International politics by a high school student

My thoughts on the Democratic nominees

In this post ill go through the major democratic nominees (Sorry Yang and Bloomberg) one by one and tell you my personal opinion on each and everyone of them

Pete Buttigieg

I’m starting off with the surprise hit, former mayor of South Bend Indiana, Pete Buttigieg. I am personally a fan of Pete Buttigieg, I get a real Barack Obama “vibe” off him. He’s a super charismatic person who is able to get the rural votes. This is what i believe to be the most important trait in a Democratic politician if they are to challenge Donald Trump at the general elections in November. I think that Pete Buttigieg will keep on surprising and I will not be shocked if he ends up being the democratic nominee for president. I believe he will be able to bind the moderate and the more liberal democrats together and make the Democratic party stronger in the fight agains Donald Trump for the presidency. This is not to say that he is who I agree with most in political views, because he isn’t but if I was American I would support Pete Buttigieg. His age playing a positve role since i reckon he would be able to keep his young energy flowing in a second period as president. I’m super excited to see if his plan for “The new green deal” gets to become reality is Pete Buttigieg to become president.

Bernard “Bernie” Sanders

So just before i was saying that Pete Buttigieg wast the democratic nominee i agreed the most with. And that is because i am more politically aligned with Bernie Sanders, a junior senator from Vermont. I especially believe that his healthcare reforms would be amazing for the American populace. His age seems to be a minus for me, if he is to get two terms as president he would end up being 87, and the average life expectancy in America is only 78 which he is now. And to be honest with you i just don’t think that America needs another old white man at the helm. His controversy with Elizabeth Warren about him allegedly having remark something about a women wouldn’t be able to take on Trump to Elizabeth Warren personally, haven’t helped him either. Infighting between the two largest progressive democrats isn’t a good thing for either of the candidates nor the party as a whole.

Elizabeth Warren

Elizabeth Warren, a progressive senior senator from Massachusetts. Her politics are not identical to Bernie Sanders’s but they are similar in many ways. They have both looked towards Scandinavia for inspiration. I think the number one reason i prefer Bernie Sanders to Elizabeth Warren is that Bernie Sanders seems more charismatic and less professional in a good way which speaks to the younger generations. But maybe her slogan is right maybe ” Warren has a plan for that” I just doubt it. I also think that the scandal/controversy with her and Bernie Sanders can end up damaging her bid to become the next president of America. It is hard to believe her when you know Bernie Sanders character and since she doesn’t have any evidence to back up her allegations, some people might see it as a scheme to take voters from Bernie Sanders camp.

Joe Biden

Joe Biden is an interesting character. He was vice president during the Obama administration, and i believe this is the only reason that he is such a major competitor in the race to win the Democratic primaries. But there is one thing you have to give the man, he lives by the proverb “If at first you don’t succeed try, try again” as this isn’t his first time running for the democratic presidential nomination. The first time he tried was all the way back in 1988 where he withdrew before the primaries had even started saying “I’ve done some dumb things, and I’ll do dumb things again” not the best to have said when you want to run for president in the Me-too era. And just a quick look at his Wikipedia page will show you that there is some controversy with allegations of inappropriate physical contact with women. I think that he will have a hard time getting the younger generations on his side, what made him such a good vice president to Obama was that he could help Obama gather more moderate votes, and votes from older generations such as the baby boomers. But the youth is growing stronger on the political battlefield, and i think that Joe Bidens bid for presidency might end up being more of a joke, than a serious contender for becoming the 46th president of America.

Amy Klobuchar

I wont lie, before the Iowa caucus i had little to no knowledge of Amy Klobuchars politics and believed her to be less popular, but i was proven wrong. Amy Klobuchar is a senior senator from Minnesota and she is 59 years old. Amy Klobuchar is an experienced moderate politician and most of her politics, even her presidential campaign has a bipartisan approach. This might be the reason that she won multiple rural counties in the Iowa caucus. She won’t win the democratic nomination, but I can see her being behind quite a few shocks in the primaries, especially in states where the republicans usually reign supreme, and definitely in a few Midwestern swing states, such as her home state Minnesota, I’ll definitely be keeping more of an eye on her from now on.

Why the American primaries are undemocratic

I remember reading an article prior to the American elections of 2016, where in there was a harsh statement but one I personally think there is more truth to than one might just think. The statement is as follows ” You thought America was a democracy? Think again. The presidential election, for starters, obviously isn’t democratic: The president is elected by an electoral college with just 538 voters, none of whom have any choice as to whom they’re allowed to vote for.” And can anyone argue against that? Not really, but the problem with the American electoral system goes even deep than just the general elections, and in to the primaries.

In the primaries it once again isn’t the population who directly chooses who gets to win, convention delegates do. So just like Donald Trump won the general election in 2016 without winning the popular vote, the same is possible in the primaries, but as far as I know this hasn’t happened on a national level yet. But it happens quite on often on a state level. America has more Democrats than it has Republicans, and Sanders’s support among Democrats is greater than Trump’s among Republicans or at least it was in 2016 now that has probably changed. But if you imagine for just a second that american had a more representative system, where multiple people could run in the general election from the same political party, a greater share of the population would get to vote for who they believe would be the best for their country. And there simply is no reason for keeping it the way that it is today, other than for the parties to keep power over who gets to run for president rather than the people of America.

I personally think that a single transferable voting system would be the best for America. This is a system where votes rank the candidates in order of preference, in this system the one with most support gets to win the presidency. For more information on this system i recommend the following Youtube video from CGP Grey : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l8XOZJkozfI

Thanks for reading

Welcome to a new take on politics

All men dream, but not equally. Those who dream by night in the dusty recesses of their minds, wake in the day to find that it was vanity: but the dreamers of the day are dangerous men, for they may act on their dreams with open eyes, to make them possible.
T. E. Lawrence

About me

Hi, I’m a 18 year old socialist and high school student with an immense interest in politics, especially international politics. Since I was a young boy growing up in rural Denmark I’ve been interested in finding an answer to why our world is the way it is, and I believe the best way to explain this is by looking at the global politics of the world, and the history behind it. My dream is to one day work with politics on an international level, maybe as a diplomat at an embassy or at the United Nations. It’s good to dream and that is the main reason i started this blog and also why I chose to start off with a quote by T.E. Lawrence. I’m especially interested in the politics of the Middle East, but I try my best to keep up to date with politics all over the world, and I’m genuinely super exited for the American primaries.

I like to take photographs and will there use my own photographs whenever it seems like it fits. This could be photos from my trip to China if I’m discussing something about China etc.

About the blog

The blog will be portraying my personal views and opinions, but that doesn’t mean i wouldn’t like to hear other peoples views. I feel that the blog being subjective will make it easier for me to stand out from the rest, and also make it much easier for me to make content. I’ll write whenever I feel like there is a political subject I want to publish my take on. This could be everything from the general elections in New Zealand in September to the conflict in the Sahel region of Africa and everything in between.