Why I Choose Kamala Harris
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I’ve now created and posted nearly sixty pro-Kamala Harris memes, but I’ve yet to use my words. Here’s why Senator Kamala Harris is my choice for the 2020 Democratic Presidential Nominee.
I understand that there’s a segment of populist political thought that believes that great change can arise from chaos, but personally, I’m sick to death of uncertainty. I want to return to a nation of laws. The repair work needed is immense. People must be punished and brought to justice. Criminal code must be written to prevent this from happening again. Order must be restored.
It must be particularly obscene for Senator Kamala Harris to witness the decimation of the Department of Justice and the Judicial Branch, because she’s the former Attorney General of California, whose DOJ is 2nd in size only to the Federal Government’s.
When President Obama inherited the Great Recession and also managed (with Nancy Pelosi’s help) to pass the ACA, we proved again that Democrats can balance major legislative accomplishments with repairing the damage done by GOP rule. It takes immense focus and a steady hand to pull that off, and I think the steadiest hand and steeliest focus in the current field is the law and order, by the book, cool as a fucking cucumber California Senator Kamala Harris.
She has stellar policy proposals on all the issues that matter to Democrats, but I’ll pick one where she has a novel approach. We all agree we need massive reforms and investments to attack the climate emergency. Senator Harris proposes bringing climate crisis offenders to justice to make them pay their fair share for the recovery, similar to how Big Tobacco was punished when it was revealed that they knew about carcinogens and continued to sell their product. Oil and gas companies have known about climate damage for decades, and there’s a case just waiting to be prosecuted. Senator Harris has done it before. As California’s Attorney General, she criminally investigated gas and oil companies, forcing them to pay for cleanups and reimburse taxpayer funded expenditures related to companies’ violations and negligence. Her work even resulted in criminal indictments.
When CA was in the midst of a foreclosure crisis, she confronted mortgage companies in court, saved families’ homes, and made rich corporations pay to the tune of $18 billion dollars. Throughout her career, Senator Harris’ agenda has revolved around bringing the powerful to justice in order to help the powerless and vulnerable. She can do that on a national scale, and by using a system that is already in place — not one that needs to be invented out of whole cloth.
But Senator Harris’ legal acumen is in no way the only thing I admire about her. She has the ideal combination of political experience in government, decades of advocacy for marginalized populations (her parents were civil rights activists), intersectional appeal, progressive policy platform (she has one of the most progressive voting records in the Senate), and most important to me: a stellar resume, commitment to public service, and a solid record of achievements. She’s a proven commodity.
She is authentic, trustworthy, and she has integrity. She hasn’t had any mid-life reversals of political affiliation or personal identity. She has always been the way she is. There are no winding roads in her personal history, where she just stumbled onto a new life path and went where it took her. She is laser focused on her goals, and she gets it done. And she’s a natural born executive — in other words, she’s a boss.
On the less serious side, she also has a great personality: she’s funny, smart, cool, stylish, and gorgeous. I understand that some of those things could be deemed superficial, but they matter. I’d be proud to have her represent us on the world stage.
I appreciate that she appeals to a diverse populace, represented in her base of supporters. Senator Harris’ record of LGBTQ advocacy and allyship is historic. She is a feminist, with actionable plans for defending a woman’s right to choose. She has the most endorsements from the Congressional Black Caucus.
Speaking of endorsements, she’s the 2nd most successful candidate in that department. Here’s what endorsements say to me: “this person is a team player in the professional world.” One needs support from other stakeholders if they want their policies to succeed. As the only leading candidate who is a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, she’s privy to information about election interference and other issues crucial to the 2020 race. Both parties on the committee praise her and admire her leadership skills.
I could continue to sing Senator Harris’ praises, but I would be lying if I didn’t admit that many of the reasons I choose her is because of what she is NOT. Kamala is not a single-issue candidate. Kamala is not a white populist. Kamala is not a novice. Kamala is not a member of the establishment. She’s not crazy or suffering from dementia. She’s not power hungry. She’s not rigid and inflexible. She doesn’t trade in the theoretical or the speculative. She doesn’t pander, or use gimmicks. She’s not making a plea based on emotion. Kamala is not selling snake oil.
Kamala is also not a white Baby Boomer. She’s a bicultural Gen-Xer. Gen-Xers are innovative and transformative, and if you don’t believe me, then get off Facebook, Google, and Twitter!
Finally, I’m ready for another California President, but this time a Democrat. California has led the resistance through this entire political nightmare. California leads the nation in progressive policies, runs the nation’s largest managed health care network, and is on the forefront with immigration. CA is the litmus test and the petri dish for everything from combating the climate emergency, to gay marriage — so much that’s good about America was made real in California. I grew up in the southern midwest (KY) and came of age on the East Coast (RI and NYC), but I choose California as my home. And I choose Kamala Harris as my President.
