OVERALL:
- Talking about health care goes over most voters heads. Unless you are incredibly academic or you've had prior, intimate experience with our health care system, it's hard to discern how the plans are different. Even if you are one of these, the debate is set up in a way that makes communicating a complex plan extremely hard. Kamala Harris (one of four front runners, and one of the strongest debaters) couldn't effectively communicate her plan which is revealing about the system.
- There shouldn't be a winner? In an ideal world, politicians wouldn't argue with one another, they'd lay out how they differ (and ways they are similar) so the voters can have an accurate depiction of who they most identify with politically. Of course, Donald Trump is our president and nothing is ideal.
- WHY don't they spend more time on climate change? Major landmasses are disappearing into the murky unknowns of our polluted oceans and the moderators asked a few questions on the climate crisis. It also seemed like many candidates weren't ready to talk about it.
- In an election with over 20 candidates, we need to find a better solution than offering front runners the most amount of time. Sure, I don't necessarily need to hear John Delaney ramble on more than he does but it seems incredibly inequitable. Though many politicians label themselves "grassroots", only the established politicians are offered meaningful time to speak. Many of the lesser-known candidates were given questions that threw time back to the major players. Is it really a democracy when you're only shown four out of twenty options? The answer is no.
- So basically we have Bernie and Elizabeth––the progressives battling it out. They talk about health care for years. It's all very confusing to me, Bernie, at least, has a very ambitious plan which I like. At least it's something concrete to hold on to.
- Okay, except Bernie and Elizabeth have made some kind of pact to not fight each other. It's very civil, for a debate, but many of the smaller candidates just stand off to the side looking scared.
- It's white night (labeled by a correspondent on CNN). None of the five candidates of color are on the stage so it's just a bunch of white people talking about what they could do for POC.
- Pete Buttigieg is the one moderate I'd consider. I don't love him and our policies don't align but he was the one who didn't get destroyed every time Bernie or Elizabeth Warren looked at him.
- I think we all got tricked by Beto O'Rouke in Texas. He was interesting because he was a democrat in Texas. Now that's on the national stage there isn't a whole lot to him. Some people say he looks like Kennedy and it reminds them of a "simpler" time (simple, of course, is laced with privilege and ignorance because it's never been simple, just more polite, I think).
- Here it gets interesting.
- We've got Biden and Harris (and Booker standing off to the side, looking dejected) as the frontrunners here.
- Protestors show up and yell something at Biden and get ignored during the immigration segment. Yikes.
- Biden then drops Obama's name approximately 30,000 times to remind us that he's got a black friend.
- Biden and Harris attack each other and they're both right, I guess.
- Tulsi Gabbard (who is bad news, everybody, look it up) confronted Harris about her position as attorney general. Though not totally transparent, the claims had some validity to them and Harris sort of just digressed. Here's an article fact-checking Gabbard's claims. It's not as drastic as Gabbard claims, but I think the sentiment of being anti-decriminalization just to turn around and laugh about smoking a joint is a little troubling.
- The rest of the candidates attack Biden and Harris not realizing it means they get EVEN MORE speaking time to respond.
- Marianne Williamson. Just. Should be noted. She said a good thing about reparations but it's so easy to talk like that when you have no plan. I do think it's feasible to give substantial reparations to black Americans but I also think that needs to be your platform if you're going to do it. It's not a casual idea, it would take some major restructuring. I appreciate her pushing the other candidates but please don't forget how crazy her career has been. She told gay men that they could pray away aids and is generally nuts. Let's not, guys.
Julian Castro–– Castro is one of the few progressives who I feel is actually representative of real progressives. He's more in touch with young voters and I feel like his policy is founded in empathy rather than political power. In an ideal world, he would be the nominee. He's smart, he's got a solid body of work behind him, he holds his own in a debate, but most importantly he (unlike higher ranked candidates) has a genuine understanding of his constituents and can effectively communicate that.
Andrew Yang––I know, I know. I won't force you to vote for him and I won't even make a super heavy-hitting case for him but please, for a minute, take him seriously. One thousand dollars a month (the Freedom Dividend, he calls it) sounds insane. And it's incredibly ambitious. You can dismiss him as a fringe candidate as much as you want but listen: redistribution of wealth is one of the only concrete ways to correct inequality. Unless we have a complete overhaul of the system as we know it (which, yes is what he's proposing), they are going to continue to abuse marginalized people. Think of Seattle––or any major city––income inequality is destroying the lives of many people around us. Yang clarifies that $1000 won't solve all problems, but most Americans are just $400 away from a financial crisis. This money would keep their heads above water, their lights on, maybe their medical bills paid. He's advocating for a world we don't know yet, but maybe that's what we need. He's the anti-robot, pro-socialism candidate we've all been waiting for.
Elizabeth Warren––Okay, I'm not happy about this but policy-wise, she's the frontrunner I'm willing to support. She's incredibly progressive and a visionary with a 10-step plan for everything. She is concise and sharp and can debate Trump like even above frontrunner Biden's ability. Bernie's up there too but there's just something about him that's a little too loud and a little too entitled, this, of course, could all change.
Jay Inslee––I would never. Really, I would never. But I've got to give a shoutout to hometown boy Jay for his climate change policy. Of course, everybody in Olympia knows that he's not an incredibly impactful leader but he's the only one who is prioritizing our dying earth. And, everyone outside Olympia thinks Inslee is an essential cabinet pick (ya duped 'em, Jay!). But, honestly, if there is a single issue in this election is should be climate change because we have such little time before everything dies. I don't know how so many politicians can watch our world catch fire, turn on a fan, and forget about it. Shout out to Jay for caring.
Comments
Post a Comment