The concept of electability has been thrown around a lot this primary season, and for good reason — everyone on the left is anxious about beating Trump. However, I’m not convinced it really matters who the Democrats nominate at this point; the people who want Trump to stay will vote for him, and the people who don’t, won’t. Instead, this race has now become a referendum on the soul of the Democratic Party in the wake of Joe Biden’s surprise resurgence on Super Tuesday.
Backtracking slightly, it’s just really hard for me to think that there is a large portion of the country that would vote for Joe Biden if he was the nominee, but would vote Trump if it was Sanders. The main thing every Democrat in the country wants right now is to oust Trump, so I just don’t buy it when people say that the moderate candidate is more electable than the more liberal one, or vice versa. At the end of the day, they’re both going to get about the same support as long as the Democratic Party doesn’t fracture and resort to infighting after the nominee is picked, so voters should be more focused on who they actually want to see as President. Not to mention that Trump’s central saving message, the fact that the economy has benefited under him, is currently being eroded by the novel coronavirus as he continues to trash the media’s coverage of his administration’s response to the virus instead of actually working to improve said response. If the virus continues to spread and weaken the economy, it’ll hurt Trump in a way his own actions have thus far been unable to, and the Democratic nominee will have a pretty easy time picking him apart on the debate stage.
With only Bernie Sanders and Joe Biden left as serious contenders, the race has evolved into a more-or-less binary decision about what voters want the next President to do if the Democratic nominee actually wins; fight to bring back the Democratic status quo that existed before Trump (Joe Biden), or fight for a new, more liberal future that builds on the idea that older Democratic policies didn’t go far enough in combating inequality and that capitalism is fundamentally broken (Bernie Sanders).
So what do I want? Let me explain. When I was on my way home for this most recent Thanksgiving break, my dad told me a story about how he, having just received his yearly bonus, walked out of his Hartford office building and gave a homeless man a $100 bill. He was so excited as he described the joy in the man’s eyes and the happiness it brought him to share some of his wealth. The man said he was working at a gas station, but he couldn’t afford to pay rent with the salary he was making and ended up on the street, and the money would be a huge help in working towards having somewhere to live again.
Later in the night, when we had gotten home and the whole family started talking politics, he asked me, “Andrew, am I a good socialist?” Now, I love my dad to death; he’s an old school, socially liberal but fiscally conservative Republican with a heart bigger than every muscle in my body combined and a literal rags-to-riches backstory, but I had to look him in the eyes and say “no.” He was flustered, and countered that he gives money to charity causes all the time. I countered with, “Would you vote for Bernie if he gets nominated?” and he paused, unable to come to a quick answer and clearly conflicted. “I don’t know, maybe I’d vote third party, but I definitely don’t want Trump to win and—” I stopped him and said, “That story you told me earlier, as heartwarming as it was, do you think it’s a good strategy for fighting inequality in this country? Should we rely entirely on the generosity of the middle and upper classes alone to help those on the bottom of the economic ladder? Or should we work towards an America where there isn’t a homeless person on the street to give money to in the first place? Where the average corporate businessman doesn’t make hundreds of thousands of dollars more than the average gas station worker?” That clearly got to him to some extent, but he wasn’t quite convinced yet, and starting taking about major Republican and capitalist ideas about working for your fair share and people living off of welfare not being motivated to get better jobs or move up the economic chain. So I said, “Capitalism believes that people need to work in order to have value in the world, that they need to contribute to society in order to have rights and have their basic needs met. Socialism believes that everyone inherently has value just by being alive, and everyone deserves to have all of their basic rights and needs honored regardless of who they are or what their job (or lack of job) is.” He hasn’t come out and said it, but I don’t think he’ll be voting third party if Bernie gets nominated anymore.
I’m supporting Sanders because I honestly believe that capitalism is inherently broken and cannot save America from the myriad issues it’s currently facing, but if you support Biden that’s okay. While I would love to change your mind, I have a more important message for you; just stay open to the more progressive side of the Democratic Party, and don’t try to revert the country to what it was before Trump. That country is gone, Trump shot it in the head on 5th Avenue and no one batted an eye, and regardless of who wins the nomination, the Democrats need to listen to the wisdom of both sides of its new divide. If you also support Sanders, this message is still just as important for you. Sanders won’t be able to get anything done without connecting to the entirely of the Democratic Party, instead of just us bleeding hearts that have seen through the cracks of capitalism’s façade, and the moderates definitely have age and experience on their side. Whoever wins, I just hope they, and their supporters, don’t try to erase the competing wing of the party, and instead listen to the wisdom of both factions while building an America that’s truly great (for the first time).
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