Today's post will seem to have some inherent
contradictions.
It is the right time to cover it. Monday was about
how vote by mail eases voter participation, and while Tuesday was specifically
about Measure 97, it was also about respectful disagreement. Maybe today's
material is a natural fit.
There has been a fair amount of talk this year about
not wasting your vote, because a vote for Johnson is a vote for Clinton, or a vote for Stein
or Sanders is a vote for Trump. I have never liked that.
I have wondered if I would feel differently this
year. If Trump did win, would I be angry at the people who voted for him and
the people who didn't like him but didn't vote for Clinton? Trump is a terrible
candidate, but no, I still want people to vote for whom they want.
People point to the 2000 election, and how if the
81,000 Nader voters had voted for Gore, he would have won. That's no small
thing. The World Trade Center attacks might have been thwarted if you had a president who didn't
dismiss intelligence that wasn't about Iraq. It could
still have happened and we might even still have invaded Afghanistan for their sheltering of Al Qaeda, but I'm pretty sure we wouldn't have
invaded Iraq. Lehman Brothers might not have happened, and the environment would
probably be in better shape. The surplus being drained and big tax cuts that failed
to stimulate the economy probably would not have happened.
That is all speculation, though the probabilities
involved should be a good reminder of the hubris it took Nader to say there is
no difference between the two parties. However, his supporters still should
have been able to vote for Nader. The real problem was the improper purges from
the Florida voter rolls and other impropriety that still barely gave W the state.
Take away the manipulations of Jeb Bush and Katherine Harris, and the
conscience of the Nader voters doesn't hurt.
I want everyone to have their vote. We are in an
election where there is a great candidate who has been slandered for so long
that many voters have a totally distorted view of her and are against her for poor
reasons. We have an election where the basest impulses in human nature and
years of the GOP and Fox News spreading misinformation and class warfare have
led to the worst candidate in human history. I can't say I don't care, because
I care deeply, but I still want everyone to cast the vote they want.
So this is where we get to the contradiction,
because my desire for your autonomy may be combined with my thinking your vote
is stupid and abhorrent. It's not that different from "I disapprove of
what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it." This
is democracy, and all of the voices should be heard.
It doesn't mean I don't wish for better news
sources, and better schools and education that brings back civics classes,
because this process could be improved, but the improvement is not voter
disenfranchisement or intimidation or apathy.
So if you wish to vote for a racist misogynistic
monger of hate and fear who is unable to exercise any self-control because he
sees no need to, but it may make him the worst person ever to have access to
the nuclear codes, who has spent years cheating workers out of pay and still
has to keep declaring bankruptcy because we need a businessman, that is your
right. Have at it.
And if you hate Clinton but are scared of Trump, so
you think Johnson is the answer, despite the fact that he does not feel the
need to stay abreast of foreign policy on even our hot spots while running for
president, and that he is against affordable health care and higher education,
but pro-choice and pro-pot doesn't bother you, go for it! I am thrilled to see
many of you supporting a pro-choice candidate.
Or if you think Stein, who doesn't call herself
anti-vax but merely says a lot of the same things they say in the same ways and
contexts, because Heaven knows the Green Party and saving the Earth shouldn't
have to get bogged down in science, do it. Blessed be!
Or if you think Evan McMullin is the answer, despite
the winning plan being an electoral tie between Trump and Clinton - despite
Clinton's lead over Trump continuing to grow - resulting in Congress giving it
to the "neutral" candidate as long as he wins one state, thus
completely nullifying the votes of the residents of the other 49 states, may
you live happily ever after.
Same thing with write-ins; you vote your conscience.
You should.
I am voting for an extraordinary candidate, and if
you support any of the others, there may be a few sentences here that feel against
you. Worse has been said about mine, and I'll survive.
My conscience and brain are working together, and I
am voting the way that I want. I wish the same for all of you.
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