No one has to fail for others to succeed

Though a week has passed (computer upgrades can do that) I finally watched the 42 minutes of Kamala Harris’ acceptance speech at the Democratic National Convention. One could skip the 3 minutes of applause at the start. Here’s a few things that caught my attention. She talked about her upbringing, that her parents taught her to be fearless and never do anything “half-assed.” After receiving some sort of racism her mother also taught, don’t complain about injustice, do something about it. She grew up in a working class neighborhood that provided her and her mother with a support network. She was inspired by civil rights era lawyers, which prompted her to be a prosecutor. In that job her guiding principle was a harm to one is a harm to all. All of us are in it together. She continues that focus on community. She said we can move beyond division, which is what most Americans want. She will uphold the rule of law. In what she proposes she will be realistic and practical. In her jobs as prosecutor, senator, vice president she stood up for the common people against corporations and big people. She described the nasty guy. Imagine him with no guardrails. He will not take actions to improve people, nor national security. He will be in the White House only to improve himself. We are not going back (one of her taglines) She is there for a new way forward (another tagline) with a strong middle class. She was told she needed to take advantage for every opportunity. So one of her goals is to create the conditions for opportunity, which she called the Opportunity Economy. She grabbed ahold of the word freedom: Freedom from gun violence, the freedom to love with pride, freedom to breathe clean air, and freedom from pollution and climate change, freedom to vote, the Freedom that comes from safety and security. She gave strong support for Israel as well as support for Palestinians. I appreciated one more of her lines: No one has to fail for others to succeed. That line is in contrast to the actions of Republicans, billionaires, and other people highly invested in the social hierarchy. They believe the size of their success is shown by how much others fail. Fiona Webster posted a cartoon by Mackay showing Harris lassoing the word “Freedom,” yanking it out of the hands of the nasty guy as he shouts “Stop! Thief!” Another good speech of the last day of the convention was the one given by Gabby Giffords, who has made an amazing recovery from an assassination attempt that put a bullet in her head. She is now a strong advocate for gun control. Her speech is under 3 minutes. The day before Obama talked about Tim Walz and his flannels. The flannels are now a cultural thing. Kaili Joy Gray of Daily Kos briefly discussed flannels and included a photo of Walz sewing a button on one of his flannel shirts. Joan McCarter of Kos wrote that one of the heartfelt moments in the convention was when Walz declared his love for his children and Gus Walz shouted, “That’s my dad!” in response. McCarter has evidence that the nasty guy and his partner don’t love their kids the same way. Harris, in her speech, included the line, “As commander in chief, I will ensure America always has the strongest, most lethal fighting force in the world.” A lot of progressives flinched at the phrase, “most lethal” and were angry with its use. Kos of Kos says we’re looking at it wrong. The nasty guy and many of his fans have abandoned America’s role as a global stabilizing force. He has been highly critical of our military personnel and of our military alliances. He wants to allow dictators to do as they please. Many progressives believe that a strong military leads to massive military budgets and to military adventurism. Yes, our national military budget is huge and much bigger than it needs to be, but that’s a political problem because Republicans throw money at defense to declare they are the party of security and to prevent spending in other domestic programs. But we do need a strong military (and I’m a guy who envisions a day when we don’t need one). There are a lot of hot spots around the world who want American protection. And that is the big reason: deterrence. China hasn’t (yet) invaded Taiwan because of America’s military. Wrote Kos:

The goal of a strong military isn’t to use it. The goal is deterrence. Supporting a strong military isn’t the same as supporting more war.

One more thing. Americans want a strong military and they are reassured that Harris agrees. Last night Harris, with Walz nearby, did an interview with Dana Bash of CNN. Kos reported Harris did just fine, even refusing to answer a question or two. It is Bash who had the problems. Bash may not have fumbled questions, but she did ask some silly ones and others that were supposed to be “gotcha” questions. Bash did have follow up questions that she would not have asked the nasty guy. Others in media haven’t asked them, either. Bash also left out a lot of context and assumed that she spoke for the voters. No, she spoke for herself and CNN. The whole thing was rather boring. No new and big revelations because Harris has already been reaching voters by stepping around big media. Big media has been clamoring for their interview. It’s been done now. No need for another. Sumner of Kos then discussed the Republican response to the interview. The summary: she didn’t give them anything they could use to attack her.