[Peace-discuss] Countering Rightward Drift In The United States: This Struggle Is Long Term

[Brussel, Morton K]

I just can’t help wondering. Will you be pleased if Trump becomes the president for the next four years, more so than if Biden does? Or don’t you care, as it being irrelevant? 
A customary response that we need a truly progressive, social movement, not frivolous elections, just does not address the present mess. Issues worth taking into account: the pandemic, climate change, the environment, a national health system, education (higher and lower), women's and minority rights, human rights in general, workers rights, Science values.  Indeed “liberal democracy”. And not least, the ignorance and craziness and anomie of the Trump personality, one who can initiate a nuclear conflict on a whim, as he has threatened.. 

Are Trump and Biden essentially equivalent on these issues? 

I can agree that on other vital issues (the Empire “we” strive to be, Capitalism, nuclear weaponry, foreign enemies (China, Russia, Iran, Venezuela, Cuba,…), NATO, foreign relations (e.g., Europe, S America, Africa, India,…), “terrorism”, trade, Israel-Palestine, the military/national security budget, Assange, Snowden and whistle blowers), what encompasses “national security" …, it is not clear who might be less malign for humanity and the planet. 

Finally, I consider the opinions of those I respect on the left who ‘ve decided that the election is crucially important: Ellsberg, Chomsky, Jay, Martin, Stein, Nader, …many others that don’t come to mind, perhaps even Greenwald!

After saying all this, I confess that I want Trump removed, but I shall not vote for Biden.  Yes, there may be something irrational in this decision; I just refuse to vote for someone instrumental in destroying/murdering so much of the middle east with his strong support for the Iraq war. A horror which persists. 



> On Nov 2, 2020, at 5:10 PM, J.B. Nicholson via Peace-discuss <peace-discuss at lists.chambana.net> wrote:
> 
> David Johnson:
>> The "ratchet effect" describes the roles both Republicans and Democrats have
>> played in moving our politics to the right for the last 40 years.
> 
> Yes; and this helps us put into context the claim that Trump is some kind of unique threat, a madman beyond compare ("I think Trump is an existential threat. I think that he is a unique threat. Unmatched." as Abby Martin said to Paul Jay in https://theanalysis.news/interviews/biden-is-not-on-the-left-but-there-is-a-difference-that-matters-abby-martin/ echoing establishment media).
> 
> The Democrats gave him his war budget and billions more. They made fun of his border wall then they funded his border wall. Certainly not the kind of reaction that jibes with the namecalling meant to get us to be so fearful that we'll settle for a known neocon like Biden or Harris, both of whom failed to capture interest in the DNC corporation primary.
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