During a recent conversation with a close friend who is a global climate arts activist and scholar, we were grieving over the endangered state of critical thinking in the U.S.
In her “progressive” circles, she started hearing: “I’m not voting for Kamala; she colludes with Israel.” “I want to send the Democrats a message.” “I won’t vote for Genocide Joe.”
Rage over reason; intractable ideology over common sense will not move us forward. Dedicated actions over time influence change. A true change agent cannot think simply in black and white. Has Biden colluded with and supported genocide? Some think so. Have members of Congress bent over for Netanyahu? Some think so. Am I disgusted to the core of my soul by the actions of my country, my government, and some of our elected officials? Yes. Am I repulsed by the pre-meditated and egregious contamination of the highest court in the country? Yes. A thousand times in my 71 years, yes.
Has Vice President Kamala Harris been a player on the stage of genocide? I don’t know. If she has been, I can’t defend her actions and I won’t. Do I see the possibility of her deeper humanity emerging when she is able to take command? Yes. In Kamala Harris, I see possibility in an impossible world.
I don’t actually know who the real Kamala Harris is, chances are that you don’t either. I don’t know who she will be when the power of the Oval Office is in her hands. I don’t know the deepest desire in her heart for the U.S. or the world. I know what she says, but I don’t know what she will do. What she might have gone along with regarding Israel and the genocide in Gaza disturbs me. I really believed that she and President Biden would take a different stand.
I revile Biden’s actions on behalf of Israel. I also see the good he has done for the U.S. and the world. There is a litany of good that unfortunately cannot stand up to its glory in the face of genocide. However, that doesn’t mean that the good hasn’t been accomplished. We know it, we’ve read it (and hopefully cross-referenced it) and we’ve lived it.
Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu’s mission is not for the sake of Israel, but for himself. As long as he’s “at war” he can’t be thrown into the prison where he belongs. He holds power and justifies every vile act for his own re-election. Trump is for Trump and Netanyahu is for Netanyahu. They are not patriots; they are parasites. They make me believe there is indeed a Hell for the hells they have created on Earth.
I do know that if Vice President Kamala Harris becomes President, I will still have the right to dissent. I will be able to challenge her and all of our elected officials. I will be able to march, to protest, to effect change through collective and persistent organizing and protest.
If you think protestors have it bad now, imagine what will happen if the 925 page document, Project 2025, is activated as Trump’s playbook. Trump is a malignant narcissist and self-identified fascist. Trump and his band of murderous thieves, rapists, and scoundrels who kneel at the altar of his hate, include the billionaires who will benefit from his monarchy. Collectively they and their ilk have, and will, suck the blood out of our lives. I was twenty-one years old the first time I saw through Trump — I referred to him as “the anti-christ.” He’s not smart enough to be all that — maybe a towel boy for the team.
I will take your vote personally. As I said to a Latina woman who is a Trump advocate recently — “anyone who votes for Trump wants me dead.” It is a documented fact that he shunned all responsibility for his own disabled grand-nephew, advising his father to “just let him die, and move to Florida.” What would he do with this 71-year-old, chronically ill daughter of a Puerto Rican mother and Spanish Romani father, with no pension and dependent on Medicare?
There has never, in the history of this country, been a perfect candidate for President. Perfection is unnatural and impossible. (Although I have to say, Simone Arianne Biles comes close to that Godly trait and makes it look perfectly natural.) Every candidate is beholden to the ones who have come before — to the status quo that paints a cheap copy of Democracy, to the filthy rich and robber barons — the patricians and white supremacists — the haters with bulging pockets — and the colonized and traumatized who become the oppressors and manipulators of their own people.
Not a saint among us — too much work. Plenty of devils though. Dividers and chaos makers. Those who cannot build and take credit for the creations of others. Once good people do monstrous things. Those who thought themselves good, but never were. Sometimes the worst among us are the self-proclaimed activists who see themselves as saviors and heroes. They believe themselves beyond reproach — like any good narcissist. They who will vote with their (self) righteous indignation. Those who think so highly of themselves, who believe a dissenting vote for a third party will “send a message.” Wake up! Nobody’s listening. Change doesn’t come in just one lifetime, especially in a country as young as the USA — still stumbling around in a loaded diaper and thinking itself all grown.
I’m here to ask you, how will we fight back in a nation where our constitutional, civil and human rights, which have always been violated — especially in the lives of BIPOC and LGBTQIA2S+ peoples — how will we fight when the rights that remain are completely eradicated, and our bodies controlled and violated with impunity
A third party or write-in vote is a win for fascism — it will not make a damn bit of difference — and the time for leverage has come and gone. There is plenty of leverage to build on going forward, but now is not the time for voter’s revenge. All we can do is vote for the chance to keep on fighting — and I believe that Kamala Harris is the only one offering us that possibility. ■