The following piece was submitted to us by reader Gary Neophite, who describes himself as a “progressive liberal socialist who hates Donald Trump” as well as a “single issue voter,” which he says may lead him to not voting for President Biden in this year’s election.
“I want an ideologically perfect, clean candidate who only says and does things I completely and totally agree with on this one, very important issue. To me. Is that such a selfish and bad thing to ask for?”
We all have issues we care about. The one, single issue I care about? It’s the most important. Out of all of them. Yes, even yours.
As a progressive liberal American, I know better than any other progressive, liberal American how progressive liberal Americans should vote. And I know that how we should vote is based on my feelings surrounding a single, very important issue. To me.
If the Biden administration doesn’t do literally exactly what I want them to do about that single issue, I will have no choice but to not vote for him this November.
With so many issues facing Americans these days — climate change, gun violence, a lack of universal healthcare, skyrocketing costs of living, a war on drugs that still hasn’t ended with millions of people still locked-up for no good reason, and a bevy of other hot topics — it might be easy to think that we should coalesce a coalition that cares about many of these things, and push our common goals forward, while making sure that the ever-present and growing threat of a religious extremist, far-right power grab doesn’t come to fruition, and then live to hash out our policy differences another day. It might be easy to think that way, but it’s wrong.
Dead wrong.
Sure, in this country we literally only get two viable options for the presidency. But I’m pretty sure if I stamp my feet and sit out the election, then something will change, right? Has anyone else thought of that yet? Have any other previous generations tried to use absenteeism and single-minded zealotry to force the system to change? I’m pretty sure if I do a little research, I’ll find tons of instances third party and protest voting blocs that in no way, shape, or form, had any impact on the election, and did not in any way enable the other side to win.
I just Googled “Ross Perot” and “Ralph Nader,” and as soon as I read those articles, I’ll add what I learn, to bolster my strong points.
It’s folly to think that we can’t drop every other vital issue and solely focus on my personal feelings about just one of them. It’s not like if the country happens to elect a far-right authoritarian that they’ll set about destroying American democracy to the point that we’ll never be able to eject them from power again, and it’s not like there’s some well-documented Project 2025 about that very thing, right?
The bottom line? It’s my right and my privilege to stop helping America stay a democracy, especially if it means compromising a single bit. I want an ideologically perfect, clean candidate who only says and does things I completely and totally agree with on this one, very important issue. To me. Is that such a selfish and bad thing to ask for?
Even if I am being selfish, so what? Don’t blame me for being selfish when you could blame yourself for not being self-sacrificing enough to vote the way I tell you to.
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