As political campaigns proceed toward November, I become more and more terrified. It isn’t simply at the Presidential level–although the prospect of giving a stark raving lunatic access to the nuclear codes does, among other things, keep me up at night. Even a superficial acquaintance with the antics of the MAGA know-nothings in Congress and their peers in Red state legislatures is incredibly depressing.
November will tell the tale. Will sensible Americans reject the party of out-and-proud theocrats and culture warriors running for state and federal offices? Here in Indiana, the GOP–in thrall to the lunatic– is running candidates for state office who would have been unthinkable even to the right wing of the party just a few years ago.
It’s not just Beckwith.
Lots of sensible Hoosiers will never learn of the outrageous positions held by Braun, Banks and Rokita, thanks to our current information environment. And some segment–small, but arguably important–will adopt what Tom Nichols has accurately dubbed the “Clean Hands” posture. These are the “holier than thou” voters who recognize that Trump is completely unfit for office and will not vote for him—yet will not vote to stop him.
Bill Barr comes to mind, as does Nikki Haley. Barr is a true believer, and Haley is a shallow opportunist, but both are pillars of courage next to Republicans such as Paul Ryan, Chris Christie, and John Bolton, the supposed guardians of the guardrails who have made the case against Trump but have also vowed not to vote for either Trump or Joe Biden. (Bolton has said that he will write in Dick Cheney.) Even former Maryland Governor Larry Hogan, a more moderate Republican now running for a Senate seat, has said that he will write in a “symbolic vote that states my dissatisfaction with where the party is.”
It isn’t simply these political insiders who are posturing about the “morality” of their votes. As Nichols notes,
I am aware of all the arguments people make in favor of protest votes, and about how no one should have to mark the box for a candidate they don’t like. In a normal political year, I might even buy some of them. If you genuinely think that Trump and Biden are exact political isomers of each other—symmetrical in their badness and differing only in style—then not voting for either of them makes sense at least in theory, because you are in effect saying that you don’t think anything will really change either way.
But anyone with even half a brain knows that–between Biden and Trump–there is zero equivalence.
Biden is a typical (and relatively moderate center-left) American president, and the Jimmy Clean Hands Republicans know that outside MAGA world, they would sound pusillanimous if they started mumbling about egg prices and diversity training programs while Trump is threatening to attack the Constitution, release insurrectionists from prison, and use the government to get revenge on his personal enemies.
In the end, the Clean Hands position encourages people to think that their vote really does not matter, other than as a solipsistic expression of personal dissatisfaction. It indulges the narcissistic fantasy that on Election Day, a town crier will say, “1 million votes for Biden, 1 million and one votes for Trump, and one admirable vote for Ronald Reagan. We all want to thank you for your deeply principled stand. And it’s not your fault that Trump won the state.”
As Nichols reminds us, the reality is that only one of these men will emerge with the codes to the U.S. nuclear arsenal. And he ends with a statement that every one of us ought to take seriously:
Personally, I vote as if my vote is the deciding ballot. I know it isn’t, of course, but it focuses my mind and makes me take the civic duty of voting seriously. People have given their lives for my right to stand in that booth, and when American democracy is facing a clear and existential threat, their sacrifice deserves something more than the selfish calculations of the Jimmy Clean Hands caucus.
No sane voter thinks that Jill Stein or JFK, Jr. is going to win the Presidency. A vote for one of the “spoiler” candidates is a mark of moral cowardice–a refusal to acknowledge that no candidate, of either party, is faultless–or even close– and that our duty as citizens is not to clutch our pearls and posture, but to choose between the alternatives genuinely on offer.
And anyone who thinks Joe Biden and Donald Trump are remotely close to equivalent ought to see a psychiatrist.
I understand that people want to vote for candidate they wish could win. I understand that people don’t want to vote for someone they do not want to see in office. However, this Clean Hands Concept reminds me of the holier than thou Bernie voters who helped get us where we were in 2016. Thanks a lot for your “ principled“ vote.
Amen
Today’s blog reminded me of a conversation with my neighbor who, sadly has moved since, with the “Bernie for President” yard sign to accompany my own; totally surprised me to see a Jill Stein sign once Bernie had been forced out. I pointed out to her that when she and her husband cast their votes for Stein they put the appointment of Trump into the hands of this state Electoral College. She thought for a moment and said she had not looked at the election that way. She is an intelligent woman, a chemistry teacher in the Public School System here; how many others “had not looked at the election that way” and will do the same again?
We must “keep our eye on the ball”, on the “Big Blue Marble”, because they way this elections goes, so goes the world. I applied for my mail-in ballot this morning and I will do as Nichols said, “Personally, I vote as if my vote is the deciding ballot.” It just might be; remember Trump begging Georgia for that one vote to put him ahead of Biden.
All of this reminds me of course of Ralph Nader, a man I admired greatly for his principled stance on several issues, who, in 2000, probably delivered the Presidency to George W. Bush (actually SCOTUS delivered it). Those were protest votes, cast by folks who absolutely knew that he couldn’t win, and who in retrospect I am still angry with. Just imagine the possibilities of what our country, the world for that matter, would be like today if Al Gore had been elected, probably twice.
As they say “you gotta dance with what brung ya”. Biden is old, yes, but in his eighties he is willing to step up and join the fight, and I do not see anyone else willing to stepping up.
I would like to hear him say something to the effect that “the most important thing is defeating t*ump/MAGA. If there is someone else who can do it, I will gladly step aside. If I am the only one who can do it, I will try my best.”
What worries me, even more than who controls the nuclear codes, is that the next president will appoint two Supreme Court justices. We know how much damage the current Court has done. Imagine two more like Gorsuch.
I’m one of those who would love to see a viable third party in the country. If it weren’t so clearly dangerous to put tfg back in office, I might vote for someone else. As it stands now, there’s no way I would use my vote as a protest. I’ve done that many times in the past but the thought of another 4 years of the worst President in history scares the hell out of me and it should scare everyone.
Sadly, there is no way that a 3rd party candidate can win here, and probably not for the foreseeable, long, future. I am one of those who believe that Nader paved the way for SCOTUS to give Mr. Village Idiot the win, in 2000. I, also, used to respect Nader, before that, but his ego got in his way.
Any 3rd party vote now will be a gift to the man who will, if he wins, re-make voting in his Putinesque hero’s fashion. And whatever ego he might once have had has been vastly compromised by his massive narcissism.
The so-called “Clean Hands” Republicans are simply too scared to come out and say that they might even, on their best day, or worst, for that matter, consider voting for Biden. I am sure they know how dangerous a tfg 37 would be!
I know that I’m an outcast and not a “realist”, however at the age of 73, I’ve seen “compromises” of my beliefs over multiple decades. In each election different significant groups have had to seemingly compromise for the larger good. I see a lack of realism – reality checks – among both the Democratic Party and a lot of us. I don’t see most Democratic politicians seriously addressing multiple issues – related to The Military/Prison complex, our broad economy, and messaging to the public. Telling people – that they are “doing better” financially doesn’t work when they are hurting badly – which is being done significantly now. I can get blaming Republicans, however basic honesty is important also. The power – both of “the almighty dollar” – related to the ownership of equities (stocks/bonds) as well as the manipulation of the wealthy needs to be addressed. While I don’t expect most politicians to be “radical” and deeply insightful, there is a need to both really address some of the serious issues and to message in ways and be heard – now. It isn’t easy – no question about it. It, however, is important to realize – that for example Black Women – were “the difference” in Biden winning in 2020 – and in 2024 – Both convincing some of us that we SHOULD vote for Biden – and convince others that they should vote at all – Statewide votes – for senate races and the presidency – can’t be gerrymandered directly – and are important. There need to be a lot of reality checks! We can and will differ on this one! It is multiple issues – for some – for example Michigan could depend upon the Genocide in Gaza, for others the Economy, for others really pushing on Abortion – and doing more than rhetorical odd – support. The obvious truth that the Republicans and particularly Trump are “much worse” – which is obvious – isn’t enough for many of us! While I fear – the Republicans as much as any of you do, I also see a reality – in front of me – that requires a lot more – than some see. We, white, privileged men – need to step up in a lot of ways and aren’t doing it (close to enough)! I’d point to groups like: White Men for Racial Justice – https://www.wmrj.org/ – that need a lot more of us – and there’s a very low bar – on doing good work -that few of us are even trying seriously on. The ridicule of Trump – may seem “innocently good” – however it takes a lot of our energy that could go towards serious work for positive change!
Related to what I’m saying – I’m still not convinced the Joe Biden and Kamala Harris are (still) the best choice for the nomination for November. Others say it is “too late” to change. I disagree! I see multiple Democratic politicians – most of who are “moderate” not “liberal” – who could be a better option in November. The upcoming convention of the Democrats may be the last chance for this – possibility. Whether the potential change comes from us – or the Democratic Party leadership (or both) doesn’t matter. Saying it is inevitable that Biden will run is part of the problem! Blaming this “push” on the Republicans is irresponsible.
Jane; it was Debby Wasserman Schultz, DNC Chair, who refused to provide the registered voter lists to Bernie, as required by the Constitution, and going public with her support of Hillary Clinton which lost Bernie the nomination. He received 46% of the votes even with that blatant action against him; I believe he would have beat Trump if so many hadn’t opted to vote for Stein or Johnson rather than Hillary or Trump. We will never know how many of the 7 MILLION + actually voted for Stein or Johnson or how many voted against the two major parties.
Peggy; we currently have another FOUR party election before us; Stein and RFK, Jr. Those who again want a Third Party, this year are ignoring the Independent Kennedy option, which is a “viable” party. Have you ever questioned the deciding outcome with what you and others deem as a Third Party option; would it require the highest number of votes for 1 of the 3 or would 1 party need 51% and what would either outcome do to the Electoral College votes? Just askin’
Don’t let the pursuit of perfection become the enemy of what is good. Who is the perfect politician running for office? Biden has my vote because he is good.
Comments here today are the “state of the nation” for us Boomers. Too bad Gen Xers and Millennials do not care enough to cry….and, often, vote….
“Culture warriors” as compared to governance voters. The culture warriors were created long ago when they were growing up and have been subjecting themselves to the winds of destructive politics since. They are mad because the culture that they were taught did not age well. They will shoot themselves in the foot rather than adapt to today’s reality. I don’t think that there is any way to tell them all the reasons why their culture did not keep up with the times. They believe that these times can be changed back to those times. They feel entitled to different times now. In fact, their entertainment tells them that every day.
What people say out loud about how they will vote and what they actually do in the voting booth can be quite different things. (At least for the time being) Too bad the Jimmy Clean Hands caucus can’t keep their mouths shut!
I challenge everyone here to do something positive to defeat MAGA in November.
Register people to vote, distribute the League of Women Voters voters guide, write postcards to likely Democratic voters via Project Turnout, donate to good candidates, vote early and encourage others to vote early, help your friends and family understand who the candidates on the ballot are and what they stand for. We are not powerless; only a very small minority created this extreme slate, revive the Democratic Party in your county.
Sheila said it all when she stated, “…I become more and more terrified.”
That’s called fear. Fear promotes all kinds of trouble—mainly control issues, which I read in her post and others. Shaming was used to manipulate others to vote a certain way.
Morality is an essential element of our social contract. All great philosophers have mentioned morality in their social contract theories. Our government abandoned that social contract a long time ago. They stopped listening to the people’s will. Every study completed on the type of government we have posited an oligarchy.
Imagine the impact if a significant number of us cast our votes for the Green Party or an Independent. We could start constructing a new social contract, one that operates beyond the reach of the oligarchy. But as long as we continue to vote out of fear, we endorse the oligarchy’s choice. The insanity of folks claiming we can only change the parties from the inside is staggering.
“Go ahead, Charlie, kick the ball. I promise I won’t move it.” 😉
Truth can hurt incumbents. Wanna beat a GOP incumbent? Go to votesmart.org and put the name of the politician in the search box. Then go and see how they voted on every major vote since they have been in office. Use the worse and ask “can you look your kids/grandkids in the eye and tell them you voted for (or didn’t bother to vote against) this person?
Every single woman eligible to vote in the upcoming election who decides to vote for tfg or not to vote at all because they are all unfit or corrupt makes a statement about herself. She also paves the way to the future for every one of her female and male relatives.
What our legacy to the future will be quite literally depends on this November’s election results, not just in Indiana but the whole country.
When I see pictures of women in MAGA hats and cheering Micah Beckwith, I wonder about what their lives must be like to make them so self-destructive.
Let’s cut to the chase. There are 2 simple, essential rules to voting in a close race in this country.
1.) Failure to vote is a vote for the candidate you do not want to win.
2.) Voting for anyone other than the candidate that can beat the candidate you do not want to win is a vote for the candidate you don’t want to win.
My friend, a Marxist, calls it Lesser Evilism. So be it. It is what it is. It ain’t nothin’ else, but it’s all we got.
I am currently reading “A Fever in the Heartland” (subtitled The Ku Klux Clan’s Plot to Take Over America and the Woman Who Stopped Them). It is quite sobering to see the parallels – putting in office puppets to a clearly unconstitutional concept. While you can argue the their victory was temporary, it still did great harm. Their underlying message echoes today.
JoAnn, the constitution requires that the winner have a majority of the vote in the Electoral College. If nobody gets a majority the vote moves to the House of Representatives, who will choose the winner by vote. One vote per state is allowed. Basically a third party candidate would only have to win a few states to throw a monkey wrench into the works. If they don’t have the charisma or the policy chops to take any state they don’t have a chance. If I see no difference between the two major party candidates, I do a “protest vote.”
As a defense of the DNC during the 2016 primary, my thought was that I could understand why they would obviously favor the candidate who was a registered Democrat, rather than one who wouldn’t join the party, even while he running to represent the party in the election. Bernie might have run as an Independent and changed everything. Talk about your third party viability.
I go away and come back – I still see nothing but vote shaming on why other people should vote the way you do. To control others, you must rationalize and justify why they should vote how you want them to.
One person, one vote. You don’t get more than one vote, so quit manipulating others to toss their will out the window and vote for your candidate. 😉
Per Francis Barry in today’s Washington Post:
“Attacking Trump’s supporters, which did not work out for Hillary Clinton in 2016, allows Republicans to depict Biden’s appeals to unity as a fraud. Even worse, it affirms the way Donald Trump wants voters to see the election, which is the same way some in the South viewed the 1860 election — as Armageddon. Win or the country perishes.
If Biden makes a parallel argument — win or democracy dies — he will be playing on Trump’s side of the field, where points are scored through fear and intimidation, giving Trump a decided advantage.”
JoAnn, thanks for explaining the 3rd party candidate issue to your neighbor. Her one vote just may decide who wins.
My hands are clean, I didn’t vote for him is such a weak excuse. If Trump is elected, I suspect the excuse will be that Dems should have run another candidate. The reality is each party has a process for selecting their candidates, and there are two who have the ability to win. Not Stein, not Kennedy. Biden or Trump are the two viable candidates. Keep the Hippocratic Oath in mind, first do no harm.
Nice try, Michael. The Hippocratic Oath is for doctors. Many don’t even say it anymore because it starts:
“I swear by Apollo the physician, and Aesculapius the surgeon, likewise Hygeia and Panacea, and call all the gods and goddesses to witness, that I will observe and keep this underwritten oath, to the utmost of my power and judgment.”
I cannot imagine saying that today and keeping a straight face! LOL
You’ll need to find another shame stick to beat people into your irrational way of voting for immoral characters.
I saw a facebook post. It started: YOU ARE NOT GETTING A PONY. Your choice is between a well used workhorse or an unpredictable greedy fat pig.
Thank you, Sheila. I’ve seen some polling that indicates that a sizeable number of voters who say that the reason they’ll vote for Biden is not as much support for him, but recognition that failing to vote at all is the same as voting for Trump, which is something they view as dangerous to democracy. His base will turn out because they are driven by racism–mostly non college-educated whites who feel that educated women and minorities are displacing them. They fear and loathe transgendered people and gays and want these folks to be the objects of abuse and discrimination. They are racist, and no matter how many times you explain that CRT is not being taught in grade schools, they refuse to believe. The pastors of their devotional religion are MAGA media figures–they believe the lies that are cranked out every single day–the endless drumbeat of a “Biden Crime Family”, doctored and misleading videos, Biden’s demented, he wears diapers and poops his pants, he has to be led around by handlers–they believe this crap. Never before in history did we have media outlets that exist solely to push an agenda. Never before did we have a presidential candidate who is a 34-times convicted felon (for just one of his criminal cases), an adjudicated rapist and fraudster–who still has a dedicated following because his disciples believe HE’s the victim.
This period in our history will go down with wonderment as how or why someone like Trump, who is anything but conservative, patriotic or altruistic, managed to wrest control of the Republican Party–a party that used to stand for support for law enforcement, family values and patriotism. It’s sort of like the McCarthy era. We now look back and wonder how or why McCarthy got the power he did and why he wasn’t stopped sooner. Future Americans will wonder the same about us if we don’t vote the “orange turd” (as Stormy calls him) out.
Some of my friends rejected “lesser evilism” in 1968, so we got Nixon and tens of thousands of deaths, both Vietnamese and American.
Sadly, I have been practicing “lesser evilism” for most of my voting life. They killed my candidate in ’68, but I remembered Humphrey’s civil rights record, and that Nixon was a crook. I actively supported Obama, although I knew he was far less “progressive” than many people thought, or I would have liked.
None of the past is even the tiniest bit close to now. Whatever appeals Biden makes to voters (I suggest every way possible), the reality is we elect him or we have the scariest time I can imagine.
JoAnn, you said just what I was about to – well, you said it better! I think there is no doubt Bernie would have beaten Trump at that moment in time. People were fed up and wanted someone who spoke to them – along with the fact that Hilary just wasn’t very popular. He was totally shafted by the DNC down to Donna Brazille sharing debate questions with Clinton. And they continue to shoot themselves in the foot – their messaging is awful even though there is so much to message…
I have said it before on this blog, and I am repeating it today.
I am guilty of being a clean hands / lesser evil voter in 2016! It got me exactly what I least wanted; i.e. the carrot topped idiot. Biden may be old, but he is a true believer in our political system. He will commit up front to accepting the results of the election, even if it goes against him. That, in itself, is sufficient reason to vote for him because the other guy refuses to say that he will accept the results of an election that he loses. And that is just UnAmerican!