5th
Why I Vote… for Brent Anderson
Growing up, I was never really interested in American politics.
After having lived overseas a bit, that changed. I saw the real and painful impacts of short-sighted US foreign policy played out in the lives of some of my most vulnerable friends. I realized that who we elect president of the USA doesn’t only have an impact on how our country is governed, but the decision also has significant political, economic, social and even religious implications for the rest of the world.
So I started voting back in the year 2000, but was disheartened given the two choices on our presidential ballot.
Now, this of course is a gross over-exaggeration about how I saw the choice set before us, but the foreign policy platforms of those candidates were deplorable. It felt like I was being forced to choose how the most vulnerable peoples of the world would suffer and die—like asking me to cast a vote if I wanted to have a starving Sub-Saharan African child shot in the head or have her wrists slit for a slower, prolonged death.
I knew there was no vote I could cast that wouldn’t ultimately be “the lesser of two evils” and so in 2000 and again in 2004 I opted for a write-in candidate.
In just 30 days it will be election time again and I still feel deeply conflicted. For a number of reasons:
1) The System is Broken (except in Omaha): Because of how the Electoral College system works, it’s likely and possible that the candidate with the most actual votes could still lose the election. This actually happened in 1876, 1888 and as recently as the year 2000. In the USA our vote is actually and most accurately for an elector that we trust will cast her or his vote for the candidate that got the majority of votes cast within that electorate. But the elector can do whatever the want. Seriously? Why aren’t we more upset about this obvious and tragic flaw?
2) It’s Not an Either/Or Choice: The two-party system we have does not appropriately or adequately reflect the political or ideological essence of America. In all other aspects of our lives we have more choices that we know what to do with—just run down to the grocery store and count how many different kinds of chicken-noodle soup there are. I’m not entirely a Republican nor am I entirely a Democrat. Both have merit as well as flaws. I need more choices, we all do.
3) The Campaign Process Dilutes the Integrity of the Candidates: At this point in the race I think it’s safe to say that all the candidates have had to sell-out something to get this far.
- McCain is a coward by using SCarah Palin (yes, I know we are all scared to death that if McCain is elected and dies she’ll become the president… and we thought George W. Bush was bad? Thus, I will only refer to her as “SCarah”) to handle his campaign’s smear politics and negative attacks—her RNC speech was substanceless except its cheap shots and pithy one-liners
- Palin is an eager opportunist in all the worst ways, allowing herself to be used by McCain to garner the religious-right and evangelical vote (those who only vote based on the abortion issue), disgruntled women upset that Hillary Clinton didn’t get the nomination and do his dirty work by going negative
- Biden has made a career of rehashing rhetoric, the poor guy has been a faithful civil servant scratching at the presidency for years, only to have repeatedly not been taken seriously, except now, when Obama needed someone to bolster the critique of his own lack of experience and foreign policy, but Biden seems a counterintuitive running mate for a “Change” campaign—not sure what’s sadder, that Biden is being used like this or allowing himself to be used
- Obama (who seems to be the “lesser of two evils”) is also pro-war, has even sold-out his old pastor as well as diluted many of his early campaign platforms toward more electable, mainstream and populist positions.
Personally, these 3 aspects make it hard for me to take our elections seriously. But on an even deeper, more personal level I am deeply conflicted because:
1) There Is No Anti-War Choice: I grew up in churches and communities that reduced politics to a “pro-life” stand. Sadly, most of those people who propagated that position were blatantly inconsistent “pro-lifers.” I mean, is it really “pro-life” if you support the death penalty? What about supporting war? That’s as un-“pro-life” a position as I can imagine. I don’t want to be trite here, but if you’re really “pro-life” then just be consistent about it. Please.
2) Validating the Empire: Whether we see it or not, America is the modern world empire. Lots of fascinating research has been done over the years tracing the rise and fall, the emergence and decline of the world’s great empires—Egyptian, Assyrian, Mayan, Incan, Babylonian, Greek, Roman, British. At some point I’ll blog about the lifecycles of empires—my buddy Andy Au, wrote some startling papers on this. But even if one of the candidates would make a better “Caesar,” he’s still going to be “Caesar” of the modern empire. And I’m just not sure I want to cast a vote for any “Caesar.”
Back in the year 2000, after the Peruvian elections were exposed as a sham, I was in Lima and joined what was intended to be a non-violent protest of the outcomes.
Of course, Fujimori, the dictator who was illegally “elected,” sent infiltrators into the crowds. It got crazy. Eight hours later I had witnessed dozens of bodies shot by rubber (and real) bullets laying bloodied in the streets or being dragged to safety, hundreds of people beaten down by the more than 40,000 riot police sent into the streets to stop the protest, and countless arrests. Personally, I can’t remember how many times I was tear-gassed… but I do remember my face peeling (like sunburn) for over a week after the tear gas.
The Peruvians (then), much like many other people throughout the world today, didn’t enjoy the freedom to vote that we do in America. And in an effort to live a life that reflects respect for their repression, I will vote. I will cast my vote because I can, and because by not casting it, I tread on a freedom that many of my global neighbors would literally die for.
And yes, certainly my life is a tangle of contradictions: I won’t eat at McDonald’s but crush stacks of hard shell tacos at Taco Bell; I won’t shop at Wal-Mart but don’t seem to have problems with most other major retailers; and I won’t buy gas as Shell stations, but still by fuel at other energy providers.
And I’m sure you can find all the contradictions even in this little blog.
But I still feel deeply convicted that I should vote, but deeply conflicted on who to vote for.
So once again my vote will be a moral protest. A protest against a flawed and broken system. A protest against a process that limits real choices. A protest that calls forth the possibility of integrity. A protest for peace.
