Welcome, all

The more, the merrier

Just as more speech is better than curtailing speech, more candidates in a political race are better than fewer. Even the really bad ones have a message. Even if it’s just me, me, me. The voters will whittle them down in a runoff, if need be.

Bernie Sanders’ people have put out the word: If the current president doesn’t run for reelection again, the senator from Vermont is likely to.

Call this the very-early-positioning-line for 2024, even before the 2022 mid-terms have occurred. Better early than never, right?

According to a memo obtained by The Washington Post — one sent to his friends and allies — Bernie Sanders’ people say: “In the event of an open 2024 Democratic presidential primary, Senator Sanders has not ruled out another run for president, so we advised that you answer any questions about 2024 with that in mind.”

Very well. The more, the merrier.

It’s a sign of a healthy democracy when candidates from all over the political spectrum are heard. Just as babies screaming in the pews are a sign of a healthy church. In this general wrasslin’ match we call American politics, let’s get everybody’s opinion.

And there are more than two points of view among the electorate. Some of us didn’t mind seeing a dozen people in the last couple of presidential debates.

Uncle Bernie certainly has his followers. Even at 80. There are many voters out there, even (maybe especially) younger voters who think this socialism idea could work. Some of us would disagree, and will spend many column inches explaining why, but that’s not what today’s editorial is about.

Let’s have it out. Socialists, libertarians, Trumpers, Never-Trumpers, establishment Democrats, Greens . . . .

Somebody once said that democracy is the worst form of government, except for all the others that have been tried. Churchill and others have been accused of saying such a thing.

It doesn’t really matter who said it first, or at all. It still rings true.