Progressives: Don't vote for third-party candidates, vote Biden
23 February 2024
This letter to the Editor is from the Detroit Free Press, 27 January 2024:
Progressives: Don't vote for third-party candidates, vote Biden
Progressives, and I consider myself one, need to get off our high horses when it comes to dismissing the Democratic nominee and voting for third-party candidates. I get it. Most progressive positions align more closely with U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders than with Hillary Clinton or President Joe Biden. We should do anything that we can to push the Democrats in power further left, as this will prove incredibly beneficial for everyone.
Anything, that is, except for voting for a third-party candidate. ("Trump vs. Biden? No thanks. As 2024 election ramps up, many wish it were over," USA Today, Jan. 19.)
The recent USA Today column referenced voting rights director and self-proclaimed progressive who said she would never vote for Former President Trump or President Biden. She stated that she is unhappy with what Democrats have delivered, so she will either vote third party or not vote at all.
A voting rights advocate staying home on election day? I understand her frustration, but her solution only makes things worse. Third-party voting for Ralph Nader gave us George Bush in 2000 and Jill Stein gave us Trump in 2016.
She went on to cite various grievances including inflation, student loan debt relief, reproductive and LGBTQ+ rights. All these issues are ones that Democrats, including Biden, have fought for tirelessly. Republican lawmakers have enacted some of these horrible policies such as the war against reproductive rights and have made it tougher for Democrats to push their progressive programs such as student debt relief.
I know that we progressives are often exasperated with slow progress, but doing anything that would allow Donald Trump back in the White House would not only halt all progress, it would chip away at progress that has been made. We already saw that during the disastrous four years that he was in office. If our country falls into the trap of thinking that the presidential choices are both equally bad, we may very well see a second Trump term. Then we will really see what a truly bad choice can do.
Bryan Chase
Huntington Woods
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