Blue Mass Group

I recently contributed to Senator Ed Markey’s re-election.  I wanted to do it even though it’s a diversion of resources from the campaign to put a Democrat in the White House.  And that’s only part of the problem with Joe Kennedy challenging Ed Markey.  In addition to money, Ed’s reelection will also divert time and energy from helping Elizabeth Warren or any other Democrat defeat the most corrupt President in our history.  Joe should take his boyish Kennedy looks and famous Kennedy name and help defeat Republicans around the country instead of attacking a good, solid Democrat at home.

These are desperate times, not a time to countenance blind ambition.  We have serious problems to solve, and we need serious people to solve them.  Ed Markey is serious.  He has decades of dedication to working families, women’s rights, gun safety – and the environment.

That’s why Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez endorsed Ed Markey.  Earlier this year she and Ed co-authored the Green New Deal, but Ed’s commitment to this cause goes way back.  Almost 40 years ago, he urged “a new energy vision” for America at the 1980 Democratic National Convention.  “Within 20 years renewable resources could deliver more than one-quarter of our nation’s energy, and within 50 years we could be a truly solar society,” he said, adding that power from the sun “will leave our earth unravaged.”

Here in the Berkshires, we know Ed’s with us, too.  In January 2017, he joined 2,000 Trump resisters in the Four Freedoms march in Pittsfield to protest the hate and bigotry emanating from Trump – even before he was sworn in.  In addition, Ed is a long-time supporter of the assault weapons ban and is endorsed by NARAL.  For all of these reasons and more we need Ed Markey.  So, let’s return Ed to the Senate, where he can continue fighting for our families, our values, and our planet.

[I hope jconway doesn’t mind me designating this the “official” debate thread. — Charley]

12 candidates on one stage is not my idea of a substantive discussion. I think the DNC has thus far done a decent job with including the lesser known candidates and making sure the top tier candidates get an opportunity to debate each other. I am glad they used random assortments for the previous big debates instead of making an under card or main night dichotomy. By this point, all of the candidates have had good exposure to the voters. Even the Delaneys and Bullocks of the field. Which is why its time for the lesser knowns to go.

There has been a clear and consistent top tier in terms of fundraising and polling that has begun to emerge. By raising the threshold of the next debate to just 4%, the DNC would likely cut out many of the middle and all of the bottom tier candidates. There is still a chance someone from the middle tier (Yang, Klobuchar, Booker, O’Rourke, or Castro are all polling at around 2%) could qualify with that metric.

Otherwise we will finally get a five person debate between Sanders, Warren, Biden, Buttigieg,and Harris. These are the candidates that are likeliest to place in the top 3 in Iowa and New Hampshire. The likeliest to move on past the early primary states. They have the ground game, the fundraising, and the polling to go the distance. We deserve that debate.

Me, just under 4 years ago, as my birthplace of Fall River dumped its qualified mayor for 23-year-old Jasiel Correia: I Hope You Know What You’re Doing, Fall River

Tonight, as reported by the Boston Globe’s Michael Levenson:

Jasiel F. Correia II, the twice-indicted mayor of Fall River, said he plans on Tuesday to take a leave of absence from office and suspend his reelection campaign as he fights federal charges of extortion, bribery, and tax evasion.

In an interview, Correia, a 27-year-old Democrat first elected in 2015, continued to deny federal prosecutors’ allegations that he extorted local vendors hoping to open marijuana businesses and defrauded investors in his technology startup.

He said he plans to retain the title of mayor — and his $119,000 annual salary — until his term expires in January. But he said he will hand most of the mayor’s powers and day-to-day functions to the City Council president, Cliff Ponte, who would assume the title of acting mayor until the new mayor is elected in November and takes office in January.

Whether it’s Jasiel Correia or Donald Trump, when communities who (fairly or not) see themselves as marginalized try to stick it to the elite by electing an idiot outsider … look, the elite are gonna be fine. It’s the rest of us who get hurt when the idiots start smashing & grabbing.

School Committee member Paul Coogan seems to be the mayoral favorite, is immensely qualified, and will hopefully provide the steady leadership the city has lacked for years.

I once thought BlueMassGroup was a great place to be exposed to critical thoughts regarding our flawed political system. But in writing about one of the major driving forces in corrupting our politics (and warping meaningful policy solutions to address climate change, health care and other progressive issues), I was surprised to find muted or actual support for the status quo. 

But I’ll try again, not so much as thinking it will change anything (I am not insane) but as an outlet to vent some steam about our corrupt (but completely legal) political system and (through their silence) the acquiescence of fellow progressives.  I’m referring to the myth that pretends any American can run for political office and be a public servant. But as we all know, that is BS and the obvious example looking at us in the face is the upcoming Democratic US Senate primary election this September.

Putting aside the many complaints from many BMG readers that we should not even have a primary because…because…because why again? (Oh ya, we already have someone in that position, so we shouldn’t have a primary.)

I’d just like to focus on a simple principle our political system should adhere to and that is every candidate starts at the same starting line and has the same advantages (and challenges) as other candidates running for the same office. I don’t think that is a controversial idea and, while not written into the four corners of the law, this idea is clearly a bedrock value of our democratic republic. But we all know that is a fantasy and the system is rigged.

Why does the incumbent get to start the election with more than $4 million in the bank?

Why does one of the challengers–an entrenched political himself–get to start the race with about $4 million in the bank and then can have his father spend more than $2 million to support his son, from a campaign account that has been dormant for nearly 20 years…TWENTY F’ING YEARS AGO!! (Never mind that Marty Meehan could enter this race tomorrow, with a $4 million war chest he’s been sitting on…keeping his options open).

This kind of arms race would put any well-qualified, but not financially wealthy person, at a great disadvantage (understatement of the year). So that explains why one well-qualified challenger has the personal resources to “loan” her campaign $3 million so she can be competitive with her two challengers.   

So the message is clear: Any middle-class person should never expect to represent the people in the US Senate (or Congress for that matter).  The rules are written is such a way that–realistically–the rich, or those wanting to suck-up to rich people or special interests groups, can run for office.

Perhaps you feel that we want successful people running for Senate and that translates into being financially successful? Really? Well, you know who I’d like to see run for US Senate? It is someone I’ve admired from afar and know she has the brains, passion and accomplishments to effectively serve the people of Massachusetts. But her accomplishments are not the sexy media-driven show-horse “work” that candidates typically claim. It is accomplishments helping the most vulnerable in society–children. Children who are trapped and lost in our system of “justice”. Many BMGers know I’m referring to Amber Paw (who most of know by name, but I’ll keep her anonymous, as I would like to stay)

But we’ll never elect people like Amber Paw into a position of policy making, because the rules are to hard–damn near impossible–to get her elected. Instead we continue with our group insanity: maintaining a system were only established politicians and rich people can run for office. Continuing this system–looking blindly at all the PAC money raised in the past by Kennedy/Markey while we heap praise on any hollow “people’s pledge” that they are attempting to BS voters with–is guaranteed to maintain the status quo that continues to stymie progressive change in America.

We need across the board public financing of campaigns. That is the only way very accomplished people who work for middle-class pay (to defend children for example) can ever have a chance to represent their peers in politics. It’s time to stop this rigged system that only helps the rich and the well-connected.

Democrats need to:

1. Not engage in self-flagellation about attaining moral perfection while ignoring Trump, Trumpist accommodationists, and accompanying sycophants dismantling the entire legal system that has until recently regulated corruption and conflicts of interest;
2. Not repeat false flag information, misinformation, disinformation, and wildly out of proportion and irrelevant propaganda put out by Putin, his Russian bots, and his stooges in the White House; and
3. Focus on the emergency at hand: a wannabe dictator with zero respect for the rule of law, democracy, and our troops, who is staging the gradual destruction of our constitutional system of governance.

That’s what Democrats need to do.

Who should be the nominee is a completely legitimate point of natural disagreement and competition in the primary.

I personally will support whatever Democratic candidate gets the nomination, unless it’s Tulsi Gabbard, who has a very strange tendency to accommodate Trump’s bizarre affinity for Putin.