Reading time – 1:52; Viewing time – 3:37 . . .
Many Democrats are angry and some even hate Hillary Clinton. The negatives tend to cluster around two things: trustworthiness (actually, the lack of it) and her disastrous position on ____________ (fill in the blank with your key issue). That has led many Democrats to proclaim with a righteous fury that they will not vote for her and they certainly won’t vote for Trump, so instead they will either abstain from voting or will vote for Jill Stein, the Green Party candidate. To explain why that’s self-defeating, let’s look at the math.
Votes for Trump will be from “the base”, plus those Republicans who put clothespins on their noses (thanks for the visual, D.W.) and vote for him only because his name is not Hillary Clinton. Clearly, all of those will be votes against Clinton.
Next point: Jill Stein doesn’t have even a remote chance of becoming president, so a vote for her won’t get her elected. In that sense, votes for her are wasted.
Finally, making the assumption that Democrats who abstain from voting or who vote for Stein would have voted for the Democratic candidate had that been someone other than Clinton, then those abstentions and votes for Stein will be votes against Clinton, which is exactly the same as a vote for Trump.
So, the math says that if you are a disaffected Democrat and either abstain from voting or vote for Stein, you will assure that America is endangered by a sociopathic President Trump. There, I said it: President Trump. How did that feel in your gut to read those words? Really scary and black?
If you fail to vote for Clinton and instead abstain or vote for Stein, Green will be the new black.
Yes, the DNC played unfairly with the nomination process. Absolutely, there are things about Clinton that don’t comport with your ideas about how things should be and assault your sense of right and wrong. I get it. Overriding all of that is this simple imperative:
There must never be a President Trump.
On August 7, 2016 Bill Maher put into perspective the issues you have with Clinton, saying, “There’s no room for boutique issues in an Armageddon election.” Armageddon election! That’s exactly what we have when a presidential candidate speaks glibly about using nuclear weapons.
Want to feel a bit better about holding your nose and voting for Clinton? Here’s some help.
Ezra Klein has an ordinary size human head, but tucked inside is a brain the size of Delaware; he is monstrously smart. His recent Vox article is about Hillary Clinton and her “gap” – the difference between how people who know her feel about her, versus the feelings of those who don’t have first-hand experience. This piece is enlightening and is a must-read, unless you’re dedicated to being frustrated and angry about Clinton. I double-dog dare you to read it.
BTW: Everything said here also goes for disaffected Republicans who are thinking of abstaining or voting for Gary Johnson, the Libertarian Party candidate. Each of those voting options is a vote for Trump. Good Republican friends don’t let their friends do that.
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Ed. note: There is much in America that needs fixing and we are on a path to continually fail to make things better. It is my goal to make a difference – perhaps to be a catalyst for things to get better. That is the reason for these posts. To accomplish the goal requires reaching many thousands of people and a robust dialogue.
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Copyright 2024 by Jack Altschuler
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8 Responses to Green is the New Black
Jim Altschuler August 15, 2016
I am so sick of having to select between the lesser of 2 evils in every presidential (and most other non-presidential elections) that I could spit. Unfortunately the only candidate in the last 40 years that would not fall into that category lost the Dem primary to Hillary.
I don’t like most of the options available; some I just hate (and/or am too scared of to consider). A write-in vote, even for Bernie Sanders, would be about the same as abstaining from voting altogether. As indicated in your article, a vote for one of the candidates from a lesser party would be pretty much the same. The alternatives, therefore, are the candidates from the major parties. As ugly as it may seem, that isn’t much of a choice — a woman who may be capable of doing a good job (but who can tell? we’re given almost no clues), OR a wing-nut who will probably destroy the economies of the world (by extension after destroying ours) and may well obliterate life on the planet! Yes, I know that sounds very “doom-and-gloom” but I believe both estimates are accurate.
Ed August 14, 2016
I completely agree. Though I am not a fan of Hillary Clinton, there is simply no reasonable alternative. Not only is Stein unelectable, she calls for cutting off all aid to Israel, something I strongly oppose. Before democrats vote for the Green Party candidate, they should think about the 2000 election during which Ralph Nader won enough votes in Florida to ensure George W. Bush’s election.
fullyalive August 15, 2016
Regarding the Florida vote in 2000 – just to be clear:
The Supreme Court cut off vote counting and in the process disenfranchised over 20,000 Floridians by not counting their votes. The vote was completed after the Court-decided election and it was found that Gore won the Florida vote by a little over 500 votes.
Ed August 15, 2016
Yes, but if more than 90,000 Florida residents hadn’t voted for Gore, none of that would have mattered.
John Calia August 14, 2016
It would take more than a clothespin to get me to vote for either of the major party candidates this year. The notion that we should rally around political parties who do not represent our individual views or values ignores an important factor. Traditionally, third parties (yes, I know there are four this year) develop platforms not supported by one of the majors. The reaction of the statistically driven majors is to embrace those ideas, so as to attract those who stray.
Does it move the needle? I believe that it does, if not in this cycle then in the next.
I have a real problem with the wasted vote argument. It suggests that we vote for someone we don’t believe in. Why would I do that?
It’s worth pointing out that, unless you live in a swing state, your vote doesn’t count for much anyway. I am in NY. Is there any chance that someone other than Hillary walks away with all the electoral votes in my home state? Or yours for that matter, Jack?
So, is any vote for someone other than Hillary (or for Trump if you live in a Republican state) a wasted vote?
fullyalive August 15, 2016
Perhaps in solid red and solid blue states a third party vote might make a statement without causing the harm of helping to elect the greater of two evils. However, in swing states (there are more this year than in other recent election cycles), it seems to me that harm might indeed be done.
To answer your question, John, of why we should vote for someone we don’t believe in, it’s simple: those are the options we have. It’s a bit like the President’s options in Syria and Iraq, because all the options are bad ones. Nevertheless, he must make a choice. So, too, for we citizen voters.
Sadly, once again we have a choice of two candidates, both of whom are deeply flawed. Their disqualifying flaws aren’t primarily about their positions; they are more about their character. One seems dishonest and one has pledged to be suicidal. Neither is what we want and need, but one just might not obliterate the planet. So, as dreadful as it might seem, voting for Hillary is the best of a pitiful collection of choices.
Joni Lindgren August 14, 2016
You’re right, Jack. After the DNC, I was really upset with what I was reading about how Hillary, corporations and DWS …oh, and the DNC itself conspired to do whatever they could to get rid of Bernie. I was even ticked with Bernie for giving up and not running on a third party platform. So….I’m with you. I don’t want a Donald Trump! Every time I turn on the TV, the damn news people are giving him more free airtime and then they give him more airtime by discussing the nut job! Every time I hear his voice…..which is every 30 minutes on some station… it’s like fingers on the chalkboard and I can only imagine what 8 years of him would be like! So, I will be one of those who will hold my nose and vote for Hillary.
But, here is the question…..How can we get the message out to the media and the candidates that we aren’t going to hold our noses forever?? And….how long will the “establishment” think we’re all going to be willing to see congressmen continue to work for corporations and the wealthy…..and not the rest of us?? How long are people willing to have their wages cut?? How long will people stand for big oil drilling and extracting every single drop of oil from our earth before they move to renewables and clean energy? How long must we wait for our tax money to stop being giving to the top and nothing but cuts to the middle/lower class?? Just how long will the corporations and wealthy think they can continue to manhandle everyone because, from everything I’m reading, it’s not going to be long.
Do you have a crystal ball?? Do you have fairy dust that you can sprinkle on all of us and make this madness go away???
Joni
fullyalive August 14, 2016
Frustratingly, my inventory of fairy dust is gone and my supplier is out of business, so I cannot make the madness go away by that method.
Be clear that the only thing that will make the madness go away is for Americans to know the truth. That’s why I post my blogs and speak to groups. We have the resources to figure out what to do once we know what’s going on.