Bob Lord

Bob has mostly wound down his 39-year career as a tax and business lawyer (with a 1-year interruption to run for Congress in 2008 (CD3), when he tried to unseat John Shadegg. Bob now serves as the senior advisor on tax policy for the Patriotic Millionaires, a group of wealthy Americans who believe the light taxation of America's rich is destabilizing our democracy, and as an associate fellow at the Institute for Policy Studies. Bob has been writing for Blog For Arizona since late 2011, concentrating mostly on federal issues, with an occasional foray into Arizona state politics.

Green Party Success in Arizona!

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Just 35 short days after my esteemed colleague, AZ BlueMeanie, declared the Green Party Fail in Arizona, and explained: For all of you who have been posting comments that you will vote for Jill Stein of the Green Party in November, too bad for you! Our friendly rival blog, Three Sonorans, now is telling us: … Read more

What Sanders and His Supporters Accomplished

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Unlike many Sanders supporters, I was neither surprised nor troubled by Sanders’ endorsement of Hillary.

It was something he ultimately had to do. If he didn’t endorse, his position in the Democratic Senate caucus would have been miserable, so his only other logical choice was to accept Jill Stein’s offer of the Green Party nomination and declare all out war. That mat not have been a terrible choice, but I get his thinking.

The challenge, really, was to extract the highest price he possibly could for that endorsement. Did he succeed?

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Dividing the Left: The Alternative But Not Competing Explanations for the Rise of Trump

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It occurred to me that the divide between the Democratic establishment and the progressive left is defined largely by their differing viewpoints for understanding the rise of Trump. Ironically, there’s no tension between those viewpoints. Both camps have it right. But those differing, yet entirely reconcilable, viewpoints lead to radically different courses of action.

Kind of paradoxical, huh? A common foe who logically should unify the left appears to divide it. Actually, there’s an explanation, to which I’ll return. First, the two viewpoints:

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What a Surprise? Even Hillary’s Commitment to Reproductive Rights is Politically Negotiable

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Hillary Clinton is supposedly rock solid in her commitment to women’s rights, with reproductive rights at the top of the list. Unlike in other areas, such as trade, military adventurism, energy policy, and LGBT rights, to name a few, she hasn’t wavered when it comes to reproductive choice.

That commitment has given her a huge boost in this election cycle. Planned Parenthood departed from past practice and endorsed her over Bernie Sanders, also a staunch advocate for reproductive choice. More significantly, she’s energized millions of women to support her campaign with everything they have to give. They’ve opened their wallets (including some very big wallets) and have flooded social media with supportive posts. They’ve even broken friendships with those who see things differently.

They are really, really Ready for Hillary.

They know she is committed to their cause in a way that Bernie Sanders could never be.

But you can tell a lot about a person by the company she keeps.

Or, in Hillary Clinton’s case, the company she is considering keeping.

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Different Worlds: Inside and Outside the Team Democrat Thought Box

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Inside the thought box of the Democratic Team, things are coming together well.

Our job, team Democrats know, is to win elections. We must defeat the Red Sox Trump. That requires loyalty. Sanders can’t stay home just because he’s not captain.

Thinking inside the box has advantages. You can invoke aphorisms like “politics is the art of the possible” and feel smugly supreme. As long as the answer lies inside the box, your thinking won’t be far off.

Until it is.

You see, thinking inside the box robs you of perspective.

Consider how Trump is viewed from inside the Democratic Team box. He’s what Republican election strategy has wrought. By appealing to voters through dog whistles for decades, the Republicans ultimately unleashed the horror of Trump. They have only themselves to blame.

Team Democrats thus see themselves as blameless for the rise of Trump. Their champion, Hillary Clinton, is of course the antidote to Trumpism.

Outside the Democratic thought box, however, things look different. Outside the box thinkers see Trumpism as a global phenomenon. They see Team Democrats as part of the problem, not the solution.

Willing to look outside the box? Then join me after the jump.

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