Why I Voted Third Party

I originally published this in the Beloit Round Table, which will be distributed Monday November 5th.  You all get a sneak preview, you lucky people:).

Ok, Ok, I’ll confess to voting third party !

                Last Wednesday, I cast an early ballot with the write-in slot marked for Rocky Anderson of the Justice Party, and on Tuesday will stand for election to the Electoral College on his behalf.  My reasoning is simple- both major party candidates promise war, Austerity, capitalist health care, environmental degradation, and patriarchy.  I cannot morally support the president who ordered more airstrikes in one year than Bush did in eight, who overruled his own HHS Department to prevent young women from using birth control without their fathers‘ permission, failed to defend our precious natural resources and abandoned his central promise of civil rights protection in employment and housing to the Gay community.  Nor can I support a Republican.  I’m left with a choice between two war-mongering, theocratic climate change deniers who will continue to accelerate the evolving exploitation of the workers.  This is unacceptable to me, and last summer, I began seeking a qualified third-party candidate for whom to cast a sincere protest vote.

                Rocky Anderson is that candidate.  (At least in the opinions of myself, Ralph Nader and Barbara Ehrenreich among others).  While I respect Jill Stein and Stewart Alexander, neither of them have ever served in government.  Rocky was Mayor of Salt Lake City from 2000-2008, during which time he cut city greenhouse gas emissions by 31 percent, expanded contracts with unionized labor, grew the surplus by 60 percent by defunding failed anti-drug programs, and created the Family to Family program to assist immigrants who had lost family members to deportation.  He also fought for and passed a municipal version of the Gay Civil Rights law conveniently abandoned by the president.  That’s right- Gay Rights.  In Utah.  Successfully.  (He also passed an ordinance raising the minimum wage, but it was struck down by the court.)  Anderson has also served as a board member of Planned Parenthood of Utah and Mayors Against Illegal Guns, as well as president of the Utah ACLU, and founded the High Road for Human Rights group.  He’s ranked as one of the fifteen greenest politicians in America, as well as in the Human Rights Campaign’s “Top 10 Straight Advocates for LGBT Americans“.  Most impressively, Anderson organized the massive 2006 anti-war rallies which greeted President Bush’s visit with a call for peace.  Now, he’s running for president, on the ballot in 15 states, and with recognized write-in status in some 25 others, including Wisconsin. 

                Anderson is calling for single-payer healthcare, an immediate end to the undeclared drone war, restoration of Civil Liberties, Public Employment for the jobless,forgiveness of student debt, legalizing hemp, abolishing the regressive Payroll tax cap, and repealing the regressive Bush tax cuts. 

If supporting someone who not only calls for what I truly believe in, but has actually implemented many of those same principles in an accomplished government career is a protest vote, so be it.  I cast my first presidential vote for Rocky Anderson, and I’m proud to have done so.

Vice-Presidential Debate

Firstly, I'd like to apologize for my long absence.  There have been a succession of personal difficulties, with which most of you are familiar.  But things have seemingly calmed down, and I'm back.

So let's talk about Joe.

On balance, I think Ryan performed better, but Joe really came through, and decidedly won the sound-bite war, which is generally better for the news cycles, so it'll get better with time.  Biden acquitted himself well, and was able to talk about populist issues with a credibility unthinkable in an Obama speech.

Why it matters- Biden's old, but he's relatively spry.  Watching him, it's obvious that he loves politics.  No Vice-President who wants the nomination for president has failed to get it in sixty years.  In that period, sitting or former (non-incumbent) Vice-Presidents who have won their parties nominations for president include Richard Nixon (twice), Hubert Humphrey, Walter Mondale, George Bush, and Al Gore.  In addition, many former Vice Presidents and former VP nominees have run competitive though unsuccessful campaigns, such as Sargent Shriver, Dan Quayle, Joe Lieberman (ugh), and John Edwards.  If Clinton declines to run again, Biden is the heir apparent to the Obama administration.

Why that's good- Biden has always been the dedicated progressive voice in the Obama administration- calling for a quick withdrawal from Afghanistan, supporting Public Health Care, successfully overseeing the stimulus, speaking more truthfully than tactfully on the goals of American conservatives (most memorably at the NAACP convention), and taking the lead on Gay Rights.  Now, he's not perfect, largely due to the decisions of his boss, but I do like him, and with 40 years in Washington, and some truly impressive accomplishments as a Senator, he clearly knows how to get things done, and bargain more effectively than Obama.  I would very happily work for him in 2016, and would slightly prefer him to Clinton, as she has consistently been ever-so-slightly more hawkish especially on Iran.

I know the Democrats tend not to win three presidential elections consecutively, and Biden's chances take a sharp nosedive if Obama loses this election.  Even if Obama wins, his natural timidity and Republican control of Congress will preclude any accomplishments other than his under-the-table plan to gut Social Security.  Watching Biden's public persona in the next two years, assuming a second term as Vice-President, will be very instructive in gauging his worthiness, although I am favorably predisposed towards him.  Still, a Biden presidency seems unlikely.  A Biden candidacy and nomination, however, seems likely, indeed, inevitable if Obama wins and if Clinton declines to run.

Why this is important- all the Democratic Party's big name, up-and-comers are even more conservative than Obama, which is saying a lot.  Cuomo is doing basically Walker-lite in New York, O'Malley of Maryland isn't much better, Castro has quite a centrist reputation, which is hard to come by in a media that treats Obama as a genuine liberal, and...  is there anyone else?  Warren perhaps, but I doubt she'll run for President so soon.  We need a new generation of left-wing leadership in Congress, and I think her chances are better there anyway.  (For the purposes of this discussion, we must assume that my dream candidate, Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand of New York is out of the question, as she would only run if Cuomo doesn't, and he'll only not run if Biden does and that's a few too many conditionals for me to take such a discussion seriously:)  My resident oracle, who can be a trifle irritating in his poll obsession but is nonetheless a generally good fellow, and very trustworthy in his predictions, assures me that Cuomo will be the next Democratic President.  To which, I say, if the new generation is incapable of restoring the soul of the Democratic Party after the twenty years of betrayal inaugurated by Bill Clinton and completed under Barack Obama, then we must turn to the previous generation, and hope they can hold the line until new left-wing leadership emerges.  Biden is the logical standard bearer in such a case, as he is an experienced Progressive, and as VP will have the unconditional backing of the Democratic establishment, should the circumstances previously enumerated arise.  Best Case scenario, he wins the presidency, and actually does some of what Obama promised to in 2008, Worst Case scenario, he loses, but I have the experience of working for a respectable candidate who has the resources to hire lots of ground troops.  As I do this professionally, job satisfaction is as important as winning to me- I want to be working for a guy I'll vote for.  Biden is one for whom I'd be proud to stump.

Solidarität
Genosse Graham