I’m not going to tell you not to vote for Trump.
I simply want to make the point clear that you don’t have to…and I won’t be.
So please save your breath. It is a lie to say a vote for anyone but Trump is a vote for Hillary. I am not saying you are lying. Lying requires some intention to speak contrary to what you believe. I’m sure you believe that if I vote for someone like a Libertarian candidate then I might as well vote for Hillary. We have all been deceived at some point or other. On this point…if you believe it…you are deceived. Maybe I can convince you otherwise.
Now, if you are really voting for Donald, this really isn’t for you. You have heard it all and don’t believe it. I’m not going to discuss his policies (in part because I don’t know that he has any). Rather, I want to discuss his values and mine…and why we are none of us obligated to vote for him simply because we don’t want to see Hillary win.
For starters, let’s be clear. To vote for the “lesser of two evils” requires that one actual be less evil than the other.
How exactly do we judge that?
How they treat their spouse? How they treat their enemies? How often they lie? How much of a narcissist they are? Whether they actually believe in God? How self righteous they are? How ineffective of a leader they are? How much money they have? What they think about taxes? How much they are willing to game the system for their own ends? How liberal of a supreme court judge they will appoint?
You see the problem?
So far the only distinction I can see is the label…the D or R beside the name. I’m fairly convinced at this point that the primary attraction to Trump is that he will tell liberals in the press to go screw themselves if they don’t like what he is doing. It is amazing that those who support him don’t realize that he is just as likely to say the same thing to conservatives after he is elected. (But maybe he doesn’t need to say it since they seem to have already done it.)
For me, THE core value is the understanding of my neighbor as someone made in the image of God. Abortion and euthanasia deny this reality. They commodify people. Racism is of the same spirit…and so is misogyny. They devalue other persons by making them mere objects. That is Trump’s modus operandi, and Hillary’s too.
So to echo so many others, the choice of the lesser of two evils is still choosing evil. Morally that is something I cannot do.
You perhaps think I am too idealistic.
I can be practical.
First, how exactly does the magic work…the magic where my non-Hillary vote gets counted for Hillary? It seems to me that not voting for Trump or Hillary logically means one or the other will have to win without my vote…if they can win at all.
Also, has it occurred to no one that this year of outsiders might just be the best chance for a third party run since the founding of the Republican party. The roots of the GOP grew out of a rejection of the “tyranny” of Andrew Jackson. Perhaps the rejection of the Trump run can spur on disaffected Republicans to reinvigorate a true conservative movement. This would be the year to start.
Puddleglum Contra Mundum 