Thoughts on production, alienation, and ideology

Category: Voting (Page 4 of 5)

These are posts on voting from the blog Base and Superstructure. These posts concern issues about who to vote for, particularly from a left-wing perspective.

Ranking the Presidential Candidates

candidate

With Joe Biden in the race, the presidential candidate field is more or less complete. I promise I have something a bit more substantive on the way. For now, let’s get on with ranking the Democratic candidates! Who’s deserving of a vote?

I’ve written previously about how I vote. But it’s easy enough to summarize. I vote for candidates who have a chance to win and won’t leave the world worse off than they found it. In practice, the decision for President is usually pretty easy. Almost all presidential candidates would harm the world. Usually Democrats harm it less, and Republicans harm it more. But both cause harm. Therefore, in presidential elections, I usually face a decision between voting third party or not voting at all.

Local elections are less bleak, as lower ranking officials have less potential to cause harm.

But here we are, ready for yet more voting in 2020. Should the left support Bernie again? Support someone else? Should we support no one at all?

Let’s think about this. Right now, I’m just giving the presidential candidates a quick first look. I’ll have more to say later about the three or four best.

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Joe Biden: You’ve Gotta Be Kidding Me

Joe Biden

A brief word on the presidential candidacy of Joe Biden.

  1. No, I’m not considering voting for Joe Biden in the caucuses/primaries.
  2. No, I won’t vote for Joe Biden in the general election if he’s the nominee.
  3. No, I’m not interested in reconsidering this position.
  4. Yes, I’ll think less of you if you vote for Joe Biden.

That’s OK, though. We can still be friends. Carry on with your day.

Bernie 2020 and The Left

bernie 2020

Source: Democracy Chronicles (https://www.flickr.com/photos/democracychronicles/42715589844)

Jacobin and Current Affairs are in war mode. Their enemy? The centrist wing of the Democratic Party. Their lone, brave soldier? Bernie Sanders. It’s all hands on deck for Bernie 2.0.

At times, they insist that Bernie run in 2020. At other times, it’ s more nuanced. Nathan J. Robinson, in particular, presents Bernie less as the shining knight of Jacobin and more as the best progressive option who also, by the way, happens to have the best chance of defeating Trump.

With Elizabeth Warren officially in the presidential race, it’s all the more pressing an issue.

As leftists, what should we make of all this? Is Sanders the only choice? If so, does that mean we all have to jump on board?

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Harm Reduction by Voting Democratic?

The Democratic Party has had a tough time keeping the left in line. Lately it’s engaging in endless hand-wringing over alleged “Bernie-or-bust” Democrats, even though more Clinton primary voters supported John McCain in 2008 than Sanders primary voters supported Trump in 2016. More recently, Democrats frame their arguments to the left in terms of harm reduction.

Is ‘harm reduction’ a new argument? Or is it just a warmed over version of the ‘lesser evil’ argument? Is it a good argument? As a result of these considerations, should we vote based on harm reduction?

I’ll address these questions below.

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Pragmatic Approaches to Voting

pragmatic Keep Calm and Vote

Source: James Mallos (https://www.flickr.com/photos/james_mallos/15467214887)

Leftists and liberals love arguing about how to vote, whether they admit it or not. Pragmatic issues are central to these debates. They enter through the front or rear door, but they’re there.

Even the most hardcore anti-electoralists talk about electoral issues. Anarchists like Pierre-Joseph Proudhon, Peter Kropotkin, and the Catalonian anarchists drew lines. Sometimes they crossed those lines.

I’ve given the issue some thought over the years. I’ll lay out these thoughts in this post.

Here’s how I vote. How do you vote?

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