Bernie Sanders Won California--What that Means for the State & the Nation

With the east coast states reporting first and all the Biden hype, the fact of the largest state in the union voting decisively for Bernie Sanders has been glossed over in the news.  So let’s take a moment to celebrate Bernie Sanders winning California and analyze what it means.  California, as the richest, most populist state, tends to be a harbinger of what is coming in the nation.

The chart above shows the status of the race from the California Secretary of State website today (called for Bernie Sanders last Tuesday by AP).  If you add together the percentages of all the centrist candidates and all the progressive candidates, it’s basically a wash, but Bernie won the state by a lot more than Joe Biden won Texas (Biden 34.5% to Sanders 30%). 

While popular imagination holds California as a progressive state that reflects the politics of San Francisco, it hasn’t always been blue let alone progressive.  Until relatively recently, California was up for grabs in presidential elections and statewide elections.  For example, from 2003 to 2011, Arnold Schwarzenegger, a centrist Republican, was governor of the state (who would made it clear he would have run for president if not a naturalized citizen).  Similarly, Diane Feinstein, a centrist Democrat who has often infuriated progressives, has been California’s untouchable U.S. Senator since 1992.  It was considered a longshot when Barbara Boxer, a San Francisco progressive, was elected to the U.S> Senate too.

I am a third generation Californian but I lived outside the state for almost 20 years.  When I moved back in 1997 the conventional wisdom was that there were 4 pillars of California statewide politics.  To get elected, a candidate had to be:

o   Pro choice

o   Pro death penalty

o   Pro environmental protection

o   Anti taxes

Which sounds a lot more like Joe Biden than it does Bernie Sanders.  Our last governor, Jerry Brown (D), started his final two terms standing on all four of these pillars, and then flipped and ended up leading a successful statewide campaign to raise income taxes on the wealthy. 

Our current governor Gavin Newsom (D) campaigned for office more like Bernie Sanders than he did Joe Biden.   Shortly after inauguration, he suspended the death penalty in the state for as long as he is in office.  There is some question, however, how serious he was about enacting single payer healthcare/medicare for all at the state level.  He campaigned on it but then installed health insurance industry business as usual types as top (health policy) staff.

They say that as California goes, so goes the nation.  As California’s housing prices continue to rise, people have fled to neighboring states in droves.  Evidence suggests that Nevada, Arizona and Texas have all moved to the left partly as a result of exported California values.

As the mainstream of the national Democratic establishment has seized control of the primary with its decisive elevation of Joe Biden as the frontrunner, California’s election of Bernie Sanders shows the party may be out of step with the future of the Democratic electorate.

The Revolution will not be Online: Stop Tweeting & Start Voting

Watching the HUGE crowds and energy for Sanders, the massive cash infusions, and hanging out, as I do, in the Twitterverse, I have BELIEVED and spouted the story that Sanders and his message have galvanized a huge swath of youth and that we need that energy to beat Trump in November.  I have feared that Sanders youth won’t vote in the fall for the Democratic nominee if its not Sanders and wondered why the establishment didn’t take that threat more seriously given that Hillary lost.  I have been angry at the establishment for having its head in the sand (if not somewhere messier), for even considering anointing a lackluster same old same old candidate like Joe Biden.

But here’s the thing: we can have all the money, tweets and rallies in the world, but if we don’t actually get our butts to the polling booth and vote, none of it amounts to a hill of beans (which, come to think of it, is a phrase Joe Biden might utter, and my kids might not even understand.  I’m not sure I even understand it).

Like many strong Sanders supporters, I woke up on Stupor Wednesday hung over with anger at Biden voters and the insider team that orchestrated his resurrection.  After laying low for a couple of days and doing some research, I applied the spiritual axiom that whenever I point my finger at someone else, I have three fingers pointing back at me.   Well not really at me, I voted for Sanders.  The fingers are really pointing at that great swath of Sanders supporters who didn’t vote period.

See, whatever else you want to say about the church ladies in the hats across the south and whom they supported and why, those folks vote.  They know where their polling place is.  They know where their ballot is.  They know how to arrange their lives that day to do it.  They know all of it.  They have voted for decades and many of them do NOT take that right for granted (nor should any of us). Many of them remember a time or a story of a time of poll taxes and overt voter suppression.  (Of course with roll purging, mandatory IDs and stripping of voting rights of people convicted of crimes, those days are still with us).

When I canvassed for Sanders in my neighborhood, every single person who came to the door was a young man, most of color.  Every single one of those told us enthusiastically that they were for Sanders.  On one afternoon alone, out of 6 such people, only one of them seemed to have any idea where or how to vote, and he was the least certain he’d vote for Sanders, it might be someone else.  The others seemed to be under the distinct impression that they could vote online at the last minute (like everything else they do).  When we talked to them about the details of voting, their eyes glazed over and they also indicated that that they would find that out all online when the time comes. 

But it’s not always very easy to find correct voting information online despite best efforts.  For one thing, it varies by county, so widespread Tweets and instagrammage doesn’t necessarily help.  I personally fielded over 10 calls on the day before election day in California from younger friends who couldn’t figure out online where and how to vote.  And those were just the ones who called.  Many others when they encounter an obstacle or find a long line might not vote at all.

If you want people to be even vaguely interested in the threat that you wouldn’t vote for the nominee in November (not a threat I can or would credibly make btw), you need to actually overwhelmingly hugely vote in the primaries now.  Otherwise, all our hopes of defeating Donald Trump are wisely pinned on the church ladies in the hats.

My Top Tips to Create & Maintain a Meditation Practice with a Family

I have been meditating daily for about 20 years, which means I must have started when our children were about 3 and 5.  Various tricks have worked for me throughout the years.  This past week, keeping my meditation practice up while caring for a 3 and 6 year old for 2 days, I gained some new ones.  Some apply to any situation; some may be unique to child-rearing; take what you like and leave the rest.  Here then are my top tips for starting and maintaining a regular meditation practice with children in the house:

o   Pick an activity you’re already doing and do it mindfully.  It really doesn’t matter what that is. 

o   A great one can simply be walking or driving the children to school.  Set that as a meditation time. 

o   While you are doing it, when you notice your mind going to your to do list, or a worry, or something like that, just notice that and label where your thoughts have been aloud (or under your breath) like: Planning, Future, Past, Worry. 

o   And then come back to the present moment.  Notice any feelings that come up.  Are you judging yourself for not being able to present? Notice that.  Are you feeling anxious because you think you need to be somewhere else, doing something else?  Notice that.  Are you grateful for your 3 year old shouting “daffodil!” as he points at one?

o   Make a deal with your co-parent (if you’re lucky enough to have one) to wake up and go straight to meditation.  If you have a separate room, even a bathroom that you can do it in.  Do that.  Even 5 minutes a day makes a difference.  If you don’t have a separate space, just ear buds and a smart phone and click on a recording gives space in a chaotic room.  I can recommend specific recordings.

o   Teach your children to do meditation with you.  If your children are under 10, you may be able to all learn how to meditate together.  Children naturally love meditation.

o   Consider using a recorded meditation to transition from last story to sleep.  Put one on that everyone involved in bedtime can hear and then cuddle in.  Let it run for 5-20 minutes.  If you need to be able to sneak out, have the device you use be an ancient CD player or something you can leave in the room.

o   You could do the same thing early in the morning.  If the kids are prone to sneaking into your bed before dawn, slip in 1 ear bud in your ear, another in the kids and snuggle in to meditate.

o   Another time might be just after school.  Have a snack, meditate and then play.  It will re-set everyone

o   Be patient and loving with yourself no matter what happens.  That is part of the meditation experience.  It takes time to build a practice.

o   Get some other parent (not in your household) to do this with you.  Tell each other the truth each day by a quick text or check-in at the playground.  Here’s what I did.  Here’s what I didn’t do.  Here’s what I intend to do to support myself to do this tomorrow. 

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o   Set a goal of meditating 20-40 days straight.  Social science shows that around that amount of time is required to create a new habit.  It must literally be every day, not just most days, in order to establish the habit.  Don’t beat up on yourself if you miss a day, but don’t say that it “counts” toward the days straight.  It doesn’t.  Start again.  Until I do any new thing 30 days straight, it wont be part of my life.