Government is a Team Sport: A Primary Perspective

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THIS JUST IN: HUMANITY IS RUN BY HUMANS. Also newsworthy: different humans have different approaches to running humanity. Also, in case you didn't know: humans are imperfect beings who don't always have the answers to life. 

So why do we seem to have a double-standard to expect our politicians to have the perfect answer to everything? 

The hate online has been excessive during this primary season, as it always is in elections. But in an era where we're starting to accept that self-care isn't a luxury anymore, that it's essential to survival and living, where we're learning to forgive ourselves, we don't provide that same standard to our politicians. ​

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​We expel vitriol and we start choosing our candidates by process of elimination: I can only vote for my candidate because the other candidates made this mistake, made that mistake, etc. Also, I'm ignoring the mistakes my candidate made, or I'm rationalizing those mistakes as "not as harmful" to our government/humanity/etc. 

I'm not blaming people for having this reaction, though. I think it's a response to post-traumatic stress. It is a fear-based response. We're so used to having to choose between bad and worse that we're still evaluating a pool full of awesome candidates--brilliant ideas and flaws and all--by purity tests instead of looking at all the ways they work well together. But we don't have to this time around. We have a bunch of good candidates, all of whom would bring something different to the stage, flaws and all. 

Remember: government is a team sport. We're all in this together. Cue High School Musical theme.
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Yes, the Presidency is one spot. It's one leader. But Presidents have VPs, and that's how Obama and Biden worked so well together to unify so much of the country. And they have cabinets, and they have Secretaries of State, and they have assistants, and all of those people shape the thinking of the rest of how the government will be run. 

That's not to say that you can't have a favorite candidate. I have a favorite candidate, and I have people I'm less enthusiastic about, but I also recognize that while I obviously want my favorite candidate to win, everyone on that debate stage (minus the billionaire who bought his way onto the stage) would be better than 45. Everyone there has a particular angle, a particular special talent, to contribute to our government, and with those special talents will also come weaknesses. 

But just like ourselves, a weakness doesn't mean that that candidate can't learn from that weakness. What we should be looking for in our candidates is an ability to evolve and grow and learn, and I think that Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders and Joe Biden all have that ability, as evidenced by their records. Each one of them has grown. Each one of them has made mistakes and learned from them. And each one of them would be a level-headed, balanced leader of the United States, because those failures mean that they are constantly fucking trying. 

So: today, on this historic day, don't forget what's at stake: the potential to turn the United States's government into one similar to that of Russia's, or China's, or North Korea's. One where voter suppression becomes so real that our voices are stripped from us completely. One where that thing that second-amendment advocates are so terrified of--the government murdering its people on the streets--could become a reality. And just another reminder: if we do not vote 45 out of office, he cannot be sentenced to prison for his many, many crimes, including the one where he put our entire democracy--our entire COUNTRY--at stake.

We, the American people, have a chance to prevent this. 

The best way to do that is to not shit on other people's candidates. 

The best way to do that is to support each other when we support other Democratic candidates. 

The best way to do that is to vote, not with fear, but with each other.