It just might be put up or shut up time for young people and women in the United States with just over 100 days left before the 2024 Presidential election. Joe Biden has dropped out of the race, and Kamala Harris is the presumptive nominee of the Democrats to face donald trump. Biden’s re-election efforts have been under assault…and not really by trump and the Republicans. Younger voters have been complaining loudly that Biden is too old to serve, and the President’s public performances over the past month have indicated that those young voters were on to something. Pressure on Biden eventually convinced him that it was time to move on despite a terrific record on most issues over the past 3+ years. Young people have won the war. Now can they win the peace?
History is full of examples of groups trying to force change on reluctant societies. From independence movements, to revolutions, to efforts at social change, it’s far easier to mount attacks on the status quo than it is to actually govern once the old guard has moved on. Ask the people of Afghanistan, Nicaragua, Vietnam, etc. who gave so much to rid their country of foreign aggressors only to have their grand plans disintegrate into savage in-fighting that brought as much or more misery to their country than before freedom.
So young people got their wish and Biden is out. Can they put an end to the seemingly endless propensity for Democrats to eat their own young while Republicans rally around their nominee, regardless of how unfit that nominee might be? I have been fielding comments and questions on social media regarding Harris over the past couple of days. I’ve been reminded that she is not “likeable”. I’ve been reminded that she has some skeletons. I’ve been reminded that she’s a Black woman and the country might not be ready for that. I’ve been reminded that she’s far from perfect.
If Democrats fall into their all too familiar pattern of failing to keep their eye on the prize while they search for a “perfect” candidate, we’re going to have four more years…and probably a lot more…of donald trump as president. Do you really think political genius JD Vance is going to certify a Democratic victory in 2028?
So gather around the fire, young ‘uns and listen carefully. There are no perfect candidates. There never have been. Your idealism isn’t even admirable any more. It’s dangerous and naive.
There are just over 100 days left to take the first step in preserving what’s left of our democracy. I wish I was guilty of some hyperbole here, but when you take even a cursory look at Agenda 47 or Project 2025 or whatever euphemism the GOP has crafted for their plan towards autocracy, you’d be hard pressed to claim I’m exaggerating the stakes of the November 2024 election.
Women who are not already members of the “Christian” Nationalist cult have long been worried about the future of women’s health care rights in this country. They rallied in 2017 and beyond to protect women’s rights in several states all while watching trump’s Supreme Court strip women of their fundamental right to make decisions about their own bodies. What was done is 2017 and in elections since no longer matters. Whatever momentum and progress that was made has long evaporated. Now that the old white guy is off the ticket, what excuse would any woman (not already in the “Christian” Nationalist cult) have to not spend the next 100 days making sure that Kamala Harris is our next President? Last I checked there are a lot of women voters in this country…a solid unified effort by women across the country could guarantee a Harris landslide. But will they vote?
Young people, too, got what they wanted. For the most part they didn’t object to Biden’s policies. They objected to the old white guy. He’s gone. What’s your excuse now? Well, Harris was a prosecutor and she put Black people in jail, so she’s not perfect. Well, Harris had some questionable relations with powerful men in California, so she’s not perfect. Well, Harris doesn’t seem like a very nice person, so she’s not perfect. While young people sort through the non-existent list of perfect candidates looking for ways to discredit all of them, donald trump is already planning his retribution against the many political opponents he’s accumulated over the past eight years.
How hard is this really? trump is a rapist. A jury has already conclusively decided this. trump is a traitor. His activities leading into January 6, 2021 should already have in prison with all the other insurrectionists he’s going to pardon on day one of his second term. trump is a felon. A jury has convicted him of 34 charges. I guess for “Christian” Nationalists this makes him a hero. To the other 85% of Americans, this should make him unelectable under any circumstances. How hard is this really?
The 2024 election should be the biggest wipe-out in American history. The fact that the results remain in doubt is the darkest moment in American electoral history. I don’t care that Harris sometimes eats her spaghetti without a spoon. This Italian-American aging white guy, after much research, has decided she’s not a rapist. She’s not a traitor. She’s not a felon. I’ll swallow my pride and vote for her anyways.
Get in the streets folks. Get out the checkbooks. Do whatever it takes to secure a Harris victory. Or were you just planning on bitching about something else?
The Grumblings 
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