Thursday, November 5, 2020

Still waiting

       We continue to wait for results in the presidential election.   The consensus is Biden still has a 90% chance of winning.  That is the equivalent of having a 10% chance an asteroid destroying the earth, but a 90% chance it will miss.

       Win or lose, as many on the left have said, the Democrats need to do a thorough soul searching regarding the meaning of the election.   Republicans have settled on the strategy of becoming the party of white grievance, much as racist Democrats in the south controlled national politics during the Jim Crow era.  Since whites will remain the dominant race in America through the middle of the century, they can effectively kill progressive reforms through legislative or judicial means for the forseeable future. 

      Democrats have chosen or have had thrust upon them the mantle of the "big tent" party.  With a small percentage of  college educated whites making up about 20% of the party and people of color with various ideologies making up the balance, it seems the party continues to misread the mood of the country.  Much of that is attributable to the right wing media distribution of "alternative facts" which have contributed to an alternative universe for those who want reassurance that we truly live in a 1950's bubble where white supremacy is unquestioned and "those people" know their place.

      The Dems undoubtedly have the right strategy in the long term.  However, as Keynes' said, "In the long term, we will all be dead".  We need something in the short term that will prevent President Tom Cotton from taking us to the apocalypse in 2024.

No comments:

Post a Comment