In every election, it’s the emotion, stupid. On facts and feels, the case for Kamala | Opinion
For those of you who aren’t supporting Kamala Harris, here’s some good news: If she wins, she will not be out to punish you.
To her, you are not “the enemy within” because you disagree with her. You are not “lunatics” who should be jailed but Americans with the same rights as anybody.
While her opponent can’t stop feeding the inferno, her closing message is that if elected, she will work for everybody, and give critics a seat at the table. Her entreaty that we “stop pointing fingers and start locking arms” may or may not be a winning closing argument, but it’s one that I appreciate.
A conservative friend of mine thinks Donald Trump will win because “there are more mad people than sad people.” Another friend, who works for lefty causes, reminded me of one of my least favorite facts, which is that facts, no matter how well documented, don’t flip votes. Scientific research into why we vote as we do shows how true that is.
James Carville would be even richer if he got a residual every time somebody quoted his line that “it’s the economy, stupid.” But really, it’s the emotion, stupid.
Even when we say and fully believe that we’re voting on policy alone, are we? That the parties have swapped places on national security, reverence for institutions and support for our intelligence community leads me to suspect otherwise. And I feel so strongly that we need a president who believes in democracy, the rule of law and the peaceful transfer of power that I can’t separate policy from passion when it comes to Jan. 6 and upholding rather than “terminating” the U.S. Constitution.
I agree with Harris on many other issues, too: middle class tax cuts, and her general support for the working person, including proposals to expand tax credits for first-time home buyers and make in-home care for an elderly loved one covered by Medicare. To me, her opposition to Putin’s illegal invasion of Ukraine is vital.
I also oppose many of the same things Harris does, including an expansion of the Trump tax cuts that mostly helped the wealthiest Americans, the tariffs on foreign imports that would make prices take off again, and giveaways to oil and gas companies at a time of record profits. Also, at a time of near-record U.S. oil production, despite what both Trump and Biden want you to believe. And all of this while climate change, which Trump has called a hoax, is costing us bigly.
Like Harris, I am against loyalty tests for government jobs, a revival of the Muslim ban and mass deportation of the immigrants our country needs. And no, asylum seekers are not rampaging through the land; undocumented immigrants are far less likely than native-born Americans to commit crimes.
But on the feels, which I will not claim are irrelevant to my choice, I’m also for Harris, much preferring her willed optimism to his inherited misanthropy.
I am sorry that he lacks empathy, because no matter how wealthy and powerful you are, that is a bum way to live. His personal issues have hurt us as a country, and it matters to me that Harris seems like a well-adjusted person, with healthy relationships and the experience of caring for her dying mother. Her opponent wants us to see his lack of decency as a sign of strength, but it isn’t.
Trump’s cruelty has not been good for any of us, but I don’t see Harris wasting her time plotting payback. I believe her when she says she would instead show up with a do-list, because that’s what the women I know do. You don’t get to be Kamala Harris by indulging grudges.
The former president is getting more openly unfettered by any standards at all, as we saw at the Friday rally in Milwaukee where he pretended to perform oral sex on a microphone stand. But his lifelong degradation of women has always been disqualifying for me. I believe the dozens of women who have accused him of sexual assault, many of whom said so long before he was in politics, without seeking compensation.
I also believe the disrespectful words out of his own mouth. What were young men supposed to learn from his suggestion that he did not violate E. Jean Carroll in a department store dressing room because she wasn’t hot enough to rape?
Even when promising to protect us, he couldn’t help blurting the truth, which is that he intends to do that “whether the women like it or not.” He has not even ruled out punishing women criminally for seeking an abortion.
With him, everything is about retribution. And while I do not agree with Harris on all issues, I am convinced she would prioritize competence, weigh competing interests and respect both the rule of law and all kinds of people.
That’s why so many Republicans are supporting her. And why even the mega MAGA have nothing to fear.
