Thank you for the reply, I'll respond in line.
I did do some research on my question to you while I was waiting. Harris supporting
studying reparations, which is roughly as useful as Trump signing an executive order to end world hunger. I think it's stupid but
completely inconsequential.
I think it's fair to think that Biden's staff pushed him into some ill advised things (I've heard reporting to suggest that's true) but I don't think you can point out what ultimately happened in his presidency as evidence for why he was too extreme for you to vote for him in 2020. And of the stuff that happened during his Presidency that was dumb, the border stuff was probably the most left. (Debt relief was stupid but got struck down. If you get to absolve Trump of his responsibility for trying to do illegal things and getting stopped, I can do the same for Biden).
This is all valid but it's much more vibes based that policy based. Plus, we already had ample evidence that
Trump didn't have the physical stamina for the job when we saw him riding around on golf carts everywhere while the other leaders of the free world were able to use their legs.
I think those are perfectly reasonable things to look for but I'm also reasonably confident that Democratic candidate will be strictly better on (based on your stated views):
- Normal Education
- Affordable healthcare
- Social Security
- Medicare
- Debt/Deficits
And not meaningfully worse on defense. I couldn't tell you on agriculture either way, people aren't always solving for the same things there.
My suspicion is that you'll vote for the GOP candidate despite the Democratic candidate being better on your stated preferences (I'm doing a lot of projection here, I hope you'll allow me the license).
My hypothesis is that you, like so many others (to include my mother), are voting on something other than your stated preferences or your preferences are weighted in a way that's not clear (for example you put 98% weight on defense).
I'm left of center (not a lefty) so I've got a bias, I get it. But for how much you and people like you have talked about how extreme the Democrats have gotten (and that's why you can't vote for them), I have a difficult time seeing it and you guys have a difficult time defending it. Yes, Harris should have never made the comments about trans prisoners getting free surgeries but I don't think it's reasonable to point to a statement or two that someone once made as evidence that they in general are an extremist (I don't think that game suits Republicans if played evenly).
Thoughts?