In my last article, I told you to vote for the Green Party. I bet I seemed pretty sure of myself. The truth is this is a decision I’ve wrestled with. I’ve gone back and forth so many times. Here I am telling my friends Chris and Marie to suck it up and vote for Joe. Every time I’ve tried to make the case in favour of “voting the lesser evil” — every time — Joe Biden would say or do something that I consider to be reprehensible.
Here he is promising to give police more money. Here he is insisting that anarchists should be prosecuted. Stop right there, my liberal friend! I know you’re itching to leap to his defense and remind me that “He was clearly talking about violent criminals who set buildings on fire.” But that’s not the strong rebuttal you think it is. Best case scenario for you is that Joe Biden simply doesn’t know what the word “anarchist” means. Worst case scenario, he is deliberately conflating a peaceful left-wing ideology with violent crime. Ignorance or malice, take your pick.
Here’s Joe advocating a coup against a democratically elected government. Here are his aides indicating that he intends to scrap his plans for a public healthcare option. And speaking of Biden’s aides, here they are assuring Wall Street execs that anything he says in support of progressive economic policy is “Just an exercise to keep the Warren people happy.” Can’t get past the pay wall? Don’t worry; I snagged the entire text of the article and put it in a Word document. Here’s a screenshot.
And oh yeah! He’s surrounded himself with execs from the fossil fuel industry. That being the case, you’ll forgive me if I don’t take him at his word when he promises one hundred percent clean energy by 2035.
Authoritarianism, militarism, a willingness to lie and make false promises to advance his career: is any of this starting to sound familiar?
I even told my friend Tom that I would have a much easier time supporting Joe if he would just shut the fuck up. So, fine. If a guy is going to do something evil every time I stick up for him, maybe that’s because he’s evil. Maybe I shouldn’t stick up for him. So, I would put my foot down and say, “Vote Green.”
Then someone else would tell me a story about how much Trump scares them. And those fears are legitimate. My heart would break for them, and I would feel compelled to make the case for Joe again.
Then, of course, there’s the anger. Anger at Biden and at the Democratic Party for making this such a moral quandary. Because this shouldn’t be a hard choice. But they had to pick a repulsive, right-wing slime ball as their nominee. And don’t give me that crap about “the voters chose Joe.” Democratic party elites, media pundits, wealthy Wall Street types: they all bent over backwards to clear a path for Joe and to throw every possible roadblock in Bernie’s way. Maybe you consider that rigging, maybe you don’t. But it was hardly impartial. They were brazen about it!
When they kicked the Green Party off the ballot in Wisconsin, I’d had enough. I was so disgusted, I couldn’t take anymore.
You see, this is the problem with the Democrats’ strategy of “Every option is on the table except appealing to the Left.” When people like Ady Barkin celebrate removing the Greens over a bureaucratic technicality, they probably think they’re being pragmatic. They probably justify it with an appeal to consequentialist ethics. “The world would be a better place if Trump wasn’t president. Kicking the Greens off the ballot increases the odds that Trump will be voted out. Therefore, this is a good thing.”
In reality, however, this kind of dirty politics can have disastrous consequences. It erodes trust in public institutions. The Democrats argued in open court that they have a right to choose their nominee behind closed doors and to hell with what the voters want. I’m sure that’s true, legally speaking, but to anyone who isn’t a Washington insider, it makes them look like a bunch of fat cats openly reveling in their own corruption. It’s almost snide. Here they are, thumbing their noses at the common citizen. Instead of reassuring disgruntled voters that the system is fair, their response is “We’re under no obligation to conduct a fair primary.”
And then they wonder why leftists don’t trust them!
If your entire pitch is “We’re less evil than the other guy,” you can’t be caught doing corrupt things. I don’t know why I have to explain this extremely basic point.
Liberals are fond of lecturing us about “placing abstract principles over the lives of real people” while ignoring the fact that these principles exist for a reason. Let’s be clear about what we’re talking about. The principles that leftists expect from politicians are as follows
-Honesty
-Impartiality
-Concern for the well-being of their citizens
-Prioritizing the welfare of their citizens above their own careers
-Basing decisions on evidence
There are others, but these are some of the most important ones. Please tell me I don’t have to prove that the Democrats have abandoned every single one of these principles. If this article hasn’t convinced you, I don’t know what will. When Dianne Feinstein tells a bunch of grade-schoolers that she won’t support the Green New Deal — when she lectures them with centrist talking points instead of addressing their concerns — she’s not being honest. She’s not showing concern for their well-being. She’s not prioritizing their safety over her career.
Libs, you want to make a consequentialist argument? What do you think the consequences of this will be? Do you think these kids are going to grow up believing in democracy when their representatives treat them like this? When Donald Trump shouts “fake news,” why do you think people fall for it? Because members of both parties have been lying to them for decades.
You see, these principles that you so readily dismiss? They are the things that prevent men like Donald Trump from gaining power in the first place. They are the bedrock of a functioning society, and without them, people die.
When I ask the question “Removing Trump at what cost?” I’m not being facetious. I’m sincerely wondering about the consequences of removing a fascist by supporting a party that eliminates its competition with dirty tricks instead of running a principled campaign. What will the world be like if we legitimize this crap?
But now, it’s a moral quandary again. Everyone’s terrified of Trump refusing to step down if he loses. To be honest with you, so am I.
I hate these people. Biden, Pelosi, Schumer, Feinstein, Harris, Cuomo and all the rest: I hate them to the very depths of my soul for making this so hard. For choosing to protect their precious capitalism over the lives of children. They sicken me. They should sicken you. What kind of world do we live in where this is considered less evil?
Now, all of that being said, I don’t mind admitting that I’m as terrified of Donald Trump as you are. Yes, you’re absolutely right; he needs to be removed. But as I noted last time, the so-called Resistance seems to be very selective in the measures it will take toward that end.
I don’t know what the right thing to do is.
