We are among the apparently millions of Californians who haven't yet mailed in or dropped off our ballots for the primary, and time is running out. At a time when Democrats and Independents are highly motivated to vote, we are faced with uninspiring choices among seemingly mediocre candidates.
It's depressing. California is the largest state by population and its economy is larger than all but three countries, let alone states. There is a large Democratic majority and at least a progressive plurality. Yet we find ourselves with candidates for governor who we know little about, and what little we know is not inspiring or even reassuring. Things are so bad that until recently it seemed possible that the primary--in which the top two candidates go on to the general, regardless of party--would end up nominating two Republicans.
After a campaign (nearly invisible up here in the far north) of overwhelmingly negative noise, we're left with the choice between an overpromising and neophyte billionaire with at least the potential for boldness who at least talks about climate distortion, and a mediocre establishment politician with a bad record as an administrator.
So at a time when we really need California to be a bulwark and hopefully a creative example, we're probably not going to get the leadership for that. Maybe we should get ourselves annexed to Canada, California as a Canadian province, just so we could get Mark Carney as Prime Minister, the only leader in the western world I have any confidence in. And that's not saying a whole lot.
This primary situation causes many, including me, to sour on even current leadership. It's said that the person Gavin Newsom believed would succeed him, surprised him by declining to run. So he hasn't backed anybody--which does not give me much confidence in his leadership, at any level.
Kamala Harris was perfectly positioned to run for governor. She would have cleared the field and won handily. I would have confidence in her as governor, with her experience not only in Washington but in California state government as Attorney General. She might have provided the leadership we sorely need in the threatening and degraded age of Chaos. It also would have kept her politically viable. It was in that sense a no-brainer for her, and a boon to her home state.
She declined to run. One has to respect personal decisions, but this one disqualifies her in my mind for any further political position.
So here we are. And this only emphasizes for me the dearth of inspiring leadership in this country, at a time when such leadership is crucial. I may be out of touch, but as far as I can see, there's nobody. Nobody. No one with real vision, that combination of policy ideas based on principle and comprehensive analysis of our current situation and needs for the future, plus the eloquence to express and drive this vision.
Instead we have politicians playing games on social media and TV, and stories about how craven and crazy many of them are. Who is going to rise to the occasion? This country has gotten through critical times by finding the right leadership at the right time. Without FDR we'd be in radically worse shape. Without JFK the Cuban Missile Crisis could have ended civilization. Without Bill Clinton in the 90s and Barack Obama in the 2010s the government and the country would not have been in position to withstand the Chaos so far. But time on that is running out. The damage is mounting, and much of it will take concerted, directed and creative efforts to overcome, even over decades.
It's true that many considered FDR and JFK to be lightweights early in their careers, so maybe there are pleasant surprises out there. But as leadership in this country is being systematically handed to delusional billionaires and badly educated, clueless and corrupt white men, I am not impressed by the alternatives. I may be just an old fart increasingly detached from what hipster Ben Franklin called the Scene, but in this feeling I don't think I'm at all alone.
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