When the Truth is Found: Trump, Sanders, Harris
March 3, 2019
by William P. Meyers

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And Nothing But the Truth

Few Americans knew much about Bernard Sanders, aka Bernie, when he announced that although he was an independent and a socialist, he would run for the Democratic Party nomination. He was an obscure Senator from Vermont. Had America become a true democracy over the past 2 centuries, Vermont's population of about 600,000 human beings would not have their own Senator, much less two. To get a Senator under a proportional representation scheme, if we keep a hundred Senators, you would need to represent about 3.25 million people.

Most Americans know almost as little of his history now as they did in 2015. He is currently on a tour to tell us more about himself. It is a very selective tour. His father, who ran a small business much like Hillary Clinton's father, is described as a paint sales person, though it would see he was a wholesale distributor. In Chicago he will advertise the one time in his life when he worked for civil rights. He will leave out that his father made enough money to send him to an expensive private college without a scholarship. The post-college, pre-mayor period, running from 1964 to 1981, we be glossed over. The most significant thing I know of what he did in those 17 years, aside from running through the money when his parents died, and mooching, was working against the election of George McGovern for President in 1972. Not that Richard Nixon needed Bernard's help. Check out what Hillary Clinton did during that time period, by way of comparison.

Donald Trump, by capitalist standards, was born on home plate and lived there all his life. His only learned skill, as far as I can tell, is buying things, including the people who help him buy the more complicated things like hotels, office buildings, and golf-courses. He is not untypical of people who grow up in his class, in fact, I rate him more productive than most. He could have spent his life snorting cocaine and he would be about as rich as he is. He is no Jeff Bezos, but then he is no Bernie Madoff either. Like most of us, having seen only his own tiny corner of the world, and a bit of television, he thinks he has a grip on the truth. Unfortunately his central truth is that people are gullible, or that enough people are gullible enough, enough of the time. So that lying is a perfectly fair tactic in love, war, and politics. And business. Well, it is the swiss army knife of life tools for someone like Donald Trump.

Truth is said to be the first casualty of war, and politics is said to be war by another name. We are not surprised in ordinary life when people put their best face forward. A plumber does not begin the sales pitch saying, "I screwed up a lot when I was learning this job". Rather we hear of the 100% customer satisfaction rate over the last year. So we should not be surprised if almost all candidates for office give the reasons we should vote for them, leaving it to opponents or the press to point out the flaws in their history.

Which brings us to Kamala Harris, the Senator from California (population 39 million) and current candidate for the Democratic Party nomination for President of the United States.

Currently Kamala is my favorite candidate for this office. She has much to recommend her.

But this essay is about truth. And Senator Harris, like all candidates, is putting the best gloss she can on her life. Which is not that hard. She has an amazing record of achievement, without having a hand up from rich or powerful parents.

Nevertheless, I have to wonder. Was she really as goody-two shoes growing up as she describes in The Truths We Hold, An American Journey? Was she always looking out for other people, and never for herself? Is the biggest pimple on her beautiful life her failure of the California Bar Exam the first time she took it?

Was she always a loyal Democrat? It is possible. Unlike Bernard and Me, who are older, she did not enter adult life when it seemed like maybe a Marxist or at least New Left revolution was possible in the United States. Born in 1964, her parents may have hung out in clearly left-of-Democrat circles. But by the time she started law school in 1986, she was on a very normal path. In Oakland and San Francisco you could be fairly far to the left and still be welcome in Democratic Party power circles.

I would like to believe that Kamala Harris is considerably more truthful than Donald or even Bernard. She is certainly more competent.

As a supporter I will be telling you why you should vote for Kamala. If it looks like she can't win, I will choose another woman candidate. But as a journalist I believe you should base your decisions on The Truth, The Whole Truth, and Nothing But The Truth.

So do not be surprised if I tell you something about Kamala's past that she does not want you to weigh in your decision. Or that I disagree with her on some particular policy.

And of course, I will tell you the truth about Bernard Sanders. It is hard to find on the Internet, buried as it is by propaganda. The problem is, if he does become the Democratic Party nominee, the Republicans and their news machine will provide the sordid details of his past. Plus, of course, calling him a communist sent by Lucifer to destroy the good ol' USA.