This is a pivotal election. We are going to the polls to choose a president amidst global outcry over genocide in Palestine. Wide layers of activists and radicals, Arabs and Muslims, and many more are utterly disgusted by this horrifying status quo.
I get it. Its hard to stomach voting for someone whose politics you largely oppose. But this is much more than a moment when we must swallow our pride and qualify our principles to vote for the lesser evil. This election threatens to thoroughly upend our nation’s democratic process. If Trump wins, the possibility of meaningful elections in 2026 or 2030 dims massively.
Jill Stein is the Green Party’s dogged candidate. She argues that a vote for either Trump or Harris is a vote for genocide. I disagree. A vote for Kamala Harris is a vote that preserves some political terrain through which antiwar and anti-imperialist forces can influence global policy. We can vote for Harris while thoroughly condemning US complicity in Israel’s genocidal war and its threat of a wider war in a volatile geopolitical region.
Many of us live in states where the left’s votes have no hope of swaying this election. But many of us have friends and family in critical swing states. We need to offer them validation for making a hard choice and casting a ballot against a fascist revival in our nation. Our radical principles are not uprooted by a decision to cast a strategic and tactical vote against a terrifying future.
It is hard to imagine the range of horrors that would follow Trump’s election to a second term. Part of Trump’s battle cry is that we are a “nation under foreign occupation.” He advocates a mass deportation whose scale would be unprecedented historically. We are guaranteed a broad eradication of the political independence of the civil service. We are assured of further restrictions on abortion and reproductive freedom.
There is no doubt about the severity of threat Trump represents. His recent rally in Madison Square put the worst of his agenda on display.
This is a future that our people, our movements, and our planet cannot afford. Please join me in casting the only meaningful vote against this horrifying prospect. Join me in voting to elect Kamala Harris as President of the United States.
Painting by David Amoroso: @AmorosoART on IG and twitter
–BYPO PHOENIX c)2024
8 thoughts on “A LETTER TO THE LEFT”
Good points. I agree that
“We can vote for Harris while thoroughly condemning US complicity in Israel’s genocidal war and its threat of a wider war in a volatile geopolitical region.”
Harris can help us reach our goals rather than splitting the vote & helping elect a wannabe dictator. Thanks
Thank you for reading the piece and sharing your response…. wishing you well
There’s no way I’m voting for the person who vows unwavering support to a genocidal terrorist state. If we vote to ensure other people live under genocide, we deserve to live under fascism. If you can’t get your preferred candidate to stop committing genocide no matter how hard you protest, and she condones violent repression of your protest, fascism is already here!
Thank you for posting this friend… I wrote this hoping to spark some generative engagement around different positions and perspectives
This is great David
Throughly stated! Vote against tyranny!
I agree, David. Especially- “A vote for Kamala Harris is a vote that preserves some political terrain through which antiwar and anti-imperialist forces can influence global policy. We can vote for Harris while thoroughly condemning US complicity in Israel’s genocidal war and its threat of a wider war in a volatile geopolitical region.” To NOT VOTE is a vote for Trump, for chaos, more right-wing Supreme Court judges, and horrible suffering for immigrants, women, African Americans, Latinos, and for the world! There has hardly ever been a president of these United States that I could wholeheartedly embrace, since the system itself is capitalist, imperialist. It IS, but we live in it, are part of it, and have a responsibility to do our best to preserve and enhance democracy, freedom, and justice for all who live here and all who are affected by U.S. policies. So, we MUST VOTE if for no other reason, to preserve the right to vote, for which many have fought, been jailed and died to gain for us. This is a LONG struggle. We must be realistic about where we are TODAY. I applaud your effort, David, to reach those who think that not voting is a form of protest. I thought that once – and we got Reagan, Nixon, etc. We cannot afford to take our personal angst out on the backs of those who will suffer most from another Trump take-over.
thanks for taking the time to respond so generously…sending love and prayers for tuesday… my mom and I are going to Pennsylvania with CASA tomorrow