(C) Daily Kos This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . Well, This Is It, Folks: I've Done My Part - And Here Are My Final Observations [1] ['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.'] Date: 2024-11-04 To begin with, this is NOT intended to be a critical analysis of the 2024 Democratic Party’s campaign strategy. I am far and away the most unqualified person I know to make those kind of calls; from what I’d seen over the last 3 months, the Harris / Walz White House campaign has been largely the best-run, most strategically effective race by Democrats I’ve seen in my 72 years of life. Indeed, I expect the reason why that “sleeping giant” of the Democratic Party acolyte finally woke up was they finally recognized Trump for the direct, imminent danger he is to this country’s government and its people, and for that we should be thankful for its efforts. All that said however, here are a couple of observations and suggestions that would have enhanced the overall message going forward for the Democratic Party’s campaigning efforts. 1. Money Many folks here and elsewhere have observed that not enough specific solutions were revealed to counteract the effects of external influences, especially in the form of political action committee cash from the billionaire class in this country. I agree with this. America’s disparity of wealth has continued to be an ongoing issue…amplified by the courts declaring that “money is speech”. So, while some states are terminating school lunch programs, attacking SNAP and COLA programs, hiking the costs of Medicaid or trying to eliminate it altogether, we have the likes of people that grow their wealth at the expense of others. According to Forbes, listed here are a few of this country’s financial elite: E. Musk $263 billion M. Zukerberg $177 billion L. Page $110 billion S. Brin $110 billion S. Ballmer $121 billion L. Ellison $141 billion J. Bezos $194 billion You might be wondering why there’s no money for new hospitals, school programs, better elderly care and better schools? Will cuddling up to one of these people, blowing in their ear and whispering dirty little things to them get the help your elderly parents need for their medicine and home care? Will they help you get an affordable place to live? No, dear citizens: they’re going to give several hundred million dollars to support someone who is running against the person who actually DOES want to help you, even as they lobby for new tax avoidance schemes from their loyalists in government. Look, it had to be a foregone conclusion for this election cycle that the ones with more money than God were going to outspend anyone who relies on individual middle, lower class and retired people to send in small amounts of cash. But the kind of frantic messaging they released on people almost seemed like a psy-op to wear people down until they were beaten into submission. As an example, at one point I had made two fairly large donations in a single day spread out over 6 hours. Then, later at 9:00 PM I received another text message, this time informing me that it would be nice if I’d donate to her campaign for the first time. ?!? WTF?! (and 13 subsequent donations later I still received the same kind of solicitations right up until this morning.) To punctuate this situation, the only similarity between the Harris and the Trump campaigns is the most galling: neither has brought up the need for campaign finance reform. Those billionaires who are lobbying for a fascist meritocracy through Trump are more than happy to accept PAC money from Musk, Bezos, Zukerberg and their like because they are the ones most likely to be directly affected by anything a Democratic government would do to rein in tax laws, enhance consumer protections and support workforce unionization. Meanwhile the Democrats are forced to smother the public with 180 emails every day from every corner of the Democratic universe, from Alaska and Hawaii to Maine, begging for $25, $35, $50 or sometimes even only $5 multiple chunks of cash, 24x7. In such a scenario, who can tell the difference between a legitimate campaign ask and a republican grift masquerading as a Democratic one? I eventually decided that the ones claiming 200%, 500%, 750% matching donations had to be grifts for Putin’s condom supply, armored limousine payments and his multiple patrimony finance funds and I blocked them… but the point is that campaign finance laws with real teeth could help put an end to this profane insanity. Will it ever happen? Probably not. But someone in positions of authority should publicly, loudly recognize the need. Contrary to the pronouncements of our “supreme”court, money is not speech: Even in the most galling example of illegality from Musk, using money as payola to entice someone to vote for a candidate is BRIBERY. 2. Public Sexual Disparity I’ve been married to Mrs. Anakai for 26 years. Our relationship is based on our friendship above everything else, trust and shared responsibility that started very early on, and it has served us both well over the years through both extreme hardship and stable comfort. We have 3 granddaughters who are rapidly careening toward their teenage years. I am a personal witness to the fact that when the talents, ambitions and skills of any female human being are allowed to flourish in an unrestricted environment, amazing and wonderful things can happen that frequently exceed the imagination or capacity of their male counterparts. So then it completely escapes my personal ability to imagine why the secular fascist meritocracy insists on re-creating the 1930s German ideal of womanhood as being worth no more than cooking, cleaning and spreading their legs. It didn’t work - it COULDN’T work the last time. (So... what was that definition of someone who does the same thing over and over again, expecting different results?) Perhaps it’s because of forced docility, fear of appearing critical of religious cultures or wanting to avoid the stigma of the 1970s when feminism was seen as the militarization of women — or just simple acute misogyny from living in a Stockholm Syndrome culture for so long. Again, I’m not qualified to offer any sort of legitimate analysis of this subject without pissing off a good many people, and I expect that some here will shout me down with accusations of “man- ‘splaining”… But I AM a husband and a grandfather to great, talented, well-heeled human beings who happen to be female, and they deserve far more strident protection, support and aggressive campaigning from their government and the people who hope to govern them than what has been shown by the media in these campaigns. Women in Texas, the midwest and the south are dying from draconian women’s health laws by christofascist republicans now - they’re afraid even to go to hospitals with anything relating to gynecological issues. What the hell is that intended to accomplish? And what does that say about America when it can’t even bring itself to respect and protect 50% of its own population? Sheesh… If I continue on with this subject, I’m going to need another dose of blood pressure medicine. So I’m stopping now. I mailed in my ballot 3 weeks ago and every mark it contained was next to a Democrat. Then I went online and checked with our local registrar to verify that they’d received and counted my choices. I did my part. During tomorrow’s general election I hope that somehow the Creator can find sufficient pity on this country for our past arrogance and horrible mistakes, and somehow help us to overcome the vulgar and profane ones among us with a renewed sense of dignity, respect for others and empathy. 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