I used to be persuaded by argument 'voting for the lesser of two evils is still voting for evil'. I haven't voted for a Democrat or Republican for president since Bob Dole. But you know what? There is never a choice that isn't a lesser evil. No candidate is perfect.
The real choice is whether you do the most effective thing you can do to prevent the greater evils from gaining power. So I'm gonna vote for whichever lesser evil has the best chance to beat the greater evil; because anything else doesn't make a difference or helps the greater evil to prevail.
I'm privileged, it won't hurt me much personally if Trump gets four more years, except for the stress of watching my home country continue to progress in the direction of a de facto fascist dictatorship. I'm not going to be deported, or a victim of top-down stochastically generated violence against nonwhites or non-Christians (hey, I'll lie about being an atheist if the alternative is violence). I'm in a state that will go for Trump no matter what I do and in 2016 I used that as a justification to vote 3rd party. I now realize that the best thing I could have done with my vote was show solidarity with the person who had the only chance to beat Trump because she was the Democratic nominee. Even though she still would have lost, I'd know I cast my vote against the authoritarian wannabe fascist instead of spending it on someone who could never beat Trump in a million years.
The real choice is whether you do the most effective thing you can do to prevent the greater evils from gaining power. So I'm gonna vote for whichever lesser evil has the best chance to beat the greater evil; because anything else doesn't make a difference or helps the greater evil to prevail.
I'm privileged, it won't hurt me much personally if Trump gets four more years, except for the stress of watching my home country continue to progress in the direction of a de facto fascist dictatorship. I'm not going to be deported, or a victim of top-down stochastically generated violence against nonwhites or non-Christians (hey, I'll lie about being an atheist if the alternative is violence). I'm in a state that will go for Trump no matter what I do and in 2016 I used that as a justification to vote 3rd party. I now realize that the best thing I could have done with my vote was show solidarity with the person who had the only chance to beat Trump because she was the Democratic nominee. Even though she still would have lost, I'd know I cast my vote against the authoritarian wannabe fascist instead of spending it on someone who could never beat Trump in a million years.
I'm not anti-Christian. I'm anti-stupid.
