Let Me Make This Simple Democratic Voters

A lot of Democratic voters wish the Democratic Party was stronger. So do I.  I have been a registered Democratic voter since I turned 18. The thing is most of our party, at least the average registered voter, does little to make the party strong. They complain and lob attacks at the leaders, the ones who bothered to show up. I fail to see how that helps.  I worked at the Board of Elections, and I worked as Director of Operations for the Monroe County Democratic Party. I can tell you how this works, based on voter registration and voter turnout.

More voters are registered with the Democratic party, than the Republican party.  Republican voters turn out in higher numbers.  This results in close races, and the Democratic party has to woo Democratic voters.  They have to convince them to turn up.  The Republicans use 2 obvious tactics and they work every time.  One method is, they suggest that the Democratic candidate is going to win, which causes Democratic voters to think they don’t have to turn out. The other tactic is, they convince Democrats that the Democratic candidate is no better than the Republican candidate. Thanks, Susan Sarandon.

So this is the deal.  We get what we put into our party and our government.  We can lament the corruption, but what do we expect?  Would you own a business, hire someone, and then not monitor their work to ensure they were faithfully doing the job you are paying them to do?  Would you keep paying them if they weren’t doing their job?  Would you keep them on if they weren’t transparent and accountable to you, in any conflicts of interest, or that they were behaving ethically and morally?

Our government can only be by the people and for the people, if the people are doing their part in the process.  That means not bemoaning elections and campaigns. It means vetting candidates, voting, and holding elected officials to the job of representing the interests of the community.

I get that we don’t all have time for that.  Between work, family, friends, responsibilities, it’s a lot.  We can’t afford not to pay attention, though.  There is too much at stake.  It’s not just health care, and education, and basic civil rights. It’s not just the environment, breathable air, and coastal erosion.  It’s the worst corruption attempting to strip our voting rights, stack the courts, and ensure that there is only power when the right party is in control.

This post is my attempt to make it a little easier for Democratic voters to compare the candidate’s plans on a variety of issues.  I made up a spreadsheet, listing different topics.  I then went to the top 3 candidates’ websites and looked for a plan or policy, or narrative on how they plan to “move the needle” on that issue.

This is what I came up with: 2020 Democratic Presidential Candidate Front-runners – Comparison of Plans (Google Sheets)

I added columns at the end, so that I could grade each candidate on each topic. My goal is to review and grade each of them.  If instead of using A-F, I will use 1-10 (1 = low and 10 = high) then I should be able to total them up and see a clear winner.  I didn’t do that before posting this, because I’m not trying to sway Democratic voters.  My only goal is to make the information as accessible as possible, so voters will not sit this out. This is our opportunity and our responsibility, to choose the best candidate, from those who showed up to run, and then to vote for that candidate, in our state’s primary. 

I hope this information helps.  You will notice some holes in that list.  I reached out to both the Sanders and Biden campaigns to ask for links to the topics I wasn’t able to find info on. I emailed their general info/ Contact Us from their campaign sites. I have received no response from Sander’s campaign, but now I am receiving emails from Biden wanting me to join their team and donate to them:

 
I also tweeted to their Press Secretaries.  I am sure they are busy, but I figured they might be able to help.  Neither have responded.

If either campaign wants to fill in the holes, they are welcome to send me links and I will update the spreadsheet.

Is this helpful? Let me know in the comments. Thanks!