Presidential politics moves to the “ next level.”
Cornel West’s independent run for the presidency has freed him to create an innovative platform that addresses the failures of Constitutional Democracy and Capitalism for thoughtful voters.
The link that follows should connect the reader to the most reformist political platform I’ve ever witnessed in my lifetime. It should take you to Cornel West’s campaign website. Scroll past all the requests to “join” and go directly to the “platform” link. You may not agree with all the points, but how mentally refreshing it is to escape the distraction of the culture wars and the “single issue voting” that divides our society into reds and blues:
https://www.cornelwest2024.com
In his platform I see the emergence of a new political philosophy. For now I’ll call it Humanitarianism. I’ll explore the idea further in a succeeding column. I don’t want to distract from the revolutionary changes Cornel West proposes.
Remember when political platforms really meant something and were adopted by our two parties after often rancorous debate at their nominating conventions. That was before the public primary system made the conventions irrelevant and turned the selection of candidates into celebrity driven political processes in which a single slogan or a rhetorical style or mesmerizing look could carry the day. Platforms are hard work and force the voters to think across a spectrum of ideas.
Cornel West’s ideas are so big that there seems to be a limited base of voters that would support him, not even any of our erstwhile third parties. Robert F. Kennedy Jr was emerging as the Biden-Trump antidote for me, but some of his stranger pandering re grading vaccines and conspiracy theories revealed him as just another partisan. Running as an independent in such a large country requires more celebrity status than Cornel has. We’re talking about such folks as Michele Obama, Oprah Winfrey, Dwayne Johnson, Matthew McConeheigh, Tom Hanks, Tina Fey, Tom Brady - all winners in everything they do, and there must be others. But whomever, they need enough of the Donor Class to bankroll their candidacy.
I’ll vote for Cornel West in the hopes that he can make a numerical statement that will force a return to imaginative thinking by our candidates and voters. My reaction is very limited, but by sharing this, not necessarily endorsing, you might jumpstart activists who need a new motivating idea.