I Want Organic Candidates, Is That Possible?

The above is one of my New Yorker cartoons from 1993 about the candidacy of Ross Perot. I won’t go into the details of why this man is scrubbing his bumper sticker off, you can read about it here. It’s a drawing that illustrates the whims of political campaigns, and our passions.

I know politics is nasty and messy, way more than I realize. I am an idealist, and like to think of the system as all about people who are passionate for helping others by becoming public servants, people who honestly represent our democracy. This Platner mess really made it clear to me that it’s not always that way it has worked.

A team of recruiters “found” this Maine guy (who suspended his campaing last night) and told him he was an ideal candidate, convinced him to run for the Maine Senate seat to beat incumbant Susan Collins. They appealed to his ego. The recruiters involved are three young individuals (two Ivy League educated, one an ad man from New York) who thought they knew who would appeal to the Maine working class, progressive voters. It’s cynical, what they did—and they’ve done it before in a few other states. They did not fully vet Platner and as a consequence have possibly ruined the Democrats chances at getting the Senate back, and disillusioned thousands of Maine voters.

Perhaps this nascent American socialist movement is damaged by this chapter. Not the good ideas that come out of it—health care rights, workers rights, etc.—those are important, as are women’s rights and Black rights. But I am hopeful that what is damaged is the cynical and forced manipulation of voters for an agenda, and for power. Candidates hand-picked by a group of (perhaps priviledged, I’m not clear on that) people. One of them, Morris Katz, a strategist for Mamdani and part of a group who recruited John Fetterman, said to CNN a few weeks ago, “Our government doesn’t work, it works for the wealthy who can buy power.” I want to point out that while Katz may not be buying power (maybe he is), he is manipulating people to get power.

I know, of course this is not new. But I don’t like it nonetheless.

These young strategists all have been a part of the Bernie Sanders movement. I am proud of AOC for not endorsing Platner.

I want candidates to emerge organically! I want people to use their hearts AND their minds when supporting a candidate. Maine native and historian Heather Cox Richardson was mentioned as someone who could run for this Senate seat. She could, and she would win, and she would beat Susan Collins. But she publicly has announced she is not considering it, saying that while she could run well, she feels she doesn’t have the skill set to be a Senator. Here is her video.

I spoke with a friend this morning who has been in politics, and she said it’s those people who make good public servants.

Thanks for being here. This is a short post because I am spending time with family today for a fun museum visit. I hope you have a good day!!