Our Toddler King (Donald Trump) and his playdate friend (Elon Musk) are spatting again over Trump’s “big, beautiful” bill — which financially harms the working class and poor, throws millions of people off of Medicaid, and reduces or cancels numerous programs that demonstrably help the “least of these” among us. Musk doesn’t care about any of these things. Remember, much like Trump, Musk has no empathy. Both men care about two things: power and money. Musk is upset because the bill increases the federal debt by trillions of dollars and ends several subsidies that help Musk’s companies financially.
According to news reports, Musk has started a new political party — the America Party. Should we be concerned about Musk’s new party, or is this whole issue nothing more than a playground fight between two men who are bullies? And if we know anything about bullies, they cannot abide threats to their dominance. Trump threatened to deport Musk and stop government subsidies for his companies. Musk, on the other hand, not only wants to destroy Trump, he wants to destroy the Republican Party.
I am all for Musk’s plan to start a new party. First, he will peel off scores of Republican voters, likely handing Democrats victories across the United States. Now we just need someone from the democratic side to do the same. It’s time for an old-fashioned political food fight.
Let me be clear about my position:
- Our two-party system is broken beyond repair. Neither party seems capable of competently governing.
- Multiple political parties on the ballot are good for American democracy.
- I support ranked-choice voting.
- I support the end of corporate and PAC donations to candidates.
- I support limiting political campaigning to the ninety days before the election.
- I support term limits for all candidates — two terms for senators, four terms for representatives, and two terms for presidents.
I previously wrote that I was done with the national Democratic Party. Please read An Open Letter to Democratic National Committee Chair Ken Martin. As I expected, the Democratic Party voted David Hogg out of its leadership. This was the last straw for me. While I will no longer support Democrats nationally, I intend to continue to support the local Democratic Party as long as their views align with mine.
This has been a simmering issue for me for at least ten years. In 2016, I wrote An Open Letter to the DNC:
Dear Democratic National Committee,
I write to express my outrage over recent revelations detailing how DNC officials attempted to derail Bernie Sanders’ 2016 Presidential campaign. It is evident, based on released internal emails, that Deborah Wasserman Schultz and operatives within the DNC were working behind the scenes to marginalize Bernie Sanders, paving the way for Hillary Clinton to become the Democratic candidate for President. Earlier this year Bernie Sanders complained about attempts by Wasserman Schultz and the DNC to keep him from becoming the nominee. The DNC dismissed Sanders’ claims, categorically stating that both candidates were being treated fairly and equally. Thanks to Wikileaks, we now know better.
I am a diehard Bernie Sanders supporter. As a liberal, democratic socialist, I found Sanders’ policy positions to be the closest to my own. Sanders is the voice of progressivism; Hillary Clinton is the voice of centrist Democratic politics. Sanders is a man of principle; Hillary Clinton is a political opportunist. Bernie Sanders didn’t take a dime from Wall Street; Hillary Clinton made millions off of private Wall Street-sponsored speeches. Bernie Sanders opposes war in the Middle East; Hillary Clinton will continue the blood-spilling policies of the Barack Obama. It is for these reasons (and others) that I support Bernie Sanders.
I am also an atheist. Offensive revelations that Wasserman Schultz and the DNC considered tarring Bernie Sanders with the atheist label suggests to me that the DNC doesn’t realize that most atheists are political liberals who most often vote Democrat. It is also clear that the DNC doesn’t understand that scores of millennials are non-religious. These millennials generally skew to the left — good news for Democrats. Good news, that is, if the DNC stops treating non-religious people as if they have some sort of communicable disease.
I am pleased that Wasserman Schultz has been removed as the head of the DNC. But that action is not enough. Every DNC operative who thought labeling Bernie Sanders an atheist was a good idea should immediately be fired. A failure to take such action shows that Democratic leaders don’t value fairness. The DNC should also publicly apologize to the atheist community for their shameful use of the word “atheist” as some sort of pejorative term. A full-page apology in the New York Times and personal letters to the major atheist groups will suffice.
I plan to vote for Hillary Clinton come November. I will do so for one reason and one reason alone — Donald Trump. I cannot in good conscience do anything that will increase the likelihood of a Trump presidency. These are perilous times, and I must do what is best for my country. Quite frankly, if a centrist Republican was running for President I would likely cast my vote for Jill Stein. In doing so, I would be telling the Democratic Party that until they value me as a voter, they have lost my vote. I want to do this now, but I can’t. I know that if Donald Trump is elected he will fundamentally and permanently harm our Republic. It’s Hillary Clinton’s lucky day. She will get my vote, not because I think she best represents my views, but because Donald Trump is a real threat to national security and social progress. If Clinton wins the election, the DNC might want to consider how to keep my vote come 2020. If liberal, democratic-socialist atheists aren’t welcome in the Democratic Party, then perhaps it is time to start seriously considering third-parties that value people such as myself.
Sincerely,
Bruce Gerencser
A Former Right-Wing Evangelical Republican Turned Liberal, Democratic-Socialist Atheist
While my political views have changed somewhat since 2016, one thing is clear: I can no longer support the Democratic Party. I refuse to be bullied into voting for the “lesser of two evils,” so don’t bother trying to badger me into voting for the Democratic standard bearer. It remains to be seen whom the Democrats stand up for in the 2028 Presidential Election, so I may vote Democratic depending on the candidate. We want to blame stupid MAGA Republicans for ‘blessing” us with the worst president in American history, but the Democratic Party certainly played a part in Trump’s re-election by fielding unwinnable candidates (Joe Biden and Kamala Harris). As of today, I am unsettled as to who Democrats should field in 2028. But mark my word, if they trot about another “seniority” candidate as they did with Biden and Hillary Clinton, the Party will hemorrhage voters by the millions. I agree with most of Bernie Sanders’ positions, but he is too old. I’m a big fan of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (AOC) — what a firebrand! — but I suspect that many voters will consider her too young for the job. I like Elizabeth Warren, too, but it is unlikely she will run due to her age. Today? I would love to see people such as Katie Porter or Pete Buttigieg run for office, though Buttigieg being gay will likely hurt his electability. What are your thoughts about who the Democratic Party candidate should be in 2028?
Bruce Gerencser, 68, lives in rural Northwest Ohio with his wife of 47 years. He and his wife have six grown children and sixteen grandchildren. Bruce pastored Evangelical churches for twenty-five years in Ohio, Texas, and Michigan. Bruce left the ministry in 2005, and in 2008 he left Christianity. Bruce is now a humanist and an atheist.
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If Musk follows through with the America Party, it might bleed voters from both parties. But Musk has a history of making huge promises and then under delivering in the end. It seems that, like Trump, everything he does eventually turns to shit. I don’t know if anyone Musk supports can get on a ballot as anything but an independent or a write-in. I agree there should be more choices, but I don’t know if new parties would be any better. I have never seen a candidate I agreed with on much of anything.
You have my sympathies, Bruce. The Labour party here – which is supposed to be the party of the left – has recently voted to cut the benefits of those who are already struggling, and have no interest in any form of wealth tax. It seems the world over that no one wants to threaten the power of those who are rich, and worse, some actively defend this (as per some of my recent discussions with one Citizen Tom).
It is deeply ironic for Christians to support slicing away benefits to protect the wealthy. Do they not understand that they are enforcing social Darwinism? ‘Survival of the fittest, sorry, richest’, is what they appear to believe, and what’s worse, that attitude is now infesting what should be the political left, at least here in the UK.
For years Bernie Sanders has been my favorite politician. But we need somebody younger next time around.
I thought Beto O’Rourke did a good job campaigning in the past, but he does not have enough national experience.
And it’s too bad former Ohio Representative Dennis Kucinich is no longer in the Senate. He was one of the strongest candidates in the past.
I like O’Rourke too, but you are right, he doesn’t have much of a national presence. That said, neither did Barack Obama, and we know how that turned out. 🤣
I have supported Dennis Kucinich in the past. ❤️
Fantastic thread Bruce. Wow, do our politics align. I really like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Pete Buttigieg, or Adam Kinzinger. Bernie Sanders is my hero and as you have stated, what a tragedy it was for the American public that the DNC went the “Political Machine” route and shut him out of the 2016 election.
To the greater point, the United States, or the ideological doctrines that served this country for 249 years are in shambles. Think about it, we have a President that has run on the basis of fear mongering about criminals and the invasion of immigrants.
Does it ever occur to his base that he is a convicted FELON and married to an IMMIGRANT??????
Personally I think the American Experience is…….OVER.
Democrats and Republicans are the puppets of American Oligarchs, the Military Industrial Complex, Christian Nationalists, Foreign owned right wing media conglomerates, and the “Brown Shirts”, that run Federal, State and Local policing.
Racism, Greed and Power are in vogue. The Supreme Court is supremely corrupt.
It’s over, perhaps when this ROT comes crashing down, and it most certainly will, there will be a revival of humane, liberal, wealth distribution and empathy for the citizenry. That is of course if we are not all nuked or destroyed by climate change.
It may be nature, that will be, the final arbitrator.
The Mango Menace’s base believes he was falsely convicted, and will point out that his wife is a GOOD (aka White European) immigrant. Racism rules them, and most of their ancestors came from Europe, so those who abandon the “libtard” countries of Europe (which are not necessarily liberal, and at any rate whose inhabitants do not deserve to be dismissed with that slur) are okay.
Speaking as a geologist, nature will most definitely be the final arbitrator. Species come and go. Great extinctions happen (and hey, we humans can make that happen ourselves now, go us! Grrrr). Life on this planet will somehow endure the time of humans and keep on going, though not necessarily the way it presently is. But I grieve for the humans who are suffering or will suffer extraordinarily along the way, not through any fault of their own, but because of decisions of the oligarchs.
AOC is not too young for the job, but you’re right, people may think she is. I’m a progressive voter, and at least at the local level, I’m not alone where I live now (San Francisco Bay Area). I’ll retire soon to Eastern California, in an area so red that the (lightly populated) county’s Democratic Club meeting might well consist of three people having brunch together after church, every Nth Sunday of the month. We’ll see. Husband and I might be the only people in the county to fly the California state flag beside/below the US flag on Independence Day, but some others fly the Confederate flag instead. (Insert your favorite expletive here.)
I’m supporting Katie Porter in her current run for California governor, but the Democratic Party Machine doesn’t like her, she’s too progressive. We do have ranked voting, though, and so we might get her on the ’26 November ballot.
I love the idea of 90 day campaigns, and love, love, love the banning of PACs and corporate money in elections. Alas, they will be holding Winter Olympics in Hell first.