The Advisability of Holding One's Nose When Voting

By Bernard Weiner
The Crisis Papers

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I wouldn't want that on my conscience, to know that my help in electing Bush next year -- by not voting at all, or by voting Green or whatever -- would mean that thousands of innocent civilians somewhere (Iran? Syria? Lebanon? Palestine?) will be slaughtered in yet another imperial conquest, that more of the Constitution will be shredded as those resisting such policies have their U.S. citizenship revoked and are prosecuted or deported (as Patriot Act 2 would permit), that the environment will be turned over to corporate polluters, and so on.

I simply can't participate in furthering that kind of behavior. And so, if it comes to it, I will hold my nose one more time and vote for the Democratic candidate, because my own moral purity is of far less importance ultimately than the further damage Bush&Co. can, and will, do to our country and to the world. I will offer my support to that Democrat even if the candidate holds a few views I don't agree with. I will put that aside, with my eyes on the prize, contantly repeating the mantra: "Remove the Bush extremists. Remove the Bush extremists." Everything else is a side issue for the election.

If we're able to defeat Bush at the polls (assuming that dirty tricks are kept to a minimum and that the computer-voting software is made impermiable to illegal manipulation, and always including a verifiable paper trail of actual votes cast), then we progressives -- who helped generate the victory -- will have leverage in working to rid the Democratic party of its more reactionary and corporate-beholden elements. And, in the meantime, we can work from the ground up in electing local progressive Democrats and Green-type candidates, so as to try to change our democracy from the bottom up rather than waiting always for the top-down, leaders-will-do-it-for-us approach to work.

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Let's close with these words about Bush&Co. from Wade Hudson, recently returned from a Peace Team in Baghdad: "These power-hungry, authoritarians actually could create a totalitarian state if we let them fulfill their dreams...I am totally impressed with how serious the Bush people are. They are a qualitatively different breed from their predecessors. They are rigid, brutal, authoritarian, self-righteous, narrow-minded fanatics who have taken over the United States government in a secret, silent coup. They must be stopped, even if it means supporting a Democrat, virtually any Democrat."

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