I listened to that, and my Kander fandom grows. I hope I get to vote for him again sometime soon.
It looks like it. There is also one of him with a gun in a military uniform. Hell, most of those pictures are pretty crazy, to be honest.
Major Harry Truman, who led his artillery battery across France during WWI, probably knew a thing or two about firearms. That’s how you inspect your troops’ rifles (the bolt is clearly open.)
Oh, animated one.
Major Harry Truman, who led his artillery battery across France during WWI, probably knew a thing or two about firearms.
Fair point.
Politico ran a glowing tribute of another Democrat Iraq war veteran.
More folks like Amy and Jason Kander would actually get me to switch parties.
He sounds like a Dem Ted Cruz, and I could live with that.
Every politician, of course, has enemies. But it’s Moulton’s allies who make him atypical—military leaders like David Petraeus and Stanley McChrystal, experienced political minds like David Gergen. These people look at Moulton and see the face of the future of the Democratic Party, a social progressive who’s fiscally more moderate. They see somebody who could chip away at the intractable ideological conflict that is crippling this country and appeal to the sorts of voters who have turned away from the party. And these people don’t say this because of Moulton’s legislative accomplishments, which to this point are limited. They don’t say it because he has compared the president to Hitler and chastised him as “a serial liar” and “a draft dodger,” which does not make him unusual as a Democrat. They don’t even say it because of his position on Pelosi, which does. What excites his supporters the most is what Moulton did before he got to Washington—the four tours in Iraq over parts of five years, the two medals of valor, the special counterinsurgency team he served on that reported directly to Petraeus. In Moulton, they see the antithesis of Trump—a recipient of five Vietnam War draft deferments, considered by many to be the least service-oriented president ever.
Ya, I could vote for this kind of guy.
Honestly, guys like this guy and McMullin could form a solid new party, made of the more fiscally conservative portion of the Democrats and the socially progressive wing of the GOP, and have a lot more support from Gen X’ers.
I think that’s actually a party shift, lately. I’ve heard a number of Democratic speakers on morning shows lately that seem to be trying to appeal on a moderate agenda which includes being fiscally responsible, but also working toward the older goals of protecting incomes and jobs for ALL, not just the upper tier.
Fuck yes, this! Moulton, McMullin, McGrath and Kandor are the type of political candidates that I want to see in an Independent third-party. I want people who are fiscally responsible, who are really interested in streamlining government and reforming programs and departments so that they work better while spending smartly. I want people who are interested in moving forward on social issues, even if it’s slowly, rather than sliding backwards like the current GOP. I want younger people, who haven’t been tainted by years of lobbyist money, and thus would be far more interested in passing legislation to remove said lobbyists from Washington. Basically I want people in office whose primary purpose is to serve their country, not get rich off of it. You give me a party full of people like that, and I will vote for them every single time.
It’s no coincidence that former military people fall into this category fairly often. These are people already familiar with the idea of service to their country, and for whom service means more than a way to grab power and influence and turn it into money. These are people who understand complex social issues as well, having served with people of all races, religions, social and economic backgrounds. They are also used to working together with others to achieve objectives, something our current crop of congressional representatives could do with more of.
Unless y’all know of any plans to amend the Constitution to make the US a parliamentary democracy where the head of state is chosen by a coalition in the legislative chambers there’s never going to be a third party in the United States that does anything but spoil local election results.
Sorry to be the wet blanket.
I don’t think you’re sorry at all, hmph!
I go back and forth, to be honest.
It’d be great to be able to vote for someone in a smaller party on the left that feels more molded to my own political ideology the way you can in a parliamentary democracy. Then I can just walk away and get that representative to do all the heavy lifting for me by forming a coalition with other ideologies.
…but I also feel like that’s democratic government with the training wheels still on. It’s abdicating my responsibilities to form coalitions at the voter level (rather than at the legislative level).
Well, it’s perhaps better described as a “new” party, to replace the GOP if the GOP collapses.
Such a party could absolutely get my vote, depending on the candidate.
But then who will the millions of Americans who really, really hate them uppity Negroes be able to vote for? Man you guys are insensitive.
Edit: since I was preempted by Kevin, this is in the theoretical situation where a bunch of socially liberal, fiscally moderate half-assed progressives (sorry, I had to. Well, not really sorry) replaced the GOP
The thing is, you hippy dippy progressives need moderates to keep you in check.
Deep in your heart, in places you don’t talk about at dinner parties, you WANT us on that wall. You NEED us on that wall!