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Ugh, Trump. Oy, Clinton.
Sep. 8th, 2016 08:31 amYou know, I never thought I'd rue the fact that my vote, for better or worse, counts more in Presidential elections than do those of most Americans. My home state of Florida is the largest of the swing states, and I also live right in the middle of the so-called I-4 Corridor, the region of the state that basically determines which way we swing. I'm sure you remember the 2000 "hanging chads" fiasco that eventually brought us George W. Bush as POTUS. My vote is going to matter.
And yet, as I'm sure most of you know and perhaps agree, I just can't fathom or stomach voting for either of the major-party candidates this year. Trump for all the obvious reasons, of course. Even if he had a cogent platform (and he most certainly does not), he has zero business around any of the levers of government. Clinton, on the other hand, is perfectly suited to be President, and I do not at all mean that as a compliment. She's sneaky, shady, corrupt, corrupting and corruptible. While we might get some incremental progress under her, and while she won't completely blow up the Supreme Court like Trump probably would, I expect that she'd make everything that truly matters worse. We'd go the wrong way on fixing the influence of money on politics, because that's the system she knows and exploits and has long benefited from. We'd go the wrong way on world peace, because she's never met an armed intervention she didn't like. We'd go the wrong way on global warming (though perhaps not as badly as under a denier like Trump) because she'd allow the fossil fuel interests to influence things. We'd go the wrong way economically because she'd allow the banks and other big corporations to continue putting their short-term profits ahead of the interests of their employees and consumers, and ahead of the interests of the nation and the planet.
Aside from the headlines and video clips and pundits I enjoy/respect, I've more or less tuned out of the election. Campaign pablum and pandering are what they are, and this election especially is all sizzle and no steak. It is frankly remarkable what a sporting event, a contest of personalities, this race has been and will continue to be. It's a race from one gaffe or rumor or pseudo-scandal to the next. There's hardly any actual substance, and what little there is can hardly be trusted. On the right because Trump says something different (and/or ridiculous, and/or offensive) every time he opens his mouth, and on the left because when Clinton isn't keeping herself isolated from the press, she's spouting her usual generalized and focus-grouped platitudes that ultimately mean nothing, and which I expect would be discarded like the garbage she thinks it is when she takes office.
It's just so sad, so dismaying, that these are our choices. Sadder still when you consider that Trump is where he is because the will of the voters--albeit primarily the racist, xenophobic, bigoted voters--overcame the party establishment, while Clinton is where she is because the party establishment was able to subvert progressive voters. My inclination all along has been to vote for neither: either write in Bernie, cast a third-party vote (though I don't really care for Stein and Johnson is right out for me), or simply not cast a vote for the top office. But I keep going back to the fact that my area and my vote are going to be pretty crucial in determining who wins. And while I despise Clinton, obviously I can't even imagine handing the White House to Trump. So I don't know. Depending on how polls look (and how sad is it that Clinton isn't already wiping the floor with Trump in polls?) I may feel compelled to cast an anti-Trump vote for Clinton.
And then go take a shower, of course.
And yet, as I'm sure most of you know and perhaps agree, I just can't fathom or stomach voting for either of the major-party candidates this year. Trump for all the obvious reasons, of course. Even if he had a cogent platform (and he most certainly does not), he has zero business around any of the levers of government. Clinton, on the other hand, is perfectly suited to be President, and I do not at all mean that as a compliment. She's sneaky, shady, corrupt, corrupting and corruptible. While we might get some incremental progress under her, and while she won't completely blow up the Supreme Court like Trump probably would, I expect that she'd make everything that truly matters worse. We'd go the wrong way on fixing the influence of money on politics, because that's the system she knows and exploits and has long benefited from. We'd go the wrong way on world peace, because she's never met an armed intervention she didn't like. We'd go the wrong way on global warming (though perhaps not as badly as under a denier like Trump) because she'd allow the fossil fuel interests to influence things. We'd go the wrong way economically because she'd allow the banks and other big corporations to continue putting their short-term profits ahead of the interests of their employees and consumers, and ahead of the interests of the nation and the planet.
Aside from the headlines and video clips and pundits I enjoy/respect, I've more or less tuned out of the election. Campaign pablum and pandering are what they are, and this election especially is all sizzle and no steak. It is frankly remarkable what a sporting event, a contest of personalities, this race has been and will continue to be. It's a race from one gaffe or rumor or pseudo-scandal to the next. There's hardly any actual substance, and what little there is can hardly be trusted. On the right because Trump says something different (and/or ridiculous, and/or offensive) every time he opens his mouth, and on the left because when Clinton isn't keeping herself isolated from the press, she's spouting her usual generalized and focus-grouped platitudes that ultimately mean nothing, and which I expect would be discarded like the garbage she thinks it is when she takes office.
It's just so sad, so dismaying, that these are our choices. Sadder still when you consider that Trump is where he is because the will of the voters--albeit primarily the racist, xenophobic, bigoted voters--overcame the party establishment, while Clinton is where she is because the party establishment was able to subvert progressive voters. My inclination all along has been to vote for neither: either write in Bernie, cast a third-party vote (though I don't really care for Stein and Johnson is right out for me), or simply not cast a vote for the top office. But I keep going back to the fact that my area and my vote are going to be pretty crucial in determining who wins. And while I despise Clinton, obviously I can't even imagine handing the White House to Trump. So I don't know. Depending on how polls look (and how sad is it that Clinton isn't already wiping the floor with Trump in polls?) I may feel compelled to cast an anti-Trump vote for Clinton.
And then go take a shower, of course.
