations to re-institute Glass Steagall have protected the US from the depredations of shadow banking and the unregulated financial instruments that were also responsible for the recession? Not even close, but it does fit nicely on a bumper sticker.
Crafting party platforms is one thing: should we go for $15 an hour or $12 an hour, and so forth. But Bernie stole the food off of Clinton’s plate as he tried to eat her lunch – and in so doing, he fed Trump while diminishing the Democratic Party’s chances of winning.
And finally, thank you former Obama voters who thought that Donald Trump would be a better choice than Clinton because he’s a “successful businessman”, notwithstanding his well-documented history of criminal business activities, corruption, and lest we forget – multiple bankruptcies. Yes, Trump did have that je ne sais quoi of being a manly man, but with Trump, that and a quarter will get you a dime.
But that was then, and this is now. Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity. And now it looks like we’re shit out of luck. Who knew?
Deborah Long is a Principal at Development Management Group, Inc. and founder of several non-profit charitable organizations. If you find her perspectives interesting, controversial, or provocative, follow her at: https://www.facebook.com/debby.long.98499?ref=br_rs
