Ni5: Perspectives

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We need to have the talk about voting

Date: 2020-Oct-12 Author: Barry Shatzman

Psst... we need to talk. It's about your vote. Maybe you're voting for Donald Trump or Joe Biden because you like one or the other. Maybe you'll vote for Biden because he isn't Donald Trump. All good.

But a few of you - as much as you abhor Trump's presidency - won't vote for Biden for one reason or another.

Maybe because you don't think his policies are progressive enough.

Maybe you don't like that he can seem like Mr. McFeely. Or that Biden has told a few falsehoods. Or that he rambles incoherently sometimes.

Or maybe you don't like that Kamala Harris failed to prosecute Steve Mnuchin when she was California's attorney general.

Or maybe it's just that this old man defeated that old man in the primary. So you're gonna write in that old man (even though that old man is imploring you to vote for this old man).

There's a funny thing about write-in ballots by the way. Your protest vote might be seen by exactly one person.

Your strategy's brilliant though. You have every right to not vote for someone you don't like. So sit this one out and vote for Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez in 4 years.

But i do have a question for you. Are you fucking serious?

Look i totally get it. The system is dominated by political party apparatuses, corporations, etc. We agree on the problem. But let me explain why your solution is dead wrong.

It isn't that your protest isn't noble. It's that an election where the outcome is 100% guaranteed to go one way or the other is not the venue to hold it.

Write to your representatives in Congress to tell them how you feel about policies that are important to you. Get involved in a political party - local or national - and then you will be able to influence the apparatus from the inside. Read about policies so you can educate others about them in a more informed way.

But here's the real problem with your strategy. You've heard Donald Trump say he's entitled to a third term. You've seen him suggest delaying the Nov. 3 election. You know about his acceptance of armed militias at polling places.

If the president on Jan. 20 still is Donald Trump, what makes you think there's even going to be an election for you in four years?

So how bout this? You vote for Joe Biden today, and i'll join you in voting for Ocasio-Cortez in 2024. Deal?