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John,
When I was growing up, presidential primaries were where the voters weighed in on who they chose to be a party's nominee. The role of the political party was to stand back until the people had made their decision, then use its power afterwards to help the nominee win the general election.
But that was then, and this is now.
Today, the institutional power of political parties is used not only to rally the voters, but in many ways to determine the candidates. Critical questions about the future of our country are decided by essentially a handful of political operatives, a political-media-industrial elite who present themselves as arbiters of wisdom and protectors of the common good.
And that is where we are today, as the Democratic National Committee has decided that President Biden will be the nominee of the Democratic Party in 2024, therefore any further mutterings such as, "Hey, wait, shouldn't we have debates?" should cease.
But it doesn’t have to be this way. Already a grassroots petition [[link removed]] demanding a Democratic primary debate has garnered more than 10,000 signatures – and is picking up more every day.
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The message from the political and media establishment has been clear: There will be no debates, nor any further discussion about it. Candidates other than the chosen one anointed by the DNC should take their toys and go home now. We're supposed to consider any candidates other than President Biden mere political children, and the adults in charge now consider this subject closed.
The problem is that real adults do not cut child poverty by half but then six months later fail to make permanent the tax credit that produced the cut.
Real adults would have codified Roe v. Wade when they had the chance and would do whatever they could do right now to reduce the serious harm being done to women around the country due to draconian anti-abortion laws.
Real adults would have gotten rid of the debt ceiling when they had the chance.
Real adults would recognize that people's lives are falling apart on their watch—from lack of health care, lack of housing, lack of child care, and lack of a living wage—in ways these faux adults have failed to address.
Real adults do not cave to Big Oil and ramp up fossil fuel production at the very time when the survival of the species depends on ramping it down.
Real adults do not acquiesce to the demands of insurance companies, pharmaceutical companies, Big Oil, or defense contractors while putting up only a performative fight.
This is not a time to pretend that a rematch of Biden and Trump will not make voters stay home in droves. The people have a right to hear from other candidates, with other ideas. This is not a time in our history for people to acquiesce to any form of control over things that will affect our lives and the lives of our children.
Candidate suppression is a form of voter suppression, and the party that purports to be the champion of democracy should not be so wary of it in our own house.
The best way to protect our democracy is through practicing it. The DNC does not have the right to determine who's "qualified" for president, when all that really means is who in their mind is qualified to perpetuate the system as it is.
The Democratic Party must allow President Biden to debate his opponents. The fate of our democracy is at stake, and only more democracy can save it.
If you agree that the president should debate his opponents, join the 10,000+ voters who have already signed the grassroots petition imploring the DNC chair to support a debate.
Add your name [[link removed]]
After signing, please make a contribution to our campaign to keep us in the fight. As long as you keep going, I’ll keep going.
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Thank you,
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This message is excerpted from my recent opinion column in Newsweek. You can click here to read the entire article. [[link removed]] Please share freely.
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