Mercurynews.com
We are in the election's final stretches, only sixteeen days out- and as tensions escalate towards November's boiler moment it's been getting pretty heated in my DM's.
I don't fight with Trump supporters- it's pointless. Their arguments pertain to a sort of delusion I have no prescription for. They're lost in a personality cult and theres no saving them. They live in a bubble that upholds terrible fiction.
I will, however, stand my ground to the doubt mongering non-voter-the fool on the hill- who is a certain form of toxic, entirely separate from the Trump diagnosis, and in some ways- worse.
1. First Things First, Believe in the Power of your Vote, it's Your Voice!
Virtue signaling is annoying, I get it, but you know whats worse? People who just don't care, people that condone injustice with inaction and silence!
Over the past month, I've spoken with over a dozen people intent on abstaining from voting. Of course, none of their ground's for sitting out the November election are groundbreaking or surprising- the type of rationalization you would expect from a person frustrated with the system, yes, but also, from a picky three year old who refuses to eat because he doesn't like any of the options served to him. Get over yourself!
If someone tries to tell you "your vote doesn't matter, don't bother", understand that person-while believing to be outsmarting the system- is actually falling into Trump's trap, not to mention they miss the point all together!
They see that our country is on the precipice of a Banana Republic: their response: "I'll sit this one out." These poor excuses for Americans are hiding in their bunker, as Trump did in July, while the rest of the country tries to rally the vote and presses for justice.
Democracy only works, the electoral collage only works, as byzantine as it is, if enough people believe it works. The "fuck the system" mentality is understandable but it's a merchant of the sort of fatalism that undercuts democracy all together.
Remember, cynicism and mistrust in democracy are some of Trump's most potent tactics. So- if you feed doubt- you are feeding Trump.
2/3rds of eligible voters didn't turn up in 2016 (ysa.org)
2. Understand the Implications of this Election:
This election weighs on moral imperatives- not partisan agendas-but existential outcomes, confronting a three pronged beast of a pandemic, climate change, and racial injustice. What is at stake is greater than perhaps any election in American history!
Life long republicans such as George Bush, Mitt Romney, and Colin Powell are endorsing Biden because despite their overarching conservative values, they understand the moral imperatives that are at play.
Let that be proof. This election calls for a moral agenda to be prioritized over partisan politics. Personal political agendas should be cast aside.
When over 200,000 American lives were lost, political strife became a humanitarian crisis.
Read this again and again: Here is the agenda:
1. Voting Trump out of office
2. Everyone’s political agenda whatever it may be
1. Voting Trump out of office
2. Everyone’s political agenda whatever it may be
One old-age argument nonvoters love to play is the lesser- evil argument. The Trump- Biden Election does not pose a lesser of two evils ultimatum. One candidate has morals. The other has proven himself unscrupulous. The two candidates could't be more different.
In 2016 the Trump route seemed enticing, as dicey as it was, because it meant a potential shakeup of the system and perhaps a tour de force in terms of challenging the establishment.
But that shakeup has proven to be more of a wrecking ball. It has set back the clock and has proven regressive in almost every corner of political action. Trump has proven himself unlawful and an abominable vehicle of division and violence. His impetuous rhetoric incites hatred.
A "lesser evil voting" scenario plays out when both candidate's running have agendas that hover around the establishment agenda, one tainted red-the other blue-both- still too centered truly bring any substantive change into fruition.
That is not the case here. One candidate- Biden-has an establishment agenda- yes- but at least he appeals to unity. The other appeals to white rage, bigotry, xenophobia, and ignites nationalist fervor.
So, for all the people who feel caught in a sort of "Mortons Fork" in the road, sorry your lesser evil bull**** doesn't apply here! Swallow your frustrations with the system, swallow your pride and self righteousness, and vote for Biden or grovel in **** next year.
You have to oust a fascist out of office before you can talk about planning a revolution.
The fact is, one candidate will hold true to our democracy, the other will seek to erode it. In that sense, this running isn't even Trump vs. Biden, really it's- Trump vs. Democracy.
3. Consider a One Issue Vote:
If your stomach still turns at the thought of endorsing Biden, be a one issue voter and endorse the fight to save our climate.
Biden's agenda may lack progressive ardor, opposing Medicare for all and the rallying cry to defund the police, but there is one extremely decisive bullet on his agenda that alone should urge you to vote: addressing climate change.
Refusing to confront climate change and letting it fester without action until our world is up in flames isn’t a lesser of two evils proposition. That is truth posed against denial. That is negligence and complacency posed against a choice to fight for human life.
Global Warming is an inconvenient truth. One candidate will address that truth. The other will not. If Trump takes office global warming will not only cease to be halted, it will accelerate, and environmental initiatives will be reversed. Trump is already throwing fuel into forest fires, loosening regulations on pollution and scraping the Obama era Clean Power Plan.
The truth will not "disappear". It will always prevail.
4. Vote for the Truth
So in my last plea for you to vote, if you vote for anything at all- vote for the truth!
With Trump, we will always be afflicted with a spew of alternative facts. He has succeeded in building a wall- between Americans and the truth!
Biden’s stances are hardly revolutionary. I’ll give you that. But Trump's stances, are destructive, negligent against science, and insouciant about pretty much every crisis our country faces. He is a purveyor of denial (and it ain't just no river in Egypt).
Ultimately, with Biden, there might not be too much to be gained but with Trump there is too much to be lost. Things can get worse! There is a deeper bottom!
As long as Trump is in power, the truth will be poised as a hoax, and as long as the truth is a hoax, America- is a lie.
The Philadelphia Inquirer
