Why is the left fighting over Joe R Biden?
Update: October 19, 2020
I voted for Biden even though I was sure I wouldn’t. So many flashbacks to 2016.
I changed my mind because:
I was able to have in-depth conversations with my partner in which she gave me lot of space to express my strong dislike of Biden.
In the 2020 Election, I’m Casting a Ballot Against Full-Blown Fascism by Kelly Hayes in Teen Vogue
This post by Benji Hart, in which they begin “I’m voting early for #BidenHarris2020. Here’s why, against many of my core values, I’m doing so, why you should too if you’re able, AND why voting in this election is not revolutionary, and deeply insufficient…”
In terms of #1, I really need people who are shaming others for not wanting to vote for Biden/not voting for the President to consider Kelly Hayes’ words:
Reluctant voters often *need* to go through a process of discussing their concerns, voicing their sadness, disappointment, and even some of their resentments, before they can move forward. Some of you don't understand that, which is okay, so long as you do not try to assume control of the situation. Some of us are getting through by talking about it, and sometimes, that actually makes other people feel better about going through with their vote, because they know it's hard for other people too who still feel what they feel -- that they have to do it.
Why do you all think Teen Vogue asked me to write that piece about being a reluctant voter? Because some people need an acknowledgement of why we didn't want to do this, and an affirmation of why we are anyway -- for each other's sakes.
Y'all obviously don't understand this process or how it can actually be important to *getting* votes, so please just stay out of it.
Voters’ Guide for Cook County/Chicago
I used Stephanie Skora’s Girl, I Guess: A Progressive Voter Guide to the 2020 General Election in Cook County and Beyond and the Injustice Watch for judges.
I’m not here to tell you to vote for Biden just because I did. I am here to ask you kindly to please
vote YES to the Fair Tax Initiative (Section 3 Article IV) and
vote NO to retain Judge Michael Toomin and Judge Mauricio Araujo. Toomin is a literal klansman and has fought to cage children at every turn, in every way possible, including during COVID19.
April 11, 2020
I understand why people will vote for Biden.
I understand why people won't vote at all.
I don't understand why these two camps are arguing against each other and judging each other.
Seeing Biden all over the place is so exhausting. This will hopefully have to be my only post about this presidential election for a few months because it's mostly a waste of energy for all of us.
And before you ask: I don’t know if I’ll #VoteBlueNoMatter who. In 2016 I said I wouldn’t and then I fucking voted for Hillary when the ballot was in front of my face.
By the way, did you assume the R stood for rapist? If yes, consider what a vote for him means. His middle name is Robinette. And please stop telling survivors that they need to vote for him.
I'm writing this to people who share the same stances and values as me; so if you're not in this camp, this conversation isn't for you.
This conversation is for people who:
value harm reduction
want to end to cash bail
believe universal health care is a human right
are pro-Palestine
fight for free public higher education
fight for free daycare
demand accountability processes for the people Biden sexually assaulted
are abolitionists (no prisons, no police, no ICE)
look to disability justice for guidance
are anti-racist, anti-capitalist, pro-LGBT2QIA+
live/act in accordance with their values (praxis)
I guess you’ll want to know I’m a millennial. That doesn’t mean I’m a college student; I am 32 years-old. This is the fourth presidential election that I’m eligible to vote in. I am tired of being promised incremental change.
As @bentarnoff concisely tweeted, we’ve been promised our whole lives that this would make things better but rather it’s gotten “substantially worse" instead. I have watched piecemeal plans cause more harm than good in my experience with “international development,” the non-profit industrial complex, and community organizing.
Being told to “take what [we] can get” leaves a lot of people behind. Remember when HRC threw trans people under their bus in the fight for ENDA? How many policies make compromises and exclude whole groups, such as people who are undocumented?
Voting for “the lesser of the two evils” (yet again!) and settling for policies that “compromise” and discriminate against our loved ones just makes things harder. Now there’s a precedent set on how these things are handled. We’ve conceded again and allowed the spectrum to shift in favor of normalizing the Republican side. It’s now going to take those who were excluded even more work to get the same rights; now they need to not only create something new but destroy what we allowed to be.
There is not much difference between Democrats and Republicans. We’ve seen deportations, war, hate crimes, and homelessness rates all increase under Democratic presidents. Both parties spend billions of dollars on the election process rather than directly investing their fortunes and donations to address the issues they claim to care about.
I already wrote about this in 2018 when I said “quit blaming millennials for low voter turnout and start blaming the people in power who aren’t worthy of our votes.” We’re not willing to sell out people we love and factions of our community; it’s against our values and it has not worked in the past. It’s dangerous.
The “not voting is a vote for Trump” rebuttal is illogical and annoying as fuck. Not voting is a vote for nobody. If these people want to persuade others to vote for Biden then they should talk about actual reasons to vote for Joe Biden. (And actually, if you want to use this line of reasoning, you’re voting for Trump if you don’t send @internethippo and I each $5!) It makes me laugh because these are a lot of the same people who were discrediting Queers Against Pete because we should say what we are “for” rather than what we are against. Y’all have your primary election and general election strategies mixed up.
Does Biden stand with me anywhere on any of the points above about values and stances? Are you working to push him farther left and is he willing to listen? What about his 1994 Crime Bill, attacks on Anita Hill, rape? Has he acknowledged his mistakes and agreed to an accountability process… or is he standing by those horrific actions? What’s Joe Biden’s plan for addressing climate change?
Having a Democrat in office doesn’t promise us that things will be better. Don’t forget that Obama deported more people than Bushes.
Image description that is too long for alt text: A line titled “perception” that has far left, left, center, right, and far right. Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren are far left. Barack Obama is left. Hillary Clinton is left of center. Joe Biden is center. Jeb Bush is right of center. Mitch McConnell is right. Donald Trump is far right and Stephen Miller is on the far right end after Trump. Underneath this line is another line titled “reality” that is titled right so that politicians are falling off the right end. The space that was labeled “far left” and “left” on the other one now says “watch this space” instead. Bernie is left of center. Warren is right of center. Obama and Hillary are right. Biden, Jeb Bush, McConnell, and Trump are far right. Trump’s head is hanging off the end. Miller’s head is falling.
We use a lot of time talking about electoral politics. Some of you more than me and that’s okay. We need all of our fights in all the realms. What I am frustrated with is that electoral politics are just a small piece of the puzzle. Don’t pretend your work is more important, urgent or productive. Candidates spend hundreds of millions of dollars on a process that is rigged (caucus debacles, election fraud in primaries, shady donations, debates only for the wealthy) and not therefore not truly democratic. Radical change isn’t going to happen through this system. For centuries people living on the margins have used many other methods for true social change. And just because something becomes a law or policy doesn’t mean people will change their beliefs or behavior. The Fair Housing Act of 1968 prohibits discrimination against protected classes and it happens daily still. I won’t even get started on the corruption and violence within police departments.
law ≠ morality
law ≠ change of hearts
policy ≠ equity
Democratic president ≠ progressive change
Trump isn’t the worst nightmare. It’s just that you didn’t see the harm happening to so many people under what you considered “normal.”
Stop patronizing people on the margins for “not seeing the big picture” or “not being alive when…” because it’s hypocritical and incorrect.
Image description that is too long for alt text: A screenshot of a Twitter thread. Top tweet from @mckensiemack says “For those who don’t understand why this politic is an issue because of their whiteness, their class privilege, and more. My ancestors lived their entire lives wading through incremental progress that never led to fundamental change. We want the real thing now.” Bottom tweet from @IamGMJohnson says “I don't think people acknowledge how many felt harmed and were harmed in the 8 years prior to Trump. If they did, they would understand why a "return to normalcy" politic like Biden's is such a turn off for so many. People want change, and not incremental anymore.”
Some other things to consider if you are still using your time to tell people to vote for Biden:
Al Gore won the popular vote in 2000 but we got George W Bush because of the electoral college.
Hillary won the popular vote in 2016 but we got Trump because of the electoral college.
If you live in a blue state, like Illinois, a vote for president means even less in our current system.
These conversations are distracting us from having more important conversations. It’s April and the election is in November.
No matter who wins and if you voted for them or not, please work to push them farther left and hold them accountable. Criticize them when they go wrong. They are servants, not celebrities.
If you read all this and are still posting “but it’s gonna be your fault that we have Trump again” then go back and reread it but with some better comprehension skills. Sometimes I have to reread something twice to understand it, too.
And for fuck’s sake, no president is going to save us. Stop pretending they will.
“We are the ones we have been waiting for.”