Blue Mass Group

My Twitter field has come alive with a burst of chatter about Rep. Joe Kennedy challenging Ed Markey in the 2020 Democratic primary for the US Senate.

One of the first to chime in was Doug Heye, whose Twitter profile states he is a “CNN Political Commentator & WSJ contributor. Former Burr, Cantor, RNC, campaign flack & @HarvardIOP fellow. Fan of Tar Heels, Yankees, Sinatra, Springsteen.”

Kennedy is the real deal. Exact who the Democrats should want. https://t.co/zxsif2ZoTr

— Doug Heye (@DougHeye) August 17, 2019

As I wander about Middlesex County, particularly in the world of potential Democratic primary voters, I can tell you there is a definite Axis of Evil in this world. Regardless of race, religion, gender identity, sexual orientation, or any other demographic marker, that Axis of Evil lays out on two dimensions: Republicans and the New York Yankees.

At this point, I find myself wondering just why a GOP operative, a former Deputy Chief of Staff for Communications for House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, a former communications director of the Republican National Committee, a former senior advisor to the Iowa Republican Party, and a self-proclaimed fan of the New York Yankees, would be offering such a bold opinion pertaining to a potential Democratic primary in Massachusetts.

I live in the heart of Markey’s old congressional district, and have known Ed since our town was moved out of Tip O’Neill’s former district in the 1992 reapportionment. I would see Ed often; he always marched in Arlington’s Patriots’ Day parade, and when I joined the ranks of elected town officials I would chat with him as we marched down the Avenue. I also spent considerable time in the beginning of the century doing lobbying for education issues, and he had one of two congressional offices with aides we could count on to understand local issues and implications for federal education policy.

Ed is a little on the goofy side, in that he finds this work to be joyous and displays his enthusiasm openly. He is also a policy wonk. He is not a show horse, and he spends considerable energy on the issues that are the locus of his expertise; consumer protection, telecommunications, and environmental policy. He was the lead advocate for environmental policies 20 years ago, when a working subcommittee was relegated to a windowless basement office adjacent to a connecting corridor.

Ed Markey is probably the most under-appreciated senator in the chamber, and that is probably why folks are thinking he would be a great primary target.

Enter Rep. Joseph P. Kennedy III. I don’t know why he is suddenly taking an interest in higher office, but my first instincts are to be miffed because of his choice in targets. I appreciate his aspirations for higher office, but when we needed a strong candidate to take on Charlie Baker, he was quite content to stay in his safe house seat. No, he would rather occupy us with the high cost of energy and donations to take out a progressive senator in a year we should be focused on extracting Donald Trump from the White House and Mitch McConnell from his obstructionist perch in the United States Senate.

While the Never Trump GOP would be happy to have us remove Trump, even at the cost of a Democrat in the White House for four years, they certainly don’t want to allow a unified Democratic party to take control of the Senate. They don’t want Democrats to have any success with a progressive agenda. When Republican Yankee fans start to think a Massachusetts senate primary is a really good idea, we really need to wonder why.

I’ve always been proud to be an Irish and Italian American and I’m grateful my ancestors came over here to enjoy the privilege and opportunity of being an American. Only in America would an Irishman and Italian woman meet and make me. Only in America would I meet and marry a Filipina. I’m a little embarrassed that some of the most prominent anti-immigrant voices in this administration share my heritage, but forget our roots. Forget that once we were “without papers”. Forget that once we were the ones with the funny religion, who didn’t speak the language, who weren’t considered fully white or fully American, who were taking the jobs away from the people who were born here.

The reason I love teaching history is because the past always feels alive to me and ready to teach us something new. We should never forget our past, not only to avoid repeating its mistakes, but to learn from what worked. Immigration built America. Immigration will continue to rebuild and reshape America. Only in the new world have we broken down the barriers that divided the old. This American success story should continue. We welcome the hustlers, the dreamers, the entrepreneurs alongside the hungry refugee. It’s what we do. It’s what makes us America. It’s what made us all American.

Yesterday at work, in the employee break room a friendly co-worker tells me “Trump will go down as the greatest president in our lifetime”.  I assumed he was joking and made a sarcastic remark.

He was not joking.  He doubled down.

So I asked, “On what measurement, what criteria is he the best ever?”

My co-worker replied, “Best Economy Ever, look at your 401-K”.

I came back with, “If I can show you that other presidents did better, will you take that back?”

He said, “Yes, but no Fake News and nothing from the Deep State”…(honestly I was getting worried about this guy as he seemed normal up until now)

So today, I gave him this:

Here’s the change in Dow Jones Industrial Average from Inauguration Day to Aug 12 of their 3rd year in the White House:

GHWB: +34.2%
Clinton: +42.4%
GWB: -11.9%
Obama: +41.7%
Trump: +30.1%

Trump is 4th our of 5 in presidents relative to raises in the DOW.

He replied, “Where did YOU get these numbers?”

I answered, “Simple, just looked them up on the internet and used a calculator to figure the  numbers.”

He ended the conversation with, “Okay, I better find out for myself.”

In other words, I am lying, or the Fake News has taken over the DOW…or the Deep State is involved.

I’ve never met a cult follower, until now, and now I am seeing them everywhere.

Picture the following. Democrats desperately vying to replace a racist, foul-mouthed, unqualified, corrupt, norm breaking Republican supported by a hard core 40% of the electorate. The Democrats have a huge primary field with the potential nominees competing over who is the most progressive among them who is also the most electable against the racist Republican.

Do you picture crowded debate stages and a nasty, negative primary? Do you picture attack ads between Democrats that strengthen the hands of a loathsome Republican? Do you picture one candidate winning the nomination with less than 30% of the vote? Do you picture a divided Democratic Party? If you do, you are mistaken.

In this primary progressives actually run ads with their opponents. In this primary the Democrats unite behind the candidate who wins a clear majority of their vote. Someone who may not have been everyone’s first choice, but was at least their second or third. In this election third parties aren’t a threat in the general, but an option to select while also selecting the Democrat as a fallback to stop the racist Republican.

Sound like Disneyland? More like Vacationland, and it could be coming to the Bay State with your help. Ranked choice voting is the most democratic way to select candidates and the best way to ensure extremists and racists are shut out of our politics for good. It’s time e every Democrat supports it.

So now we are targeting LEGAL immigrants, like my own family, described in detail below.

The New York Times says today they “probably” won’t target those who are one step from citizenship with a green card. I don’t buy it. They’ve lied every step on immigration, why would they change now? So now they’ll be targeting people like my family, since we were on food stamps for a time in the 1970’s when we were kids so my father would not lose the house in Lynn.

My family, which was on food stamps for a brief but critical time, decades later now includes:

A cousin who is very successful as one of the world’s best hands at handling the lines on oil rigs all over the world;

Another cousin heroically raising boys as a single mom and doing a great job at it;

A brother who worked for microbrews the hard way and who raised an amazing group of kids who now include two brilliant elementary school teachers of other Americans’ special needs students, a businesswoman, a sociologist, and an artist.

Another brother who is part of a team that repairs America’s nuclear submarines who is raising a great son who is a competitive bowler

A brother who is one of the highest ranking non-political employees of the U.S.Commerce Department who is an expert on US trade promotion for American business who also raised two daughters, one of whom is studying at a top university to get a master’s in environmental science, and the other studying to get a PhD in nursing at Columbia University

A brother who is an Episcopal priest who got his doctorate in theology at the Vatican who was a dean at a Catholic seminary and then at an Episcopal school of theology

A son who defends people accused of crimes who cannot afford a lawyer

And a sister who spent years taking care of American cancer patients, American mothers giving birth, who now is working in public health in New Hampshire to more efficiently and compassionately provide health care to all residents of her state, who raised five wonderful kids who include a star volleyball player who is starting out in the business world; a whiz kid in economics, gaming, and the stock market who is now at a major financial concern; a dramaturgist and playwright; two younger brothers who are brilliant young musicians who are the definition of fine young men who have the world as their oyster.

BUT BY ALL MEANS CUT PEOPLE OFF IF THEY USE A PENNY OF YOUR TAX MONEY EVEN IF IT MIGHT CAUSE THEM TO FALL OFF THE TRACKS AND END UP BEING DEFENDED IN COURT BY THAT SON –

– RATHER THAN

CARING FOR YOUR ELDERLY MOTHER,

TEACHING YOUR CHILDREN WITH SPECIAL NEEDS AT A HIGH LEVEL OF EXPERTISE,

HELPING YOU BIRTH YOUR CHILD,

HELPING YOUR BUSINESS GET OFF THE GROUND,

WRITING YOUR PLAYS,

DRAWING YOUR ART,

PLAYING MUSIC FOR YOU,

DEFENDING YOUR COUNTRY WITH USABLE NUCLEAR EQUIPMENT,

CARING FOR YOUR PASTORAL NEEDS FROM BIRTH THROUGH TROUBLE, PAIN, SICKNESS, STRIFE, and DEATH,

KEEPING SONS ON THE RIGHT TRACK, OR

BRINGING YOU GAS FOR YOUR CAR.

We have inmates running the asylum in the White House, implementing policies that were heretofore only dreamed about by that segment of the American population represented by the Know-Nothings, the KKK, the John Birch Society, George Wallace, and Pat Buchanan.

We owe it to these next generations of Americans to instead renew and pass on to them the country represented by FDR, Dwight Eisenhower, Lyndon Johnson, JFK, Barack Obama, and, ultimately, that powerful and enduring icon of our nation, the Statue of Liberty. That is the truest America. That is the America admired by those I worked with in Tajikistan, the Congo, and Colombia. That is the America my 90-year-old Irish mother believed she was entering when she was one of the last ever to pass through Ellis Island.

We overcame this strain in American society after the previous high point of this thinking in the 1920’s, and we owe it to our founders, and to all who have died for the ideals of this country, to do so again. The first, and most critical step to doing this is to nominate someone with the best possible chance of defeating Donald Trump.