Shortly after Donald Trump was elected, I listened patiently as a friend explained why he voted for one of the independent candidates instead of Hilary Clinton. He wasn’t a Trump supporter by any stretch, but not a Clinton fan, either. “You voted for Donald Trump,” I said, pointing out that his third party, non-Clinton vote amounted to little more than a higher percentage of votes for Trump. “No I didn’t,” he fired back, a little pissed. “I voted my conscious, for the person I believe is best suited for the job.”
I appreciated his response. He told me later that he was a little intimidated by the conversation, hesitant to speak his mind, but I’m glad he did. Even if I didn’t agree with him, I’ll always appreciate that kind of moxie, and wish I had more of it myself.
Either way, Christians who don’t like either mainstream candidate find themselves in the same conundrum this year, hesitant to cast their vote for someone they simply don’t like, or worse. To us, morality matters, as does peace, justice, character, etc. To many, Trump’s stripper routine with our coveted commandments has been appalling, but Biden’s no saint either.
How can an upstanding American Jesus follower cast a vote for either?
Following are some personal reflections on third party voting in this election cycle.
First, there will be no third party win. According to recent polls, third party voting is much less popular than it was in 2016, but roughly 10% of us will still do it, and those are votes that won’t matter. If you’re especially opposed to one particular politician, a third party vote renders null and void your vote against him.
And so, technically, we’re left with two candidates. Constricted. That’s how our system currently (dis)operates. Dems have a ton of money, Republicans have a ton of money. Each year they offer us two candidates who are marketed to the masses, head and shoulders above any would-be third party candidate. This is somewhat insulting to us as we believe that things like this should be much more “fair,” and don’t like the idea of something so personal and powerful as choice being so blatantly limited.
We certainly don’t like the government telling us what to do.
But, avast, whether we like it or not, our political machine is attended by a fair amount of brokenness. While we can work to make some reforms, none of these will happen by November. We can’t fix it. We’ll cast our vote into this broken thing and hope that what comes out on the other side is marginally functional.
We’re tempted to respond by “voting our conscience,” or “protest voting,” both of which have their merits, but, again, our non-mainstream vote will amount to nothing.
It certainly won’t result in any reforms.
Like it or not, right or wrong, till death do us part, we’re forced to endorse one of two candidates. It’ll probably be the same way in 2024, etc.
Personally, I don’t like Biden the man. His tough guy, off the cuff comments, especially his “you ain’t Black” reflections really get under my skin. And while I’ve only marginally kept up with the Burisma thing, I’m sure there are some skeletons in his closet. He’s been swimming in the political pond for a long time.
On the other hand, he’s in favor of making the changes that I believe are most important to our country, though he may not support them personally. Perhaps he’s only embracing them because that’s what his constituency wants. Or, he’s deeply committed to this stuff on a personal level, or somewhere in between.
Regarding the economy, I don’t believe that it’s going to tank if Biden’s elected. If you check the charts on GNP, employment, Dow Jones, etc., you’ll see that the economy has been on roughly the same trajectory since Obama took office. I have no reason to believe that Biden and the rest of the folks in Washington will struggle to keep it on a relatively similar tack.
Coronavirus might put our $$ in the tank, and whoever we vote for will need to be someone who can do what’s needed. The current administration has downplayed it on multiple occasions, for whatever reason, and incited many others to do the same, contributing to America’s soaring case numbers, hospitalization rates, and deaths. I’m not sure how Biden will handle things, but I’m convinced we’ll hear far less “it’s just the flu” type statements from the White House.
That’s very important to me, and to my MD spouse who’s forced into close contact with people who haven’t taken this seriously, now hospitalized.
Obviously, I’m no Trump fan, but I’m not writing this morning to try and influence your vote. I’m merely attempting to illustrate the idea that I don’t have to like the man to cast a vote for the trajectory that I think he’ll put us on.
Sure, in voting for Biden I voted for more equity, equality, and justice for non-whites. I voted for less division. I voted for the nearly exact same economic progress that we’ve had for the last 20 years. I voted for someone who will trust what the majority of world epidemiologists are saying about Coronavirus, or any other pandemic that might threaten his popularity, and act accordingly.
I likely voted for lower abortion numbers as well. Sorry for repeating myself.
But I also voted for a politician. Biden won’t do nearly enough in favor of America’s current racial justice movement. At the end of his administration, there will still be much work to do. With regards to division, he’s not a man of peace, and will struggle to put out the fires that are raging at the hands of this current administration. As any president, he’ll be under pressure to take the right steps re Coronavirus while trying to keep the economy going. I think he’ll do better than Trump, but he’ll struggle.
I prefer someone else. But Biden’s the closest I can get. And while there might be folks better suited on the ballot, voting for a third party candidate, righteous as that might feel, isn’t what’s in my country’s best interest at this stage in the game.
There’s a meme circulating on social media, saying, “A vote is not a valentine, you aren’t confessing your love for the candidate. It’s a chess move for the world you want to live in.”
Amen to whoever penned it.
