Embrace It: America is a Progressive Nation

Dems Should Own Who We Are, It's Who Our Neighbors Are Too

The Republicans have started rolling out their batteries of shit cannons. They have started firing away at Kamala Harris with everything they’ve got.

As it happens, they don’t have much. For the most part, it’s tired, old and discredit. Much of it is just not-so-thinly veiled racism and sexism. But even the part that is vaguely legitimately political is tired and easily disproven.

On Thursday, Trump called Vice President a “radical left lunatic.” He did so despite the fact that one of the primary problems she had running for president in 2019 was that her record as a prosecutor was too tough. He did so despite the fact that as Vice President she shares the record of the Biden-Harris administration—which is one of a remarkable array of bi-partisan agreements. Was the biggest infrastructure investment since Eisenhower “radical left lunacy?” Was standing up to Putin and rebuilding NATO? Was investing in American science and technology to ensure we could remain the world’s leading power for the rest of this century? Is it radical left lunacy to create more jobs than any other one term president? To oversee the strongest economic growth record of any OECD country post-COVID?

Who is the Radical Lunatic?

Who was promoting the radical lunatic agenda when Trump killed the bi-partisan border bill? When his Vice Presidential running mate said that childless people should not have the vote? When they stripped away the basic freedoms of women in America, of voters, of those who sought to be free from the fear of gun violence? When they attacked the U.S. Capitol and interrupted the peaceful transfer of power in the U.S.?

Who was actually a radical lunatic? Was it a woman who has served as a prosecutor, as Attorney General of California, as a member of the U.S. Senate and as Vice President or is the convicted felon who stole national secrets and was twice impeached by the U.S. House of Representatives?

It is all as pathetic as it is predictable.

But it will strike a resonant chord with some Democrats. They will urge the Vice President to “move to the center.” How do we know? Because that is always what Democrats are encouraged to do.

You’ve heard it most recently in arguments that the Vice President must pick a running mate who is more traditional, more centrist, more white, more male. You can’t choose Governor Whitmer even if she is the best candidate because America can’t handle two women on the ticket. You can’t choose Pete Buttigieg because how could America deal with a woman of color and a gay man on the ticket. Governor Shapiro? He’s Jewish, how many Jews do we need among America’s first families?

It is reflexive rather than grounded in reflection on the true state of voters in America.