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John,
As I sat
in the audience at the Reagan Library the other night, waiting for the
second Republican debate to start, I thought of two things.
First, I was reminded of my own time on the
political debate stage, and my contributions to the 2012 Romney-Ryan
debate prep. Second, the setting surrounded me with Reagan’s legacy of optimism,
freedom, and democracy.
I was quickly jarred from these
thoughts by a Republican primary debate that was combative,
well-rehearsed, and sometimes utterly chaotic. The candidates all celebrated Ronald
Reagan’s conservative legacy, which tempted me to think that things
were slowly returning to “normal'' three years after Trump reluctantly
departed the White House.
But, of course, American politics are
not back to normal.
No one on that stage Wednesday
night had a realistic chance of unseating the conspicuously absent
front-runner and repelling his shameless attacks on American
democracy. The audience that
surrounded me clapped politely and laughed at the occasional joke, but
almost all of them will vote for Trump. Many had their phones out,
watching the former president’s Michigan rally. And the two candidates
polling highest on that stage are the ones who are mimicking the
extreme populism of the frontrunner, hoping to inherit Trump’s
popularity.
Like so many other primaries in
our country, it is a foregone conclusion that the extremist elements
in the Party will decide who governs for the rest of us. Our two-party system is incapable of
offering the American people a broader slate of candidates that truly
represents the spectrum of political opinion in this
country.
We
are all suffering the consequences of a polarizing two-party political
system—not only in this presidential election, but in every partisan
election in our local communities and in our state legislatures and
Congress.
I am determined to help build
another option for the exhausted and disconnected voter. That’s why I’ve joined the Forward Party—to
create a new political home for the millions of Americans, like me,
who no longer see themselves represented in either of our two major
political parties.
I
hope you will make a small contribution today in support of our
efforts to build a national infrastructure for something new our
democracy desperately needs.
Not Left. Not Right.
Forward.
Kerry
Healey
Lieutenant Governor
Commonwealth of Massachusetts (2003-2007)
PS.
Registration for our virtual event on October 5 is now open! We are
gathering every monthly supporter of our movement for a Q&A with
our leadership. Become
a monthly contributor to attend the event, hosted every
quarter.
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