Warren E Had to Regulate

written by | Bryce Monroe

“It was a clear black night, a clear white moon.
Warren E was on the stage hiding her gloom.
Third place in the race wasn’t something to gloat.
Should be the candidate tomorrow, but she didn’t get the votes.”

On Thursday, March 5, 2020, Elizabeth Warren suspended her campaign for the Democratic nomination for the 2020 presidential election. Once considered to be a frontrunner in a crowded race, Warren at the end of day could not convert her great financial support into physical votes at the polls.

Honest Take: Elizabeth Warren was the best shot for progressive policy to make it to the White House in 2020-21. She is smart, competent, and has a plan for just about anything. It is a shame that we won't get to see her take on Trump on the debate stage and in the general election. Oh, what I'd give to have a capable leader who can finish a coherent thought and speak in complete sentences again. But I digress...

Bernie Sanders may win the Democratic Primary. But I am concerned that his appeal as a "democratic socialist" will not reach the population of disenchanted voters who may have voted for Trump in 2016 but are looking for an alternative in 2020. I feel it's a showstopper. And, unfortunately, even after taking the wider field of candidates in 2020’s primary season into account, voter turnout for Bernie has decreased compared to his numbers in 2016. I am afraid that this trend will continue into the general election if Bernie were the nominee.

While I support many of Bernie's progressive policies, particularly universal healthcare, I can't help but think that he won't be able to escape the stigma of the socialist label which has been effectively perverted by right wing propaganda. If Bernie can't activate the untapped well of younger, minority, and disenfranchised voters to actually get out there and vote, I don't think he can reach the electorate needed to defeat Trump. To quote my favorite musical, "You don't have the votes. You don't have the votes." You're gonna need some independent voters, and you don't have the votes.

Which brings us to Biden. Oh, Joe Biden. Darn, Joe Biden. Uncle Gaffe, himself. What a conundrum. Biden is simultaneously the last hope of the resistance and a return to the establishment. If South Carolina and Super Tuesday has proven anything, it is that the black community in America consistently shows up to save the day, to be our moral center, and steer us back on the righteous track...despite the cost. That cost is the implementation of progressive policy that empowers the wallet of minority communities, institutes criminal justice reform, and ensures we all have healthcare and with it the means to truly endeavor on the pursuit of happiness.

And what is the victory? The victory is defeating Trump in 2020--the opportunity to progressively shape the judiciary which will have a lifelong impact on jurisprudence and particularly civil rights, the opportunity to elect leaders that actually represent our values and are not beholden to a monarch for the sake of retaining power, the opportunity to reclaim our global standing, the opportunity to sleep peacefully at night without worrying if the president's next tweet is going to start World War III. There is so much more at risk than just 4 more years of Trump.

Rational unity, however dispassionate, is unifying. You may not be excited about whoever becomes the democratic candidate in 2020. But I can tell you, I will vote for them fueled by the white hot intensity of a thousand suns that burns within my soul to remove Trump from the White House.