An Open Letter to Joe Biden

You had a good night, owing to your expected win in South Carolina after getting the Clyburn endorsement and President Obama and the party leadership telling Amy Klobachar, Pete Buttigeg, and Beto O'Roarke to toe the line and endorse you to consolidate the right wing of the party against the left wing of it.
It will be a week or two before we know the full results, but that helped you get back in the contest.
Your case is your more electable and you say you can unite the party. Its up to you to convince the voters of both these things. Here are my questions, and though I am just one voter I hope your staff points this letter out to you for consideration because these things will come up.

Unifying Rather Than Dividing the Party

Clinton and the DNC divided the party in 2016 by cheating on Sanders and this in effect was telling every Sanders supporter to, as your wife put it 'I know you dont like the policies but you need to just swallow it and vote party line' (paraphrasing as the swallow is all I recall for certain.). Clinton is to this day still whining and trying to say her oss was all Sanders fault, as if Comey, the media harping on forever about her emails, Russia, and her bad decisions such as telling many in the party they had to vote for her even when she ignored them (like Wisconsin) or told them their votes were not important (Sanders supporters). She lost that election due to her actions and choices. Will you do the same?

If you dont not win 51% of the delegates and get the nomination through a contested or brokered convention, there is no doubt Sanders will support you, just as he did Clinton because hes more loyal than most of you. Remember Clinton did less for President Obama - remember her phrase PUMA?

The thing is that Sanders is not in control of his voters, this is America after all and politicians should earn our votes, some will support the nominee no matter who but when you yourself refused to commit to that you cant reasonably demand his voters to toe the line. And not all his supporters are even Democrats, he won Independents and even Republicans too. You need a message that appeals to the voters and to give us reason to trust you.

The DNC is right wing and at war against the Left, preferring to support people who vote Republican most of the time over progressive candidates. If the Dems want to be Right over Left, why not just vote Republican? What, and can you be specific about how you will unite the party rather than continuing the policy of demanding voters just do what the party tells them to.

Clinton's attitude more than anything else lost 2016, how will you be different? Especially if you win not by voters but by the decision of party insiders?

What Do You Offer as Reason to Support You?

Other than supporting Obama Care which the Republicans have largely dismantled and will again if you reinstate it how will you improve the situation with health care?

What will you do, if anything about the issues voters care about?

We all know Sanders is unlikely to get everything he wants, but we trust him to at least fight for it and us. You have been recorded as telling your donors not to worry, nothing will fundamentally change. That led us to Trump in the first place.

Voters have disagreed with you at town halls and you tell them to vote for someone else, including telling them to vote for Trump. You do not appear to be trying to address or care about their concerns.

How Can You Beat Trump?

The Republican party have given permission and support to weaponize the federal government against their political opponents. 

• He will use the DOJ and the IRS against you and Hunter, are you prepared for that?
• He will go on and on about your history as a DC insider and the money you and your family have made, Ukraine, China, the stuff in Delaware,etc Does not matter what he is doing is far worse he will do it anyway and his voters will cheer, even as they are ripped off.
• Despite being the stupidest person ever to hold the office he will make fun of your Gaffs and slurred sentences.
• He will bring up your comments about cutting Social Security, despite him trying the same thing.
• He will hit you with the Iraq war and the Crime Bill.  He will hit you with stuff most of us dont even know about yet, and he will lie and twist things so they appear even worse than they were.
• In 2016 he had a lot less money and was less organized, his attacks on Clinton will pale to what he will do to you. Are you really ready and up to it?  Can you convince us that you are? Against Sanders all he really has is calling him a socialist, which of course he will call you anyhow. The difference is Sanders will embrace it so the attack fails among his supporters but you will deny it and likely just look weak to the conservatives and independents, while reminding the progressives they could have had someone with policies they believe in and wanted.
• Trump is a liar, a cheat and will play dirty, worse with the Federal government supporting him this will be the toughest and nastiest fight of your political career. Can you really handle that? Please convince us.

The decline in US Manufacturing

@gop @TheDemocrats @BrandNew535 @justicedems @JoeBiden @BernieSanders @USAutoCouncil

In the 80's 25% of US jobs involved manufacturing, now its 10%. Republicans blame immigrants and regulation saying worker safety, pollution control, and wages are to blame so subsidize companies through tax cuts and they can then afford to higher American workers, even as they give those manufacturers 50% tax breaks to open plants overseas.

@realDonaldTrump @BernieSanders and others, including most labor unions blame trade agreements like NAFTA, TPP, and others where corporations were in charge of setting the trade policy through lobbyists and buying politicians. Trump hit @HillaryClinton hard on this in 2016

@JoeBiden not only voted like Clinton, he whip counted for it and in recent debates still says they were good deals. He will be hit hard on this if he wins the nomination. But the other candidates and #MSM ignore this because they supported it too. Except for @BernieSanders who was one of the very few who predicted the effect to employees and not only them but all Americans and was willing to take the unpopular stand.

That is Senator Sanders in a nutshell! Always looking forward and wiling to take a stand for America rather than bend with the political winds or be bought by corporations. Only one candidate in the 2020 Presidential election has a proven track record of putting Americans first, ahead of his wallet and political self interest. I do not agree with all his decisions, nor perfectly align with his ideology but hes the only one I trust to govern with integrity. That matters!

Opensecrets funding for each of the major Oklahoma candidates for federal office.
General Race data

Kendra Horn (OK-05) 12.79% small dollar
Danyell Lanier (D) vs, Mark Mullin at a horrible 0.37%

Why You Should Not Vote for Trump in 2020

Coal Miners

• See those promised jobs come back?  Nope. Meantime the companies got bailouts, McConnell and the Republicans fighting the promised pension funding. Truth is those jobs will not come back, deregulation lets them use alternative and cheaper mining methods such as mountain topping which require fewer workers. And fracking and other energy sources are cheaper than coal. Workers need real healthcare and good paying jobs, not empty promises of jobs coming back. Specifically this group needs to support Paula Jean Swearengin for US Senate, Coal miners daughter fighting for YOU

Farmers

• Soybean sales tanked due to trade war to boost manufacturers. Fun Fact - not only are farmers losing sales, those sales are largely going to Brazil and a major Trump and GOP donor, the Blackstone Group.
• Corn sales down to boost profits for oil companies.
• Farm bankruptcies up 25% and climbing, mostly due to the Tariffs but Climate Change is a factor as well with planting season issues and a mix of flooding and droughts.

Manufacturing Companies

• Trumps haphazard trade wars have increased your input costs and hurt your customer demand. In picking a fight with so many countries at once in his hope of seeking bilateral one on one deals he has alienated many of our allies and weakened Americas economic power,
• For example his trade war with China would be going a lot better if it was in coordination with our allies.  Also because its one sided, China put counter tariffs on the USA and lowered tariffs from other countries. So lower demand for American products due to higher prices compared to elsewhere.

Manufacturing Workers

• Jobs are still going overseas and the Republicans kept in a 50% tax cut for companies making plants overseas when they did tax reform.
• Trade wars raising costs and of course that means companies cut jobs to compensate, maybe they will come back, maybe not. But in the meantime you need to pay the bills so that is no consolation.

Oct 2020 Dem Debate Opinion

Lets see what the polls say but my initial takeaways...

Winners

• Senator Sanders had people writing him off after his heart attack. He needed to show he had it still and I think he was the most animated on the stage. Also again, most issues are framed around him. He easily had the most to lose so needed to do really well and he dd that tonight.  Also the AOC endorsement came out tonight will help, not a huge deal since so many supporters shared but if she had gone for Warren it would have hurt him. 
• Yang did a great job. His UBI is practically a mainstream issue now where before it was treated by the media as a joke.
• Castro did a solid job overall. I doubt he gets a big bump but he did very well.
• Tom Steyer was pretty focused as we knew he would be but he hit his core issue of corruption really well. Also saying as a billionaire he also thinks they need to pay more in taxes will win him points.

Losers

• Senator Harris kept trying to use that personal anecdotes and it came off false. Also what was with that attack on Warren? Trying to pin her on twitter banning Trump was a weak move I dont think resonated well.
• Mayor Pete was overly combative,though he had a good moment on Syria.
• Senator Gabbard also was overly aggressive and her attack on Mayor Pete on Syria I think will alienate a lot of vets who would agree with Buttigeg that Americas word is a powerful defense and our soldiers need it.
• VP Biden took some solid hits from Senator Warren and Sanders. And he opened himself up to both those big hits. If he hadn't have attacked Sanders I doubt Sanders would have hit back. And he came off condescending to Warren on the CFB, especially if you know the history,

Summary

I think Sanders had the biggest night, he really needed to show he still had more energy than anyone else on the stage. I was watching talking heads and they commented on it.I think it was Maggie Haberman who said he had more energy in the last hour than she did.

I dont think anyone else will see a big rise but the winners list dd well for themselves.

Warren had the mos talk time and as the current front runner took the most incoming fire and she did not really win them all. She needs to come clean on the increased taxes thing. Overall I think she held her place, which as a front runner is enough.

Biden was I felt a big loser here. He picked two fights he came out behind on and relied on his record which is a mixed bag. Also he needed to turn around the falling in the poll status. He came off week.

Why Every American should Support the Fight Against Climate Change

National Security

• The Pentagon has identified this as the key threat to our national security.
• Oil in the Middle East funds terrorist activities and wastes our resources trying to secure and protect various countries over there. This costs us American lives and billions of dollars every year. Clean Energy sources cut into the wealth of Middle Eastern countries.
• Migration and refugee crisis. As food and water shortages continue to get worse because of flooding and droughts people flee for other countries, creating a massive refugee crisis. This also increases global warfare which we can get dragged into.  Especially if were still reliant on oil.

Taxes

• With all the money we have been spending on disaster relief we could have put that towards something else, and its just going to get worse.
• We not only give fossil fuel companies enormous tax breaks, despite them making billions in profits, we also give them hundreds of billions annually in direct subsidies -corporate welfare.
• Public lands are being sold off at bargain prices to fossil fuel companies. Be nice to have them for the public!

Health

• Breathing and other problems are increasing in the country, especially among children and the elderly who are most vulnerable,
• American average life expectancy is going down, despite it being better in other countries.  Not all of this is due to climate change of course, we also have the most expensive and least effective health care system in the developed world.

Jobs and the Economy

• The renewable energy sector is the fastest growing part of our economy, even as we lose jobs in coal mining to the Natural Gas industry. Oil jobs are boom and bust with layoffs every time the price dips.
• Putting money into renewable energy, especially with some of the more Progressive campaign plans means a lot more jobs in every state. And they are good paying jobs! Senator Sanders plan for example will mean work for building contractors, plumbers, roofers, manufacturing, and more. Instead of trickle down economics its trickle up. Workers tend to spend their money, and much of it locally which spreads the wealth around more effectively than multimillionaires who tend to invest most of their money (often in shell and tax dodges). So more money spent, plus a larger tax base,
• Insurance prices go up as the companies need to make up for money spent covering claims related to climate change.

Farming

• Farmers have been hard hit the past decade and its getting worse with more drought and flooding. Farmers need predictable weather and steady water supplies, not the boom/bust cycle caused by climate change.
• Bees are dying as are other useful insects and this also creates problems for farmers, and others.
• Why does climate change create both droughts and floods? If you live in the South this should be easy to understand. Hotter air can hold more moisture (higher humidity) so as the temperature warms up more water is held in the air and it evaporates from the ground faster. Then when the temperature drops there is more water coming down as rain.  So we get extreme cycles instead of a more even swing between dry and wet spells.
•  As farmers go bankrupt then lose their farms we lose a valuable resource. Also food prices go up from scarcity and we may have to import more food, though the rest of the world is often even worse than we are at the moment.

Hunting and the Great Outdoors

• Places where we can do this get smaller and wild life less due to climate change and over development.

But the Cost!

Yes, addressing climate change is going to be expensive. If we had gotten serious about it in the 70's when the oil companies studies realized what was happening, or the 80's when it was more public knowledge it would have been cheaper and easier.  However the longer we wait the more expensive and harder it gets. Also we lose out on developing technologies if we keep stalling while other countries invest in those sectors. Instead of us making and selling stuff to other countries, we will be buying it from them.

Finally, when someone talks about the cost and how it will hurt the economy ask them these questions.

1. How much is your life and your children's life worth?  Because as it is now Americans are dying from climate change and it will only get worse.
2. Why should we spend money propping up oil and gas companies or bailing out farmers and people who lose their homes from severe weather?  How much does that cost us now? How much will it keep increasing?
3. Doesn't it just make more sense to spend our money on growing industries that make our lives better? On activities that increase our resiliency and stop rising sea levels and dangerous storms or drought powered wildfires?

Unionizing America

Listening to various talking heads I had this thought. What Senator Sanders is trying to do is unionize America.
Labor unions helped the workers by uniting large numbers of workers so they could fight for better pay, benefits, and safety as a group rather than individuals,  As individual employers would simply fire them and the status quo remain. The corporations had all the power.
But by uniting and working together unions led to substantive changes, We enacted child labor laws, shortened the work week, raised pay, increased health benefits, and improved worker safety, among many other improvements.
Of course since the 80's the Republican party has rolled some of that back and virtually destroyed the power of unions, and in large part due to corporate influence the Democrats allowed it. But still a lot of those changes are lasting ones.

What Sanders is talking about is effectively unionizing Americans.
The situation is much the same corporations hold most of the power and control most politicians through large campaign donations and promises of cushy jobs when a congress person retires.
The average American citizen has little power, districts are divvied up with gerrymandering to minimize our votes (If your in a safe district both sides can ignore you as your vote doesn't not typically matter), voter suppression laws and purging of the rolls, and other in my view flat out Anti-American tactics but even more so the ruling that money is free speech and corporations count as people (even if they are owned in whole or in part by non Americans).


The fact is that American citizens have little effective power as individuals but when we unite we do have power. Senator Sanders plan is to give voters something worth fighting for, not more of the same or incremental change that may benefit us a little bit and our grand kids a little more (if not rolled back). Are his ideas bold? Will they be hard to push though Congress? Absolutely!!!
But Freedom isn't free, and anything worth having is worth fighting for. His plan to use the Bully pulpit to bring issues to the voter is a powerful one, little used by previous Presidents.
Trump understands that power and uses it to stir up his base to protect him even when he does things that would have resulted in any other Presidents impeachment and removal from office.

It is a fact that the candidate with the most money usually wins. But what the media and establishment politicians are not really publicly acknowledging is that in 2018 a lot of candidates who were massively out spent won their races.  The trick is to win those seats they had to speak to their voters in clear and inspirational messages that made a stronger impression than the paid for advertising.
Also old fashioned methods like town halls and door to door campaigns as well as reaching people through the internet more than television.
Senator Sanders inspired these grassroots movements by his efforts in 2016. He had the powerful message that he would work for voters, not corporations and put his money where his mouth was by refusing corporate super pac money.

Imagine That Integrity and Powerful Messaging in the White House!

With the bully pulpit of the Presidency he can get air time by simply making a speech. His plan is to put issues to Congress or promote ones he favors in his speeches and get the word out to us, the American voter.
It will be up to us to band together, as we have in the past and tell Congress what We The People think. If he makes a good case we tell that to them, likewise if we disagree.
But by uniting and bringing his case directly to you and me he is helping us gather our power and use it effectively to serve us.  Instead of the current back room politics he will haul it onto the front lawn where we can all see what is really going on.
Like the unions and civil rights movements of the past we can, under President Sanders leadership take back our country and make it work for Americans. This is a powerful opportunity we may not have again if we allow it to slip by.

Trumps Latest Attack on the US Military

I get that a lot of Republicans are racist, but just how far are you willing t go?
The latest effort by Trump in saying children board to US service members will no longer count as US citizens is absurd.  So we send a soldier overseas to fight and possibly die for the country and they and their spouses lose a natural American right?
Why are ok with this?  Is it because you think it will only affect colored people? Those of a different religion? Will you make an exception for white people?

The modern Republican party is despicable and keep attacking Americans, our rights as citizens (things like voter suppression and declaring corporations are people, and money is Free Speech), our livelihood (rolling back regulations that protect citizens to give corporations more money, for example), imposing taxes on American citizens to give to corporations such as Tariffs and allowing big companies to pay no federal income tax through loopholes, to stoking hatred and fear using tools such as racism to divide and control the middle and working class so they are easier to take advantage of.

• Illegal Immigrants take jobs Americans dont want and pay billions in taxes for services they are not able to use. If you really think its an issue go after the companies that hire them, but since that almost never happens the real purpose is clear.
• Trump put thousands of veterans on the street in 2017 because he delayed renewing housing benefits for them in efforts to force the Democratic party to fund his wall.
• Trump made tens of thousands of poor children suffer and undoubtedly some died when he pulled the same tactic with CHIP.
• Trump has stolen money from the military and the US Coast Guard to fund his wall.
• Trump and Mitch McConnel block efforts to secure our elections from foreign meddling.

The list goes on and on and its clear, if you vote Republican in 2020 your voting against America.

Who I want to be President and Why

There are a lot of candidates running for President, several hundred in fact! Yes thats right, according to the FEC as of Aug 12 2019 we have 816 candidates who have filed to run.! Naturally we have never heard of nor are likely to most of them and of course most do not expect to win.
Lets take a quick look at some of the major candidates and my personal opinions.
Senators Sanders and Warren are my top picks so I'll start off with the others in the order I think of them.

• Marianne Williamson: Initially I thought she was kind of a nutjob but I have since listened to some of her interviews and changed my mind. She appears smart and well educated and has a good depth of knowledge on several issues, shes done her homework. Net Worth $1.5 Million, Progressive, Signature Issue is healing and uniting America. She has a lot of good plans to do that too, but I suspect some like reparations are too controversial to pass.
• Kamella Harris: I liked her more early on but do not feel she is handling the debates and interviews very well. In my opinion shes too evasive and has flipped flopped on several issues. I feel shes too worried about what polls well and not authentic. Net Worth $6 million
• Pete Buttigieg: Hes smart, maybe the smartest and best educated of the candidates. However he has not handled local division and races issues well as Mayor. I'd like to see him get more seasoning and prove his ideas. Also he is catered to by the big donor class far too much for my liking and I fear would work more for them than the average American.  Net Worth $100K, Socially left, otherwise more centrist and pro-establishment.
• Joe Biden: Far too establishment for my taste, also thinks he can work with #MoscowMitch even though President Obama was usually blocked by him. The establishment and big donor class love him and I think we have had them in control for far too long. Net Worth $9 million. Establishment and a bland moderate to Conservative. Signature Issue is "I can work with Republicans" and wont rock the boat.
• Andrew Yang: I initially dismissed him,that Universal Basic Income thing is a bit too socialist fir me. However listening to some interviews and its not as out there as I thought. Alaska does this already where every adult gets money from oil pumped out of the state. His proposal is to do the same thing for the tech industry. Considering how much they make off our personal data and the jobs they want to automate I'm ok with a tech dividend for Americans. I love that hes talking about the dangers of automation too.  No one else really hits on that but the fact is most Americans will lose their jobs to automation and sooner than most people think. Net Worth $1 million, Progressive, Signature Issues UBI and how to counter the massive unemployment thats coming.
• Inslese: An afterthought, i dint think he expected to win. I think he jumped in to get climate change talked about and I respect that dedication to a vital issue

Senator Sanders and Senator Warren

Both are strong progressives with a long track record of working for American people over corporations. 

          Senator Warren fought for us while she was a law professor and was responsible for creating the Consumer Protection Bureau. She was nominated to head it but Republicans feared her so much they killed that, she then ran for Senate and won and been a thorn in their side ever since. "Never the less she persisted" is a fitting theme.

          Senator Sanders has been a champion of human and civil rights his entire career, probably more consistently than any other serving politician. One of his early famous moments was when he was arrested at a 1963 Chicago protest for defending black civil rights. As Mayor and later in Congress he has continued to fight for human rights for everyone.

Both have the broadest appeal across the country of voters, where the others may be more popular in certain regions. This is best seen by looking at the small dollar donations and where they come from.

Both of these people are powerful progressives with plans to move the country forward and work for the people instead of the corporations. They have similar ideas, I would say that Warren is more focused on economic protections and preventing exploitation by corporations, while Sanders is more focused on health care and other basics. Either one would be great for the country.

My Preference is Bernie For President

This is purely my opinion and some of it based on feelings more than a comparative analysis.

• Sanders is the underdog and I like underdogs. Hes hated by corporate media, Republicans and Democrats both fear him and each are working hard to push the narrative that hes too left and extreme to win. With that many powerful organizations after you, your an underdog- and hes winning!
• He pushed the Democratic party to the left and we know he means what he says because hes been pushing it for 40+ years. Others have come to his ideas much later as polling shifted so we have less reason to trust them.
• Hes willing and able to fight for us, anywhere and anytime.He went on Fox TV and defended his left wing policies to a right wing audience against right wing moderators who were trying for a got'ya moment and he got a standing ovation.
• Health care is a major economic issue for Americans and he will fight hard to give it to all of us. Media trying to kill the idea of Medicare for All happily point out that his plan will raise taxes to pay for it. Where most politicians dodge that he comes out and says the truth. I love that honesty and integrity, we need more of it! I have blogged about Health care several times so wont repeat it here, check out the blog using Healthcare as the keyword.
• Climate Change is the other key issue for the country, even if climate deniers try to push it away. He has plans for that too and if we dont act soon and vigorously nothing else matters.
• Campaign Finance Reform is another important issue.  We need to change things so politicians work for the citizens, not the corporations and special interests. He is another pioneer here and while many talk about he has been fighting it for years. He is an independent to avoid the "Dialing for Dollars" routine and stand aside from the corruption rather than help it. His 2016 grassroots campaign proved individual donations from voters could fund campaigns without being bought by corporate PACs. Brand New Congress and Justice Democrats were inspired and successful because of him in 2018 and likely will be more so in 2020.

I'll be perfect;y happy with Warren for President but Bernie is my first choice. Both are fighters with proven records of working for Americans rather than against them, but for me the edge goes to the stubborn goat who has been fighting the establishment the longest. I want the underdog to win and the more the mainstream media and establishment Democrats say he can't the more I want it.

All that fear and dismissive asides tells us all what we really need to know about this race.

2020 Candidates Andrew Yang

Good fast interview on Stephen Colbert.
I think the citizen dividend thing is too far left for my taste but so far hes the only candidate with a plan for the automation crisis. Getting rid of the penny and a psychologist in the White House makes sense too.