Michael Sauers
November 7, 2024
Elections are contests and battles for the hearts and minds of people. This time Trump won but lets not go overboard. The popular vote total was relatively close, less than a 2.5 million vote difference out of 151 million cast. Paltry! The Electoral College (probably should be abolished) count was 226 to a little over 312, certainly not a landslide! Landslide victories would be 1964 when Johnson beat Goldwater 486 to 52 or 1972 when Nixon beat McGovern 520 to 17 or 1980 when Reagan beat Carter 489 to 49 or 1984 when Reagan beat Mondale 525 to 13.
The above does not constitute anything near a landslide, mandate or decisive victory. What it does constitute is a huge failure of the Democratic Party. The USA is evenly and bitterly divided.
Now, the guy Democrats like to beat up, Bernie Sanders, did win in a landslide! He garnered 65% of the vote in the most recent U.S. Senate race in Vermont. Sanders has been making the same arguments since he was Mayor of Burlington, Vermont. He talks in depth about the inequities of the economic system as it relates to working class people. Income inequality has been and is one of his main topics. The Democrats started losing working class people around 2000 and up to this last election because they are cowards. They move to the corporate center and don’t talk in depth about the issues that effect workers. Sanders does! Vermont has a large working class demographic. He won!
Another person that the Democratic Party hates is Ralph Nader. He is just as pointed, if not more so, than Sanders. Sanders was/is so disgusted with the Democratic Party that he remains an Independent. Nader, even more disgusted ran against them on the Green Party ticket. Democrats need to start listening to folks like Sanders and Nader and grow a backbone!
Sanders, Nader and other Progressives speak about issues that have majoritarian support in terms of a need to address them. The Democratic Party needs a progressive and strong voice on both domestic and foreign policy issues.
On or about 11-20-24, a group of progressive senators (19) called for a halt of offensive weapons to Israel. The remaining Democrat Party senators moved to the corporate center and voted to continue the billions of taxpayer dollars and US complicity in the ongoing genocide. Biden pushed for continuing the weapons transfer.
More on this to come. Stay tuned.