The DNC’s Dumb-Down Opinion Survey
Renee Parsons
In its recent Official 2020 Issues Survey, DNC Chair Tom Perez solicited input on the ‘top’ issue for the upcoming June debate as the Dems will use that “feedback to shape our electoral strategy.” In other words, the following identified issues will conceivably become questions at the debate and presumably will become the basis for the Dems 2020 platform which its Presidential candidate and down-ticket slate will campaign on. Those DNC issues are:
- Jobs and income equality
- climate change
- Immigration
- health care
- Education
- gun violence prevention
- Civil rights
- college affordability/student debt
- Women’s reproductive rights
It is incredulous that foreign policy and war, among other vital issues, are completely absent from the DNC list thereby confirming how deeply out of touch the party is with political reality. To not recognize that the country is in an existential crisis; that there is no ‘normal’ and that a deep cultural and political realignment is underway, is to live in a cave.
If this is the best the DNC can come up with for 2020, it is easy to understand if the public tunes out their dumbed-down ‘debate’ and why the Democratic party has turned the corner on political relevance.
There was a time when voters looked forward to a debate as a good thrashing out differences of opinion and entertaining controversy with opposing arguments put forth. Instead the Dems are now little more than mealy mouth purveyors of harmless, benign issue forums, loyalty oaths, preserving incumbent status quo and assuring that preferred candidates look good with flawed polls and especially nothing too controversial, nothing too provocative.
It may be that as the 23 (or is it 24) Dem Presidential candidates take the stage in late June, that a handful will stand out as authentic human beings with superior analytical and communication skills, who have well-thought out ‘signature’ issues of essential importance that are clearly in the best interests of the American public; Andrew Yang and Rep. Tulsi Gabbard come immediately to mind.
There will be others who would be satisfied with a future Ambassadorship and may flounder in generalities, repetitive and purposeless, or those with flashy, verbally facile empty gestures, all riding the gravy train to nowhere.
Some of the following represent a 2020 reality check on issues of public interest or concern that the Dem establishment is either uninformed about or would prefer to avoid since a red hot discussion might actually stimulate some authentic political dialogue which, in turn, might encourage more public involvement and a higher voter turnout. It is in any establishment’s best interest to maintain control of any debate, to control the questions and deflect any real difference of opinion that might challenge the status quo.
In addition, a ‘real’ debate would allow the public to cull out the weak links and focus on those candidates who have something vital to add to the dialogue. This list is not meant to be all-inclusive:
- Domestic: Emergency preparedness, $22 trillion debt, Opioid crisis, middle class struggle, Pentagon/Fed Bank audits, decay of American cities: homeless/drugs/alcohol/mental health crisis, Patriot Act repeal, immigration, climate changes/solar minimum/global cooling,
- Accounting of Costs: unconstitutional military action in Iran or Venezuela or North Korea or places yet to be determined, ongoing wars in Iraq, Syria, Afghanistan and Yemen.
- Collapse of Russiagate and impact of DOJ Spygate investigation on 2020 election
- Big Tech – monopoly, no taxes/regulation, 5G, censorship/First Amendment, AI – job loss/trans human beings, Tesla’s free energy, electric grid update
- Foreign Policy: Globalism, BRICS/‘open world economy,’ sanctions/false flags, NATO, ET visits, fighting Israel’s wars, Trade:
- Russia: NATO threat, election interference, re-establishing relationship, Sanctions/Magnitsky Act
- China: Foreign trade, the Silk Road, emerging multipolar world, fentanyl crisis, So China Sea
- Israel: US $ support; ownership of Congress, role in 911, register AIPAC, initiated 5G Greater Mideast Plan
- Iran: False flag, sanctions, Greater Mideast plan target
- Venezuela: Maduro coup, sanctions, oil resources
Many of these items deserve more attention and better quality discussion than they normally receive while others may receive what seems like inordinate interest and yet remain unresolved – immigration which has been on the national agenda since at least 2008 is one such issue. It is interesting to consider that the current Democrat position morphed after the 2016 election in opposition to Trump’s policy to close the border and build a wall.
Previously, both President Bill Clinton and Barack Obama proposed an immigration policy that is very much reflected in elements of Trump’s proposal (absent the wall). One can surmise that the Dems belatedly realized the voter registration edge that open borders would provide and as a tool to build opposition to Trump. So much for unifying the country.
Admittedly, the foregoing issues are a heavy lift for any aspirant to the Oval Office but any candidate who wants to be president of 330 million people had better be a world class multi-tasker, wildly better informed and analytical than the rest of us. If any of those aspirants are not able to deal with hard core reality, are unable to flow with unexpected exigencies and speak truth to power, then stop wasting our time and step down.
In any case, the upcoming June debates (June 26/27) promise to be either a colossal flat tire dud event or the opening of a semi riotous free-for-all which will be considerably more entertaining. One political true-ism for any candidate at this early stage is Newton’s law of physics – what goes up, must come down.
Renee Parsons has been a member of the ACLU’s Florida State Board of Directors and president of the ACLU Treasure Coast Chapter. She has been an elected public official in Colorado, an environmental lobbyist for Friends of the Earth and staff member of the US House of Representatives in Washington DC. She can be found on Twitter @reneedove31
SUPPORT OFFGUARDIAN
If you enjoy OffG's content, please help us make our monthly fund-raising goal and keep the site alive.
For other ways to donate, including direct-transfer bank details click HERE.
That DNC issues for debate list is a mere talking shop agenda whilst ignoring the fact that America is the foremost terrorist sponsoring warmongering nation in the world today. Instead of discussing who profits from this deliberate aggression and what effect it has on the fabric of their country and the welfare of it’s citizens the debate is being side tracked away from the root cause of the disease and is a discussion of symptoms afflicting a very sick patient.
Not voting endorses the status quo. Tulsi Gabbard is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and is going to be Obama 2.0. Vote for a minority party.
Hush you naysayers. The US political system works perfectly. The people believe they live in the world’s greatest democracy.
I think the last debate I saw connected to a US election that could have been said to involve intelligence was when Ron Paul said it like it is on many topics – notably on endless war – although his intelligence was duly absorbed by the thick skulls of his opponents and the media alike, long before it had a chance to reach their brains. Something like the way a lead radiation suit works… Paul was obviously a man who had read 1984, so of course the media sure made short work of him. He had plenty of intelligent detractors too, of course, but no one could accuse him of ignorance, or lack of imagination, while his education as a doctor also stood him on pretty solid scientific and human ground. Debates with Paul always ended up being real debates. He forced people to think about what they were saying.… Read more »
10 upvotes from me
Frank (aka Frankly Speaking)
Thank you, Frank!
You need to understand that US elections are for show. The elected “leaders” do not lead, do not make big decisions, do not make policy. The two approved national political parties are purely for show. Freedom of false binary choice. Tweedle Dee v. Tweedle Dum. The Hidden Hand rules with puppets for show. Laws are passed or rejected in favor of the trillionaires, that never appear on any Forbes list. AIPAC is just a bagman for The Hidden Hand. This has been the pattern for the USA since the colonial days. Centuries before 1948. For Europe and MENA, since the Phoenicians. Over a century before the Internet, the 1860 Presidential election was rigged by the big print media corporations, setting up a loser as the opponent of Abraham Lincoln in the general election. JFK was the same as all the others. All US Presidents are related at the least as… Read more »
There is a case for US interventionism, just not the sort that we’ve got accustomed to. For example, we have a problem with people turning up and claiming asylum on our southern border. The response to this — more enforcement, build walls and so on — isn’t working so we need to try something new. The obvious solution would be to go to the ‘donor’ countries and try to figure out why people are leaving and find ways to stop them. This is where things get tricky. Apparently we can only intervene in countries which we don’t like (countries that typically have annoyed us by adopting internal policies that include a measure of wealth redistribution) — we apply economic pressure (sanctions), isolate them, we’ll threaten them internally and externally and we will open our borders to their citizens if we think it will help to destabilize them. Countries which we’re… Read more »
To the Tulsi fans: there is no route out of imperialism through voting in ‘the right president’. Anyone participating in the current system as a ‘candidate’ without being open and clear about the full depth of the evil that is US imperialist capitalism; or about the scope of radical change that is necessary to avert a cataclysmic future, is either deluded or is some kind of distraction for the masses. Fair enough if the likes of Dore want to voice support for her as a means of expressing wishes for a different foreign policy direction, but it is basically just theatrics until the conversation turns to a serious look at consumerism, corporate power, the monetary system and banking, the secret state, the media and internet narrative control, energy depletion……and on and on… Politics as a whole is itself completely deranged, and Tulsi standing up and saying some shit that people… Read more »
‘To the Tulsi fans: there is no route out of imperialism through voting in ‘the right president’.’ – nobody is making this claim, just that compared to the rest of the field Gabbard offers slightly more hope, and even then there are reservations about her rhetoric translating into reality.
On the other hand if the US is a basket case beyond redemption why bother commenting since there is no sign of any grassroots movement threatening corporate hegenomy, while the system cannot be derailed internally.
Why comment ? Because politics is about more than presidential elections, and a grassroots movement to replace the political culture of the US, although not in evidence, is still, I would say, all that stands a chance of effecting anything like change.
That Gabbard offers ‘slightly more hope than the rest of the field’ would fit both the model of false hope and that of genuine hope for change through the electoral system. Citing it doesn’t move the argument forward.
Isn’t this discussion about democratic candidates for the presidency; how they are being presented, and what their success or failure might mean for the US and beyond?
We are living in dangerous times my friend and for now maybe the best we can hope for are leaders that are slighly less likely than others to initiate war because in recent times that’s something no grassroots movement no matter how well supported has been able to do.
One thing we can be sure about is that Every effort will be made to prevent candidate Tulsi Gabbard from being asked Any questions that might Possibly give her the opportunity to speak the verboten phrase – “regime-change wars.” My guess is that in the end this debate sequence will end up looking like some sort of surreal Orwellian Monty Python sketch “about” political debates – designed in the end to prevent a candidate like Tulsi from having any opportunity to critique U.S. foreign policy in any way, shape or form. Theatre of the absurd anyone?
I’ve had more substantive ‘political debates’ at the Pizza Hut salad bar than what I’ve heard pass for candidate debates.
The Democrats’ new open-borders policy sort of reminds me of Bertolt Brecht’s old joke about having the government elect a new people rather than the other way around: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Die_Lösung
Uncle Joe Biden’s priorities, in no particular order:
http://www.joebiden.info
Good Old Creepy Joe. He’ll keep Metoo in business for at least another decade.
There’s a difference not to be ignored here. Bolton just wants to carpet bomb the world while Biden wants to carpetbag it and if he can’t, then carpet bomb it.
Yup. Not to mention global poverty and imperialism/exploitation/governmental corruption, sub-national and supranational conflict resolution, racism, human rights and how the issues are all interrelated.
Put Gabbard next to the likes of Hillary then ask yourself who would be better for America, or even more importantly, who would be better for the world?
The Guardian are studiously ignoring her which tells me that her views (in the main) do not align with the Washington concensus.
On the other hand one of America’s most astute political commentators, Jimmy Dore, endorses her – Jimmy (unlike the Guardian) tends to be right about most things.
We have to focus on the really important stuff, toilets for trannies, more money for Israel, more wars for Israel, more loyalty oaths for Israel for primary school children.
If you look at Gabbard’s actual record and ignore the puff pieces, she’s in no way different from the rest of the Identity Politics Democrats. Just another Hope and Change (female) Obama. The only Change you’ll ever get out of either of them is Chump Change.
Gabbard is the best of the bunch and by quite a way – having said that there are insurmountable hurdles that prevent any new prez from being able to satisfy internet purists and the compromised selection system that weeds out idealists.
For what its worth here is a summary of her voting record – on the whole it seems pretty reasonable.
“Representative Gabbard opposes big business, foreign and humanitarian aid, taxing the middle class, domestic surveillance and supports consumer protection, disaster relief, funding education, environmental protection, financial sector regulation, gun control, public health, humane immigration policy, labor rights and wages, lgbt rights, avoiding default, poverty amelioration, racial equality, increasing revenues, taxing the wealthy, countering russian interference, a robust safety net, higher spending, women’s rights.”
http://politicsthatwork.com/voting-record/Tulsi-Gabbard-412532
“COUNTERING RUSSIAN INTERFERENCE”….What’s that?….Whatever it is, I’m shocked that she’s bought into that b.s.
And how can we ignore her support for Indian President Modi, a known torturer and killer of Muslims.
Finally, will somebody please tell me why she voluntarily went to war with Iraq?
Refer to Sheldon Wolin ‘inverted totalitarianism’. Well may she speak out against war with Iran, albiet from an American centric view, (no massive death and destruction of Iranians?) Tulsi Gabbard will not be allowed anywhere near the Presidency. She won’t even get the Democrats nomination. Example: B. Sanders. Who, actually, holds the Real power in the United States anyway? Also refer to Princeton University study 2014 by Gilens & Page finding U.S was an oligarchy, not a democracy. And refer to JFK assassination also.
It will be the flat tyre dud, I fear.
Expediency writ large.
Tell the people what they want to hear, not what they NEED to hear.
Tulsi Gabbard, speaking at Brown’s University recently, has few qualms at speaking truth to power. She fully understands the insanity of nuclear weapons and advocates global disarmament. Sadly, this same concept was floated by JFK, but the PTB put an end to such dreaming. Tulsi, The world needs you.
Let’s face it, if only they and the public could just wake up to the grave risk of a major conflict. For now, forget nuclear disarmament – that can be thrashed out later.
What they need is to sit around a table with Russia, China and Iran. Honestly, it’s like these people want war and the public are taking suicide pills. Not much different in the UK. All they can talk about is immigration, BREXIT and whether May shed a tear. It’s pathetic and childish.
Gabbard is possibly our only hope.
That’s exactly why media/establishment already have a smear campaign in place. Remember how the Democrats relieved her as vice-chairman? Remember the personal attacks after she visited Assad ?
Most despicable are all those armchair warmongers trying to hurt her credibility while she has voluntarily served two tours in Iraq.
Gabbard is among the very few US politicians with common sense and integrity.
Remember how she was almost part of the Trump administration? Apparently, Bannon was a huge fan.
Tump & Tulsi, a marketable & unstoppable combination, was Bannon’s strategically calculated thinking criteria, mit Spielraum fur D’Troika 😉 In fact, BigB, long ago it was discussed between family & friends how truly successful the combination would be strategically in capturing votes & to ‘entertain’ all notions of diversity within: perhaps the last stunt that the corrupted MSM & TV Networks can pull off … Interesting times, BigB: hope you spotted the Spygate Italia connectivity to Assange’s plight & Trump’s fight against Treason and the British DS interference in the US elections, harmonised >>> if you’ll excuse the perfect pun & metaphor & CIA real world V7 leak & revealed coin of phrase, … ? ! Some-Body’s losing their MARBLES: the only question, how many ? ! The most interesting US Presidential visit ever to the UK, throughout history, coming up. May-be never in the field of human conflict .… Read more »
If Gabbard is your only hope, sorry pal, but you’ve got problems.
Is that the same Gabbard who endorses such diverse despots and dictators as el-Sisi, Hindutva fascist Modi, and Netanyahu? Comparisons to JFK are apposite: not so much ‘anti-war’ and ‘anti-interventionist’ as pro-drone and “Seal Team 6” targeted strikes and Special Operations Forces interventionism – against “extremist Islamic” groups. Which is imperialism: without the domestic cost of ‘boots on ground’. I guess she has yet to work out who controls the extremists? https://twitter.com/TulsiGabbard/status/649458891168714752 There was a reason Obama was ‘bombing sand’: a reason that is all too apparent now. Here’s a telling photo: https://twitter.com/RabbiShmuley/status/732513262286213121?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw&ref_url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.huffingtonpost.com%2Fshay-chan-hodges%2Fthree-questions-about-tulsi_b_10212942.html Ms Gabbard receiving her “Champion of Freedom” award at the Jewish Values Gala – posing with the wife of well known human rights activist and champion of the Palestinian cause – Sheldon. Are you absolutely sure the world needs another in the mould of JFK and Obama: who promise peace whilst practicing imperialism …only slightly more quietly… Read more »
Just hot air. She’s already singing from the AIPAC hymn sheet.