On December 2019, President Obama said this:

If you look at the world and look at the problems it’s usually old people, usually old men, not getting out of the way…I’m absolutely confident… if every nation on earth was run by women, you would see a significant improvement.

IMHO, Obama was hinting at the old men getting out of the race. That would leave Warren.

People are freaking out about Bernie Sanders getting the nomination, and hope Biden can stop him. However, Biden appeals to older voters while Sanders appeals to younger voters. This is a problem.

The way to solve this is to vote for Warren.

Warren Appeals to a Large Cross Section of Voters

Like Obama, Warren actually appeals to a broad coalition of people. Here is a great diagram that agrees with other data that I’ve seen.

G.Elliott Morris from The Economist magazine tweeted this out on Feb 26, 2020:

I took 2k responses to our polling on the Dem primary with YouGov and told my computer to place candidates in a 2-dimensional space depending on how likely they are to share voters. It spit this out. Note Gabbard/Steyer's extremity, Warren's centrality.

Warren is at the cross section of voters. Exactly who we need – someone whom voters can coalesce around.

Obama & the Moderates vs. Progressives

Back in 2008, people were trying to talk me into voting for Hillary because she was a woman, and Barack Obama would have more chances. That was a terrible argument. They also told me he couldn’t win. I had faith and voted for the best candidate, Barack Obama. That he would become the first Black president was a huge bonus. And very important to so many of us.

Yes, I want to see a woman president, but Hillary was a centrist – a moderate. Moderates, by definition want to keep the status quo with little to no big structural changes. This is exactly a symptom of why we’ve gotten little done in this country over the past few decades and how we got Trump in the first place. Moderates cozy up to corporations & the super-rich. Hillary, Biden (tied to financial industry — he has harmed consumers in multiple ways, e.g., “The first duty of any senator from Delaware is to do the bidding of the banks and large corporations”), and Bloomberg represent exactly what is wrong with this country, which I wrote about in my previous diary. Elizabeth Warren Said We Have One Shot – It’s Not Just about Beating Trump.

If you care about democracy and haven’t read my diary, please do because it talks about how Trump is just a symptom of much bigger problems that have spanned many decades. In fact, he is overthrowing our democracy with his super-rich friends. We can’t fix these problems together, unless we all understand how we got here. Democracy means (power of the people), so we have to make our democracy work for us. It won’t work if we are spectators.

Bloomberg and others bought offices for Republicans in Congress who support Trump and the overthrow of democracy. Super-rich folks are antithetical to democracy because they have all the power.

Warren Follows in Obama’s Footsteps

Obama won because he brought hope and enthusiasm to voters of all ages, including Democrats and others across the political spectrum. Fear, too, played a part. The Republicans had crashed the economy, and people were scared and wanted change. There’s the key to turning out large numbers of voters is (read The Anger Gap by Davin Phoenix)

Hope + Fear of something

Back then, it was fear of economic recession, loss of jobs, homes, etc.

Now, we have even more to fear: Trump, loss of democracy, climate crisis, coronavirus, economic crash (which is coming).

Dr. King Called for Progressive Reforms

There’s a reason why Dr. King called for progressive reforms. He saw the status quo of society as a threat to achieving equality across the board for people of color. In order to combat inequality, a major reason why we got Trump, we absolutely have to have major progressive reforms.

Warren’s Civil Rights Record

Now, we have a woman – Elizabeth Warren – who really does follow in Obama’s footsteps and is a progressive. Warren has many of Obama’s traits of kindness, enthusiasm, hope, etc. She’s intelligent, like Obama, and deeply cares about people. Including people of color, who have traditionally been left out of the conversation. In fact, The Root gave her the top score on her agenda for Black folks, which includes other people of color. How many of us would sleep so much better at night with this type of president?

Also, her civil rights record goes back decades. As a law student in 1975, “Elizabeth Warren's first law review article blasted an anti-busing court ruling.” Among other things, the article says

The isolation of minorities in urban centers, Warren wrote, and a shrinking tax base to finance public education would lead to facilities that are inferior in "student-teacher ratios, and other educational advantages" for minority students. For Brown v. Board of Education to have meaning in northern urban centers, Warren said that "effectively separate schools, even if equal, and certainly if unequal, are condemned by the Constitution, regardless of the reason for the separation."

In 2015, she also gave an amazing speech at the Kennedy Institute about systemic racism. And she named names of Black men killed by police.

We Have One Shot & It’s More than Just about Trump

I’ve been saying we have one shot for several years (and I mean more than just Trump), so I was very happy to hear Elizabeth Warren say it at the debate. Obviously, we have one shot to beat Trump. Otherwise, this country will be in full authoritarianism/fascism.

However, let’s move beyond that. Let’s say a Democrat wins. If we don’t first control the corruption and ensure voting rights, we can’t do much of the really big stuff and make generational changes. That’s true regardless of whether we take back the Senate and maintain the House or not. There are some things a president can do, at least, that don’t require the Senate or the House. Attacking the climate crisis has to be the next priority.

Need to Combat Corruption & Implement Big Structural Changes Right Away

Here’s the one shot. Democrats have to make big structural changes in the 1st year that make considerable differences in people’s lives. That and tackle corruption. Otherwise, we will lose in the midterms, just like Obama did, and democracy will be lost. This is why Elizabeth Warren is right that we have to get rid of the filibuster. It’s not part of the Constitution and is actually anti-democratic.

If we don’t make big structural changes right away (Including many within the first 100 days), people’s frustration will more easily boil over with each failure. There are a lot of people in America who are actually experiencing life like they are in a terrible recession or depression. Trickle-down economics doesn’t work.

The is only 1 candidate who has plans for combating corruption and implementing big structural, progressive changes. Elizabeth Warren. Without these, we’ve lost our democracy. It really is this dire.

Warren Studied Why People Go Broke & Set Up a Federal Agency to Hold Businesses Accountable

Warren is the only one who sees how corruption is tied to everything and has plans to fix it. Not only that, but also she’s studied this throughout her life and understands how dark money is tied into this. She’s been working to help American families for most of her career. In fact, she is the only candidate who has set up a federal agency.

On September 17, 2010, President Obama announced the appointment of Warren as Assistant to the President and Special Advisor to the Secretary of the Treasury on the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to set up the new agency.

CFPB has returned over $12 billion to American consumers, as it fights the big banks that have cheated people. This article is old (from 2017); the amount is more than the article states. But it talks about the Republicans wanting to kill it. By the way, there was another win for CFPB just the other day vs. Wells Fargo.

Republicans are dismantling the government as we speak and looting it, just like they did in Russia during the fall of the Soviet Union, creating the oligarchs.

A Winning Strategy – Overwhelm the Ballot Box

The worst thing to do is to vote out of fear. Panicking people make lots of mistakes. We will likely lose. In FDR’s First Inaugural Address, he said (bolding is my emphasis):

So, first of all, let me assert my firm belief that the only thing we have to fear is...fear itself — nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror which paralyzes needed efforts to convert retreat into advance. In every dark hour of our national life a leadership of frankness and of vigor has met with that understanding and support of the people themselves which is essential to victory. And I am convinced that you will again give that support to leadership in these critical days.

Have Faith in the Best Candidate

Have faith in Warren, the best candidate, like I do now and did with Barack Obama.

Otherwise, it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. And we lose.

If you are waiting for any of these candidates to save us, we will lose. They can’t do anything without our help. Candidates have to generate enthusiasm, and we have to help them get out the vote. Otherwise, people just won’t come out to vote in the numbers we will need.

While Warren is the best candidate, none of these candidates is perfect. No matter who wins the nomination, they won’t win without our help. And we ALL have to vote for that person. If we ALL vote for the nominee, we can win. Keep in mind that 100 million people sat out the last election.

We literally are in the fight for our lives as all these hostile forces and the climate crisis bear down on us. If we are all sitting home doing nothing, we will lose.

Democracy Is Not a Spectator Sport

Democracy is not a spectator sport, so get involved. Help fund candidates, including down-ballot races, if you are able. Get out the vote; make phone calls; text; talk to friends, family, and co-workers. Those of us who have more have a moral responsibility to do more. There are plenty of people who are just surviving in this country who need us to get in this fight and work extra hard because they can’t.

One more thing, demand change for the better for ALL of us. Hold elected people accountable, even Republicans. Many Indivisible people showed up at their offices repeatedly, and many of those Republicans quit. We only can make positive change when we all work together toward a common vision.