Why are we stuck with two elderly white men running for U.S. President? complain the media. No woman, no one of color is now involved. But wait, take a closer look. There’s still still a woman, not altogether white, who remains in the race: Tulsi Gabbard, former congresswoman from Hawaii, who has all the qualities necessary in an era of identity politics.
Granted she is winning less than one per cent of the vote in the Democratic primaries, but all the more reason to give her support against the questionable men seeking the Presidency. What’s going on? It shows that issues still trump diversity. She is a one issue candidate: anti-war. She argues that all the current U.S. wars and quasi wars are going nowhere and have caused vast destruction and loss of life.
In today’s Washington that’s a near unmentionable topic. Bernie Sanders aside, no other candidate seizes on it. The nation’s capital hs grown accustomed to war and profited from it. We have arms dealers who then contribute to political campaigns, political lobbies who want the U.S. military to expand the empire and help Israel. Gabbard is especially anathema to the so-called neoconservatives who have urged every war undertaken since 9/11 and now surround President Trump, repeating their influence with previous administrations.
Aware that she is not going to win the Democratic nomination, Gabbard stays in the race to make her point. She assumes that sooner or later, Americans will be ready to listen to her. They will realize that the more then 4 trillion dollars poured into these wars could be better spent at home on improving life and reducing inequality of wealth and income, which has never been greater. The first woman President? How about Tulsi Gabbard?
