Meet Bernie Sanders' 2018 challenger

[Hortensis]

173. 1. His compelling message that we need to stop

the ultrawealthy and inequality of income distribution. Who on the left doesn't agree that that has become a huge, existential problem? Everyone does, both thoughtful and resentful types. This is what caused me to look seriously at him in the first place.

2. His charismatic ability on the stump, messages of absolute certainty and authority delivered in very few words. To me this turns out to be his one outstanding ability, but those "very few words" ultimately repel me. I insist on details, and the few he offers in published statements don't stand up to expert analysis.

3. His decision to lead a populist movement (an alternative to Rump's on the right), deliberately whomping up and amplifying resentment and distrust against "elites" and "the establishment." This gains him a lot of passionate support among discontented populist types on the left, and he has also picked up more on the right. Populist movements scare me. They're very dangerous, especially when they gain power by uniting the passions of the populist left with the much larger population of right-wing populists looking for a strong authoritarian leader. Those can and do destroy democracies because they get their power by growing the anxiety and resentment that arises mostly from ignorance and focusing it against established governments.

We have many, many good known Democrats and many more very promising whose names have not yet become nationally known, but some will. Discussing Sanders for 2020 is just an exercise anyway. He'd be 79 in 2020, not too old for Vermont to send him back to the senate if he wished, but the presidency? For now, he continues his anti-establishment wannabe "revolution," and I think we should pay him the respect of assuming he didn't choose that destructive word as frivolously as many assume.

Bottom line, I really, really, really like our system of government, even if it does come with the huge weakness of irresponsible voting and the kinds of the people that can put in power. I vote for proven, competent people full of enthusiastic, detailed plans for how to make it work better.