I received an email from my ex-pat father, now living in Mexico. My father is an old-school Democrat. He's politically active, and wears the title of "liberal" as a badge of honor. I live in Florida, and in 2008 he came to stay with us and worked 7 days a week as an unpaid volunteer on the campaign. He was thrilled when Obama won, but his excitement gradually faded as he began to see "compromises." My father was crushed by Obama not pulling out of Afghanistan immediately, his failure to close Guantanamo Bay, and (in his view) the Obama administrations tacit legitimization of a "Coup in Honduras" Like some in the party, he saw the Obama administration as a failed presidency, a failure of progressive ideals. In his email he told me he would not be voting for Obama, he'd be "Voting his Conscience" and voting for Jill Stein of the Green Party.
This got me thinking about the election, and what's at stake, and I'd like to pen an "Open Letter to the Lonely Left," including my father and all the other idealists and progressives who may feel ambivalent about this election.
Dear Lonely Left,
I'm going to get this out of the way in the front. You should NOT vote your conscience this election. Not this one. Not now. I know this goes against everything we've been taught about democracy, about ideals and beliefs, but right here, right now is not the time to take the stand. Believe me I hear you. There are many things we might hope might have been. I too wish that GITMO was closed, that all of our soldiers were back home. I agree with you and Senator Bernie Sanders that we should have universal healthcare for all. I too feel uneasy about drone strikes on sovereign nations from miles away. I empathize with you about global warming, and the urgency of the situation, if we don't so something now, it could be too late. I agree that the poor are neglected and marginalized and are made invisible by our society.
I agree with everything you say.
But I must reiterate. Now is not the time. If anything elections have shown us is that every vote counts. Every one. In the 2000 election, one state's colossal mismanagement of their elections left the door open for a result where George W. Bush won Florida by a margin of 537 votes. The chaos and confusion of voter intention and cast ballots was never fully resolved because of the intrusion of the Supreme Court. There are those who say the Supreme court handed George W. Bush the election when the recount was halted. We'll never really know. But what we do know is that in the year 2000 there were 9 parties that could have affected the final vote count for either party, but none took as many as Ralph Nader and the Green Party. 97,488 people "voted their conscience," many registered Democrats. This resulted in a Bush presidency. A presidency that took us into two wars, blew up the deficit, trampled human rights, and belittled many environmental and "green" causes. There are many on the left who decry poor people "against their own interests" by voting republican...
I'm going to say it, if you're liberal and you vote third party, you're "voting against your own interests" and for the opposition. Against almost everything you believe in and hold dear.You may tell me, "it doesn't matter, I live in a blue state, my vote doesn't count" But it does. Like we've established. every vote counts. if you believe the polls, the race is close, I mean really close. The right wing and tea party are a well oiled machine. They're disciplined, and they're ready to take their marching orders to insure Mitt Romney is not denied the presidency. They're ready to take it to the streets if there's a Electoral/Popular vote split, which there very well might be. And this is where I make my appeal to you. I'm not saying you're throwing your vote away as some would suggest you are. What I am saying to you, is to look at the larger picture. We need to run up the score. We need a popular vote win and we need it to be decisive. The stakes are too high. You know what Mitt Romney says he'll do and its scary. What should keep you up at night is what he's not saying he's going to do.
And it should scare you. Look at what happened in 2000.