I will start this (brief, I promise) post off with two caveats:
Caveat the first: Whoever the Democratic nominee is, they will disappoint each and every one of us in some way. Get over that now. The alternative is (among so many other things) children in cages. Vote with your heart in the primary, but vote with your head in the general. Get over your bullshit purity tests and let’s do the work to make fix some of these monsterous crimes.
Caveat the second: I have a lot of candidates I like. Before Mayor Pete, I was pulling for Castro. And Harris. And Warren. And Booker. I do also love, love, love the fact that so many of the candidates have issues they are specialists about, release their plan and then the rest of the field basically follows suit. This is a good way to operate.
Caveat the third (okay, I lied, I thought I only had two): I’m an independent. Unless Pennsylvania changes their rules (which there is a potential for that to happen), I can’t vote in the primaries, so I don’t have as much of a horse in this race (and yes, I’m a full hearted progressive, but since no one can snatch defeat from the jaws of victory quite like the Democratic party, I remain Independent).
Okay, on to it: I really like Mayor Pete. Yes, he’s gay, and seeing myself in a candidate in that way is something I didn’t think I’d ever see. I also love that he’s my age (two years older). Our generation faces a lot of unique challenges, and we need lots of younger people to step up, take the reigns and not let the older generations dictate so much of the world.
But I also love that he’s outspoken about his faith: one that I have always known to be liberal. He’s fighting the right on their own turf and laying it out in stark terms.
Faith should inspire social action.
https://www.towleroad.com/2019/11/pete-buttigieg-social-gospel-movement/
He’s actively proclaiming that his faith moves him to care for his neighbors, to create a social safety net and to fight those who hoard their wealth. This is a message that needs shouted from the rooftops.
When the right claims to have a monopoly on the Christian faith, we need to push and fight back against that. It’s disingenuous at best.
So while he may not end up with nomination (odds are he won’t, just based on sheer numbers), I hope that this something he continues to pound and something that the progressives take from him. Christianity at it’s heart is liberal and progressive. In the words of Presiding Bishop Michael Curry, it’s about radical love. Let’s embrace that, and fully reclaim it.
All my best,
Mike
