? For Democrat Vice-President Nominee

While all of the attention is focused on the those candidates seeking the Democrat nomination for President for 2020, there is an equal albeit hidden campaign going on for the party’s nomination for Vice-President. And if you think the presidential primary is a bit of a crapshoot, wait until you get a look at the positioning for vice-president.

First, let’s set the table. There is a battle going on in the Democrat Party that pits the elites against the working class. The elites are dominated by professors and teachers unions which have a tight monopoly on education and have been spoon feeding successive generations about the evils of capitalism and the virtues of socialism – never mind the failures of socialism everywhere. They are the socialists and communists come to power. They are supported by the public employee unions which owe their growth to bigger government, the trial lawyers who treat lawsuits as a new gambling device where the house (the trial lawyers) get one-third of the take, and the industrial complex that relies on government grants – alternative energy, global warming, societal dissection, and public health – and a field of lobbyists dripping with cash from the associations representing the former. (The not so amusing aspect of this is that most of that money represents the proceeds from taxpayer dollars filtered to the respective groups.) On the other side of the equation are traditional blue-collar groups – private sector unions, small farmers and ranchers, some small businesses, working women and minority groups (excluding their leadership).

The odd things about this division is that the elites claim to know what is best for the working class but most of their solutions result in denying the working class the fruits of their success while securing the success of the elites. (Or to quote from George Orwell’s Animal Farm: “All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others”)

We also need to eliminate some of the better known “candidates” that won’t receive consideration regardless of which faction wins the nomination. Big-time losers like Sen. Kirstin Gillibrand (D-NY), and Robert O’Rourke (stop referring to him as “Beto” because he is not Hispanic, not Robert Kennedy reborn and not able to put together a sentence without a myriad of “likes”, “you knows”, “dude” and uptalk). Likewise, single-issue one-trick ponies like Gov. Jay Inslee (D-WA) and billionaire Tom Steyer. And people who have actually created jobs and made money – Michael Bloomberg, Andrew Yang and Deval Patrick. And most certainly it will not be Hillary Clinton for fear of either not living until tomorrow or watching the entire United States Treasury being transferred to the Clinton Foundation.

But back to the real choices. The easy solution would be for the elites to take a blue-collar candidate if they win the primaries and visa versa should the blue-collar candidate win. Historically that has been done to maintain peace. But this is a different time and frankly a different contest than that experienced by Republicans when grassroots conservatives sought control of the party. In that contest there was never the threat of violence from grassroots conservatives (contrary to the narrative of the mainstream media). But the elite (socialist) wing of the party is supported by thugs seeking to destroy existing institutions – Black Lives Matter, Antifa, Earth Liberation Front, the Direct Action Network, anarchists and Muslim extremist groups. And the socialists are not about winning an election – they are about total control to the exclusion of dissent. Like it or not that is the history of socialism – because it always fails, domination without dissent is necessary to retain control. (Think Cuba, Nicaragua, Venezuela, North Korea, etc.)

Based on what we know today elites/socialists will be represented by either Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) or Sen. Bernie Sanders (Socialist-VT). Rep. Alexandria Ocasio Cortez (D-NY) would be their ideal candidate but she is age restricted. Her “squad” – Reps. Ilhan Omar (D-MN), Rashida Tlaib (D-NY) and Ayanna Pressley (D-MI) are not age restricted but lack the charisma and the favorable media exposure of Ms. Cortez. In fact the negatives on all three of these hate mongers is so great that they would be a distraction. Their second choice – given their allegiance to “identity politics” is for a person of color. However, Sen. Kamala Harris (D-CA) has flip-flopped on so many issues that she is viewed as an opportunist and untrustworthy to the elites. Sen. Corey Booker (D-NJ) has already criticized the mandatory Medicare-for-all proposed by Ms. Warren and Mr. Sanders and, therefore, is deemed unworthy by virtue of expressing common sense. Stacey Abrams of Georgia or Andrew Gillum would be distinct possibilities since they are persons of color but identifiable losers thus ensuring their dependence on the primary winners. Whoever these elites/socialists chose will most definitely not have experience in the private sector but will have a background in academia or public employment where they have been free to criticize without responsibility for their decisions.

Again based on what we know today, the traditionalist – blue collar Democrats – will be represented by former Vice-president Joe Biden, small town Mayor Pete Buttigieg. Or maybe Sen. Amy Klobachar (D-MN) who will play well in Middle America but is considered too much of a rube to attract support in California, Washington, Oregon and the Northeast. The traditionalists are equally enamored with identity politics so Mr. Booker would find greater acceptance there than with the elites/socialists. And likewise Ms. Harris because she has come down firmly in support of and against Medicare-for-all. Mr. Biden always puts form above substance and will be looking for someone that will provide a splash (and no it won’t be Reps. Adam Schiff (D-CA) or Jerry Nadler (D-NY) – the sleaze factor is way too high). He will approach Oprah Winfrey and Michelle Obama but they will both tell him to get lost. There are a host of congressional members looking to step up but Mr. Biden will limit his choice to identity politics rather than competence.

Mr. Buttigieg and Ms. Klobachar will both look for a person with significant name identification, a history of loyalty, and limited intelligence such that he or she will not out shine the presidential nominee. In other words they will be looking for their own Joe Biden and he may be dumb enough to accept.

It’s a mess and it will get messier as we approach the actual primaries. Ms. Harris bailed out today rather than risk losing in her own state of California. Montana Gov. Steve Bullock succumbed to the realization that the mainstream media is not interested in a small state Democrat. And you can assume that Gov. Bill Weld – former Republican turned Democrat Trump hater for no reason will soon disappear.

And as for the polls, we will all have to wait until there is a one-on-one contest between President Donald Trump and the Democrat nominee. So, should someone ask with incredulity “Do you really support Trump” the correct answer is “As opposed to whom!”

Oregon Catalyst