There was a time when voting against Republicans was understandable. I did just that in 2004 when I cast a vote for John Kerry in my first presidential election. We were in the thick of 2 unnecessary, very costly wars of choice, the ramifications of which we are dealing with today. Manufacturing in the US was all but destroyed. Millions lost their jobs because tourism was on the decline because of 9/11, and because Bush refused to heed the repeated warnings he had received beforehand.
By 2004, most people probably thought an actual shrub would make a better president than Shrub himself. And had they known what would come next after being re-elected, they would have been right.
Twelve years later we still see that sort of thinking, in a sense. Any Democrat would be better than any Republican. The problem is, this sort of short-sighted thinking completely ignores the continued erosion of virtually everything from human and labor rights to the environment by continuously settling for less. Eventually people will settle for so little they may as well get nothing at all.
Lastly, voting against something can be described as many things, but the way I see it, it’s no different than giving in to threats of extortion for the sake of surviving for one more day. It plays on people’s worst fears while allowing them to be robbed blind. Even if it’s less, or a bit slower, we’re still being robbed.
So when are we going to say ‘no more’ and do what this site was originally founded to do, elect more and better Democrats? Because at this point, we can’t afford not to. We have to draw a line somewhere, and for me, yesterday was it when I cast my vote for Sanders. Either we stand for something, or we lose it to those who effectively stand for nothing.
See you around,
Homer