I was not a cultist or a groupie. Like most (but not all) Sander’s supporters, I was supporting policy. Although I believe he is a nice man, I was not a member of a fan club.
I am voting for Biden only because of circumstance. The main one is that Trump is extraordinarily evil. If the GOP candidate was an average old-style Republican, I doubt I would vote at all.
With the seemingly inevitable nomination of Joe Biden, I have chosen to vote for Biden in the general election. Biden does not support any of the policies that are important to me. I do not care about any possible concession he may (or may not) make because those are just words of a politicians and nothing means less to me than the words of a politician.
I am only voting for Biden in the hopes of defeating Trump. And that’s because Trump is an evil person and he’s more destructive than I believe Biden could ever be—by a wide margin.
Who Will Win
I don’t know who will win. Furthermore, nobody knows who will win. We have two well-funded political parties, private organizations that take money from wealthy individuals and corporations for their campaigns, candidates and operations.
And we have a population that is roughly split between the two of them.
Either could win.
The Republicans, in additions to their inevitable support by the millions who identify as Republicans, also generate support via anger at what they see as Democratic elites. They are blind to the fact that the Republican Party is also ruled by elites.
Their ideology is fluid. Although Republicans still love guns (this love feeds into their anger and emotional attachment to violence), they have lost all interest in balancing the budget, limiting Federal powers or defending states rights. Like the Democrats, principles are not important—it’s a cult. What makes Trump Republicans so much more evil than their predecessors (or today’s Democrats) is the absolute glee which drives their lust for cruelty. They are emotionally damaged and their drug is revenge. The earlier GOP was driven by ideology and greed and although greed still drives the party leaders, anger drives GOP voters.
The Democrats, of course, have the support of the millions of voters who identify with that party. Like the GOP, the Democrats receive substantial funding from Wall Street and other wealthy donors. The party has a history which it touts as a defender and supporter of the people—FDR’s party which gave us Social Security and other programs that benefit the average American.
However, the party has largely lost interest in these programs and turned its attention to helping its wealthy funders. Yes, the Democrats brought us the ACA, but the ACA is actually a modest reform, an elaborate token. It provides little relief and compared with what other governments provide their citizens, it’s pathetic. Also, although the Democrats defend many (but not all) programs that financially help average Americans from being gutted, these efforts are half-hearted. Conditions have grown worse decade after decade for the American people with stagnant wages as costs of essential services like healthcare continued to skyrocket.
The Democrats were once the more popular of the two parties, but the Democrats slid as the American people realized that the party either failed to help them, or chose not to. By nominating Joe Biden, the Democratic Party reaffirmed its commitment to an ideology that sees giving significant help to the American people as unrealistic. That is, they will make more excuses and provide little if any help.
If the Democrats lose, this failure to help will be a big factor. Of course, they will blame Bernie supporters and continue to be blind to their own flaws. Just as the GOP will blame the media if they lose, and not their own unspeakable cruelty.
Why Biden
I am not voting for Biden because of Sanders’ endorsement. I never followed Sanders—I supported Sanders campaign because he fought for policies that matter to me.
I am voting for Biden only because of circumstance. The main one is that Trump is extraordinarily evil. If the GOP candidate was an average old-style Republican, I doubt I would vote at all.
I believe that Biden may be more susceptible to pressure from the people and activists than Trump. And activism and pressure will be necessary—actually essential—no matter who wins this election.
I also think that there is a real chance of revolution in the next four years. I think it’s becoming increasingly clear that crony capitalism is unsustainable. It’s a shell game based on imaginary money and on the exploitation of real labor. We may also be heading for a Depressions, what I’ve been expecting for some time and have named the Greater Depression, because unlike the previous one, the American people will get no significant relief from their government. If Biden is president, I believe fewer of us will be shot during this revolution than under Trump. That matters.
This will sound crazy to many people but if you look at what’s already happened, you’ll see that it’s not. People are already witnessing incompetence and brutal exploitation from a system that uses a plague as a profit-making opportunity. This shouldn’t be a shock—war profiteering has been an ongoing activity of corporate capitalism. But when the victims are clearly ordinary Americans at home—not soldiers or foreigners—the lesson is more stark. I believe that crony capitalism cannot help itself and will destroy itself in the same way that every similar system does—via hubris and overreach.
There are those who truly believe in Biden, that he’s a coalition builder who will bring the world together to defeat global warming, reverse the evils of the Trump administration and effectively face the challenges ahead. I do not believe this but anything is possible. Surprises happen. Earl Warren surprised Eisenhower.
In any case, my reason for supporting Biden has nothing to do with Biden’s policies. It’s situational. Maybe my assessment is wrong, but I’ve given my reasoning.
What Next
What needs to be done following the election is the same regardless of who wins.
We need to put a spotlight on “the men behind the curtain.” This will be the names and activities of those who fund the political parties, who decide on the policies, who create PR and advertising to control public opinion, and who essentially use the world to satisfy their greed and lust for power.
It’s my contention that this spotlight will speed the demise of crony capitalism.
I also think we need to answer the question of what replaces crony capitalism. The answer could be contentious. But it needn’t be.
What replaces it is everything we have now, minus the evils of crony capitalism. A small number of people will no longer be able to seize the wealth the people create, make policy, or control peoples lives. That ends.
We will still have people working and producing things. We will still have government and taxes only now the government IS actually elected by the people and serves the people. Taxes would no longer used to kill brown people overseas, to enrich blood-stained war profiteers. Zero dollars would go to Wall Street and, in fact, Wall Street will no longer exists as a financial force.
The answer to what replaces crony capitalism is essentially what we were promised: a government of, by and for the people.
A Less Rosy Picture
The real problem is that we are in deadly danger of destroying ourselves and we are starting late—perhaps too late—to survive our self-created climate crisis.
Nature operates independent of human ideology or wishes. Natural law cannot be conned. And we have abused the planet for a long time which is why we are facing the likely end of civilization and the possible exinction of our species within a very few years.
No matter how much nonsense right wingers try to throw in our eyes or liberals try to claim they are working on it, nobody has done much to prevent climate catastrophe. Signing papers hasn’t reduced carbon emissions. Nothing has. Up to this point, we as a species have failed.
I’ve often said that the most consequential election of our lifetimes—and perhaps EVER—was the election of 2000. For all his shortcomings, Al Gore was absolutely serious about fighting climate catastrophe. And this would have been 20 years ago, when we still had a bit of time. (Not all that much, but a bit.) Now, we may already be too late. Nobody knows the exact details or timeline of how quickly the climate catastrophe will advance but it appears that scientists have been largely too optimistic in their assessments. Now, they say we have less than 10 years left. Do we even have that? Do we have the will to act decisively and quickly now, when we have failed year after year after year?
This situation looks dire to me. On the plus side, our species has brilliant scientists and engineers and for the most part these are people who care about human beings. They are very different from our politicians who have a long record of failure and of not caring. Sadly, these scientists and engineers are not in charge.
That’s something we will need to change. We will need our actual representative government, when and if we can make that happen, to be largely run by the only people who have the competence and will to save us. That’s scientists and engineers. Executives will be of no use, but certain kind of business people would be useful, particularly those who understand systems and operations. Essentially, business engineers.
In any case, even after vanquishing the evil system that is currently in control, we will have a difficult and perhaps impossible task ahead of us. All I ask is that we give it our best shot.
Who’s with me?