In support of rational and compassionate public policy at all levels of government which affect the residents of Newtown Township and Bucks County
“Facts are stubborn things; and whatever may be our wishes, our inclinations, or the dictates of our passion, they cannot alter the state of facts and evidence.” ~ John Adams
What the FAR LEFT has to say about me and my writing
"You are anti-semitic!"
"You are a Zionist!"
"We don't give single fuck what your privileged ignorant ass has to say."
"Think, you pudding headed fuck."
What the FAR RIGHT has to say about me and my writing
"What an arrogant fool you are."
"YOU are pushing that racist bullshit."
"Dmb fk."
"You're a groomer, and are a danger to society."
I encourage you to explore this site and see what the fuss is about. Apologies in advance if you aren't as excited by measured, evidence-based reasoning as my "fans" in social media.
Brian Fitzpatrick's brand is forged. To win, Bob Harvie will need to forge a different and more appealing one.
In yesterday's Democratic primary for congressional district PA-1, I cast my vote for Lucia Simonelli. Bob Harvie won by 2/3 to 1/3, which in my experience is the standard margin an endorsed Democratic candidate enjoys against a competent unendorsed candidate in Bucks County primary elections. I had no illusion going in: Lucia was bound to lose.
Most Bucks County Democratic voters, even those motivated enough to vote in an off-year primary, have done little or no research prior to appearing at the poll. They look at the "goldenrod" (the sample ballot of BCDC-endorsed candidates handed to them by Dem poll greeters) and vote for the names printed on it.
Should primaries work this way? I don't think so. But I don't blame BCDC. All political organizations are purpose-built to maximize their influence over elections. If voters allow them to use internal processes to drive electoral outcomes, they will.
Thus has Bob Harvie become the standard-bearer for Democrats in the general election.
Up to now, Harvie has spent a lot of time talking about Donald Trump. The words sound rehearsed, and designed in response to Trump's dismal polling. Trouble is, Harvie isn't running against Donald Trump, and Democratic polling numbers are dismal as well.
Relentless marketing over the past decade has severed Brian Fitzpatrick's brand from the MAGA movement. As he always does leading up to an election, Fitzpatrick will push back against Trump just enough to remind voters he is their "independent" congressman. Just yesterday, walking briskly and looking defiant, Fitzpatrick made national news as he announced opposition to Trump's fund for victims of DOJ overreach. The timing of that interview was no accident.
My advice to Harvie, unsolicited and probably unwelcome:
Recognize the primary was a coronation. The general will be a dog fight.
Too much focus on Trump is poor marksmanship.
Stand for something. "I'm not MAGA" isn't policy. Don't count on midterm backlash against the party in power—even a party as fecal as the current one.
Create space between you and Fitz. Right now, voters are looking at two conventionally attractive, middle-aged, politically moderate white men. The resting intellectual state of independents and moderate Republicans will steer them toward the Fitz status quo. If you don't upset the apple cart, you will lose.
Study what it means to be a congressperson, and define your role. In the candidate forum, you expressed no desire to serve on any particular committee. Seriously? Articulate your goals. Identify committees aligned with those goals. Tell voters what you want do and how you intend to do it. In other words, do what Lucia Simonelli did in her doomed campaign against you.
Be yourself. Don't let DCCC, PA Dems, or BCDC define you. They will push you into a formulaic mold that will guarantee failure in November. I've been studying you since you got elected as Bucks Commissioner, and I still don't know who your are. I'm guessing that who you are is head-and-shoulders better than who Fitz is. Make sure we all know it.
In November, the goldenrod will mean nothing. To pry votes away from Brian Fitzpatrick, Bob Harvie will need to have established an identity as a future congressperson voters like more than they like Fitzpatrick.
What Trump says is divisive, inflammatory, misleading, demeaning, fear-mongering, scapegoating, norm-eroding, and destabilizing. How he says it is worth studying.
If we are to discuss the birthright citizenship case heard by the Supreme Court on April 1st, we should start by reading the briefs and a transcript of the oral arguments.
Check out the full blog:
Fact: Climate change is real. Promoting clean energy is an urgent matter of national security.
Fact: Transgender persons exist, and cannot be legislated out of existence.
Fact: Students need a factual account of our history, including slavery and its residual effects on the rights and freedoms of all Americans.
Me Imperturbe
Me imperturbe, standing at ease in Nature, Master of all, or mistress of all—aplomb in the midst of irrational things, Imbued as they—passive, receptive, silent as they, Finding my occupation, poverty, notoriety, foibles, crimes, less important than I thought;
Me private, or public, or menial, or solitary—all these subordinate, (I am eternally equal with the best—I am not subordinate;) Me toward the Mexican Sea, or in the Mannahatta, or the Tennessee, or far north, or inland, A river-man, or a man of the woods, or of any farm-life of These States, or of the coast, or the lakes, or Kanada,
Me, wherever my life is lived, O to be self-balanced for contingencies!
O to confront night, storms, hunger, ridicule, accidents, rebuffs, as the trees and animals do.
~ Walt Whitman
Tired
I am so tired of waiting, Aren’t you, For the world to become good And beautiful and kind? Let us take a knife And cut the world in two – And see what worms are eating At the rind.
