Biden on the Beg

 

by Pa Rock

Missouri Voter

I received a donation appeal in the mail this week from the "Biden Victory Fund."  In it was a a postcard featuring a nice photo of Joe and Kamala as well as personal messages from each.  Joe had to reach out and touch me through the US Mail because I routinely block emails from politicians over the age of seventy.

Joe wanted money, and according to the material in the mailing, he would be satisfied with as little as $15 from me, an old gray retiree whose income is as fixed as it can possibly get.  But, in reality, Joe Biden and the national Democrats wanted something more than my money.  Yes, they would be happy to take my fifteen dollars, or even just one dollar, but it was my active support that they were really after, and when a person sends money to a candidate in any amount, they are also signaling their support for that candidate.  Perhaps they will purchase a yard sign, or a bumper sticker for their little Korean cars, or give the candidate a boost on social media.

True, support for either party isn't really much an issue where I live.  The Democrats have written Missouri off of their list of winnable states in 2024, and the Republicans have placed it securely on their list of sure-fire winners.   Neither party will waste its valuable resources in the state where I live.   The electoral college kink in the Constitution guarantees that all of the campaign attention and money will befocused  on a handful of battleground states whose voters will decide who the next President will be.  The voters in battleground states cast votes that are infinitely more important than mine.

Why bother ro campaign in places like Missouri?  Hell, the state legislature even cancelled the state's official presidential primaries.  Nobody gives a rip what some, pissed-off, self-important hillbilly down in the beaujacks thinks about national politics because he and his state just do not matter.  (But if we could cajole him into putting fifteen dollars into a pastage-paid envelope and sending it to our campaign, that would be great.  We could spend it in Pennyslvania!  Or Wisconsin!  Or even North Carolina!  Places where it could actually make a difference1)

Well, here's why the national campaigns, and especially the Democratic campaign, should not ignore red states like Missouri.  Our candidates on the down ballot, everyone running for office below the presidential level, would benefit from the attention that a visit from a presidential campaign would generate.  Missouri has a US Senate race next year where the leading Democratic candidate has an actual outside chance of defeating a Republican incumbent.  I've already sent money to that Democrat, and will again.  I will also send my scarce dollars out to a few candidates in other states where I sense that they could make a difference.

And Joe, I've written a check for you as well, but I have decided to hold onto it and instead personally deliver my contribution into one of the collection buckets at the first rally that you or Kamala hold in Missouri.   It will make me feel a little better about supporting the campaign of an octogenarian, and it will save your postage.

And yes, Joe, I will cast my vote for the Democratic presidential nominee next November, even if that politician is almost six years older than me.  You know I will.  Your entire strategy for winning, in fact, seems to revolve around the idea Democrats will flock to you on Election Day because Trump is insane.

I'm not sure that "vote for me because I am the lesser of two evils" is the bold leap into the future that our country needs right now, nor do I necessarily believe that it will be enough to win the election.  But what do I know, I live in Missouri and my opinion carries about as much weight as my vote!

End the electoral college and bring real democracy to the United States!  Every vote should have equal impact!