I’ve been thinking today about how I want to express this, but over the holiday I was at a barbecue and I had a conversation with a friend who is a Bernie supporter, and who is now promising to campaign and vote for Jill Stein. Part of her reasoning is that the Democratic Party has moved so far to the right that we must get the Green Party 10% of the vote in order to get them started as the Progressive replacement for a corrupt and and destructive party. Oregon is a blue state, so she’s free to vote third party to “send a message”.
Suffice it to say, I think she’s dead wrong. The Democrats have not moved to the right. They’ve moved to the left. Hillary Clinton is not a right winger. She’s a liberal who agrees with Bernie Sanders and the vast majority of issues. But let’s just stop there for a moment and concede the point. Let’s assume that she’s right and Hillary Clinton represents the status quo that is indistinguishable from what the Republicans want. Let’s grant all of that.
The problem is that Donald Trump doesn’t represent the usual Republicans point of view. Sure, he’s exposing a lot of their underlying dog whistles and he’s making it harder for them to play footsie with the reactionary right while never actually endorsing their views, but Trump is doing something very different and far more dangerous. For the first time in my lifetime, there’s a major party candidate who is running on all out, overt racism. Anti-semitism. Anti-immigrant. Making common cause with the alt-right Nazis who want a race war. Giving voice to the people who use the term “White Genocide” to explain their political concerns.
It is because of this that it doesn’t matter how well the Green Party does. It’s not even important to me to haggle over items in the party platform. If Donald Trump wins, it’s a catastrophe. Latinos will be targets, but targets of violence backed up by the state. Muslims will be persecuted. Jews will be called “corrupt” and “greedy” and face harassment and violence. African-Americans will see their voting rights under attack, undefended by the Justice Department. Their lives will NOT MATTER. But even if he loses, as long as he only loses by a small margin, there will be another racist, call him “Donald Trump without the baggage” who will try again to win by stoking hate. Trump is setting the precedent. He’s showing that you can compete on hate. Donald Trump can’t just be beaten. He must be demolished.
Racism must be demolished.
We must send a clear, loud signal to the country that racism isn’t just another election issue. That the fortunes of the Green Party or the Libertarian Party or even the Democratic Party are secondary to the proposition that racists don’t win in America. That no pet issue is as important as not letting a platform of hate get a foothold in American politics.
Anyone who doesn’t get this, who refuses to see the clear and present danger to their fellow Americans, will be complicit in this hate crime against decency. I’m sorry, but you have to vote for Hillary. You have to stop Trump.