Leading with Fear, Hate and Lack of Democracy
The 2021 California Democratic Convention of April 29 through May 1 portrayed a party that had left the ideals of JFK and Jimmy Carter and returned to the Andrew Jackson Party of long ago. Delegates were treated to a top show of fear, hate and bigotry in which real participation was largely blocked by computer glitches from participation.
The virtual speeches and commercials seemed completely scripted and almost carbon copies of each other, mostly portraying one theme: humans (especially Blacks) are dirty, diseased and to be avoided and all Republicans are to be hated. The press (including press photographers) was invited to participate via the live feed. In some cases, the press had better access to the events than the delegates themselves. Most of the delegates interviewed felt completely disconnected from the process and prevented from participation in key decisions at caucuses and on the final day which involved voting.
The virtual speeches and commercials seemed completely scripted and almost carbon copies of each other, mostly portraying one theme: humans (especially Blacks) are dirty, diseased and to be avoided and all Republicans are to be hated. The press (including press photographers) was invited to participate via the live feed. In some cases, the press had better access to the events than the delegates themselves. Most of the delegates interviewed felt completely disconnected from the process and prevented from participation in key decisions at caucuses and on the final day which involved voting.
Via fallacious smear-emails during the officer voting period, the California Democratic Party got rid of its only Black vice chairman, Daraka Larimore-Hall. Larimore-Hall has long been seen as the conscience of the California Democratic Party leadership, standing up against corporate purchased party policy positions. Daraka gave the most popular speech at the convention. His was the one speech that didn’t look like it came out of a script, perpetuating hatred and fear. Instead, he held his tongue about the election cheating and simply listed some of the names of African-Americans who had been killed by police in recent times. The one bright light was that the other vice chairman position was filled by Betty Yee, currently the California Controller.
Most delegates were not able to attend the caucus meetings in which they were already members while a smaller selected number of delegates of those allowed to enter the caucuses to vote on new caucus officers. On Sunday, when the resolutions and platform were to be approved, there was not quorum during most of the votes and during the brief time there was a quorum, there was no review of the votes that had taken place without a quorum. The consent calendar is usually handed out to delegates on the Sunday so they know what they are voting on. But on the Sunday of the virtual convention, the delegates had no idea where to find the consent calendar or what was on it, making the voting pretty much blind votes. Delegates had to guess at the wording of the resolutions and the list of bills to support differed from that which were previously listed by those accessing the legislative committee site.
Gavin Newsom presented false COVID 19 information for California, claiming its infection rate was among the lowest when it is among the highest. He smiled and laughed during his speech while ignoring the losses that had been incurred by Californians because of the handling of the COVID 19 situation.
Almost every Democratic elected official made virtual messages, presenting the scripted theme of fear and hate. It seemed as if Big Pharma and a hate group had worked together to write the speeches that mostly sounded like they came out of the same mouth. The officials who spoke seemed like shells of their earlier selves.
Almost every Democratic elected official made virtual messages, presenting the scripted theme of fear and hate. It seemed as if Big Pharma and a hate group had worked together to write the speeches that mostly sounded like they came out of the same mouth. The officials who spoke seemed like shells of their earlier selves.
Among those who spoke were Joe Biden, Kamala Harris, Nancy Pelosi, Governor Gavin Newsom, former Governor Jerry Brown, Senator and former California Secretary of State Alex Padilla, current California Secretary of State Shirley Webber, California Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara, California Superintendent of Education Tony Thurmond, California State Controller Betty Yee, Lieutenant Governor Eleni Kounalakis and former Senator Barbara Boxer. People were wondering where Senator Dianne Feinstein was.
There is a hope that next year, if there is an in person convention, delegates will feel more included and the party will sound more democratic.
Below is a video of the best convention speech, that of Daraka Larimore-Hall.
Below is a video of the best convention speech, that of Daraka Larimore-Hall.