The lesser of two evils

Is abstaining voting?

In 1533, Sir Thomas More abstained. He declined to swear an oath of allegiance to King Henry VIII, or to say why he declined, and, as a result, and with a modicum of perjury by Sir Richard Rich, he was beheaded for his trouble.

His abstention did nothing to prevent Henry becoming the head of the church in England. It did nothing to prevent a reign of tyranny which would also see his accuser, Thomas Cromwell, executed, and would see the witness that perjured himself, Richard Rich, live out a long and, perhaps even happy, life, dying a natural death in 1567, aged 70.

But, one positive consequence Sir Thomas More’s abstention did have for him was that he didn’t go to hell. We know this because he was canonised by both the church of Rome and the church of Canterbury. If that’s knowing, that is.

During the divorce crisis in England, More’s friend the Duke of Norfolk tried to persuade More to swear the oath for fellowship with his noble coterie of pals. More replied, “And when we stand before God, and you are sent to Paradise for doing according to your conscience, and I am damned for not doing according to mine, will you come with me, for fellowship?”

Trump and Biden. The lesser of two evils. By AI.

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Today, a fellow blogger talked about the following matter: The “I won’t vote for the lesser of two evils” rubbish; and he advocated that, in the 2024 presidential election in the USA, voters should be strategic and not abstain in the ballot, but vote for Mr Biden, even if they disagree with some of his policies, because not voting at all is, as he says, a vote for Mr Trump.

There ensued an, at times, heated discussion between me and some of Mr Reich’s subscribers (though Mr Reich himself did not at any point intervene). Parts are reproduced below, not as some kind of record but because contributors challenged me, and I’m grateful for that. Some also showed that they’d applied great thought to what I regard as thorny issues, and I’m equally grateful for that. I share this for those who have an interest in Mr Donald Trump and his challenge to the incumbent Mr Joseph Biden, President of the United States.

The Endless Chain:

Why, Mr Reich, you exhort people to vote contrary to their conscience for the purposes of political expediency? Well, if that is not evil, it comes pretty close. Anything done contrary to conscience is likely to get you in trouble with Him up there.

Before you tell folk to vote contrary to their conscience, you need to sort out an electoral system that confines the choices to two runners both of whom may prove distasteful to the electorate in question. 

You must sort out a first-past-the-post system susceptible to massage in electoral college, and institute proportional representation on a truly democratic basis. 

You need to sort out the flagrant gerrymandering that goes on in your states.

You need to stop machinations that disqualify certain members of the general public from voting.

You need to sort out whether a supreme court that decides matters of grave importance for the populace is actually answerable to the populace for the decisions it hands down. 

If your country is at such a crisis that machinations are required to avoid the system returning a despot to power, then ask yourselves first how the system was ever allowed to contrive the election of that despot in the first place. You fear the despot’s grab of power once installed? Then look at the system that installs him, but do not exhort the populace to change the system for you when all they do is acquiesce in what the system itself presents to them as a choice.

Eric

In what way would voting to make sure a fascist and his supporters don’t come to power be contrary to any decent person’s conscience? As Professor Reich explains, there are only two possible winners in this election, and if you don’t support Biden, you are just making it more likely that the despot will win and make things far worse. 

Yes, the system desperately needs changing, but many Democratic politicians support the changes you say you want, whereas the Republicans oppose them all, and will do all they can to make them even more impossible to achieve if given a chance. If you want to improve the system, vote Democratic. If you refuse to vote at all, you are just helping to make real change even less likely to ever come.

Jan

Whose “conscience” would cause or allow someone to vote for Trump? Vote for Trump or get in trouble with “Him” up there? I think you actually would be “in trouble” with “Him” if you did vote for someone who has clearly tried to portray himself as god in the minds of his voters. 

The Endless Chain:

Wrong. First, abstention is not a vote “for”. Even Thomas More’s abstention was viewed as a vote against the Act of Settlement. Your reply is redolent of the all too ubiquitous mantra “if you’re not with us, you’re against us”. Conscience is the word Mr Reich uses, and if he had an ounce of sentiment he would know that conscience has got little to do with voting, and a lot to do with one’s moral balance between what you know to be right and know to be wrong. And that is a matter between your mind and that which guides your moral stance. In my case it’s Him up there, and it’s also where America’s banknotes place their trust.

If your Democrat-leaning voters will extricate you from the Trump-despot-threat this time, is expediency to be the only means to extricate you from the systemic problems of your so-called democracy for ever more? For that is indeed a lesser of two evils stance.

Daniel Solomon

You “out” yourself, It’s “Democratic” to everyone who is not a right wing lurker. 

The Endless Chain:

I do not proclaim my divinity or perfection. But: there are serious faults with the American electoral system, which those in some other nations can but gasp at. In part, aside from Mr Trump’s bellicose attitudes, the US electoral system has kind-of got by in the past because you know what we mean. 

Well, your Supreme Court is, in many a matter, now turning around and saying, “We disagree with what you thought you knew what we meant,” and that is sending ripples across society. And politics, into the bargain.

Because the overall general understanding that society was broadly governed in a fair and equitable manner and that the prime enemy of society was those who acted in a criminal manner has now radically altered, in the US as elsewhere. The enemy is no longer the gunslinger or bank robber. The banks, and many another industry, are actually being robbed from the inside (partly as a result of the mafia having switched tactics from shooting people to educating their children to be lawyers), and everyone is now becoming a gunslinger.

Therefore, it’s no longer a case of the honest citizen against the criminal, but a case of the virtuous citizen against the unvirtuous, and virtue is apportioned by different criteria according to who it is in society that you are, and no longer through a criminal track record. (Most cops are criminal these days [if only because most who aren’t acquiesce in the acts of those who are.])

You can use what labels you want: for me, democratic means nothing. For democratic is what East Germany was. It’s what Russia is. It’s what India is. It’s what Israel is. 

It’s a flag that gets waved in the face of electorates, not to show them how effective the system is, but rather to laugh at them, and prove to them that, vote how they will, they will never change certain systems. Mr Putin will win this year in Russia, and nothing I or you can say will change that. He will tell the Russian electorate that he doesn’t care how they vote, he will win. Just as in Sierra Leone, just as in Senegal, just as in every other despotic regime. 

The question with which the US must wrestle is, “How far are *we* off that degree of irrelevance for the democracy we so cherish?”

Dave Cassenti

I agree that, in most cases, we should vote our conscience. In 2016, I saw two major party candidates who both seemed to be egotistical people who got into politics for the power it gave them. I voted for Gary Johnson since I didn’t trust Hillary Clinton to do what’s best for the country and it’s people, and I knew that Donald Trump was just a sleazeball, and I couldn’t bring myself to vote for either of them. 

However, here it is, 8 years later, and we’ve experienced what Trump is capable of. I didn’t like Biden either, but after 4 years of Trump, I saw him being more similar to Hitler, and observed the similarities between what was happening in our country to Germany of the 1930s. At that time, I realized that the GOP was more focused on getting what they want, and, even though the D party was of a similar mind, I couldn’t afford for my third party vote to allow Trump back into office. However, I am lucky to live in a state that almost always votes Blue, so I just voted my conscience again, and CT went to Biden. 

Here it is 2024, and Trump is running AGAIN. However, this time, there’s more than his record as president against him. In his speeches and social media posts, Trump has openly talked about putting fascist policies into place, and it’s now not an option. We have to vote major party against him, rather than vote third party, even if they ARE the best choice. 

And, just think about this. Once Hitler became Chancellor, the Reichstag was burned down, and Hitler used it to ban all other parties and take those party supporters into custody. I can see Trump doing this, and he’s promised to go after them using the executive branch and the DOJ. 

BTW-I believe Communism and Socialism are the best economic systems, and applaud you for supporting them. But, just like our Constitution, the system can be manipulated like it was in the Soviet Union. THAT is something that a lot of people are afraid of. Yes, they should read the Communist Manifesto and the Socialist Manifesto by Bhaskar Sunkara, but many won’t because of that. 

Thanks for your civility in discussing this. We need more of it!

The Endless Chain

I have no answers that will offer a remedy. But answers are never forthcoming unless and until questions get asked. 

Why did it take 250 years for the Supreme Court to be endowed with a code of conduct (that is, to boot, unenforceable)? Why does an electoral college decide who commands your army, in an age of instant communications, when it was devised for the age of the Pony Express? No answers, but just two seminal questions.

Mr Trump is a buffoon, and, just like Stan Laurel and Lou Costello, people like buffoons. People engage in unprotected sex and toy with hard drugs and even play at shooting guns on film sets: because they don’t appreciate the immediacy of the danger. Children don’t think they’ll live till they’re 70, they think they’ll live for ever (except in East LA).

The groundswell of support for Mr Trump comes from this lack of appreciation of the proximity of the danger. Perhaps Mr Biden and his cohorts have cried wolf? Perhaps Mr Trump has his good points. I’ll name one: he didn’t declare any wars (did he?). Mr Biden might have reinforced his alliance to AIPAC by supporting Mr Netanyahu, but he has broken faith with me and many others by endorsing the savagery of the Israeli response to the attack made on it. Britain will ever live in the shadow of the ignominy of Bloody Sunday; Israel’s Bloody Sunday was the 8th of October.

In Covid-19, all routines were abandoned owing to a state of emergency. Is the 2024 election to be a state of emergency? If all routine is abandoned due to that, how quickly will routine be resumed? And how quickly will things devolve again into an emergency? When the Silver Bridge collapsed unexpectedly over the River Ohio, they replaced it with a much better bridge. It was better, wasn’t it?

Dave Cassenti

I agree that our system isn’t perfect. However, that’s why it can be changed through amendments. But sometimes the system works enough to not notice a problem until it comes up. At that point, we must fix it. Take for example the Electoral Count Act of 1887 was passed after the contested 1876 election where states submitted competing slates of electors and it was decided in Congress. It fixed that problem (only after two more elections that were similar). Again, it worked until this past election, when Trump attempted to use the hole to retain his power. Congress then fixed that problem with the new Electoral Count Reform and Presidential Transition Improvement Act in 2022. 

The electoral college has been in need of change since Congress gamed it by allowing new states based on their party leanings. However, it didn’t result in any major problems, and seemed to help the parties retain power. Now, though, we see how it can be used to allow a president who doesn’t win the national vote total to become president. 

Our system will never be perfect, especially as the world changes, but we DO have the ability to fix it to work for everyone. We just need to get together and push for changes. Like the Silver Bridge (that’s the one Mothman is associated with, if I recall), it could have been fixed if its problems were noticed and dealt with, even though the solution may have been to completely replace it. However, it had to catastrophically fail and kill people to be fixed. We need to fix our election system with an amendment to the Constitution before it catastrophically fails and results in the death of our democracy. 

I have read Professor Reich’s posts for a few years, and he often talks about needing to fix the system. Just like you need to stop the bleeding before you can help with any other injuries, Prof. Reich also knows that Congress and the people haven’t made enough movement on any solution that would be ready for this year’s presidential election. Chances like this take a lot of time, and unless people step up to get behind one specific solution, nothing will get accomplished. 

Have you seen his video about how to do this? I think it’s an interesting idea. 

https://www.inequalitymedia.org/how-do-we-abolish-the-electoral-college

Margaret Reis

In other words take the corruption out of our government.

Daniel Solomon

Contrary to their conscience? Self interest? As if you are alone? Sartre was a … Communist! 

The Endless Chain

And so am I. Go and read the manifesto and you will be too.

Michele Pfannenstiel DVM

Look around...communism doesn’t work. You are using a lot of long latinate words and a big old collective “you” in your post.

Replace that with the pronoun “I” and let us know what your plan is.

Because boots on the ground here getting Gen Z to vote? Your arguments are not working.

The Endless Chain

I am not American, but I, like all of us, have a conscience, and I will not betray it. 

Michele, you’re right, oh, so right, so right that it’s writ large: COMMUNISM DOES NOT WORK. Not as a state system. Not when it structures the nation state as a place where some can be more equal than others. Some of the greatest communist places, where communism’s true spirit, of all working jointly together towards a common good, like the common good so proclaimed by Robert [Reich] in previous blogs, is, oddly, the kibbutzim of Israel. But the Soviet Union et al. were not communism. Because no system should need to frighten its people in order to secure its success.

Capitalism frightens me. You want me to talk about me, then about me I shall talk: I have stood up for my conscience in the face of attempts to corrupt me with influence and money and I have taken a stand. I have paid very dearly for my principles and, Michele, if you want my principles, then you may share them, but the more I pay for my principles, the dearer they become to me, so please, do not take my principles and chuck them in the trash can.

I invite you to read and to appreciate and, if you’re unable to do that now, perhaps one day you may return. Thank you for your insights.

On who I am: https://endlesschain.substack.com/p/on-migration-employment-and-community

On communism: https://endlesschain.substack.com/p/i-am-just-going-outside-and-may-be

Lori Phillips

I would highly suggest looking up Hakim’s videos on YT to actually learn about communism, socialism, and capitalism. (His YT channel name is just “Hakim”)

But suffice it to say, if you can look around you and think capitalism is working, you aren’t paying attention. 

Daniel Solomon

So....you don’t even have a friggin’ vote. 

The Endless Chain

Yes, I do. But not in your country.

Dave Cassenti (to Mr Solomon)

So? I am a paleontologist, does that make my opinion on politics wrong? You never seem to have any comments that positively add to the discussion. Maybe you should just let the grownups talk. [!]

Ann Higgins

Well if Trump gets back in those problems will be solved because meaningful elections will cease. 

The Endless Chain

The danger doesn’t lie in that per se. It lies in the prospect of a majority of your fellow Americans actually wanting it.

Lynn Smith

Amen!

Gloria

That is what happens in an only 2 party system. How to fix that?

The Endless Chain

Gloria, I can’t say what’ll fix that, but I think doing away with the Electoral College will be a good start. The EC is manifestly undemocratic. Abolishing it would allow each and every last vote to count, and then there would be no need for an “averaging entity” in the form of the EC. However, I recognise that that runs the risk of an entire populace in one state having no say at all in the designation of the president. That is more brutally presented on a direct suffrage basis than through an EC. But, it is in fact the same thing. The interposition of the EC simply dulls the effect. (This was written before I’d read Dave Cassenti’s contribution above.) [I’m not sure, on reflection, whether a state would actually feel left out of the process without the EC. You have blue and red states now, so, counting the actual votes instead of the EC votes still ups the democratic credentials, and democracy is what you want, isn’t it?]

Dave Cassenti

That “states rights” comes from the Articles of Confederation, which allowed each state to be a sovereign nation. It was a big part of the Constitutional Convention since the states wouldn’t agree to the Constitution without the states’ rights (in reality, the state politicians). After the Civil War, the federal government became stronger. I don’t think the states have individual rights. Those belong to the people. 

We can fix it by fixing the holes in the Constitution relating to nationwide elections. Primarily, the electoral college system should be changed to allow for a majority vote for the president to be elected. Congress in the mid-1800s and early-1900s added states based on which party was in power and which way the territory leaned, and thus sullied the system. The framers of the Constitution did not foresee the development of political parties (George Washington didn’t want them since he knew that they would not help the country) and felt that people would always do what’s best for the whole country rather than just themselves (obviously this doesn’t work). Also, in order to get the Constitution approved, they attempted to balance the rights of people with the rights of the States. A majority didn’t feel that the average person could reasonably choose a president, so the electoral college was created. And it worked (sort of) even after allowing for the public to vote for president. 

Until we, the people, take back our right to choose our own leaders, there will always be an authoritarian figure who will try to manipulate the system. If they do, then we will have no more democracy. 

Daniel Solomon

You can’t do that if everyone commits political suicide. 

The Endless Chain

I’m not sure what you mean, Daniel. If you mean that allowing Mr Trump to win at the next presidential election would be political suicide, I think you’re right.

I think that, in many places across the world, there would be a huge sharp intake of breath as we all wait to see precisely what kind of a dictator he would be “on day one”. And I’m fairly sure, that would pretty much seal things up for days two to whenever. It may even be the last presidential election in your country. And it would probably mean that, whenever the law told a US citizen to do something or not do it, they could no longer ask, “Why?”

Freedom is the ability to ask “Why?” and it is already receding across the world, including in the US; you may not ask the police “Why?” if you’re Black, Hispanic, gay, homeless. It used to be that only criminals could not ask “Why?”, but now far more cannot ask that question. It is a question that has long since been abolished in Russia, Hungary, Poland, Mexico ...

“Why?” holds authority to account. And the inability to ask the question means that authority is no longer held to account. Getting authority back to a position where you can ask, “Why?” is not easy. It’s far more preferable to just not abolish the question in the first place.

If that’s what you mean by “political suicide”, I fear you’re right. In which case, consciences aside, if your desire is to stop Mr Trump with a ballot box, that must guide how you act at the ballot box. For stopping him otherwise will be an entirely different proposition.

Rishi Chopra

Is it the correct conscience...?

Rishi’s question is perhaps the most relevant and the one I cannot answer.