Why I’ll (Possibly) Vote For Stein, All Rights Reserved, Void where Prohibited

I’ve lost several valued (but totally nonessential) acquaintances over my (not-all-that-breathless, please note) support for Jill Stein, which my liberal social media friends (the few who are still around anyway) insist amounts to nothing more than support for Drumpf (yes, I still think “Drumpf” is funny).

One person whose (mainly virtual) companionship I actually do want to avoid tossing directly into the crapper messaged me privately to remind me for the second time that he believes Drumpf would deport legal immigrants only because they’re brown/non-Christian.

So I looked at that. It looked to me like Drumpf was “only” talking about deporting illegal immigrants, not properly documented ones, i.e. he’d only go after the same people Harris likes to tough-talk about. It’s nonsense. The staunchly Libertarian, Eyes Wide Shut cult that runs America would ever allow that, because then they’d have no willing workers. Like I discussed in my first book, the Libertarian maniacs who run the GOP (and the country, really) want only one thing above all else: cheap labor.

I mean yes, I’m not overjoyed to admit it, but in the end I may pull for Harris specifically and solely to avoid a faster, less tumultuous collapse, which at this rate could only delay the inevitable by a few years, if that, owing to the gathering BRICS storm. It wouldn’t be about “saving democracy” (we don’t have one, we have an anocracy) or “preventing fascism” (it’s already here, many argue); it’d just be about softening the crash that is absolutely, positively coming owing to decades of mercantilist violence at home and abroad.

But folks. After being subjected to a full year of (never intentionally) viewing videotaped slaughter on Twitter — graphic, crazy-level violence that only used to be found on the darkweb and 4chan, never anyplace like Facebook, which won’t allow it — it’d be hypocritical of me to infer that there’s a “lesser, more compassionate” evil at work here. All evil is evil. If you dive into a lake, you’re either wet or you’re not.

Have you seen the carnage at all? Daily, on your friends’ timelines? A lot of us are suffering from actual PTSD. The images have literally been right out of the Doom video game. It’s psychotic. Not just a couple of random, grainy anecdotal clips, either, I mean a constant, constant 24/7 stream of WTF-ness.

Which brings up a question. As a moral person, do you believe this empire deserves to dominate the earth for another minute? That’s what I’m struggling with this week. A vote for Stein may be hopeless, as we’ve been told over and over by the mainstream media matrix that wants it so, but it’s our only shot at redemption. Stein didn’t make her party’s chances completely impossible, the system did. I’m supposed to play nice and act like it didn’t?

Despite what Rachel Maddow wants you to believe, we’re (once again, same as it was in Iraq, etc.) not in a “war is hell” scenario deserving of any sort of halfhearted… consent. No, this time it’s been extensively documented, the same way Auschwitz was. We’ve finally reached a “this insane oligarchy needs to be stopped one way or another” endgame.

Keeping in mind that we’re ruled by a corporatocratic, technocratic oligarchy, do you really think Harris will have the power to stop the IDF’s actions? I do believe she’d love to for many, many reasons, most of which are self-serving, but I don’t honestly think she — or anyone else — can.

In the end, yes, on paper at least, this election is mostly about keeping more self-flagellating kooks like Amy Coney Barrett away from making our actual laws. That’s obviously an important thing, not just for women but for every working person. But were we supposed to vacate Richard Ramirez’ death sentence because he paid his overdue library book charges?

For the record, I’m pretty disgusted with the Greens for dumping Stein earlier because of one unfortunate optic (“Look at that, guys, she literally passed the mushroom gravy to Pooty Poot!”) and going with Cornell West, which cost them months. I mean, America has a unique sense of humor, but that guy was a non-starter from the beginning, can we admit that yet? For one thing, I knew from day one that there was no way his wife was planning to put up with that “serious campaign” nonsense for long. She was just fine with the money he was bringing in from guesting on Bill Maher’s stupid, Islamophobic TV show.

Anyway, that’s what I’m weighing right now. I’m undecided, not because I haven’t paid any attention but quite the opposite.

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My second book, My Year In The Online Left, came out on June 10. Meantime, if you want to be fully, genuinely informed about the political troll/bot invasion of Election 2016, 2020, and Elections-Yet-To-Come, buy my previous book. There’s the tiniest bit of technical stuff in there, but you’ll get it, I promise. My Twitter is @esaeger, my Mastodon is @esaeger@universeodon.com (I’m never there), my BlueSky is @esaeger.bsky.social (ditto) and my cursed Facebook is eric.saeger.9 (I do visit it daily).