General thoughts about the Democrats

I took a test the other day that showed that Mike Bloomberg is my closest policy match among the Democrats. But he makes me uneasy.

First, there's his refusal to support any pro-life Democrat, and his insistence that abortion is somehow a "basic human right." Secondly, there's a record of allegations regarding sexual harassment and comments that would make Donald Trump blush.

Finally, there's a perception among some careful observers that stripped of his former Republicanism and various other cosmetic factors which cause him to be seen as "moderate"  he would actually turn out, policy-wise, to be the most left-wing candidate ever nominated by a major national political party. He might not be as far left as Bernie Sanders, but he still could easily end up being an electoral disaster on ideological grounds whom Donald Fredovich would have no problem (ironic as it might be) portraying as too extreme to be president.

And then, there's his Trump-like tendency to say unpredictable and sometimes off-the-wall and certainly unwise things. We don't need another loose cannon, and certainly not as a vehicle for getting rid of the one we have now.

I've been thinking that I might just stay home if Bernie Sanders ends up as the Democratic nominee, which is not as much of a long shot after Iowa and New Hampshire as it seemed only a few weeks ago. On the other hand, I might not. As much as it pains me to say this, there is still a functioning moderate wing in the Democratic party that would serve as a check on President Bernie. "Medicare for All" and some of his other more extreme ideas are actually opposed by Democrats. If he wins, the Democrats will not sell their souls to him the way the Republicans have sold theirs to Donald Trump.

Granted, I think the national embarrassment currently in the Oval Office would destroy him in November. But if Bernie were somehow elected, a coalition of Republicans and reasonable Democrats would probably keep him from doing too much actual damage. And let's face it: with all his many shortcomings, Bernie Sanders still seems to be a fundamentally decent human being. Donald Trump is simply not.

Still, Bernie's election following four years of Donald Trump would exponentially worsen our polarization and clearly turn the Democratic Party into an even more overtly extremist cabal than it already is. We do not need the Two-Party system- even if, as I hope, it's on its last legs- presenting us with a choice between a Republican Party in the image of Donald Trump and a Democratic Party that identifies with Bernie Sanders. It might be a dream scenario for the emergence of the centrist Third Party which I think we not only desperately need but which might turn out to be America's only salvation. But the center seems to me to lack the will to do what needs to be done. Yeats seems to have foreseen exactly the situation we have in America today:

The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity.

Whether it's of the authoritarian right or of the authoritarian left- or, like National Socialism, some ideological Frankenstein incorporating the worst of both and seeking to appeal to authoritarians of both extremes, it's gonna be bad news for freedom. And whatever

...rough beast, its hour come 'round at last
Slouches toward Bethlehem to be born,

America's only hope, and freedom's, is for the American center which I still believe exists and which I still believe is potentially potent enough to save the day to grow a pair and do what needs to be done. Barring the election of, say, a Biden or a Klobuchar, the time for that will be immediately in the wake of the coming election. It will take some doing to prepare the way for a centrist, nationally-unifying third party to come together in time to seriously contest the 2024 election. and the biggest question seems to me to be whether the sane component of the American electorate has the will.

Finally, while I've been quietly pulling for Joe Biden as the candidate with the best chance of knocking off Donald Trump, I'm getting uneasy about him. His abysmal failures in Iowa and New Hampshire have his candidacy on the ropes, and while it's not out of the question that he might yet come back from the brink of political death his performance thus far does not fill me with hope.

She's often spoken of as being personally not a very nice person, but sanity's candidate in 2020 may well turn out to be Amy Klobuchar. Her unexpectedly strong showing in New Hampshire could potentially signal a breakthrough. She may yet be the best hope of centrist Democrats- and of America- in 2020. But as with Joe Biden, the next few weeks should tell the tale.