The Case for Socialists Voting For Biden
As we get closer to the November election and the possibility of another Trump term, reality has been focused into full relief. Not only is it clear that a second Trump term will be far worse than the first, but it is certainly arguable that Trump, in the past few months, has gone further into a reckless and dangerous mode of insanity. Even Fox News has noticed. There have been some significant alarms coming from that network warning of Trump’s oversteps. As one who is not planning on casting my ballot for Biden because I live in a “safe” state, I have shifted my opinion that those leftists, Bernie Bros and other anti-establishment types living in toss-up states should hold their noses and vote Biden. Before you berate me for being a hypocrite, I would like to remind you that I cast protest votes in both Obama elections against the centrist posing as progressive, but I earned the right to do so by going to Pennsylvania to work for the Democrats to get out the vote. I may do the same thing this year.
But the most recent compelling argument for voting for Biden is the fact that there will be many more left leaning and socialist people joining congress in 2021. These congresspeople will be far more influential in their roles in congress than their numbers. We have already scene how 4 or 5 House Representatives have changed the discussion in Washington, as well as the electorate as a whole. AOC is popular, not only among Democratic Socialists, but with liberals who don’t consider themselves socialists. The majority of Democrat voters, may say they’re moderate, but they support most of Sanders’ agenda. And the Sanders effect on the country has continued to grow because of AOC and the Squad. The Squad is about to more than double their numbers. The fact is that as much as Biden would like to remain stubbornly opposed to progressive platforms, the left moving congress, aided by what I think will be a continued protest movement that began as a Black Lives Matter protest, will go a long way toward toppling the neo-liberal consensus in the Democratic Party. It can at least be said that this is a possibility. (With a second Trump term it is not.) The BLM demonstrations are far more than an expression of outrage toward police conduct and abuse of Black citizens. We know from reporting that this youth led movement also stands for just about everything that Bernie Sanders campaigned for. And they are pissed as hell that the Democrats ignored them and betrayed them in the primaries.The movement is, as far as I can observe, more anti Biden than it is anti Trump. It is not likely to cease with a Biden win.
Here’s the thing: The movement and the new progressives in Congress are going to get nowhere under a second Trump administration. If Trump is elected, the most we can hope for is a continued civil war between Trump’s increasingly fascist supporters and the rest of America, with the left continuing to be disenfranchised and voices like Rachel Maddow being the dominant feature of media. MSNBC will continue to take up space and distract from the real maladies that affect our republic and continue their hopelessly zany Russia scapegoating. With a Biden presidency, the opposition becomes the voice against neo-liberalism and Biden’s transparent ignoring of the will of the people. Everything over the past 5 years has led to a place where we’re going to still be in the streets once Biden takes office. The left opposition to the Democratic establishment has gained strength during Bernie II and has led to a wave of leftist candidates winning national and local offices. The states of New York and Rhode Island will be completely altered terrains in 2021, moving those legislatures to the left and influencing more popular sentiment toward socialist ideas.
In early 2020 I was of the opinion that if a Biden won the Democratic nomination it was game over. I no longer believe that because the wider arena of politics has changed in a very dramatic way. I agree with Noam Chomsky. Bernie did not lose. Richie Neal, the Chair of the House Ways and Means Committee, a Democrat entrenched by the establishment of his party and powerful wealthy supporters faced a challenger, a 31 year old progressive gay man, who came within 20 points of beating the incumbent! We have seen powerful centrist Democrats fall at the hands of self-declared socialists. The times, they are a ‘changing. All of this wind power will be up against a great stone wall with a Trump second term. With Biden, it will only be a forest. And in this era of climate catastrophe, we know what is happening to forests when faced with prevailing winds and a raging fire. Forgive the analogy, but you get my drift. If you live in Wisconsin, Arizona, Texas, etc. hold your nose and support the Squad.
John Paul O'Connor 