For the first time, the US just topped 100,000 new coronavirus cases in a single day. Because of this, the number of active cases is increasing faster and faster.
These exploding active cases will cause health facilities to become even more overwhelmed, and has already led to the rationing of health care in the US. This affects all patients, not just people with Covid-19, so more people will die, not just the close-to-a-quarter-million people who have died from Covid-19 alone. Everyone. Get into a car accident, or have a heart attack, or get severe food poisoning? There might not be anyone available to treat you.
What I want to know, is why anyone would vote for a president who repeatedly denies that Covid-19 is a problem, and has completely mishandled the fight against it?
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I think the country needs introspection and democratic party need introspection as well. If democratic party strongly feels where it stands in all issues, then it should stick to it, and realize that there are a lot of people not going to vote for what they stand for. Not winning senate basically leaves Biden as lame duck.
It is anecdotal, but Kamala Harris was net negative on Biden.
1. Any Indian americans who were going to vote democratic, was going to do so regardless, and any Indian americans who were in awe of Trump because of his close relationship of Modi and shared hatred of muslims were going to vote for Trump and did. The few on fence did go towards democrats but were offset with many Pakistani Americans who were on fence and went the other way. In fact there was a democrat guy “sri preston kulkarni” in Houston area for congress, many Indian muslims campaigned hard to remind Muslims of area not to vote for him because of his hinduvata background. (I am not saying Kamala has anything to do with it, just casuality of complex muslim, Indians, Pakistanis politics)
2. Any African american women who were going to vote democratic were going to vote regardless if Kamala Harris was there or not. But a good percentage of african american men ended up not voting or voting Trump because of her.
3. Same goes for Latino women/men as African American
So it comes to question of purity vs winning elections.
Here in Kentucky, I can describe the problem very simply. Quite a few of the people I work with and meet are terrified of change and anything that is “different”. They don’t have any desire to travel outside the U.S., or even read about other countries. They prefer to be polite and give lip service and stay in a sheltered cocoon of oblivion just staying home and watching their favorite TV shows and/or playing video games. It is impossible to have a logical conversation about topics in the news or politics since they get their facts usually from one source (Fox) and have no interest in learning or expanding their knowledge or insights. Fortunately, I live in Louisville where things are a little more progressive, but there are still many smart and intelligent people who are part of this overall majority I described. I can only say that if we took all the billions of dollars spent on this damn election and used it to improve our education system and paying teachers a decent wage, it would make more of a difference in the way people vote than any thing else.
A point of order about rationing.
The suggestion that we don’t live with health care rationing under usual circumstances is beyond ridiculous. We have a primitive, iniquitous and easily exploited form of rationing, namely rationing by how much money you have. No country that wants to claim membership of the “developed” world has a system like this.
When folks talk about health care rationing as if we don’t already live with it, I’m transported back to what I’d hear my Republican friends saying, regularly, in 2004 and 2008 “Well, we haven’t been attacked by terrorists under George W Bush and I feel pretty good about that”. As if it’s a golf game and he got a mulligan for 9/11.
If there’s one thing that needs to come out of the corrupt and incompetent non-handling of the pandemic, it’s that in order to rebuild and rejoin the developed world, we need a modern and efficient to ration health care. I’m not holding my breath for any of the current Democratic leadership to grasp this.
Hassan & Geoffrey make valuable points.
The Democratic party is a complete and utter disaster. They remain fundamentally fixated on triangulation the way Republicans remain fixated on tax cuts.
The last 40 years are a series of object lessons that the Dem’s refuse to learn. It’s so egregious it can only be corruption. Continually pursuing people who are extremely unlikely to vote for them, period. Tuesday’s election proves that it doesn’t even matter whether their lives depend on it.
The Republicans have cornered the market on people who are easily scared. The Democrats routinely ignore people who want to embrace the “now” and work for the future, figuring they’ll vote Democratic anyway because what’s their choice?
And yet, E V E R Y election we have the struggle to get folks to bother to vote for milquetoast soggy toilet paper say-nothing candidates.
Why Did Bill Clinton win? Not because he triangulated, because he gave people hope for “more” to get behind. Obama simplified it, just going with “Hope & Change” and letting us to project our hopes for change. They didn’t obfuscate or wobble.
Al Gore didn’t lose because of hanging chads and GOP corruption, but because he hoped to get in without causing too much fuss, hoping folks would just see him as a continuation.
John Kerry didn’t lose because the GOP was mean and nasty about him (swiftboat)- everyone knows the GOP is mean and nasty. He lost because he ran as “not as bad as the other guy” doesn’t cut it.
Hilary Clinton, despite being a deeply flawed (not entirely her fault) candidate to run, didn’t lose because of our BS electoral college. She lost because she didn’t give the US anything more tangible to get behind than disdain for the incompetent unnaturally orange loudmouth orangutan throwing poo at the walls. She lost the moment she apologized for her focus group tested and approved apology for her “deplorables” comment.
She needed to hold her head up and own it. If she’d said something like “you know, that was maybe a bit cruel of me which I regret, but the point stands. If you’re someone who: (long list of trumpanzees deplorable characteristics), your attitude towards X, Y and Z is deplorable”. That would have old people she was ready to stand and fight for them. For decent values. Challenging those with backward retrograde shit-headed attitudes to try to justify themselves.
I said it here, months ago, “Joe Biden is not going to do it” and boy howdy was I ever right. Even if Joe squeaks in by a miracle, to have an election this close, with possibly the greatest and clearest case for ejecting an unwell, incompetent and dangerously destructive incumbent. The down-ballot consequences complete the picture. The mid-terms are where you can get away with crappy leadership by projecting focus group detritus. To win in a presidential year, you need to offer something of substance that people can vote FOR. Trump knows this, even if all he’s got is power, corruption and lies (thanks, New Order !).
Nationally, internationally, Trump is only not a laughing stock because he’s correctly known as dangerously disturbed and unwell. To fare SO BADLY against such a weak incumbent is the most damning indictment of persistent Democratic failure I can imagine.
Health care rationing should start with people who do not wear masks or who congregate in large groups. threaten thisand perhaps more will pay attention?
The GOP, Donald Trump, and his enablers own each and every death, and should pay the penalty for their actions/inactions that resulted in the climbing death toll we now have.
And no, it wasn’t “politics” or “opinion” or “entertainment.” It was straight up murder. Ask Jared.
J, I’m getting tired of people blaming the Democratic Party. I know they aren’t perfect.
But you ignore the fact that Trump and the Republicans had (and will still have) a huge propaganda machine on their side, consisting of Fox News, the rest of the right-wing media, QAnon, the rich and powerful who want to keep things going their way, evangelicals, and on and on. And that doesn’t even count Russia and other countries that would love to see the US brought down a bunch of notches.