I support Kamala Harris for President. I have supported her for several months now and have contributed what I could to her campaign. I am a white guy in his 70s. I come from a blue-collar family. My father worked in a war-time steel plant and later as a lineman for the electric company and the Bureau of Reclamation. My two full cousins on my mother’s side included a fireman and newspaper worker, and a highway patrolman. I thus fit the demographic of a T***p supporter, except for one thing — I became educated. I can, however, say that even before I entered college, I was a supporter of environmental issues, women’s rights and civil rights generally. I’m not quite sure how that happened, and it was not by any means perfect as the first time I voted it was a protest vote against the Viet Nam War and it was for Berry Goldwater. However Nixon and Reagan made me a Democrat! The current occupant of the White House has made me a very liberal Democrat, as it is defined these days.
I see in Kamala Harris a very qualified, knowledgable and thoughtful individual who is female and a POC. The later characteristics do figure in my support because I think it is past time for such an individual to assume power, but it it is the former that seals the deal. I could never support either a woman or a POC who lacked these. I have difficulty with Republicans of color or females who spout nonsense or gaslight (e.g. Herman Cain or Sarah Palin). However, when a woman of color, who can destroy crooked people like the current AG during testimony in the Senate and who can out shine most of over 20 other candidates of caliber, appears, then I take notice. She has a solid presence, a good speaking voice and, as she has proven several times over, she is not intimidated by authority. These are qualities I want in a president, along with some compassion and a knack for getting things done.
Looking at her policies I see pretty much what I think needs to be done to build a reasonably equitable society. First and foremost we need to tackle climate change because it will define all our other problems. Harris takes this threat seriously and correctly identifies it as our overreaching difficulty. She is for gender and LGBTQ equality, tackling immigration head on, making college affordable, making sure that people have access to health care, and action on gun violence, among others. All of these will be necessary in order to build a society that will have a chance of meeting the pressing needs of the 21st Century.
Harris’ background as a prosecutor does not bother me. She generally performed her duties very competently and well represented the public interest. She, like all good professionals, admits her own errors, a quality lacking in the current administration. Her experience as a prosecutor may well come in handy as she is not likely to overlook any of the gross legal faults of the man I hope she will replace or his co-conspirators. No one should be above the law.
If Harris becomes president she will have a phenomenal amount of cleaning up to do. The government is in shambles. However she strikes me as just the person who can take on the challenge and successfully accomplish it, although I do not doubt that stray parts of this administration, like stray bits of garbage on a beach, will be plaguing us for a long time to come.
I want a competent, strong, compassionate president who will protect and defend the Constitution and do as they are supposed to do, work in the best interest of the American public, not in their own selfish short-term gain. We have had quite enough of that over the last few years. I believe, that if given the chance, Kamala Harris can be that person. In fact I believe that given the chance Kamala Harris will be that person.