You Don't Owe Joe

I do not envy my American brothers and sisters for the choice put before them for the upcoming general elections; no matter what you do, you lose. I understand this is a rather sensitive topic, and that opinions can change rapidly just because external circumstances that may influence one's choice change in quick succession, but I'd still like to share my current opinion on this political quagmire.

As far as I'm concerned, the general elections are already over; no matter who wins, Biden or Trump or any substitution for Biden the Democratic party elite manages to pull out their hat, we all lose because nothing will change but the cosmetics. Joe Biden isn't any less corrupt than Trump, it's just that the latter is such a narcissist that he brags about it, and the former such a con-artist that he has much of the Democratic voter-base convinced that he's some sort of Joe Schmoe, or a regular Joe with hard working middle-class roots. Joe Biden is in fact at the heart of the corruption in Washington after having been there for almost a half century. Trump is a misogynist prick who harasses women, but so is uncle Joe. The mainstream media might be silent about it, but 8 women have filed charges against Biden. Biden only voted for same sex marriage after he got pressured into doing so as Obama's VP. He fought against busing alongside his ideological peers among the Republicans. He was once known as the Senator from MBNA, a credit card company with ties to his son, Hunter Biden; Hunter's Ukraine deal wasn't the first time he profited from his last name, and it will most certainly be the last time. If that's not enough, listen to his own words; Biden stated several times that his one and only goal is a "return to normalcy", a return to the pre-Trump era. The problem is of course that this is exactly the era that created Trump.

Vote for Joe because of his slightly better climate policies then? Not if you ask me, Biden is only marginally better than Trump, which is no use at all because both plans don't even come close to the level of measures that are necessary to even start a path toward the huge improvements that are needed. I could go on for pages, but there's just not that much difference between the two as soon as you look beyond the cosmetics of political correctness. There's really nothing to vote for here. But even given all that, I still understand very well why one would vote for Biden if it's done out of fear of another four years of Trump; I've written many times about just how dangerous a president he is. But I've also said on those occasions that Trump himself isn't the real problem here; we see all over the developed world Trump-like figures rising in the political ranks, not just in America. Trump and all the other right wing nationalist populists are just symptoms of a larger and deeper problem. Removing these figureheads, while leaving the circumstances that gave them their power unchanged, won't do much good in my opinion; they'll just be replaced and in the meanwhile they have already changed what's deemed normal and acceptable in political and public discourse.

It's scary to have a authoritarian megalomaniac like Trump with his finger on the red button, for sure. But is Trump a bigger warmonger than Biden? Nah, just look up those old videos where Biden insists on the necessity to invade Iraq, even before Bush and 9/11; even then he fought alongside the neocons who's life long dream was to invade Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya and some other oil-rich targets in the Middle East. Trump runs an inhuman border policy with the ICE camps where children are being separated from their parents, but Biden was co-author of the Obama foreign policy under which record numbers of immigrants and illegal aliens were deported. He sat alongside Obama when he increased the number of foreign wars to seven and increased the number of bombings by drone to new records. How Obama ever won the Nobel Peace Price still boggles my mind... Joe Biden voted for all the foreign trade deals that Trump successfully ran against in 2016. So my point is, yes Trump is dangerous, but is Biden any less dangerous? You tell me.

Both these representatives of the capitalist class fail to reach even the lowest of bars set for an acceptable candidate in any democracy, let alone the one of the world's mightiest nation. In a democracy the politicians are supposed to work for you, dear reader, not the other way around. Joe and Donald aren't entitled to your vote, and your vote is the only weapon you have in this sorry excuse for a democracy, so in my opinion you should use that vote the best way you can. Right now that's by withholding that vote and make your politicians work for it. That means that if you're a progressive, maybe a disillusioned Bernie Sanders supporter, you make it clear to the Democratic nominee that he should earn that vote; he has to give you something to vote FOR, not just the prospect of voting against Trump and for a return to the neoliberal policies that created the Orange Man. If Biden loses in November it will not be your fault by withholding your vote, it will be Biden's fault, the Democrats' fault for completely failing to earn your vote by giving you something to vote for. Again, I'll never speak ill of the ones among you who will vote for Biden, but until it's time to actually cast that vote, I hope you'll make the Democrats work for it at least, and I hope I've at least given you something to consider, no matter what you decide to do in November. Also, like I said in the beginning, even my own perspective on this ugly situation is subject to change; things are moving so fast right now, Biden might even win in a landslide no matter what if Trump completely fucks up his handling of the current crises. So hang on there, stay safe and stay healthy, that's ultimately so much more important...

Thanks so much for visiting my blog and reading my posts dear reader, I appreciate that a lot :-) If you like my content, please consider leaving a comment, upvote or resteem. I'll be back here tomorrow and sincerely hope you'll join me. Until then, keep safe, keep healthy!