Political Cortex: Brain Food for the Body Politic

It's not that any one of these three individuals would make bad campaigners or elected leaders; to the contrary, I believe all three would be excellent in both capacities. I think that these three could even withstand the inevitable sanitizing process that would be imposed upon them by party apparatus and still come out with one-quarter of their individual appeal still intact (integrity in Fitzgerald's case, fearlessness in Wilson's, humor in Stewart's). But the truth of the matter is, Fitzgerald, Wilson and Stewart are irreplaceable treasures in their current unelected and invaluable roles. And we need them to remain where they are.

I suggest it would be more difficult to find a dogged federal prosecutor, a former heroic ambassador/whistleblower and a politically hip fake news show host than it would be to find a former state legislator (like Obama) or charismatic Congressional rep (like Tim Ryan) to take up the mantel of next-generation progressive electoral politics.

I realize that this knee-jerk response to propel people like Fitz, Wilson and Stewart into public office reflects a deep thirst on the part of Democrats - and arguably all Americans - to have leaders who speak the truth, fearlessly. Undoubtedly, we need these kind of leaders, but to steal them (so to speak) from outside the regular party process is going to create a serious drought in the cultural landscape that I don't think is recognized by those who advocate their fantasy candidacies.

As progressives we have, embedded in the political culture that runs parallel to - but outside of - the electoral system, some of the Best. Voices. Ever. Al Franken. Cindy Sheehan. Paul Krugman. Keith Olbermann. The Current Fiery Symbol of the Bland Vice President Previously Known as Gore. Michael Moore (admittedly, I've never seen a call for this iconoclast to run for office, but he's a prime example of someone who has found his perfect, effective niche and should not be encouraged to shift his attention elsewhere).

Lest we forget our recent American political history, here's a very partial roll call of those who exerted cultural pressure from the outside on the political mainstream during the turbulent 1960's and early 1970's: Martin Luther King Jr., Betty Friedan, Abby Hoffman, the girl running naked and enflamed from napalm down a rural road in Vietnam, Malcolm X, Gloria Steinham, Mort Sahl, Walter Cronkite, Eldridge Cleaver, Patty Hearst, the Buddhist monk who set himself on fire, John Lennon, Rosa Parks, Lenny Bruce ... well, you can fill in a lot more blanks for yourself.

Needless to say, a lot of these people were unelectable, so the point in some cases is moot. But some may not have been; I think MLK arguably could have won a Congressional seat if the district were chosen carefully and he'd toned down the establishment-challenging rhetoric. And wouldn't we as nation have suffered a grievous national loss of a voice of conscience had he been restrained and tamed as one of 435 representatives?

I'm certain the bench within the formal Democratic Party structure is not as shallow as these frenzied clamors for presidential runs by normative outsiders indicate. All across this country, there are state legislators, county officials, school board members and district attorneys with requisite talents, experience and belief systems to make outstanding national campaigners. I suggest we look deep within the party and groom these people, instead of losing our formidable parallel "outsider" voices to the traditional political machine.

Clearly, what is needed is an expansion of our traditional definition of "politics." Political pressure and informal activism are usually the requisite precursors to codified legislation, i.e., our lawmakers respond to pre-existing social and cultural consensus that builds from "non-political" actors. Elected officials only serve to provide the "final act," an absolutely necessary one to be sure, but one that only makes sense in light of the previous groundwork laid by people like Fitzgerald, Wilson and Stewart.

Progressives are knee deep in courage and talent on the national social and cultural levels. Let's not die of thirst here by encouraging misapplication of these unique and powerful gifts to the more restrictive script of mainline party politics.