“It’s Been One Week Since We Voted, See”
So. I guess the 2020 United States presidential race is over, huh? Thank God, am I right? It’s about time. These last few weeks have been some of the most politically anxious in my life, and what with Nevada being slow and mail-in ballots taking their time, it just seemed like nothing would ever end. And at this point, I’m really tired of hearing about it. I want to be done thinking about it. But, much like anything else in politics these days, it’s never going to be that easy, because I’m going to have to keep hearing about it for months, if not years, until these dumb fucking lawsuits are settled. So I’m going to have my political piece before I (hopefully) never have to write about politics again. Please, why can’t it just be over already? Let Biden in, for fuck’s sake. Stop being a whiny, fascist ass. Although I guess he isn’t technically a fascist.
Listen, I don’t like Biden all that much, but I’m still glad he won. I think his track record as far as race goes is pretty bad, and his confusing history with fracking isn’t great either. He’s a career politician. He’s got a long history with promises and saying things that are maybe-maybe-not true, just like any politician. There’s nothing particularly special about him. He seems like a nice guy, sure, but I think George W. Bush was a nice guy, too. I hate his policies, but I’d be friends with the guy. And I feel I’d be comfortable being friends with Biden, too, not that that would ever happen. But it isn’t like Obama, who was such a cool president. But even Obama had a nasty tendency towards drone warfare.
There isn’t anything about Joe that makes people excited for him. I’ll be honest, I voted for Joe, but it really was more because of how vehemently I dislike Trump instead of how much I like Biden. For me, it has a lot to do with the environment. Overall, Biden’s plans appeal to me a lot more than Trump’s do, especially with things regarding social justice, immigration, and foreign policy, but I also don’t think his position goes far enough. I lean much more left than Biden does, and that’s why I’m not super happy about him winning as opposed to, say, Bernie Sanders. But Biden’s got a decent environmental platform, including cutting fossil fuel subsidies and moving back to the Paris climate agreement. Trump, on the other hand, wants to open Tongass National Forest to lumber and development and allow oil drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, two of the few remaining locations in America that are, for the most part, undamaged. What with the IPCC predicting that we have twelve (well, ten now) years left before irreversible damage is done to the environment, and Trump dragging his feet on even an acknowledgement of climate change, Biden’s the clear path for me. Not because I think he’ll be great for the environment, but because I know he’ll be less destructive than Trump. I want my children to grow up in a world with forests. At least with Biden I’ve got a better shot of seeing that turn out true.
What’s interesting, though, is that even though I wasn’t very excited for Biden, and it doesn’t seem like anyone else I know was, either, he’s still won the presidency by winning more votes than any other US president, ever. Biden got 75 million votes and counting, whereas Trump got 70 million. Admittedly, this has a lot to do with population growth, and the fact that this year is the biggest total voter turnout ever, and that if Trump won he could say the same thing, that more people voted for him than any other president. The highest total previously had been about 69 million (nice), so technically both candidates have received more total votes than any other president. And that difference of about 5 million votes between them is pretty standard for an election year; Obama won by about 5 million in 2012 and 10 million in 2008, Bush won by about 3 million in 2004, and similar margins have been consistent in years before that. But there are a couple outliers, of course. And that brings me too how much I hate the electoral college.
Of course, there was the 2000 shitshow, between Bush and Gore, where Gore won the popular vote, but only by 500,000. Bush still won the electoral college, somehow, and took the presidency. Fine, whatever. The electoral college, bane of true democracy, primarily benefits states with slaves and smaller populations and the losing party, though, because Trump won in 2016 with the electoral win. But he lost in the popular vote by almost 3 million votes. That’s insane to me. Sure, the race was close between Bush and Gore, I get it. But Trump and Hillary Clinton? Not even fucking close. It’s the same difference in the popular vote as 2004 George W. Bush. So in both cases the electoral college benefitted the party that, in my mind, should have lost the election. If everyone’s vote really counted for exactly one vote, then the popular vote should be all that’s needed for presidency. Ideally, every eligible US person would vote (and, in my ideal world, that would be every US citizen), and we’d know exactly, unambiguously who the majority of people want. The electoral college just muddies the waters, especially if you have states with split electoral votes. If you’re just going to divide it up proportionally, why bother with proportions at all?
In the modern day, where everyone can know as much as they want about anything at the touch of a button, the electoral college is antiquated. Sure, maybe I say this partially because I resent both Clinton and Gore losing despite securing the popular vote, but it goes both ways, too; I can almost guarantee you that people in Wisconsin and Michigan who voted Republican in 2016 and Republican in 2020 are pissed that their votes no longer matter because the majority voted blue. And I can’t blame them; with the electoral college, their votes effectively don’t matter. With a true majority vote, as the gubernatorial race is done, everyone’s votes should count equally. If Trump had won the popular vote this year, you can bet your ass I’d concede the victory to him, as much as I hate the guy. Because that’s how democracy should work.
What seems to really complicate things this year is, of course, mail-in voting. Which I don’t entirely understand why it’s so controversial. Mail-in Voting exceptions have been around in this country literally since the beginning. And soldiers and industrial workers have been able to vote by mail since the 1800’s. Nothing about it is new. What is new, at least since the 70’s, is mail-in voting without an excuse. But even that is more than 40 years old now, and there’s no evidence of fraud of any kind. Or at least of large-scale fraud. Yes, there are some proven cases of fraud. About 2,000 of them. Just 2,000. That is literally the size of the high school a town over from me. That is nothing. Yes, it’s reprehensible, and any sort of voter fraud should be caught and punished, but 2,000 votes isn’t going to change the outcome of any election except local. And I don’t think it’s a surprise that most mail-in ballots lean blue; with the pandemic, Democrats have been suggesting that people isolate and stay home, and are therefore more like to vote distantly. Trump has done just about the opposite. I voted in person because I feel safe in my health and in the University of Illinois’s extensive testing system, but for me, that’s a privilege. In any other situation, I probably would have voted from home, too.
Sure, I guess you could argue that if there are some examples, there could be more. I’d say that’s kind of a half-assed answer, considering how much evidence against voter fraud exists. The burden of proof lies on those who claim fraud. And I’m 99.99% sure that no evidence will be found supporting these crazy theories of large-scale fraud. “The evidence is being suppressed by the media!” is also an answer that I’ve heard. Which, to me, is bat-shit insanity. Where do you get off? That the entire world is biased against a single man and his cronies and that he alone, an old, white, foul-mouthed, childish billionaire is the last bastion of truth and justice. I’ll admit that the Democratic party can be just as shady as anyone, Mike Madigan being a great example, but there is no organized media cabal against Trump. Have you considered that maybe people fact-check him and gang up on him because he’s lying? Or that a bunch of individual people happen to feel the same way about the guy? Occam’s razor suggests that the answer with the least assumptions is usually the right one, and assuming that the only person uncorrupted by the Deep State is a man who shows up in Jeffrey Epstein’s book with about twelve different personal contacts seems, to me, ludicrous. And believe me, if there was some grand conspiracy by the liberals to rig the election, Mitch McConnel and Lindsey Graham would not have won.
There is so much to talk about in regards to politics, especially in the terms of stuff I haven’t said or have only alluded to previously. For example, I don’t understand the fearmongering around socialism. I consider myself a socialist. I don’t get why everyone seems to hate it, it seems pretty cool to me. “Oh no, the top 1% are going to pay real taxes and the money is going to go poor people! How terrifying!” What’s so bad about providing a safety net for under-represented groups? We give old people a safety net and no one complains about social security, and that’s socialism lite. Diet Socialism. Sure, maybe some people will mooch off the state, in the same way that some people will commit voter fraud or some people will eat pizza crust-first (the monsters), but you know who else mooches off the state? Billionaires. The super-wealthy. Corporations. The fossil fuel industry. Tax cuts and government subsidies for the uber-rich is taking your tax-payer money and giving it to Jeff Bezos and the Koch brothers. If you’re pissed that someone’s getting food stamps but not pissed that the richest men in American pay collectively $750 dollars in taxes, I don’t understand your priorities. I don’t care if they avoid taxes legally. It shouldn’t be legal. When I’m rich and famous (and of course I say this as someone who doesn’t pay almost any taxes because I both don’t make any money and rely on my parent’s income since I’m a pudgy, privileged white boy), I’ll happily pay my share of taxes. For the social good.
There’s so much more to say, too. I get so riled up by the stupid shit I see on Facebook or the news, but it’s also designed to be inflammatory. As much as I trust the media, they are still a business, and Zuckerberg’s got to get those sweet, sweet Facebook clicks. I’m tired now. I’m still pissed, even with Biden winning, because there’s so much wrong in this country. There’s so much wrong in the world. But there’s so much good, too. I like to think that Biden will help cool off some of that hatred and vitriol from both sides (myself included), but I also think that the capitalist machine we live in will be easier to deconstruct under Biden than under Trump. But I’m still tired, emotionally, and I’m not even as risk of losing my rights or my life as so many people are. But I’ve had my moment, I guess. I bottle it up all the time, so this seemed like as good an opportunity of any to say it. To my conservative friends and family, I recognize that I’ve likely offended you. Just know that you’ve offended me, too, and I still love you. And that I hope we can move past this, as people and as a country. I haven’t felt patriotic since Obama was president, and even that was just a waning moment. Probably when I became an Eagle Scout. I do genuinely believe that borders and countries are constructs that are designed by the rich to keep the poor from seizing the means of production, but at the end of the day, I still want the best for everyone. Regardless of who you voted for, I wish you well. That doesn’t mean I like you or your opinions, but I want you to be safe and happy. I want everyone to be safe and happy. And the only way we’ll get there is if we keep fighting for what we believe is right. That’s why I voted for Biden, I guess. To get away from the hate and bloodlust, to try and move towards a more perfect union. Small steps at a time. We’ll see how this turns out.
Oh, yeah, and I totally forgot about the VP! I am really excited that Harris is VP. It’s another small step forward toward unity, I hope. I’m much happier about her winning than Biden.
Okay, thanks, I’m done now. I’ll get off my soap box. See you next week.
Two thumbs up. ‘Nuff said.