AND THEN IS NOW

Running for president, I saw the inner workings of how the election game is played in America. The Democrat presidential primary campaign is more of a reality TV show than a democratic process, at this point hardly news to anyone who has cared to take a deeper look at it. The conversations that dominate the campaign season — and the participants in it — are pre-approved by a campaign-media-industrial complex which punishes harshly (usually through ridicule and disinformation) anyone who doesn’t toe the line. In the final analysis, no matter who raised what money or filled stadiums with how many thousands of people — not to mention, was bringing up the most critically important topics for our future — if the candidate wasn’t a chosen one by today’s equivalent of men with cigars in back rooms selecting who the nominee will be, he or she had little chance to proceed.

Thus, we ended up with a Democratic ticket that was not the result of organic passions arising from the collective aspirations of democratic voters, but rather the establishment’s pick masquerading as something else. In the case of Joe Biden, who the establishment chose is a good man; in many ways he has a personality that’s perfect for this moment, endowed with maturity and clearly good intentions for the country. My problem is not with Biden himself; my problem is with the sleight of hand that made him the Democratic candidate.

Yet I supported and voted for Joe Biden — choosing not to articulate some of the things I’m articulating now for the very reason that I didn’t want to fuel more cynicism…