Hold Back Your Vote, Not Your Nose

In 2016 I asked Noam Chomsky for advice.  I told him that I hated Hillary’s politics but wondered if I should vote for her anyway.

He said: “If people are in a solidly blue state, vote third party if that’s your preference.  If they are in a swing state, “they should hold their noses and vote for Hillary.”

Hmmm.

Now it’s 2020, and this time it’s Trump against Biden.  I read Dr. Chomsky’s advice about voting for Biden in the Huffington Post.  He says, “I’d vote for a lamppost over Trump.”

Hmmm.

That seems to be the order of business for the Democratic Party.  Hold your nose and vote Democratic.  It is the theme song of Bernie Sanders, Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer.  Of Tulsi Gabbard, Robert Reich, the Clintons, Obamas, and the Squad.  Biden doesn’t matter.  We should vote Democratic because…  otherwise we would be electing Trump.

Hmmm.  That’s a lot of pressure.

Obviously the Democrats are proposing that we ignore the fact that Biden is corrupt.  That he is accepting millions from Big Pharma/Big Banks and Wall Street (which means he will make no effort to represent the rest of us–that he is the hand-puppet of Big Business).  That he is dementing.  That he is opposed to Medicare for All.  That he is more hawkish than Trump, but unlike Trump doesn’t even pretend to end the gravy train Eisenhower called the military industrial complex.  That he would ramp up the cold war with Russia.  That he is pro national-security state and universal surveillance.  That he will not pardon Julian Assange or Edward Snowdon.  That he will invest billions in taxpayer money to test dangerous vaccines on everyone, whether they want it or not.  That he would order healthy Americans to wear masks OUTSIDE at all times until he decides otherwise (even if you are mowing your lawn or washing your car or driving alone).  That seven women accuse him of sexual harassment (which accounts for the low profile the Me Too movement has taken during this election).  That his position on big gas and oil is virtually identical to that of Trump.  That he’s no environmentalist, and never has been.  That he and the other “centrist” Dems scorn progressives and will NEVER give our ideas a meaningful place in their administrations.

Biden is no lamppost.  I’d vote for a lamppost over Trump too.  But I’ll be damned if I’ll vote for Biden.  I just can’t.  It would be wrong.

I think that the Democrats are wrong.  When they advise Democrats to vote for Biden, they are essentially saying, “The most important thing is to maintain the status quo.  Later we can change the system from within.”

Hmmm.

First of all, it is probably a losing strategy.  It did not help install Hillary in the White House.  I don’t think it will inspire progressives (whom “centrist” democrats make no bones about scorning) to go to Biden’s side; to give him a victory.  Lets face it, Biden doesn’t inspire.  He’s the lesser of two evils… hold your nose is what they are telling us…  they don’t even refer to him as a decent man anymore.

It doesn’t have to be this way.  The system will not change unless we strenuously object to it – by refusing to participate.  By civil disobedience.  By not voting, even if that translates into a victory for Trump.  It’s our patriotic duty to rebel against the corrupt political system that both parties support.

I am 75 years old. I don’t want to be remembered by my grandchildren as one who held my nose and voted for the lesser of two evils.

The Democratic Party is wrong.  Now’s the time for action. Let foolish democrats hold their noses and vote for the man who they think stinks less.  Let them jerk themselves off, thinking that later they can change the system from within.

Now’s the time for action.  Hold back your vote!