Ripples [View all]

[H2O Man]

“It is from the numberless diverse acts of courage and belief that human history is shaped. Each time a man stands up for an ideal or acts to improve the lot of others or strikes out against injustice, he sends forth a tiny ripple of hope, and crossing each other from a million different centers of energy and daring, those ripples build a current that can sweep down the mightiest walls of oppression and resistance.”
-- Senator Robert F. Kennedy; South Africa; 1966.


I'd like to take a minute or two to talk about three types of ripples. None should be confused with a cheap fortified wine associated with brown paper bags, Steve Bannon, and/or Stephen Miller's future. So let's move on from there.

The first type of ripple was that sent out by every person who participated in campaigns and voted for Democratic Party candidates in 2018. There was a lot of variety among those wonderful ripples being sent out and building together a powerful force. There was variety among the candidates our party had at the local, state, and national levels. Combined, these ripples became the current that resulted in important victories, especially in the House of Representatives. Significant in my mind is that we are now being represented there by variety of good people. Can't say the same for that other party, can we?

The second type of ripple are of the kind being sent out by court filings by the Mueller Team, the Southern District of New York, as well as other legal entities. These are being discussed frequently by journalists in a variety of media sources, and on a number of internet sites. We are able to say that these various ripples have combined to partially uncover the 2016 shipwreck known as the Trump-Russian scandal.

The third type of ripple that we are seeing involves those people within our Democratic Party who appear very interested in entering the primaries to become our candidate for president in 2020. This includes the ripples from journalists and others discussing their opinions on who is going to best represent us in that contest. Much like the first and second types of ripples, these represent a wide range of sources.

Our ripples come in various colors – black, brown, red, yellow, and white. They represent everything from young to old, male to female, with a variety of backgrounds. The opposition party is restricted to old, white, wealthy, ethically-dehydrated drippings. Hence, as we witnessed in November, the current has begun to flow in the direction of constitutional democracy.

As individuals, each of us has an idea of which candidate should be our party's nominee for president. That's a good thing, so long as we do not ignore the many other ripples of that third type. It is, I think, too early to say with any certainty which candidate will become the clear choice in 2020. We are fortunate to already have so many options – especially since the opposition will almost certainly be stuck with Trump or Pence.

I believe that any one of our potential candidates could win in 2020. Some appear, at this point, to be surer bets to win than others. But a lot can change between today and election day. We should be keeping open minds, as we keep our eyes on the prize. Our focus must be on winning the White House, the Senate, and expanding our majority in the House.

To accomplish this, we will need the energy created by all of those ripples. We need to recognize what brings about the energy of excitement among potential voters. Two of my favorite politicians – Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders – are being mentioned as possible primary candidates. However, both are old white men. As a cranky old white man myself, I'd prefer that neither run again. You can only boil an egg once, as the Irish say, and both have had their turn.

I think our ticket should include youth, color, and at very least, one female. It's not as if we would need to scrape the bottom of the barrel to find such candidates. We have lots of good options that fit these descriptions. We have the opportunity to have the energy of an exciting ticket that appeals to the broadest base in 2020, one that every Democrat will be happy to actively support.

Peace,
H2O Man