I like Noam Chomsky a lot, and tonight, I listened to an interview he gave in which he waggled his finger at the Left and pointed out how our refusal to compromise will literally bring about the end of human civilization. Chomsky is a hard-core leftist, but there’s no denying that he’s making liberal talking points here. We have to remove Trump by any means necessary. By any means necessary. I’ve uttered those words myself at one point.
Quick question: how come “by any means necessary” doesn’t include Medicare For All? How come it doesn’t include a Green New Deal? If you need leftist support, and if these things would give you leftist support, then why don’t they fall under the umbrella of “any means necessary?” Why aren’t you hammering Biden day and night to make them a part of his platform?
Why is the “any means necessary” rhetoric only used to justify a serious moral breach?
You’re willing to vote for Joe even if you knew with absolute certainty that he assaulted someone, but Medicare for All is too much to ask? Even if it saves lives? Even though it’s wildly popular and would almost certainly guarantee that you win the election? I thought we had to remove Trump by any means necessary!
The liberal response to this is usually, “Because we would lose the moderates. We can’t embrace Medicare For All because we’ll lose the moderates.”
Okay. Well, then clearly, the moderates don’t think we have to remove Trump by any means necessary. So, why should I?
Tell me, dear liberal, why are you here, insisting that I have to accept 68 000 deaths every year instead of yelling at the moderates? Why aren’t you out there telling them to suck it up and pay their taxes because removing Trump has to be our first priority?
It’s almost like you don’t actually believe that we have to remove Trump at any cost. You just use that as a line to make the Left sit down and shut up. If the cost is people dying from a lack of health care or Big Oil polluting with impunity, that’s fine. But if the cost is rich people paying slightly higher taxes, well that price is just too high, and I guess we have to accept fascism. Speaking of which…
Tell me something else: do you think the moderates are stupid?
I ask because if Trump were truly the existential threat to democracy you claim him to be, don’t you think the moderates would pay those extra taxes? Isn’t this the perfect time to make them accept the changes we desperately need?
And if the answer is no — if you honestly think the so-called moderates would sacrifice democracy to keep their wallets fat — then why are you placating them? They are part of the problem.
Do you want to know what I think? I think Trump isn’t an existential threat to democracy because you can’t be an existential threat to something that doesn’t exist. It’s well documented. The average citizen has pretty much zero influence on public policy.
Those ballots you cast every four years? Pretty much a big charade to make you think that you have a choice in the laws that govern you. If you’ll pardon me for quoting George Carlin. “You have no choice. You have owners. They own you.” The system is designed to minimize the impact of your vote. And that’s assuming that they’re even counted.
Gerrymandering, unaccountable voting machines, randomly closing polling stations: the list goes on and on and on. And before you try to use this as some justification to rally around Biden, the Democrats are doing this shit too! Last week, they celebrated kicking the Green Party off the ballot through legal trickery.
But people are imagining this scenario where Trump pulls a Darth Sidious, dissolves the Congress and declares himself Emperor. If you think that is a serious concern, you don’t understand inverted totalitarianism and why the illusion of choice is actually a weapon the oligarchs will fight to preserve.
When I look at liberal hypocrisy of the kind I see here, I find it hard to believe that they are actually less evil than the Right. Hell, American Democrats are the Right. On most issues, they are further right than the Canadian Conservative Party. And I’ll tell you the honest to god truth: if I were forced to vote in an election where the only options were the Canadian Conservative Party and literal Nazis, I would stay home.
No, mainstream conservatives are not better than actual Nazis. Why? Because mainstream conservatives inevitably become actual Nazis. And I’m not going to help either side hurt innocent people. Any action I take in support of those crimes makes me an accomplice to those crimes.
The Wisconsin Supreme Court kicked the Green Party off the ballot over a minor technicality. Which judges voted for this travesty? Not the Republicans, the Democrats. Any party that is willing to sanction this type of thing and to celebrate it is not defending democracy. On the contrary, they are a threat to democracy.
If I were American, I would feel morally compelled to give my vote to the Green Party. It doesn’t matter that they can’t win. I’ve done the same for Canada’s Green Party many times. If voting Green wasn’t an option, I would leave the presidential section blank and support down-ballot progressives.
Honestly, that’s what I suggest you do.
But whatever choice you make, make it with a clear mind. Don’t let liberals blindside you with their hypocritical rhetoric.
Rich Penney is a science fiction author. You can check out his work here.
