NOTE: While I did support certain candidates in the 2019–20 Democratic primaries because of their ideas (e.g. UBI, anti-war, broad tent approach), it doesn't mean I endorse their other positions.
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Some people keep asking me why I have Mayor Pete Buttigieg in my top 3 2020 candidates. After all, I'm not exactly the demographic that many people think would like Mayor Pete. While I'm an urban person and I think I am highly educated by most people's standards, I'm not exactly into the cultural values of this demographic, as my regular audience would know. Moreover, earlier polls have shown that Mayor Pete's support overlaps with that of Kamala Harris and Elizabeth Warren, my two least liked candidates remaining in the race. So why would I take interest in Mayor Pete?
I guess it all boils down to one word: community. From what I see, Mayor Pete is very interested in bringing back the idea of strong communities, and re-strengthening the social fabric across society. In fact, this is something all three of my favorite 2020 candidates have in common. Yang, Gabbard and Mayor Pete all want to see a strengthening of the social fabric and the institutions that form the pillars of a healthy community, and I think it's a breath of fresh air that's desperately needed. In recent years, many politicians have been thinking of both economic and social issues as a zero-sum game, as if one side had to lose in order for the other side to win. They have far too often been thinking about society as made up of elements in conflict, rather than being made up of elements that can work together to produce a better whole. In more technical terms, they have been too close the conflict school of sociology, and too far away from the consensus school. I think it's time the pendulum swung back to consensus and community.
In fact, not too long ago, there was a whole movement dedicated to building strong communities above all. Back in the 1980 and 90s, communitarianism was a big theme, both in elite academia and across both sides of politics. While conservative communitarians stressed the cultural importance of insitutions like family, progressive communitarians stressed the importance of good social and economic policy to support such institutions. Like most things communitarian, the two sides could be brought together to make an even better whole. While the culture wars and international conflicts of the past two decades have eroded these ideals, I think 2020 would be a good time to start over.
What I like most about Mayor Pete is that he practices the way of consensus over conflict. He refuses to support pointless boycotts, and instead prefers to use reason and civility to win over people in arguments. This is a quality we desperately need in our leaders during this rough time in history.
