Category: Elections

3 Comments

How Trump and the Republicans Could Steal the Election

  By 2020, Elections, Fascism, Politics

I’ve been warning about Trump and the path to soft fascism–a fascism that keeps but eviscerates the substance of democratic forms–since 2015.What the federal government is doing in Portland is just the latest step in that direction. Federal police action against the will of the local authorities is against the law. So is unidentified federal agents picking people up in unmarked vehicles. I’ve feared that this is leading to an attempt by Trump to steal the presidential election which he is likely to lose if it is carried out fairly.The Republicans have long been trying to tilt national elections in their direct with voter ID laws, purges of the electorate, gerrymandered congressional districts (which as we will see below could have profound consequences), the end of federal pre-clearance of rules changes, the tacit if not explicit alliance with Russia and the obstruction of justice to covert up which continues with… Continue reading

No comments

The Second Time as Farce: Trump’s Failed Fascism

  By 2020, Fascism, Politics

A conflation of two Facebook posts has given me a little hope today. I first saw someone post that they don’t understand how Trump is seen as a strong man by his supporters when he is so evidently a whiny, complaining, insecure, inarticulate fool desperately pretending to be what he obviously is not and looking for affirmation from everyone. And reading that, I realized that this is almost exactly how I described all the folks complaining about business closures and stay-at-home orders. They pretend to be tough and criticize us “snowflakes” who they say are afraid of the virus. They say that our freedom depends on people like them. And yet they aren’t rushing to do essential, frontline jobs; they don’t seem to care that anyone else is sick or dying or that what they seek might lead to more illness and death; and they are certainly not willing to… Continue reading

No comments

Majority rule with democracy or how to do a contested convention

  By 2020, Elections, Politics

Democrats are facing the possibility of a disastrous brokered convention, one that could remind us of the 103 ballot convention in 1924 that made it impossible for the party to win a winnable election. It seems possible that Bernie Sanders will come to the convention with a plurality of delegates—that is more than any other candidate—but not the majority required to win the nomination on the first ballot. That would lead to a second ballot in which the unelected party leaders and members of Congress who serve as superdelegate would vote. There are two problems with this scenario. First, it is very difficult to have a brokered convention without brokers, political leaders who can move large blocks of delegates. The presidential candidates will presumably have some influence on their delegates but not real authority over them. Even with brokers, conventions sometimes led to a long, drawn-out process that, at its… Continue reading

No comments

Why We Have to Fight, Part 2

  By 2020, Elections, Politics

It appears my post on the importance of not backing down from a strong progressive program has been controversial. Good—it was meant to be. There were a lot of good arguments made in response and I want to draw on some of them as I deepen the case for a bold progressive Democratic campaign in 2020. We live in a moment in our politics that is radically different than what many of us have experienced. So it’s no accident that it’s by and large younger people who can see what many of their elders cannot see.  Still the period in which we live is not without historical precedent. Indeed if you look back at the history of our country there have been periods like our own in-between a number of periods, like the one we boomers grew up in. For most of my life, as for most of the life… Continue reading

One Comment

Why We Have to Fight, Part 1

  By 2020, Elections, Politics

I’m seeing lots of posts from folks on the center-left about how people in rural PA or Michigan or Tennessee or Texas don’t like some part of the Sanders or Warren agenda.  It’s one thing to worry about the electoral consequences of these proposals. I will address that question another time. But I’m concerned that people who should be on our side are overstating the electoral problems in part because they think it’s somehow illegitimate for us to put forward ideas that aren’t embraced by almost everyone.  This is a long-standing problem among liberals. There is a strand of liberalism that is afraid of political power and will do everything it can to avoid exercising it. This same strand of thought makes it hard for liberals to bear disagreement.  That strand is connected to another that vastly overestimates the power of argument-—as opposed to numbers and organizing—in politics.  Robert Frost… Continue reading

No comments

Some Questions About the Warren Plan for M4A

  By 2020, Elections, Health Care, Public Policy

This is the second of two post on the Warren plan to finance Medicare for All. The first dealt with why I think the time is ripe for M4A and especially for Warren’s version of it. This second post is about some questions that have been raised about Warren’s plan from the left. The Warren plan calls on businesses that have 50 or more employees and provide health insurance to them to pay a the federal government roughly 98% of what they pay for that insurance. A critique of the plan in Jacobin said that businesses would be able to escape from this requirement by reclassifying employees as independent contractors or by breaking themselves down into units with 49 or fewer employees. The whole question of reclassifying employees as independent contractor is not a new issue. There already are many incentives to do that. There are also business incentives to not… Continue reading

One Comment

The Warren Plan and the Prospects for Medicare for All

  By 2020, Elections, Health Care, Public Policy

I’ve been ambivalentabout the politics and policy of single-payer for a long time. That’s for three reasons First, while I by and large don’t think that a more left-wing program will hurt Democrats in the general election—just the opposite is true—there are certain ways it can hurt. The first is if we put forward plans that require tax increases on the working and middle classes. I do think that ultimately some of those tax increases will be necessary and that the benefits received in return for them will be greater than the costs of the tax increases. But it is a fundamental rule of politics that people are more agitated by what they are losing than what they are gaining. And talking about tax increases for future benefits is hard to explain and hard to defend especially because most Americans are not terribly well-informed about politics and public policy and… Continue reading

No comments

Another Term for Alan Butkovitz

  By 2017 Controller race, Philadelphia

In all excitement about the DA’s race, a lot of Philadelphians have not paid much attention to the Controller’s race, also on the ballot. My choice in that race, as it was four years ago, is Alan Butkovtiz. Four years ago I wrote this in support of him against an opponent who had a strong record as an independent thinker on budget matters: “If you actually read the reports of our Controllers, as I have for many years, you will see that under Alan Butkovitz, the office of the Controller has done some exemplary work. His report on emergency medical response and the follow up reports are fabulous (and address an issue I care a great deal about and campaigned on in 2007.) He’s revelations of corruption in the Sherriff’s office has led to criminal investigations and civil action to recover millions of dollars. He’s issued many other reports pointing to wasteful spending and sources… Continue reading

No comments

About That Letter About Larry

  By 2017 DA Race, Philadelphia, Politics

  There is a letter from 12 “former Assistant DAs” calling on voters not to vote for Larry Krasner on the grounds that he has never been a prosecutor, that he has been misleading in criticizing the culture of the District Attorney’s office, and that our safety will be at risk. Not only do I not find the letter plausible, for a number of reasons, large and small, the more I read it and learn about those who signed it the more appalled by it I get. To start with the big reasons. First, we don’t need to take Larry Krasner’s word for the problems in the DA’s office. There is plenty of independent evidence. We know that mass incarceration, especially of black men, is a serious problem across America and the rate of incarceration in Philadelphia is among the highest in the country. We know that the Philadelphia DA’s… Continue reading

2 Comments

Larry Krasner for DA

  By 2017 DA Race, Elections, Philadelphia, Politics

I generally don’t get involved in electoral politics now. But I’m going to make one exception this year and tell you that I plan to vote for Larry Krasner for DA. And the reason I’m making the exception is that I’m not just a little with him. I feel the same way about him that I did about Helen Gym two years ago and a really special candidate for city council at large in 2007. He is the only candidate I see who can look at the DA’s office with fresh eyes and stop and think about how it can contribute to the well being of the city as opposed to tinkering around the edges of an on-going operation. He’s the only candidate who understands the rot in the PPD and who is willing to do the hard work (and absorb the punishment he will receive for doing it) in… Continue reading