In late 2007 I wrote a long Facebook note on some of my (way-to-idealistic) political thoughts. The election with Obama was starting to get exciting and I was finding myself as a mid 20s quasi-evangelical moving into Christian anarchy spaces (a la Jacques Ellul). I looked for it but Facebook (being facebook) wiped the notes feature out many moons ago. I might have it saved somewhere else - I’m not sure - but the long and the short of it was “a vote for the lesser of two evils is still a vote for evil so we shouldn’t feel pressured to vote.” There was a lot more in it then just that but that gets at the basics.
Fast forward to today and things feel…==different.== I’ve been thinking through and processing why a lot lately. A few things come to mind:
- I think our embedded philosophies and ideologies naturally change with time. What I believe today isn’t the same as 20 years ago, and hopefully not necessarily the same as 20 years from now. I hope at least - whether the changes are big or small, that’s maturity.
- I think perspective naturally changes as one ages. This is similar to the above but takes into account that how we act on what we believe might be different than at other times in life.
- I think we have to admit that this election, more than any other I’ve witnessed or read about, seems to have dire stakes for the state of democracy in the US. Even more so than 2016.
The last one feels the most pressing. To be frank my politics don’t align all that well with the Democrat side of the aisle but the election really does feel like a binary. We get to choose Ds or Rs. One side is repeatedly making comments that glorify an attempted insurrection (even hosting an award ceremony for it), repeatedly making comments about how people will never have to vote again, frequently dehumanizes people and more while the other side wants to humanize and continue democratic rule of law (note I wrote democratic rule of law not Democrat). Because of all of that and more, I have no qualms about voting for the the option that doesn’t want to install fascist rule in the country.
Having said that though, it’s important to keep in mind that it takes a lot of privilege and power to be able to say “I’m voting for so and so no matter what they think/do/believe about XYZ”. Being a white American man, I’ve got to recognize the privilege I carry into any room or conversation. It doesn’t cost me as much to sacrifice issues for utilitarian reasons (regardless of how good or important I might consider those reasons to be). ==The election is fragile== so it’s easy for those of us with the power and privilege to jump to these utilitarian head spaces and drown out the voices of people who just can’t for whatever reason.
Personal opinion here, but I tend to think that as the GOP has gotten more extremist, by and large it’s pushed the Democrats more to the center to try and capture the votes of those alienated by the far-right shift (but again - this is anecdotal from experiences and discussions).
There are a number of communities that are forgotten in this Democrat/Republican binary. I’m thinking of the disabled voters desperate for attention to covid precautions as Democrats and Republicans vote for mask bans (as an online friend pointed out not to long ago) or those rightly trying to get something done about the Palestinian genocide.
I don’t think that those are the only communities though lost to the binary. ==And all of these voices absolutely deserve to be heard.== Just because I might personally be willing to overlook policy decisions by Democrats to keep the other side of the White House, I don’t and will never have the right to regulate the criticism that anyone from these forgotten or lost communities makes, even if it leads to people choosing not to vote (or vote 3rd party).
I guess in closing - ==all politics is narcissism to some degree==. There needs to be a lot more reflection and self awareness. Space needs to be made for this. Privilege needs to be identified and laid aside. One of my favorite passages of the Bible is Philippians 2:6-7 which describes this humility and willingness we should all have in divesting of our own privilege to serve those around us, so that voices that lack privilege and power can be elevated, listened to and even celebrated. This isn’t really what was on display at the Democrat National Convention which, while not surprising, is disappointing. This part of politics sucks. We’d be in a much better place as a country if we took time to breathe, to reflect, to process, to move forward.