Payback, for carnage
But this time, for long-overdue leverage
Ballots are dropping on Friday. In three weeks US voters will decide who will be the next suitable two-party duopoly figurehead to pose behind Resolute for the next few years. And the way things are spiraling out of control, the Red and Blue team faithful are just going to have be satisfied with whatever semblance of an election they pull off. Soon, thankfully, no more ads, no more inane rhetoric and blatant pandering, with millions casting votes as if their ballots were relevant outside of the swing states.
Most of my friends - OK, I must include former friends, even progressive friends, and acquaintances - resent my pointing out this irrelevancy until their eyes bulge. Point in fact, my own state, Washington, is deep, deep blue electorally. The last Republican to carry Washington state in a presidential election was Ronald Reagan in 1984. When the ballots are tallied in 2024, all twelve electoral votes will go to VP Harris. It will not matter who we vote for.
Early last week, while stopping by a favorite coffee house, my favorite barista, while pulling an espresso and bagging one of her amazing lemon cardamon bear-claws to go, was clearly worried about the upcoming Presidential election. I should know better by now, but when I suggested the Stein/Ware ticket instead of settling for Harris/Walz. She went as semi-ballistic as she could in a coffee bar.
It went like this:
She: “Do that, and Trump might win. Can’t risk it. National abortion ban. I know Kamala Harris is an idiot, but Trump’s Hitler. National abortion ban!”
Me: “A national ban won’t happen. Not gonna happen. Too many political hurdles. Don’t worry about it. Harris supports the ongoing Gaza/Lebanon and wars in the Middle East and Ukraine.”
She: “I’ve got a friend in Idaho who might need an abortion!”
Me: “What’s that got to do with hundreds of thousands of dead Palestinians and Ukrainians that Biden and Harris still support killing?! You can vote your conscience. If everyone in Bellingham voted for Jill Stein, Harris would still carry the state!”
“That’s easy for you to say, you’re a white guy!”
I never learn. Every four years I step into vocal minefields like this. As expected, Republicans dig in. Democrats though - especially frightened Democrats - are always the worst. If there are more than a couple around, the name-calling salvos can get out of hand. But “White guy?” No argument here.
“The Republicans, they plan to gut the VA…strip social security.”
“The genocide in Gaza, I know. That’s a shame, but we can’t let Trump win,” is still a favorite, breathtaking dismissal of the suffering of others.
As usual, genocide rarely moves the needle.
Maybe you’re politically independent, and that’s more than 40% of eligible voters, and you still can’t decide which corporate whore or warmongering, genocidal enabler to support on November 5, there is still an opportunity to make a difference. And while there is still time, let me suggest.
Vote third party.
The two-party system has given us a debt crisis, food insecurity, homelessness, skyrocketing military spending, and more…a crippled, or more accurately rigged, electoral gift that just keeps on giving when voters reliably endorse every soaring casualty count, and Gaza’s already spearheading the next four years.
Why would the Duopoly ever end these wars, or the next, before we all go up in smoke?
Vote third party.
This week in Substack Muhammad Jalal added,
The Biden-Harris administration has aided and abetted genocide. The argument they still deserve our vote is not only politically naïve but is also built upon a bed of lies. We must show courage in this election and vote for a third party. This is not only morally the correct position; it is the only way to build long-term political leverage.
This genocide was commissioned in Washington. The Biden-Harris administration gave it diplomatic cover, provided the weaponry, helped to subvert the narrative, ensured the world stayed silent and used a mixture of diplomatic sophistry and strong-arm tactics to keep shaky allies on side.
Both US legacy parties are accountable for decades of unlimited weaponry for the rogue, expansionist Israeli killing machine. Now they both pledge to continue the ongoing slaughter of countless Palestinian civilians. Trump could even be worse, but the Biden-Harris administration has aided and abetted genocide this year with more lethality than Hiroshima and Nagasaki combined.
Journalist and geopolitical analyst Sami Hamdi, in a recent podcast conversation with Muhammad Jalal on The Thinking Muslim, emphatically rebuked frightened Americans,
You survived four years of Trump, you can survive again. 240,000 Palestinians did not survive four years of Biden. You survived Trump…Trump is going to be worse than Biden'. You walk to the ballot box, you walk over those bodies, piles and piles of bodies…you walk over all those corpses, go to the ballot box and vote for the one who did it to them.
To imply these monsters still deserve our votes is not only politically naïve but morally bankrupt. If either Trump or Harris is elected they will no doubt support Israel and more bloodshed. So don’t stay home. There should be a political cost to pay. Use the system like it mattered.
And while we’re talking VP Harris, we should be talking payback.
Vote Green.
It's important to watch Hamdi's interview to get a full sense of why he and others so passionately urge voting 3rd party. My take from his interview is that many Arab-Americans and Muslims have decided the best thing strategically is to electorally punish AIPAC in order to remove its aura of invulnerability and omnipotence in the electoral arena. They see that as a long-term strategy with impacts in subsequent elections, not just this one, when Congressional candidates can stop fearing the AIPAC juggernaut coming into their district or state with deadly force in the next primary. That's what I got from his interview and it makes sense if the AIPAC/US genocide is your central issue -- be you Muslim, Arab-American or unaffiliated peace and justice activist. Yes, the election is important, but so will be the next many years of political activity that has nothing to do with elections -- being in the streets and not being afraid to do more than we've done before.
"As usual, genocide rarely moves the needle" will be inscribed on the tombstone of the USA.
I just left a comment on reporting about a debate between my state's Sen. Angus King ("Independent") and his D & R opponents:
An entire debate without any mention of the militarism bleeding our economy dry (about 2/3 of each year's federal budget voted on by Senator King) or the two hot wars currently running? No one challenged King on the U.S.-Israel genocide in Gaza now spreading rapidly to Lebanon, Iran, Syria, and Yemen? No role for the U.S. Senate in stoking -- or preventing -- WW3?