If you ask me for the three things that matter in politicians, I would say VALUES, VALUES, VALUES.
Yes, age, gender, and ethnicity are important. Class is also important, although classism was less acknowledged before the 2000s. Spellcheck used to underline “classism” as not-a-word!
As to ageism, I hear talk about Biden and Trump being too old to be presidents. But, if they had great values — values that benefited people, planet, peace and democracy — and if they surrounded themselves with cabinet members and advisors who were also on our side, the side of regular folks, I would not care how old they were. Would you?
Speaking of values, let’s not just be satisfied with what politicians say, let’s focus on what politicians do. There are speakers who can fire up a crowd, but what do they do? What values have they demonstrated when they’re in positions of power? These days I often hear friends tell me they admire how strongly a politician has spoken out about important matters.
Great, but when they and their political party were in power, what policies did they push to actually get enacted? What were their values? Green New Deal? Affordable and accessible healthcare? Despite Obamacare improvements, the US still has less affordable and accessible healthcare than other wealthy industrialized countries — even worse than other not-so-wealthy countries.
Recent presidents for at least the past 45 years have all pushed the system in the wrong direction: favoring bigger defense budgets and more military weapons over peace; favoring exploitation, waste and destruction over a beautiful and livable planet; and favoring super-rich individuals and corporations (the “oligarchy”) over real opportunities and real democracy for people.
Are there solutions? So far, not within the two-party system. So many things just get worse every four years. Both parties are too easily bought out and/or already aligned with the oligarchy, not with the rest of us.
We need to get out from under the broken two-party system. The Green Party has been targeted for annihilation since it was born 33 years ago as a ballot qualified party. We have stayed alive because of our values, including the value of no corporate money for candidates or the party itself. Consider registering Green now, at this link registertovote.ca.gov in California, or vote.gov for all US states.
The only time voter registration with a party affects how you can vote in California is on presidential primary day every four years. Meanwhile, every day, when you are registered Green, you explicitly push for changing this decayed two-party system, and you declare your values.