Breaking promises

If I have been good at keeping up with my running goals, I am afraid the same is not true for my promise not to buy any new shoes in 2020. Going downhill in South Devon, my toes screamed in pain from my way too small trail running shoes so when Outnorth had the Hoka Torrents on sale, I decided that New Year’s Resolutions are there to be broken after all, right? Having registered for both Urskogsloppet in June and Tvåälvsloppet in October, I already have 50 km of trail racing scheduled so I think this was the right decision.

Yesterday, Gabriel asked me why I believed that Buttigieg would have a better chance than Sanders when it comes to defeating Trump in November. Beyond some early polling data (though some polls go the other way), I think much of my antipathy to Sanders come from his extremist views on climate change. Not only does he want to rapidly close down all nuclear, he also wants to ban fracking and natural gas, something that, given his 100% renewable vision, would only be possible if combined with a comprehensive degrowth agenda, and now we are not talking about a few dozen per cent drop in GDP but basically the end to consumer capitalism as we know it. It is such iconoclasm that makes me think that it is very unlikely that Sanders will ever be elected president. Already now, progressives who are not normally into the climate policy universe, like CNN’s Fareed Zakaria, are beginning to notice Sander’s views on climate and I think many people will see this as yet another example of Sanders being far too the Left of the median American voter.