Voting by mail should receive the sustained political and legislative attention of the Democratic Party and the larger democratic movement. In view of the present health care catastrophe, it seems to me that an obvious requirement if we hope maximize the participation and protect the health of the whole electorate this fall. Otherwise, millions of voters could be disenfranchised and their health put in jeopardy.

In thinking about how China responded with stringent (criticized at the time) measures, one has to keep in mind, among other things, that China is the home to roughly 1.5 billions people. And in recent decades it has become an urban people living in what we would consider densely built up mega cities. Anyone who visits China is immediately struck by the scale of so many things.

I understand from reports that Bernie is thinking about ending his primary run. I hope he does. As I wrote before, his standing and influence will be enhanced not diminished if he does.

Given the novel and catastrophic times in which we live and the existential danger of a second Trump term, the country would be well served if Joe Biden on the strength of his support in the primaries so far were declared the party’s standard bearer. That would allow Biden to speak with greater volume and to a larger audience as well as pick his running mate early on.

For Bernie to stay in the hunt for the purpose of changing a party rule or modifying the party platform, presuming that the convention takes place in August in Milwaukee, strikes me as an example of not seeing the forest for the trees and of small circle thinking. The game isn’t worth the candle at this point!

The pressing imperative is to unify the Democratic Party and the broader democratic movement and turn the attention of everyone now to the overarching task of electing Joe Biden in in November.

I don’t think we should spend a lot of time cooking up clever schemes and catchy slogans or reminding others of the advantages of socialism or even expressing righteous outrage to whoever will listen to us. That’s not the challenge. The challenge is to do everything we can individually and through our social and organizational networks to force the Trump administration and Congress to marshal together and throw the full resources and weight of the federal government behind the effort to combat a spreading heath care and economic catastrophe. Each of us can do something, even if seems insignificant.

My first take — and only that — is that Elizabeth Warren, who I supported with my very small voice, and Bernie, who I would have supported had he won the nomination, misread the moods of tens of millions across the country. Or, perhaps to be more precise, their reading was only partly right.

What they missed is that people’s thinking (and again I’m talking about tens of millions) is far more complicated and contradictory than both candidates allowed for in their campaign themes, messaging, and slogans. How impactful was this misreading on primary voting? I would say a case could be made that it shut the doors of both to winning the nomination and an opportunity was lost.

This may sound a bit harsh, but both were, despite their tireless campaigning to a wide audience, guilty of small circle thinking, too closeted in their own political ecosphere.