A Lesson for Rand?

The East Bay reports:

Kshama Sawant, Seattle City Councilmember (Socialist Alternative), spoke to a packed house last night at the First Unitarian Church of Oakland. Enthusiastic applause greeted Sawant as she took the stage. Sawant received national attention when she was elected in 2013, in a stunning upset of Richard Conlin (Democrat) who had held the seat for 16 years. Sawant is the first self-described socialist to be elected to the City Council of Seatle in modern times.

In her speech, Sawant described how she had ignored accepted wisdom on her way to victory. She said she was repeatedly advised to keep her program proposals vague, be less strident, and to downplay that she is a socialist. Instead, Sawant's aggressive campaign sharply defined the things she stood for, and she proudly proclaimed herself a socialist.

It's the era of the renegade.  Rand's father's 2012 campaign was the first in the effort to gain support by renegade and principled positions. But Rand moved away from this and toward the establishment. It could be argued that it is, at this point, the greatest strategic blunder of the 2016 presidential race.

If Rand followed in his father's footsteps, with more fire in his belly for actually capturing the eight year throne, he would have been able to build on the success of his father. Instead, by distancing himself from his father's clear  principled stands, and replacing them with vague statements (and hugging the establishment). he hasn't been able to build anything, and his father's followers are falling by the wayside. with those supporters reamaiing doing so with little in terms of enthusiasm AND with their wallets closed.

  -RW