Polarization is a big problem, the other epidemic of our time, but to better understand this phenomenon, we need to analyze the two parties involved. The democratic and the republican party.
The democrats are the left. I don't feel that all democrats are what they are painted out to be. They aren't all left-wing extremists. Of course, this is a name that republicans relentlessly use alongside 'the real racists'. Believe it or not, not long ago, the Democrats acted as the right-wing party, and the Republicans acted as the left-wing party. Sometime during the 1930s and the 1960s, they switched, and the modern democratic party formed. The accusation that the democrats are segregationists is ridiculous because the modern democratic party is nothing like what it was at that time. The democrats support
liberal ideals. That doesn't make them better than the Republicans, but it does make them progressives. You can't label a man a racist because his ancestor was a slave owner unless he upholds those ideals.
The modern democratic party, from today, upholds the following ideals.
A strong government with the power to regulate business.
Federally financed social services and finance for the poor, the aged, the unemployed.
The separation of the church and the state.
They support immigration and finding pathways for immigrants to become citizens.
Some Democrats support affirmative action and gun control, but others don't.
Whether you support these ideas or don't, this isn't an opinion, this is a fact, now, my opinion is this.
I don't think the government should regulate all businesses but should do something about economic inequality and the ultra-wealthy versus the ultra-poor.
I believe that the government should help out the poor, aged, or unemployed. Wealth inequality is a very big problem and if I were one or all of the three, I would want the government to help me out.
I strongly and firmly believe that the state should be separated from the church. Laws should be based on what is just and fair and not on faith.
I support finding pathways for immigrants to become citizens, because I lived in the United States for a while, and though I was on a visa if I were undocumented, I would appreciate the government's help.
I support affirmative action. I know that people think that affirmative action is about racial bias and putting minorities over others, but that could not be farther from the truth. Affirmative action is about the opportunity. African Americans, Latinos, and so many others are underprivileged and underrepresented. By allowing them to go to good schools, their communities can excel. It doesn't mean that someone only got into a school because they are black or Latino. They got in because they are good students. In my opinion, affirmative action helps communities of color get a better education.
Gun control is controversial, but I don't care. In my opinion, guns are unsafe and shouldn't exist, but I know that many Americans feel that to protect their families, they need guns, and you know what, that's fine. If you feel that guns will protect your family, go for it. But you need to accept that all these mass shootings are because anyone can access a gun, which is dangerous. I would never buy a gun. I think they are dangerous, but if Americans feel that guns
are important to them, I suggest that you investigate and learn about a person, before selling them a gun.
There are just some of the policies that a lot of democrats have on their platforms, but not all. You might've guessed it, but not all democrats are the same. In fact, according to FiveThirtyEight, the democratic party has six wings. The democrats are all different, which is why there is so much division within the party. They all have a common goal but disagree on how to get there. With the presidential elections in November, just moments away, it is important that people understand what they are doing and who they are voting for. Joe Biden is a specific type of democrat and people who cast their votes for him must know exactly what he supports.
The six are:
The Super Progressives The Very Progressives
The Progressive New Guard The Progressive Old Guard The Moderates.
The Conservative Democrats.
As you see, they are very different from one another.
The Super Progressives are very liberal. A lot of them support socialism ideals and applying those to America's government. Super Progressive politicians include Alexandria Ocasio Cortez, Ilhan Omar, Mark Pocan, Ayanna Pressley, and Rashida Tlaib. They see the democratic party as centrists and feel that they need to be even more progressive. Their policies involve abolishing ICE, making Global Warming a priority, and other things along the line. They are also
firm opposers of oppression on minorities. Very liberal on economic and identity issues.
The Very Progressives, while similar to the Super Progressives in many ways, are quite different. Super Progressives base their policies on being aggressive when it comes to corporations, establishments, and the economy. The Very Progressives support many of the same ideas that the Super Progressives support, but less aggressive. They are less focused on identity issues and play nicer with the democratic party. Instead of abolishing ICE, they might say restructuring ICE. Instead of saying that the Democratic Party is 'too soft', or 'too cozy with corporations', they might phrase it differently. They are the less extreme extremity. Something they do have in common is cracking down on corporations and billionaires that contribute to America's wealth inequality. These include Bill de Blasio, Jeff Merkley, Bernie Sanders, and Elizabeth Warren.
The Progressive New Guard is liberal when it comes to economic and identity issues, and in a way is concerned with the electability of a candidate.
Politicians within the Progressive New Guard have supported policies and ideas like Medicare for all or the Green New Deal. The Progressive New Guard is known for winning purple states and being a coalition between minorities and whites with similar liberal views. The Progressive New Guard includes Stacy Abrams, Cory Booker, Pete Buttigieg, Julian Castro, Kamala Harris, Jay Inslee, and Beto O'Rourke.
The Progressive Old Guard. The Progressive Old Guard is mostly considered moderate, but are more center-left. They are concerned about the Democratic Party has gone too left, often questioning the ideas of the Super or Very Progressives. The Progressive Old Guard present themselves differently than the Super Progressives, the Very Progressives, and the Progressive New Guard. They rose to prominence before Barack Obama was elected as the 44th president of the United States. These include Joe Biden, Dianne Feinstein, Cuomo, Nancy Pelosi, and Chuck Schumer.
The Moderates are more conservative than the other democrats and more liberal than other republicans.
They are the center between left and right. They've voted on bills to expand background checks for gun purchases, but they've also supported a GOP amendment to alert ICE if an undocumented immigrant. The moderates are not as popular as other wings of the democratic party, but they are, as the name indicates, moderation. I feel it is better to be moderate than to be sickened by the extreme polarization that devours the country. People who form part of the moderates include Josh Gottheimer, Conor Lamb, and Abigail Spanberger.
The Conservative Democrats. Believe it or not, these do exist. Conservatives exist within the Democratic Party. They are skeptical of liberal views on economic and identity issues. It is probably the smallest of all the six wings, but if the Democrats want to win in states that normally vote conservatives, they might need more Conservative Democrats. It will help them win seats in state legislatures in the West or South. Conservative Democrats include Joe Manchin and John Bel Edwards.
There are six wings in the democratic party. They are all different. They all support different things, but we need the democrats to come together if we are going to get that monster out of the white house.
As we all know, in November, The United States of America will have its presidential elections, and this election is especially important because America is in trouble. COVID-19 is destroying the country, and people are fighting for basic civil rights, like not being killed based on race, which should not be a debatable subject. Two politicians are facing off against each other. Joe Biden and Donald Trump. Before it was watered down to these two politicians, the Democratic Party put forward 28 democrats, and they all represent different parts of the Democratic Party. I think that these 28 candidates need to be discussed.
Joe Biden. Joe Biden I think is not my ideal candidate, but no one is. I like him, and if I could, I would vote for him, but if I could form my perfect candidate, it wouldn't be him. I don't agree with him on everything. I feel like he needs to be stronger if he wants to beat Donald Trump. He was Barack Obama's vice president
which I think is something in his favor. People miss Obama, and being his vice president means he knows a thing or two about working for the people. His signature issues include adding a public option on the Affordable Care Act and strengthening economic protections for low-income workers in factories.
Bernie Sanders already dropped out, but you have to admit he was quite the candidate. Though he was a bit radical on some issues, he was one of the few candidates, I felt, had the gall to stand up against Donald Trump. He was popular too. The only downside I guess was the fact that he had a heart attack, and he is getting older, a lot older than the other candidates. He was a good choice, and I probably would have voted for him if I could've.
Tulsi Gabbard was one of the many women who ran for president. She dropped out of the presidential race in March of 2020. She supported things like abolishing the death penalty and eliminating private prisons.
Elizabeth Warren, in my opinion, was another good candidate. Not only would she have been a smart, capable president, but she would've also been the first
female president. I was disappointed to hear that she had dropped out of the race because I wanted to see her two-cent plan in action. She supports Medicare for All and to raise taxes on corporations.
Michael Bloomberg dropped out of the race after three months, when he had spent a fortune on his campaign. I feel that Bloomberg never would've won because he just wasn't relatable to the public. A lot of people were upset by the fact that Donald Trump was this rich man who didn't care about the poor or the middle class, so a billionaire, a democrat, but a billionaire, as president wouldn't seem like much of an improvement. Bloomberg is allowed to be a billionaire, but he can not reach out to impoverished communities as well.
Amy Klobuchar quit the race and endorsed Joe Biden after a long campaign. While she wasn't my favorite candidate, she was a good candidate. She had good things to say. I think in the end, she wouldn't have won, neither would've Elizabeth Warren because America is not advanced enough to elect a woman, and even less prepared to elect and opinionated
woman. She supported things like raising salaries for teachers, which I think we can all agree is a good idea, and DACA.
Pete Buttigieg was a good candidate. I supported him. He was smart and had practically no scandals. He was in the military, openly gay, speaks in seven languages, a Harvard educated scholar. He was more than qualified for the job. Of course, if America's not ready to elect a woman, it is certainly not ready to elect an openly gay man. Also, he had trouble connecting with communities of color. I don't think Pete Buttigieg is a racist. I think he is far from it, but communities of color don't feel like they can trust him. They might ask 'how are you different from all the other white men who have screwed us over?'. He supports things like DACA and raising the minimum wage.
Tom Steyer. Tom Steyer dropped out of the race on February 29. You can admire Tom Steyer for his efforts to combat climate change, which is a good thing. I supported Tom Steyer on that. But he was a Goldman Sachs alum, and I don't trust Goldman
Sachs, and a hedge fund manager, which does help Puerto Rico's economic situation.
Deval Patrick dropped out of the presidential race on February 12, 2020. He was the second black governor to be elected in the United States. He joined the race as a moderate, but let's be serious, moderates never win, and it's a rare occurrence when they do.
Andrew Yang was a successful millionaire with a test prep company that ran for president. Honestly, I think that Andrew Yang was a good candidate, I think he had good ideas, I think he had potential, but he was often overlooked. He was taken off graphics many times on television and he got very little attention from the media and the moderators at the campaign. I thought that his plan to give 1,000 dollars to every American each year had its ups and downs. On one hand, I think that 1,000 dollars a month could stimulate the economy. On the other hand, it's too good to be true. Setting aside the fact that Yang is a good candidate, can he do it? Would he have fulfilled his promise, or was it just another lie politicians make? Who knows?
Michael Bennet's campaign ended on February 11th, 2020. Michael Bennet was also a moderate, and once again we see a moderate who failed to win because moderates never win.
John Delaney. I guess no one expected him, or any other candidate apart from the strongest ones to win. Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren, Pete Buttigieg, Klobuchar, Kamala Harris, Joe Biden, they all had a shot because you could distinguish them in this vast sea of democrats. But did John Delaney stand out? In my opinion, no. He didn't do himself any favors by saying socialism was flawed in front of socialism-supporting millennials.
Now, I think Cory Booker was a good candidate, there were certainly more that stood out to me, but Cory Booker had strong points and arguments. He made some good and compelling arguments, but what bothered me was the fact that he and every other African American on that stage was compared to Barack Obama, and called the new Barack Obama. Barack Obama was a good man, certainly a better president than the one sitting in office this very
second, but just because they are black, does not mean they are Barack Obama. I'd like to reach the point where black people in government are seen as people in government and not just a replica of the one black president that came before them.
Marianne Williamson. She wasn't a great candidate, and there are many different reasons why. For example, how much experience does she have? Though the same could be said about the current Commander in Chief, I think to beat Donald Trump we need someone with experience and a plan. I also think that she can be easily lost in the sea of Democratic Candidates, and therefore, just wasn't worth it. A candidate should stand out, grab attention, have people thinking, 'that's the person who's going to make my country better', and at least in my eyes, a lot of the Democrats, including Marianne Williamson did not match that description.
Julian Castro made compelling arguments, but I wouldn't have voted for him. I'd like to make it clear that people of color generally don't vote for someone based on their color, at least not all of them. People
will vote for the person who does the most for people in their situation. A billionaire will vote for the candidate that will lower taxes on the ultra-wealthy, and a sick person who can't afford health care will vote for whoever promises Medicare For All. People generally assume that Julian Castro would have been my and other Latino's top pick simply because he was Latino, and while I was proud that Latinos were being represented in government through the rise of Julian Castro and Alexandria Ocasio Cortez, it didn't mean I would have voted for Julian Castro. I think his speeches were very well built, his message was very hopeful, very Obama-like, and that is good or bad depending on how you see it. On one hand, Obama was a great president, he wasn't perfect, no president is, but he was good, down to earth, kind to the public, fun, yet serious, and liberal, yet not extreme. These qualities are something I'd like to see in all presidents, and that was a plus for Julian Castro, but at the same time, we already had Obama. Democrats need to launch themselves as who they are, and who they represent. I understand that because of the unfortunate events that led to Donald Trump becoming president, people are missing Obama, but in the years to come, I'd like to see candidates talking about what makes them special, and not what makes
them like Obama. This doesn't just apply to Julian Castro, it applies to all the candidates that used Obama as a prop at some point to enlarge their electability. Obama was special, and I'd like to see a good candidate that's special in his or her way. In the end, I don't think America would elect a female president, a gay president, or a Latino.
Kamala Harris is one of the few candidates I would have voted for, and now that she is Joe Biden's running mate, I couldn't be happier for her. Kamala had her flaws, and I disagreed with her on many topics, but in the end, I felt like she could inspire change in this country. People say that she is too aggressive, too mean, but that is said over and over again about any woman who has an opinion. It was said she didn't smile enough, but why would she need to? It's not her job to smile. She's a presidential candidate, not a competitor in a beauty pageant. She doesn't have to be a graceful, charming woman, she just needs to work to make her country a better place, and I think she is doing so. She would be the first woman of color in such a position of power, and I feel like she is empowering. She is smart, she takes her job
seriously and understands clearly the honor that it is to serve the public.
Steve Bullock might not sound familiar, much like many other candidates that got lost in that oh so familiar sea of democrats. There is not much to say, considering that he failed to distinguish himself. I do not intend to offend, but simply stating the truth about why some democrats had a bigger chance than others. There are a lot of democrats that you probably don't know who they are, and unless they do want to be president, they should be more vocal about who they are and what they want.
Joe Sestak's campaign ended on December 1st, 2019, and we all know that that was early on in the race. The people who dropped out in late 2019, and early 2020, are the people who fail to distinguish themselves from others, therefore people never read up on them, people don't give them attention, no one wants to vote for them, and they poll resulting in them dropping out. It's a trend, people are pulled out of the race for not excelling, and the people who we know, the popular candidates, are the people who did survive.
Wayne Messam also failed to distinguish himself. I hear people saying that he, Cory Booker, or Kamala could be the second black president, but before people think about the milestone that is achieved, they have to ask, is this my candidate? If you look at how badly prejudiced our society is, you realize that we always fixate on the first woman 'blank', or the first black 'blank', and we should be judging the person by the content of their character and not the color of their skin.
Beto O'Rourke, while not my favorite candidate, and someone who ended his campaign due to losing support, I have to give it to him that he managed to distinguish himself. Was he the most popular candidate on that stage? No. Did he earn the spot on that stage? He did. I think he did. He managed to get to the point where people knew who he was, and in this election, I think that loosely translates to 'you have a shot'.
Tim Ryan dropped out on October 24th of 2019, where you can see the previously named trend in action.
Bill De Blasio distinguished himself, but because of his position. As soon as he stepped on that stage, people knew who he was, the two-term mayor of New York City. He was popular with progressives, upholding many of the views himself, but I think that people like Bernie Sanders, Joe Biden, Elizabeth Warren had more of an opportunity than him.
Kirsten Gillibrand. She wasn't going to win, not because she was a woman, but because of polarization. If you don't know, Kirsten Gillibrand was a Republican but she switched parties. Because of the division in America, she is a traitor to Republicans and an outcast to Democrats. I find her efforts to support women amazing. I think that by encouraging women to join the government and giving people a voice, she is truly an admirable feminist.
Seth Moulton supports having veterans in government which I do support, but just like Tim Ryan, has no support for House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. He doesn't have to agree with her, but until he can find someone he thinks could be a better fit, Nancy Pelosi's position remains untouched.
Jay Inslee's efforts to tackle Climate Change sure are praise-worthy. Any candidate who tries his or her best to fight this horrible thing cares, but America is too divided for that. How do you tackle Global Warming when half of the population believes it needs to be dealt with it, and the other half is guided by their president who claims, 'it's getting colder'?
John Hickenlooper was and is moderate, which we know is one reason he wouldn't've won. His attacks on socialism didn't do him any favors, especially since he was booed off the stage, but worst of all, he didn't distinguish himself, which is why his campaign lasted only to August 15th, 2019.
Eric Swalwell couldn't distinguish himself, but I remember seeing him with such passion, talking about Donald Trump's racist remarks about four congresswomen of color, which I thought made him worthy of running for president. I found his words to be not only true but presidential, unlike the man being discussed on the House floor.
Richard Ojeda left the race in January of 2019, claiming he 'could not compete', and while I can say whatever I want about him, I will simply state that I appreciate his honesty.
What do all the Democrats have in common? They want to kick Donald Trump out of the White House, and I want them to too. Joe Biden is working to achieve that goal, and I hope he does. This election is very important. If the Democrats win, we might see significant improvement in the economy, in the pandemic, in police reform, DACA recipients might be able to stay. So, on election day, I hope the Democrats are ready.