I must say, I have been surprised many times over the past few years at how deeply corporate interests are embedded in American politics, and how fiercely they will fight to keep their power. The cheating of Bernie Sanders, apparently, was only the beginning.
When Tulsi Gabbard, as I’d been hoping, announced her candidacy, she was hit with an absolute torrent of abuse, slander, and flaming bullshit. It was Modi, Modi, Modi all day long. People who’d never heard of Modi before were screaming “She met with Modi!” I didn’t really get it. Most Americans, when they think of India, think of Indian food and films like Slum Dog Millionaire and The Hotel Marigold. Who hates India? Why was it supposed to be a bad thing that she met with their Prime Minister?
Then Kamala Harris announced her candidacy and CNN offered her a Town Hall, right off the bat. Not too surprising, the establishment loves her, they’ve been talking about her as a candidate ever since she entered the Senate, a mere two years ago. I was a bit surprised when I found out that TimeWarner, who own CNN, was also the largest contributor to her campaign, although I probably shouldn’t have been.
What really surprised me was how well that worked out for her. The last couple of days I’ve been hearing from lots of people on my Facebook page about how much they like Kamala Harris, how she ‘hit it out of the park,’ etc… I’m sure these are well-intentioned people. I am surprised that all it takes is to say “I’m for Medicare for All” and “I’m for a Green New Deal” and people say “Great!” (She’s already walking back the Medicare for All statement), without even looking into her record.
How she refused to prosecute Steve Mnuchin, when he was head of Wells Fargo, merrily cheating people out of their homes with illegal foreclosures. Steve Mnuchin, of course, is now Trump’s Secretary of the Treasury. He was also a large contributor to Harris’ election campaign. How she supports the death penalty and 3 strike laws. How she worked to keep people in jail, even though there was evidence they were falsely accused, in fact, evidence of prosecutorial misconduct. How she is against police wearing body cameras. That one really throws me. There is no reason for the police not to wear body cams, unless they are planning on beating people up and killing them. In short, how she’s an awful human being.
But, one town hall meeting and a bit of positive framing and all that goes away.
We are in for an uphill fight. It’s even a steeper hill than I thought it would be. But, we have the truth on our side. We just have to keep repeating it.
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