I’m a relatively well-informed guy. I check The New York Times and The Washington Post every day. I follow a bunch of politicians, magazines, journalists, government agencies, nonprofit organizations, and activists on Facebook and Twitter. But at this point, I can’t tell you definitively who is running for president and who is not.
I mean, I remember reading the former Republican governor of Massachusetts, William Weld, announced his plan to challenge President Trump for the Republican nomination, but I’ll be damned if anyone in my network is talking about it. I can only hope the right-wing bubble that exists separate from my algorithmically generated media feeds is awash with talk of his challenge, because as The Washington Post made clear, President George H.W. Bush’s re-election bid was weakened by the need to defend his record against a challenger from within his own party. With Gov. Weld challenging President Trump, the President’s re-election bid could, if we’re lucky, suffer the same fate.
But if President Trump comes out of the primaries still aglow among the members of his own party, the future of American democracy will rest on whichever candidate is delivered up by the voting members of America’s Democratic party.
It’s a process we need to take seriously.
The Problem
As of today, 209 candidates have filed with the Federal Elections Commission as candidates to become the Democratic nominee for President.
Even if you discount the people who are crazy or just having fun, the list of at least mildly qualified individuals is ridiculously long.
We’re still eleven months away from the Iowa caucuses, but I’ve already donated money to three different candidates. I followed my heart and gave more money to Senator Sanders than I did to Mayor Buttigieg or Senator Warren, but I want to hear a substantive debate between at least those candidates before I enter the voting booth (in other words, Senator Sanders has not locked down my vote).
But I also want to hear from a good percentage of the others. Senator Booker interests me, thanks to the Oscar-nominated documentary, Street Fight, which focuses on his 2002 campaign to become the mayor of Newark. I have reservations. I don’t like how he voted on a largely symbolic but still important proposal put forward by Senator Sanders and Senator Klobuchar in 2017 that would have signaled Congress’ willingness to take on the pharmaceutical companies and lower prescription-drug costs, a move supported by 72% of the American public. Senator Booker joined the majority of Republicans who voted against it, and the proposal failed, 46-52. Obviously, that’s not cool.
Senator Harris interests me as well. I know very little about her, but I’m nervous about the fact that, as the District Attorney of San Francisco, she “ignored [her] constitutional obligation” to serve in the interests of the public, rather than of the police. But I’m also persuaded by the conundrum she presents for the party, given that she is a highly qualified African-American woman who isn’t backing away from her record.
Vice-President Biden has not yet filed with the FEC but he accidentally announced his candidacy at a private dinner. I have little interest in the former Vice-President’s campaign. I enjoy him as a vocal member of the party, but I do not want him to be the leader of it. Despite his current position at the top of the polls, I suspect the primary process will once again reject Joseph Robinette Biden Jr.
I don’t know enough to be for or against former Texas Congressional Representative Beto O’Rourke. He seems like a good campaigner, but I have no idea how he might govern.
I’m curious about Governor Inslee because one of my friends who lives in the governor’s home state has vouched for him, and he seems to be the only candidate willing to put America’s response to climate change at the center of his platform. Climate change is an existential threat, and anyone who cares about the future of our species needs to recognize its position as the central crisis of our time.
And then there’s Andrew Yang, whose popularity, Rolling Stone reports, may be the result of right-wingers trolling the Democratic primaries. Mr. Yang wants to make a Universal Basic Income the central plank of the Democratic platform. In Mr. Yang’s version of the UBI, “every U.S. citizen over the age of 18 would receive $1,000 a month, regardless of income or employment status, free and clear. No jumping through hoops. Yes, this means you and everyone you know would receive a check for $1,000 a month every month starting in January 2021.” I know what you’re thinking, but Mr. Yang has a real plan to pay for it.
The list goes on and on, as could analyses of each candidate’s strengths and weaknesses. But that, my friends, is the problem. We don’t want the primaries to seem like a clown car.
The Solution
The Democratic Party is well aware of the problem, which is why campaigns must do one of two things if they want to be invited to the first four debates: “either earn at least 1% support in a series of public polls of Democratic voters or attract 65,000 individual donors.”
As the Washington Post notes, this requirement is “more focused on growing the number of donors than on raising money.” The candidate who receives 65,000 donations (regardless of the amount of those donations) will be just as entitled to a place on the debate stage as someone whose connections to the cultural and financial centers of our country provides them with enough name recognition to garner 1% on a series of national polls.
The new rules (debated and agreed upon in the wake of the 2016 DNC scandal) give more power to grass-roots activists and outsider candidates, who may not have the ability to tap into the financial networks of New York City, Washington D.C., Chicago, Los Angeles, San Francisco, or Seattle, but do have the ability to generate support among a large cohort of people.
The Action
I recommend you take this opportunity to peruse the individuals who have announced their candidacy and make a $1 donation to at least two or three of them. We want a healthy debate during this primary cycle, and the rules being set up by the Democratic Party seems to favor our voice.
This is your first chance to vote. And it will only cost you $1.