Lesser Evil is still an Evil

  

As the mid-terms approach, the media circus is in full flow and it appears the aim is to keep the public’s eyes as far away from reality and the real issues as possible. There are issues that should be the primary focus of the media, placing them squarely in front of the electorate and the candidates. But they aren’t and they won’t be because the news outlets support the status quo. 

The only reason the vast majority of Biden's’s supporters haven’t abandoned him is the fear and loathing of Trump and his followers in the Republican Party. Lesser evilism remains Biden’s best hope in winning the Biden’s stakes popularity.  We hear it said countless times that while Biden has indeed been a colossal failure, voting for him is essential given the alternative is pro-Trumpers and although Biden has been a failure, Trump proved to be far worse. It has been said over and over again. No matter how bad the Democratic candidate may be, the Republican will be worse. Democratic voters have mostly resigned themselves to the idea that Biden is useless except for keeping a greater evil at bay. However, in every election, one candidate will always be less evil than the other. Deciding on that basis not merely does no good; it actually does harm. The effect of the policy of choosing the "lesser evil" is that over time it makes the choice worse. At first, the “lesser of two evils” voting doesn’t seem like such a bad idea. After all, it rests on the principle that what matters for choosing between X and Y is their relative merit, and then one should choose the better (or less bad) of the two. However, it is really all about scaring people into one particular camp. Lesser evil proponents create apathy, not conviction. Voting for the lesser evil produces never-ending cycles of voter dissatisfaction and disillusionment with those elected, both Democrats and Republicans.

Biden made no secret during his election campaign of his “moderate” political outlook. A central theme of his campaign, in fact, was the need for bipartisanism to counter the trend toward politics becoming too “ideological”. Those who now criticize Biden for being yet another spineless Democrat were not paying attention to the statements he made. Biden made no secret of his deeply-held principle of never sticking to any principle. He has never claimed to be anything but a “pragmatist”, which is a nicer way of saying “opportunist”. Biden has not budged from his belief that the solutions to the problems plaguing the United States can be found lying in the middle of the political road, so to speak. Biden’s drive to the Presidency, from promises so vague as to almost defy analysis, from its inception through its planning to its execution was known for its single-minded cynicism. He left many Trump Administration policies intact. How can Biden be blamed for all those false expectations? The signs that Biden was more of a wolf in sheep’s clothing were there for all to see. Biden, for all his syrup-drenched liberal rhetoric and strong grand-fatherly likeability factor, has always supported a free market system. Despite evident disillusionment with Biden  by the Democratic Party progressives, they have urged people to work for change through the Democratic Party – a recipe for endless failure and frustration. While protesting that we are not being rewarded sufficiently in forging our chains, we then cooperate in putting the shackles to our own ankles by voting for latest slick marketing ploy coming from the mouth of the newest political product of Corporate State Inc. It’s no secret that the American electoral system is mainly public relations extravaganza, a marketing affair. 

Give people two options, neither of which they find appealing, convince them that a third option, a genuinely attractive one such as socialism, is just not practicable and that they must thus choose between the bad and the worse, and you’ll be able to get them to choose something they would never otherwise choose. You can get people to do anything that way. You start by offering them a choice between something that is just marginally unpleasant and something that is really repellent. Once you’ve gotten them to choose the marginally unpleasant, you raise the bar (just a little mind you, you don’t want them to catch on to what you’re doing). Now you offer them a choice between something to which they have really strong objections and something that is deeply offensive. Most people, of course, will choose the former, if they think it’s either that or the latter. Now you offer people who’ve become inured to living under objectionable conditions a choice between even worse conditions and something that is truly unthinkable. It’s not a mystery what they will choose. If you vote for a candidate whose farther right than you would prefer that is shifting the political “center” to the right. Republicans aren’t responsible for the increasingly conservative face of the Democratic Party. Democrats are. If we are ever going to see a real political change of the sort progressive reformers purport to want, then we are going to have to be brave enough to risk losing elections. Which shouldn’t require all that much bravery when one thinks about it, because real progressives have been losing elections for as long as anyone can remember. If you vote for a democrat because you think of yourself as progressive you are wasting your vote because what you are actually saying is that you are willing to support a candidate who is not really progressive, that the Democrats can continue their relentless march to the right and that you will back them all the way. That is, if you vote for a Democrat because you say you are progressive, you are saying one thing and doing another. But actions, as everyone knows, speak louder than words. You can go on posturing about how progressive you are, but if you vote for a Democrat that posturing is empty.

The rallying cry for a voter boycott movement is, "if voting changed anything, they’d abolish it." It is not difficult to sympathize with that sentiment; however, it is self-defeating. By doing nothing non-voters simply make it easier for plutocrats to dominate. They will claim legitimacy even if only just 5 percent of them cast their ballot. The capitalist class would simply interpret the failure to vote as proving people lacked the responsibility, education and intelligence to wisely manage their affairs. Not voting is an abdication of democracy. Talking and protesting are not effective enough and usually result in manipulation and endless debates with little or no concrete actions. Nor do we want to see cracked heads and pepper-sprayed innocents. Voting is one of the foundations of a free and democratic society, and it is the responsibility of every worker to do everything in their power to ensure the continuation of our hard-fought-for freedoms. We must either become more democratic, with more voter participation or sit back and watch the U.S. fall deeper and deeper into neo-fascism. 

We need to start voting for what we really want. Instead of the lesser of the evils, for a change, let's vote for what we really want. People need to decide exactly what it is they're working for and it cannot be simply another version of capitalism. The environmental threat to the planet is rapidly approaching and the only hope for the planet and humanity is to bring down the whole charade of capitalism as soon as possible. The absence of organization and serious discussion about moving forward from mere protest is troubling.