So, Who's The Democratic Leader? Trick Question.

The Democratic party currently does not have a leader. That's a good thing. Before I elaborate, I'll address the "wish list" of democrats that if any were worthy of being the leader the list wouldn't exist. But I have a "wish list" of my own. 

Current candidate "wish they had an open primary so this person could have run in 2024" list:

1. What about Senate Minority Leader, Chuck Shumer? Are you serious? He's too old for it, too established to bring the fresh ideas we need. We actually need to replace him as leader with Sen. Klobuchar. 

2. What about Rep. Hakeem Jefferies? We need him for speaker! He's a great person to go to for ideas on who should lead the party. But he is where he belongs, where we need him to be. 

3. What about Gavin Newsome and AOC? Have you seen how many registered democrats fled that party since 2020? That's the year we started catering to progressives like them. It's outright stupid to put the party in the hands of the very people chasing voters away! 

4. What about sensible moderates like Josh Shapiro, Andy Bashir, Gretchen Whitmer, Amy Klobuchar, and Pete Buttigieg? I generally like this list. Amy should be our new senate leader. But if any of them were the answer, we wouldn't still be looking for a leader. 

That brings me to my wish list:

1. We need someone between the ages of 40 and 60. Experienced enough to have seen and learned a lot, young enough to understand a larger swath of the country (kids as parents, adults as themselves, and seniors through their own parents)

2. We need someone focused on the issues that everyone faces. Look at the rising prices of things people need to buy to live, not the stock market or the GDP. You lose touch with voters when you are crunching those numbers instead of the same numbers they are crunching when doing a regular household budget. 

3. Someone who has a long list of what needs changing and a surgical approach to how to change it. The system that has worked since the 1940s doesn't work anymore. We need someone who will fix it, add to it, take away what is no longer needed, and isn't afraid to redefine how we think (like FDR did). 

4. A moderate that will listen to everyone and not minimize that legitimate concerns of everyone. The anti-everything and everyone part is noise, what are the real anxieties?

5. Someone who will change how the party thinks, change what our platform is. We need a new platform. We need new things to focus on and new ways to solve problems. We need someone who is strong and charismatic enough to be a proud democrat that is not in the most current mold of a democrat. 

Here are my top two choices:

Senator Ruben Gallego of Arizona

and

Senator Andy Kim of New Jersey

Both were originally in the house in the class of 2018. Sen. Gallego won in Arizona when Kamala lost by doing exactly what my wish list was. His people felt heard and understood. He did what we need to be able to do to get control again. He has ideas worth taking seriously. 

I have been following Andy Kim since that 2018 election. Being in my state, he flipped a red district no one thought could be flipped. The one democrat in that election we were less sure of. He did that, and continues to win, by doing what my wish list is. There is a picture of him cleaning up the capitol on the day after the Jan 6th insurrection. THIS is the leader the party needs! 

President Biden filled his cabinet and advisors with social diversity. Progressives loved it. Voters did not vote on their social standing they voted on their views. The next democratic president needs to fill their cabinet and advisors with location diversity. Represent as many states as possible among those who advise you. Because that is how you understand Ameria.