Friday, August 14, 2020

In 'Battle for the Soul of This Nation,' Biden Names Kamala Harris as Vice Presidential Running Mate

I wish I could get excited. Instead I feel grief. 
 
Will I vote against Trump? Yes. Does that mean that I’m buying the illusion that a Biden-Harris ticket will bring us and fight hard for the full Green New Deal, Medicare for All, and racial, economic, social, and environmental justice? No. Not at all. 
 
The only reason that I’ll cast my vote against Trump is that I know he’s crazy — I mean an off the charts profoundly dangerous sociopathic narcissist. 
 
These candidates who seek to defeat the madman — but whose records demonstrate an allegiance to neoliberal predatory capitalism — will at best lessen the madness. But they won’t stop it. They won’t stop the trajectory we’re on towards complete civilization collapse and ultimately extinction. 
 
That’s our job — all of us who yearn to create a just and caring world that gives our children and grandchildren and all children and species everywhere a chance of a just, sustainable, and peaceful planet. 
 
But we won’t be motivated to be part of the great universal struggle for justice if we allow ourselves to go back to sleep and believe everything will be fine if we just get rid of Trump. We must not fall for that dangerous illusion.
 
No matter who sits in the White House next year, our trajectory will remain dire without sustained massive actions and demands by We the People for the radical changes that have been urgently needed for so very, very long. 

This will include fighting together to push for the dismantling of all of the systems of suffering, destruction, and death — the fossil fuel and nuclear industries, the military industrial complex and worldwide militarism, the insurance and pharmaceutical industries, the prison industrial complex, the animal agricultural industries, and all that feeds racial, social, economic, and environmental injustice and insanity.

And this will include fighting together to birth a radically different world — one which recognizes all life as interconnected and Sacred.
 
For decades Reagan, the Bushes, Clinton, and Obama have colluded in perpetuating the kleptocracy that is destroying our country, other nations, and the Earth. Trump has just accelerated this process of destruction exponentially. 
  
Yes, Trump must go. As must all the poisonous patriarchal neoliberal predatory capitalist policies and politics and belief systems that are death-and-greed-oriented rather than rooted in that which holds life with protection and reverence. 
 
There is nothing for me to celebrate today. What sustains me is the belief in the potential for humankind to awaken, dismantle all that is life destroying, and instead evolve to create a nation and a world rooted in justice and generosity, wisdom and peace, and compassion and love. Defeating Trump is only one out of countless steps forward that must happen if we’re to save ourselves.

We are in the 13th hour. A sixth major extinction is underway. We change now or we perish. Together, may we choose Life. The eyes of the children are watching. — Molly


"All of us will need to do everything we can do defeat Donald Trump this November, and Joe Biden will need strong progressive energy to win," said the PCCC in response.
By
Former Vice President Joe Biden on Tuesday afternoon named Sen. Kamala Harris of California as his running mate in the 2020 presidential race, putting to an end months of speculation about who he would select as his vice presidential nominee as he campaigns to defeat President Donald Trump in November.

In an email to supporters, Biden called Harris "one of the toughest and most effective senators" and "someone who understands the pain that so many people in our nation are suffering, whether they've lost their job, their business, a loved one to this virus."

"I need someone who understands that we are in a battle for the soul of this nation. And that if we’re going to get through these crises—we need to come together and unite for a better America. Kamala gets that." he wrote.
The Progressive Change Campaign Committee, which endorsed Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) during the Democratic presidential primary, applauded Harris, the first African-American woman to run as vice president on a major ticket, for "breaking this important barrier."

"All of us will need to do everything we can do defeat Donald Trump this November, and Joe Biden will need strong progressive energy to win," the group said.

Harris, a moderate Democrat who served as district attorney of San Francisco and attorney general of California before being elected to the Senate in 2017, clashed with Biden early in the primary debates over the former vice president's civil rights record, memorably sharing her own story of benefiting from a school busing program. 

The NAACP called Harris's vice presidential run "the culmination of the tireless work of Shirley Chisolm, Charlene Mitchell, Sojourner Truth, Rosa Parks, Fannie Lou Hamer Barbara Jordan, Ida B. Wells, and Myrlie Evers in their fight for representation and equality."

"From the voting booth to grassroots movements, Black women have fought for and uplifted this country with their vote and voice," said Derrick Johnson, president and CEO of the NAACP.

"But their representation in the highest levels of government has never matched their unwavering participation in our democracy," added Johnson. "Today's announcement of a Black woman, Sen. Kamala Harris, as the first vice-presidential candidate of a major political party, breaks down one of these barriers in historic proportions."

On Tuesday, Harris tweeted that Biden "can unify the American people because he's spent his life fighting for us" and said she was "honored" to join his campaign.
Progressives pledged to continue engaging with the Biden-Harris campaign, and pushing them next year—once Trump is ousted—to ensure they embrace bold policy proposals supported by the majority of Democrats and all Americans, including Medicare for All and a Green New Deal.

Harris signed on as a co-sponsor of Sen. Bernie Sanders' Medicare for All bill last year, but drew criticism from progressives during the primary debates regarding her lack of commitment to replacing the for-profit health insurance sector by expanding Medicare to all Americans.

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