Do we have to vote for Joe Biden?
The left finds itself at a crossroads, stuck between two awful options for President. What do our politics and our values demand we do now?
If you’ve been on the internet, you’re having or seeing this conversation, and you’re probably thinking about it yourself too. Before we get into it, a comment on this discourse: the current “debate” such as it is seems to be about everything except what it’s actually about. While there are certainly some really earnest voices of concern out there in the discourse, what is nominally a fight about “rallying behind the nominee” seems to be in actuality about liberals browbeating and demanding concessions from ideological rivals on the left (they were doing this before, why stop now?) as a continuation of the ongoing conflict between these factions.
Liberals love to insist that they want the same things as the left, just by different means, to the point where at times it feels like a vegan saying “I don’t eat meat” and then a well-intentioned friend saying “yes, I agree we should not eat meat, but this is organic and free range beef with no artificial hormones, so therefore we want the same thing and you’re being selfish and unreasonable by not eating this with me.” Bro i don’t eat meat and….nevermind.
All manner of bad faith takes and media sensationalism aside, the core question remains a legitimate one, and one that merits a response.
A Battle Over Framing
Asking the right question is important here. If I’m considering a vote for Joe Biden, what does my vote “mean” exactly and what do I have to think about before I cast it? There’s not an answer to this question really, but it is funny to watch people pretend there is in service of whatever argument they’d like to make. All of the following framings are totally legitimate ways to think about casting your vote for president - each has flaws, but each is also at least partially correct:
Everyone should vote because it’s our civic duty and you should always vote for the best option among the candidates likely to win
Everyone should vote because it’s our civic duty and you should always vote your conscience no matter what because your vote is an expression of your true political preference, and if people voted for what they wanted rather than what they thought would win, we’d move forward in this country
No one says you have to vote and you should do so if a candidate inspires you to do so - candidates must earn their constituents
Voting doesn’t matter that much because electoralism is a dead-end anyway. Direct action and organizing is what gets the goods, that doesn’t change based on who is in office - the old slogan “if voting could really take their power away, they’d make it illegal”
Voting for President is essentially meaningless for most people because the electoral college means your vote for Trump in California and your vote for Biden in Mississippi count as much as just throwing your vote in the trash anyway.
It’s selfish in the short term not to vote for the one guy because it will be very harmful for people if the other guy wins
It’s foolish in the long term to always vote out of fear of the other guy because the only way you win power is by making the party compete for your vote by backing a platform and candidates that comport with your views.
A non-vote for candidate A is a vote for candidate B. - this is sensible in the fact that only 2 candidates stand a realistic chance of winning, so every choice not to vote for candidate A is a de facto benefit for candidate B.
A non-vote for candidate A is NOT a vote for candidate B, it’s just a non-vote - this is sensible in the fact that not everyone votes - in fact tens of millions don’t vote — so it’s not as though your refusal to vote for Trump is a vote for Biden. They count the votes at the end of the day, they don’t count the nonvotes
You can poke holes in each of these arguments and you can make a convincing case for your point of view with each of these arguments. The truth is that what voting “means” has a lot more to do with where you stand and how you see the world than with the actual consequences of your vote.
I’m not agnostic on this, of course, but my point isn’t that you can’t have an opinion on which of these arguments is most relevant. It’s just that each has merit and you and I definitely aren’t the first people to think about this. Smarter and more dedicated people than me have been thinking and talking about the meaning and utility of the vote in the American system for years but the number of folks out there in the media and in social media land who are convinced (or want you to be convinced) they’re making “THE” definitive argument on elections and democracy is pretty staggering.
Addressing the Pregnant Chad In The Room - Do we have to vote for Joe Biden?
If you don’t get or appreciate a “pregnant chad” reference you’re honestly better off, so I’m not gonna explain that, but I will finally get to the point: do you have to vote for Joe Biden?
My answer: I think people in swing states should vote for Joe Biden.
Here's an obviously true fact that people seem to want to fight me on for some reason: you do not need to think Joe Biden and Kamala Harris are good to vote for them. You only need to believe they are marginally better than Trump. You don't need to be exited about them.
From where I'm sitting, there are very few things to be excited about - this is the most donor-class oriented, status quo ticket the dems could have run. Is it great that Kamala Harris as a black woman is on the VP ticket of a major party? Of course it is, but there were also many black women who fit the bill with actual good politics we could have had on the ticket. Don't tell me "but she's better than Pence" - of course she fucking is. Mike Pence is a little hateful devil man.
For those saying, "ok vote and then we'll push them left", so I'm gonna see you in the streets November 4th then? Gonna be protesting outside the White House when there are still kids in cages on the border 100 days into the Biden administration? You will in no sense "hold them accountable" because you've already decided to elect them no matter what - you've ceded all your power and leverage already. What could Biden/Harris do at this point that would make you vote for Trump or stay home? If the answer is, as I suspect, nothing, then what reason do Biden/Harris to have to "earn" your vote? There's nothing to earn. This election will be motivated almost wholly by negative partisanship - aka voting against Trump.
Trump is horrible because of his politics, but not uniquely horrible because of them. George W. Bush was a far, far worse president and honestly, even given covid, it's still not even close. Trump must go not because he is uniquely dangerous as a republican - he is in fact common as a Republican - but because he is uniquely dangerous as a vindictive fucking dipshit in obvious cognitive decline with no interest in governing. The unique danger in Trump is not his politics but his person.
But there's no reason we must be happy about the alternative -ideally, Biden/Harris should defeat Trump in a landslide and then enter office afraid of an angry populace that wanted something better and was stuck with them. They should be dancing on hot coals trying to work quickly enough to save this country. They need not enter to parades and fanfare - this is no time for parades, it is a time for action.
In my opinion, your vote is not some precious sacred thing that serves as a token of your true values in this world, it's transactional and it's the tiniest modicum of power and influence - only our collective influence is power. As individuals, we have 1 measly vote. Don't get precious about it, it doesn't matter that much. Put it where it fits best and be done with it. Then get involved and join up with a movement organization and participate in building real political power. A voter has some tiny power. An organized voting bloc has real power.
Joe Biden and Kamala Harris are corporatist, status quo careerist politicians with a history of awful positions, and their administration will be counter to the progress we need to help people, save our planet, and build an economy and political system that works for everyone. But a continued Trump presidency is an existential threat. A step away from the cliff's edge is a step in the right direction only insomuch as it is a step away from the cliff.
That said, the cliff is intolerable, so if you live in a state where this matters, you should vote for Biden/Harris. I'm not asking you not to vote - you should vote - if you live in a state where this is possible, like California or New York or Maryland, you should vote Green at the top of the ticket and try to put a 3rd party over that 5% threshold - did you know earning 5% of the national vote entitles a political party to millions in public funding? A vote for Greens is not necessarily a vote for that party, but a vote for an electorally viable third party in America. But if you live in Ohio, Florida, Arizona, Virginia, etc... sorry but I think you probably do have to vote for Biden.
Here’s why: because of our bizzaro electoral college system, millions of people who live in deep red states or deep blue states will cast a vote for President that will be essentially meaningless. For those that are voting in Colorado, Arizona, Texas, Wisconsin, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and North Carolina, however, your vote has an outsized power.
Totally Owning Me From the Left
Some of my comrades on the left are going to hate this, and I don’t blame them, I just disagree. The argument is about power - that is, the Dems have always and will always dangle the worst candidate they can get away with and force us into this choice, and so, the argument goes, if we don’t reject that choice by not voting, the Dems never learn or change and the left continues to be electorally weak. I would argue this is a point of view far too focused on the top of the ticket. The left has made powerful advances in congressional races and much more powerful advances in the movement space outside of electoral politics.
We - the left - are often fascinated with this shortcut to success by which we feel if we can capture the White House, we can leapfrog 20 years of power building work by suddenly seizing the party by the neck by democratic coup. I agree - few were more excited than me by the prospect and possibilities of a Bernie Sanders presidency. But that is a short cut, and while we should take moonshots when we can, I don’t think we teach the Dems any sort of lesson by not voting for Biden - they will simply do what they’re already preparing to do and blame the left regardless of the actual cause, and we build enmity with left-leaning liberals by making enemies rather than power by radicalizing them libs.