BY ED FELIEN
Another month, another probable attempt on Trump’s life.
Vance said: “I’d say that’s pretty strong evidence that the left needs to tone down the rhetoric and needs to cut this crap out,”
“the left needs to tone down the rhetoric”?????
The Trump campaign is built on Fear and Loathing. That’s the schtick! It’s always been the Republican schtick. Nixon, Reagan, both Bushes—except back then it was fear of the Russkies.
Now, we have to fear immigrants. They are “The Other”—the alien race sent to displace us. “They’re eating our dogs!”
Who’s spreading fear and hate?
It’s an effective tactic.
You get people scared enough, they’ll want to hunker down and cling to that “Old Time Religion.” They don’t want any more change. They want things back when they could understand them, before everything went out of control.
And they’ve got a point.
The liberal intellectual elite that run our City and County and State, don’t always talk to the people who are going to be most affected by their policies. And that can make people mad. Whether it’s street repair, a traffic signal, or a Civil Rights Ordinance—participatory democracy means the people affected should be participating in the decision-making.
When that doesn’t happen, you can end up with pockets of fear, fear of the other, and resistance to change. And that breeds racism and bigotry and violence against women.
Trump knows how to play to that group. He’s been doing it for years.
It’s a dangerous game, though. Stoking the deepest fears in some people can trigger a psychotic break, and the violence can backfire. Both would-be assassins of Trump were once Trump supporters.
The assassin who murdered Huey Long, the last charismatic fascist in American politics, was a disaffected supporter.
It’s a dangerous game, playing with all that Fear and Loathing: “for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.”
Kamala Harris offers the politics of joy.
It’s a new generation. A new attitude.
Kamala and Tim were children in the Sixties, studying the dreams of Peace and Love. Kamala knew about it by growing up in San Francisco by a mom active in Civil Rights, and Tim later taught about it in his Social Studies classes.
But Kamala Harris is not perfect, and perfection is often the enemy of the good.
There is ultra-left opposition to Harris from Jill Stein of the Green Party and from Cornel West, a left independent candidate for President.
These candidacies can represent a real threat. Jill Stein’s total votes in 2016 in Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania were more than the difference in the vote totals for Hillary Clinton versus Donald Trump, and she tipped the balance in those states to Trump. In 2000 Ralph Nader’s Green Party vote total in Florida was more than enough to tip the state to George Bush, Jr away from Al Gore.
We cannot afford pie in the sky fantasies when we have people being killed in the here and now.
The principal ultra-left criticism of Harris is that she is not doing enough to stop the slaughter of Palestinians by Israel.
First, she is the Vice President. The President makes policy. The Vice President follows it and supports it.
However, in an interview with Dana Bash in August, Harris said:
“Israel has a right to defend itself. We would. But how it does so, matters. Far too many innocent Palestinians have been killed. This war must end and we must get a deal that is about getting the hostages out. Let’s get the ceasefire done”
“I remain committed since October 8 to what we must do to work toward a two-state solution where Israel is secure and in equal measure, the Palestinians have security and self-determination and dignity.”
In May, Al Jazeera reported:
“The United States has halted the shipment of some types of heavy bombs to Israel and US President Joe Biden has also pledged to halt the supply of some offensive weapons and artillery shells to the country if it goes ahead with its assault on Gaza’s southernmost city of Rafah.”
“Biden issued this warning, possibly his starkest yet against Israel, during an interview with CNN on Wednesday. In the same interview, he also said that the US would continue to supply defensive arms such as Iron Dome interceptors, underlining his continued support for Israel’s defense.”
If Trump wins, he will support Netanyahu’s goal of the total elimination of Palestine. If Harris wins, and with the support of Bernie and AOC, she will fight for peace and a two-state solution.
Those are the only choices in this year’s Presidential Election.
Anything else (voting for a third-party candidate or not voting) is jumping off a cliff to preserve some misconceived notion of purity.
