thoughts on the election

if you're not sick of hearing about it yet

hi all,

can’t believe how fast fall is going. I wish it would last forever, and I also wish I could be in a voluntary coma for the next two weeks so I could miss the election and all of the chatter before and after. but when you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em… so this newsletter will be about the election! this is going to be a short one, but if you’re sick of hearing about it, feel free to skip to the advice/links. I too am sick of hearing about it, but I also have a disease where I can’t stop thinking/talking/ruminating on it.

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love,

your friend Mindy 

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I live in Pennsylvania, and/so I’m voting for Kamala Harris. it gets more and more difficult to say out loud for the obvious reason: I feel deep shame about this country and how we are in large part responsible for the killing of thousands and thousands of innocent people, including children. I don’t want to support it in any way, and yet I do, with my tax dollars, and… with my vote in two weeks.

I still feel pretty clear-headed about this choice: it’s defensive and that’s basically it. I don’t expect much good from her, and in fact I think her administration will be worse than the Biden administration on key domestic issues (and the same on international ones). but as the genocide in Gaza continues with unconditional support from our government — and as her campaign continues to tack rightward (protecting crypto?? promising to appoint Republicans to her cabinet??? silent on Lina Khan’s future in the administration??) — I just feel so angry and frustrated. I’m still doing it, of course, but that doesn’t mean I have to like it. I think that’s the thing that gets me about the voting versus not voting debate. I often do things I don’t like, we all do! I’m not sure why we give voting so much more weight than anything else that’s kind of shitty. it just is what it is, and that’s life. voting takes almost as much time as changing a shitty diaper, and far less time than cleaning the bathroom, exercising, working, and all the other things people dread doing.

I think a lot of people want to believe that they’re playing some kind of 3D chess. withhold vote from Kamala = Trump wins = the Democrats are punished = genocide ends (???) I deeply understand the feelings of anger, rage, frustration, sadness, grief, etc. — I share them — but the math just isn’t mathing, as the kids say. I have yet to see a compelling strategic case for voting third party — no one thinks Jill Stein is going to win and end the genocide, they just want to discipline the Democrats. but the Democrats are not going to learn from the left if they lose, they’re just going to continue whatever they’re doing. not voting or voting third party is just an expression of an emotion. I don’t blame anyone for wanting to do that, I just don’t think we should pretend it’s more meaningful than that.

correct take