Tag: Elizabeth Warren

Warren – Sanders: the non-handshake that shook progressives

Fundamentally, Bernie Sanders is another clueless male

When there was so much dust being kicked up around the contretemps between Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders, at first I thought – meh, she’ll get over it, or he’ll find a way to resolve it  that will bring her around; the dust will settle and things will go on as before . . . .  Such was his expectation after Warren charged him with calling her a liar on national television . . . then, when Warren refused his handshake and waited, looking him in the eye with clasped hands, as if beseeching him to admit a wrong, he said they should talk about it later and turned aside.

It doesn’t matter if “things will go on as before” on the surface, because at a deep level the damage has been done, and given what we saw, it will continue to get done.

Reflecting on my own version of male cluelessness, I have a good guess as to what must have happened to (1) elicit Elizabeth Warren’s fury over Sanders telling her a woman couldn’t get to be president, then denying it; and (2) explain his denial.

I think it comes down to Sanders just not getting it. Whatever his exact words, she took it as an aspersion back then, and in the heat of the Iowa race felt driven to spit it out. And Sanders, instead of taking her to heart, instead of conceding he may have made a mistake, flatly denied saying it.

Continue reading “Warren – Sanders: the non-handshake that shook progressives”

Americans Serious about Climate Change? Tell Me Another Whopper

[WARNING: many readers may find the following a downer—but if you care about facts, you must be willing to look at all kinds of Inconvenient Truths.] 

U.S. public on climate change: a crisis in name only

The September 20th Global Climate Strike has been inspiring—for those seriously concerned about global warming and climate change.

It’s less inspiring to read of how not-serious most of the American public is. A week before the Climate Strike, the release of a Washington Post/Kaiser Family Foundation poll headlined “Americans increasingly see climate change as a crisis” appeared to portend a sea change (pun partially intended) in attitudes toward climate change.

Read on for what underlies appearances.

The takeaway from the poll is that the public says, big problem—let somebody else take care of it. Consider that 38% describe climate change as “a crisis,” and another 38% describe it as “a major problem but not a crisis.” However, to combat climate change only 37% say major sacrifices will be required, 48% say minor sacrifices, 14% “not requiring much sacrifice,” with 1% having no opinion.

Next we read that “nearly half of adults say they would be willing to pay a $2 monthly tax on electricity to help combat climate change.” If that sounds promising,  the report says just 27% would pay $10 extra a month. Meaning that at best 27/38 (71%) is the fraction of those saying the threat is “a crisis” would also pay $10 extra a month. $120 a year. Hmmm . . .  33¢/day = a bit more than 1/6th the price of a “tall” cup of Starbucks coffee.  Now that’s what I call a major sacrifice!

Continue reading “Americans Serious about Climate Change? Tell Me Another Whopper”

The Impeachment Dilemma: Good Politics versus Good Governance

Impeach Now? Y/N

Answer: Y 

A month ago Elizabeth Warren was the first Democratic presidential candidate to call for the impeachment of Donald Trump ASAP.

Robert Reich, non-presidential candidate but straight shooter, did likewise in The Guardian on May 8.

In both cases, they saw evidence of obstruction  of justice so plainly exposed in what was the redacted version of the Mueller Report, that the case for impeachment was transparent and compelling.

Last night on CNN  Tom Steyer, who has been calling for the impeachment of Donald Trump since the man took office (even before the Special Counsel’s  investigation had started), once again called for impeachment ASAP.  In Steyer’s view, the Mueller (Special Counsel’s) report had strengthened an already ironclad case.

The political counterargument

The argument against starting impeachment immediately is political. It’s the Nancy Pelosi-led camp urging the Democrats to go slowly and carefully with investigations to build a body of evidence incrementally—and to proceed with impeachment only if the body of evidence reaches critical mass. Otherwise, the violence of the reaction from the Trump base, plus the exhaustion of the political center of the electorate, would make Trump the victim he has consistently claimed to be, and turn the public against a rabid, overreaching, unjustifiably partisan Democratic Party.

The put-a-hold-on-impeachment policy is spun as “let the people decide,” as in, the verdict on Trump should be delivered in the 2020 election.   (Based on the questionable assumption that the election will not be decided by Vladimir Putin.)  What outrages Trump may commit in the interval between now and November 2020 are overshadowed by political considerations.

Continue reading “The Impeachment Dilemma: Good Politics versus Good Governance”

Hollowing out of the Middle Class: a Second Look

Middle class hollowed out? Kind of. Unhappy? It depends . . .

Progressives like Bernie Sanders and Michael Moore are fond of excoriating the rich and powerful for the “hollowing-out of the middle class.”  What they fail to mention—either for lack of information or for political expediency—is that, money-wise, more families are leaving the middle class on the upside rather than the downside.  There’s plenty of evidence for this.  Check out the following, which is similar to other reports, but I especially like it because it is based on Pew research findings:

https://qz.com/1005068/the-upper-middle-class-is-the-new-middle-class/

A larger segment of the middle class, it seems, is rising into the highest  and upper-middle class than is falling into the lowest class (the lower middle has remained unchanged), and the net effect, dollar-wise, of “hollowing out” appears to be a positive.   Is this a Good Thing?  After all, can’t money buy happiness?

Continue reading “Hollowing out of the Middle Class: a Second Look”