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can we talk about how voting for joe biden is just as bad as voting for trump, and how even the “lesser of two evils” can’t apply here. both are shitty ways to waste your vote, so please take the time to read about voting in 2020:
to start, let’s establish that both the democratic party and the republican party are discriminatory in nature. while the republican party may be upfront about it, the democratic party upholds the same ideas through classist and structurally racist policies that don’t address
historical contexts, and damage marginalized groups in the same way. the democratic party favors the privileged white and elite, and plays under the facade that they are for the equality of all people.
to focus on the 2020 candidates at hand: both have bad character and policy. while trump has not much had time in government, his blatantly discriminatory policy has been well known. from the islamophobic travel ban to the border concentration camps; we have experienced it all.
this is where we see the democratic party causing those same problems. it also was under the obama administration that those same camps were in place, with the same poor conditions. it was under this same administration that the flint crisis was allowed to go unresolved.
continuing, joe biden has been a government official for decades, so we can guage him retrospectively. he was against desegregation, against investing in black education, and has promoted increased incarceration. his bad track record has always been racist and still is today.
regarding his more recent work, he has openly stated that he is against defending the police, has entitled himself to the black vote, and during a pandemic— still not supported the idea of medicare for all. he rides off of the obama legacy, which was discriminatory on its own.
some might still argue that joe biden is better than trump, but it fails to recognize that they do the same thing, just in different coverings. in fact, discriminatory efforts under biden would be harder to work against because of the centrist dem. support.
the elite establishment has pushed the idea that there are only two options: democratic or republican. both represent the same worn out ideals, and have been used to push them through voting “the lesser of two evils”. the only way to stop this is to reject these two parties.
some might make the fact that bernie sanders ran as a democrat and was not a bad candidate. while he was a good contender, it is important to also recognize that in the senate he has served and continues to run as an independent.
running for president as a democrat was simply a smarter political move for bernie. it gave him a larger platform, and would’ve made him a more digestible candidate to consider in the race. he has never reflected standard democratic ideals.
when bringing up the idea of rejecting these two parties, it is important to consider the other options. two interesting ones on the rise being the socialist party, and especially the green party.
howie hawkins, 2020 nominee and cofounder of the green party is actually very closely aligned to what bernie calls for, but picks up on a few issues where bernie lacks.
now to address the largest myth about voting third party: the idea of your vote being wasted. while it is not likely that a member of a third party will win the 2020 election will win the election, voting third party does two very important things necessary for change.
1) if a third party reaches 5% of the popular vote, they will be recognized as a “minor party” and will qualify for public campaign funding. it not only legitimizes their campaigns, but gives more resources to spread efforts.
2) it sends a valuable message. if third parties continue to increase in voter support, it discard the idea that voters are trapped between two bad choices forced upon us by the establishment. america was never meant to have a two party system, as it limits free thought and the
amount of new ideas that can be brought to the table. while they may not win the election, it is important to remember that change is never immediate. no major issue in history have ever been entirely solved solved with one vote.
and for those who say “a vote for anyone other than biden is a vote for trump”, it is an important reminder that a vote for either biden or trump is a vote for a system that was never meant to serve the marginalized.
