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34 responses to “The Lesser Evil”
Westley Wood
We lost the opportunity to form a 3rd party when Nader caved in on that TV show – disgusting. Sanders caved in before, and now a third opportunity lost. They MUST have known better which has implications.
Was that the last electoral campaign .
“If voting did anything they wouldn’t let you do it” GC
Its a good time to knock the democracy dogma on the head.
While we are all imprisoned and without rights.
There is no rule by the people.
Elections are but a bias unfair media production.
You don’t get to choose the candidates and ” he who counts the vote counts” GC
Defiance Demon
Voting for Bye Done just rewards the dnc for rigging the primaries.
Harry S Nydick
LOL Actually, I won’t vote for either member of the single party. No amount of evil belongs in the white House.
Ciaran Casey
And one of the elders of the city said, “Speak to us of Good and Evil.”
And he answered:
Of the good in you I can speak, but not of the evil.
For what is evil but good tortured by its own hunger and thirst?
Verily when good is hungry it seeks food even in dark caves, and when it thirsts, it drinks even of dead waters.
You are good when you are one with yourself.
Yet when you are not one with yourself you are not evil.
For a divided house is not a den of thieves; it is only a divided house.
And a ship without rudder may wander aimlessly among perilous isles yet sink not to the bottom.
You are good when you strive to give of yourself.
Yet you are not evil when you seek gain for yourself.
For when you strive for gain you are but a root that clings to the earth and sucks at her breast.
Surely the fruit cannot say to the root, “Be like me, ripe and full and ever giving of your abundance.”
For to the fruit giving is a need, as receiving is a need to the root.
You are good when you are fully awake in your speech,
Yet you are not evil when you sleep while your tongue staggers without purpose.
And even stumbling speech may strengthen a weak tongue.
You are good when you walk to your goal firmly and with bold steps.
Yet you are not evil when you go thither limping.
Even those who limp go not backward.
But you who are strong and swift, see that you do not limp before the lame, deeming it kindness.
You are good in countless ways, and you are not evil when you are not good,
You are only loitering and sluggard.
Pity that the stags cannot teach swiftness to the turtles.
In your longing for your giant self lies your goodness: and that longing is in all of you.
But in some of you that longing is a torrent rushing with might to the sea, carrying the secrets of the hillsides and the songs of the forest.
And in others it is a flat stream that loses itself in angles and bends and lingers before it reaches the shore.
But let not him who longs much say to him who longs little, “Wherefore are you slow and halting?”
For the truly good ask not the naked, “Where is your garment?” nor the houseless, “What has befallen your house?”
To all US citizens caught in the meaningless vote charade. I get it you cannot see the point in voting for either of the two candidates being served up to you. I really do get it and feel empathy for you. The temptation to turn away from political action, of any kind, is strong. As Ken Kesey said ( about the VietNam war) “just look at the war and turn your back on it and say fuck it” .
But for those of us outside the US ( I live in New Zealand) we are worried, because the US is armed to the teeth: has the biggest collection of heavy duty armaments in the world, is the world’s biggest producer of armaments by far, has initiated or been the major player in hundreds of global wars and conflicts for decades. From the outside we see a heavily armed bully with a bad reputation for death and mayhem.
So we would really really like to see US citizens do something about that. Not the politicians, not the state but people. My biggest moment of optimism came recently when it seemed like 10 US states we rebelling against the Federal Authority , even with CA state governor calling themselves a sovereign state. Wow could this be it , the beginnings of the collapse of the American Empire as it tears itself to bits .
Countries outside the US will shift away from collaboration with the US as this Covid crisis morphs into a depression , the pressure will come on from the outside but it needs a uprising from US citizens or perhaps a collapse of the United States into a union of independent States will get the same outcome.
Sheila Chambers
It took me a while to catch on but by Bill Clintons first term, I HAD HAD ENOUGH!
For a while after that I “voted” 3rd party, the Greens but now after that disasterous & clearly RIGGED FRAUDULANT “ELECTION”, I’ve had it with these FAKE, RIGGED “ELECTIONS” & like I have said many times before, “Voting for the ‘lesser’ of those two evils is still VOTING FOR EVIL!”
Why can’t other voters see that? the “lesser” of those two evils is STILL EVIL!
I REFUSE to “vote” for EVIL, I would rather not “vote” at all in such rigged, fake, hacked, disenfranchised, racist corrupt “elections”.
So since 2016, I have been calling for a “BOYCOT THE RIGGED, FAKE, FRAUDULANT 2020 “ELECTIONS”!”\
Stay home, stay sane!
JWK
Voting does nothing but grant them a source of authority. Best to ignore them as much as one can and still bear their assault on those who do so.
Bernie Sanders was the “lesser evil” in 2016 and also 2018.
Donald Trump was the “unknown evil” in 2016, but he’s now risen to “status quo”.
Who will the DNC Sith Lords run this time? They probably have several cards they might decide to play, based upon how things look in July.
It sure won’t be Joe Biden, but they might give him a running mate to be the real candidate.
Would I vote for Michelle Obama? Maybe in 2008 I would have…
We have seen a lot since then.
Growing vegetables is way more important to the future than voting appears to be, but there is probably room to do both. http://www.johndayblog.com
Marten
Yup agree with you, growing vegetables is way better that “Voting” for Vegetables…..
It’s obvious that 99% of US citizens have fallen for the fake US statistics and Fauci provided misinformation on COVID-19. Obviously citizens can’t see through propaganda and MSM generated fear mongering from lying politicians and from governmaniacs who are testing the nation’s blind obedience. And lying politicians are obeying the Deep State’s push towards population blood testing, surveillance and total control, like China!!!
From outside the USA it always seemed crazy you only had 2 parties, where most democracies have 3 plus.
Now it appears there is only one party , really.
But the US projects a champion of democracy image, an exemplar that we outside the US should aspire to.
The reality is a one party state bullying the rest of the world to its will.
World Wars were created over this type of rogue state behavior.
Its getting time the rest of the world needs to pull together and take down the USA , get rid of the United bit and let north america flourish as a collection of nation states. Hey Europe has been doing this for a while now.
I say this because I am losing faith in the US peoples to control their own government . I mean… Trump… really ! The tragedy is not Trump but that he was supported by the party and voted in by the peoples.
Richard Johnson
Well stated! Politicians, actors, media personalities are all in the same group. Politics has always attracted the worse among a population. Those who want to rule shouldn’t and those who should rule don’t want to.
uncle tungsten
That cartoon says it all. I have always loved political cartoons and that one just perfectly encapsulates the circumstance. AND the best response.
The job itself has attracted lesser and lesser people as the time goes on. I can’t remember having having a president in my lifetime that really got respect and was looked at as the smartest guy in the room.
The smartest guys now, stay out of politics and actually contribute to the greater good in some meaningful way.
Jimmy Carter became the person he was meant to be, once he got out of politics.
That job now is reserved for the dumbest people who could not make any kind of difference in the real world.
It was kinda of like professers. Those that can’t teach.
I have not voted in twenty five years. I will never vote again unless it is somebody that has to be respected and is truly a game changer and the smartest guy in the room.
Don’t see that happening most likely ever again.
william c wesley
All issues and reasoning aside, just gut level reaction to facial expression, if I had to choose Biden seems the greater evil, Trump seems the obnoxious fool with bad taste and poor choice treated as feature, Biden out and out the malevolent inquisitor , real sneering contempt and hatred, actual malice as the primary feature. I find Biden’s personal demeanor to be horrifying, I liked virtually every other presidential candidate more than Biden, even they to whom I was vehemently opposed such as Trump, Bush, Reagan and so on
Apologize for repeating myself …
Literally nothing in political strategizing is more damaging in my lifetime than the concept of lesser-evil-voting (LOTE). The false rationale is far more insidious than simply contending it’s somehow ‘better’ to careen off the cliff at 40 mph rather than 100 mph. Not to mention the absurdly snooty and ultimately ignorant notion that the LOTE promoter knows who/what the lesser evil is in the first place.
One of the most disgusting ironies is that while the people making the LOTE argument use elitism as a shaming tool, the LOTE argument itself is extraordinarily and blatantly elitist. There is nothing more elitist than sitting in your relatively comfortable place and pontificating to desperate fellow humans that ‘change takes time, don’t you know!’ ‘Why, Rome wasn’t built in a day, dear friends.’ ‘One seat at a time, Rosa! What in the world could you be thinking?’
That monstrously lazy and elitist thinking has led inexorably to catastrophe and damn you, to Donald Trump. As Ron Placone argues: there is no such thing as an incremental solution to a catastrophic problem.
Your LOTE ‘strategy’ has predictably led to disaster. Continuing to promote it makes you part of the problem. Four decades of failure is enough. Step the fuck aside.
minecritter
I’m with you (and Ron). Glenn Greenwald recently wrote an article on the wrongness of those who try to privilege-shame those of us who refuse to vote for Biden.
I think Jimmy Dore recently asked those who tell us to vote for Biden, “What’s your exit strategy?” Seriously, we’ve been eating shit for decades at least, and Democrats are perfectly happy to have us continue to eat shit until the planet is no longer habitable to human life.
I want to ask blob voters, what’s your limit? How evil does a candidate have to get to lose your vote on the basis that that evil is too much? If Biden were biting the heads off live babies in public every other day, would they say, oh we have to vote for him because surely Trump would bite the heads off live babies every day?
Matt
Dealing with blog voters is a mind-numbing experience.
As an aside, I do understand the argument for not voting and respect those who don’t. It’s a powerful non-violent strategy of withholding consent that has worked in other countries. I just don’t see that happening in the USA because of the overwhelming control of the narrative the oligarchs have, as Caitlin has written about extensively.
So I will likely vote. Of course, not for Biden or Trump. My liberal blob voters are shocked and chagrined I would ‘waste’ my vote. ‘A non-Biden vote is a vote for Trump,’ every last one of them has lectured me. But not so much since I countered with ‘I’m not voting for Trump, so by your impeccable logic I am voting for Biden. No need to thank me.’
Matt
*blob voters*, of course. Great phrase.
minecritter
Heh heh…. I’ve been wanting to try that logic on a blob voter, “I’m not voting for Trump, so by your impeccable logic I am voting for Biden.” But I’m afraid of seeing them have an emotional meltdown. I wonder if they might find their way out of their cult faster without me provoking them.
I plan to vote Green Party again this year, and honestly I respect any voting strategy OTHER THAN handing your consent to the blob. That includes voting third party, voting write-in, turning in a blank ballot, or boycotting the election.
Carolyn L Zaremba
Chomsky lost all credibility years ago as far as I am concerned. No true socialist would listen to a word he had to say, for example, and I am a socialist.
bjd
Apparently Chomsky (and by logical expansion everyone else) has to agree to the finest detail with your opinions to deserve to be called a true socialist.
People of your ilk are the fundamental problem with socialism — not Chomsky.
Newton Finn
Chomsky’s knee-jerk rejection–indeed, derision–of the substantial and cogent scholarship derailing the official 9/11 narrative was enough to check him off my socialist list. Same, I’m afraid to say, with Hedges and other “leftists” who duck or disparage, in obvious bad faith, perhaps the central issue of our time, the culmination of what happened on Nov. 22, 1963.
Greg Strebel
You have identified what is probably the single outrage that confirmed for the cabal that orchestrated the WTC destruction that there is NO LIMIT to what a propagandized public will accept. The possibility that elements within a ‘democratic’ government could be so cynical and evil is simply beyond the comprehension of these indoctrinated minds.
I do not consider recognition of 9/11, for the Deep State event that it was, a criterion for categorizing who is and who is not a socialist. I cannot be aware of the pressures/threats that some of these people may be under to exhibit ‘bad faith’ but I agree that there is no sound argument for lack of knowledge that would permit accepting the official conspiracy theory.
Carolyn L Zaremba
Some people will STILL not get it. They will march like good little obedient children into a voting booth and vote for Biden (unless they are actually Trump supporters) and feel all smug and warm inside for having done what they believe is their duty. And the hamsters will still run in the wheel and the pit will deepen.
elkojohn
Any thoughts on the ”beloved” lefty, Noam Chomsky-??
34 responses to “The Lesser Evil”
We lost the opportunity to form a 3rd party when Nader caved in on that TV show – disgusting. Sanders caved in before, and now a third opportunity lost. They MUST have known better which has implications.
Was that the last electoral campaign .
“If voting did anything they wouldn’t let you do it” GC
Its a good time to knock the democracy dogma on the head.
While we are all imprisoned and without rights.
There is no rule by the people.
Elections are but a bias unfair media production.
You don’t get to choose the candidates and ” he who counts the vote counts” GC
Voting for Bye Done just rewards the dnc for rigging the primaries.
LOL Actually, I won’t vote for either member of the single party. No amount of evil belongs in the white House.
And one of the elders of the city said, “Speak to us of Good and Evil.”
And he answered:
Of the good in you I can speak, but not of the evil.
For what is evil but good tortured by its own hunger and thirst?
Verily when good is hungry it seeks food even in dark caves, and when it thirsts, it drinks even of dead waters.
You are good when you are one with yourself.
Yet when you are not one with yourself you are not evil.
For a divided house is not a den of thieves; it is only a divided house.
And a ship without rudder may wander aimlessly among perilous isles yet sink not to the bottom.
You are good when you strive to give of yourself.
Yet you are not evil when you seek gain for yourself.
For when you strive for gain you are but a root that clings to the earth and sucks at her breast.
Surely the fruit cannot say to the root, “Be like me, ripe and full and ever giving of your abundance.”
For to the fruit giving is a need, as receiving is a need to the root.
You are good when you are fully awake in your speech,
Yet you are not evil when you sleep while your tongue staggers without purpose.
And even stumbling speech may strengthen a weak tongue.
You are good when you walk to your goal firmly and with bold steps.
Yet you are not evil when you go thither limping.
Even those who limp go not backward.
But you who are strong and swift, see that you do not limp before the lame, deeming it kindness.
You are good in countless ways, and you are not evil when you are not good,
You are only loitering and sluggard.
Pity that the stags cannot teach swiftness to the turtles.
In your longing for your giant self lies your goodness: and that longing is in all of you.
But in some of you that longing is a torrent rushing with might to the sea, carrying the secrets of the hillsides and the songs of the forest.
And in others it is a flat stream that loses itself in angles and bends and lingers before it reaches the shore.
But let not him who longs much say to him who longs little, “Wherefore are you slow and halting?”
For the truly good ask not the naked, “Where is your garment?” nor the houseless, “What has befallen your house?”
If you’d settle for a lesser evil, I’d propose Vermin Supreme,/a>. If not, Ph’nglui mglw’nafh Cthulhu R’lyeh wgah’nagl fhtagn!
To all US citizens caught in the meaningless vote charade. I get it you cannot see the point in voting for either of the two candidates being served up to you. I really do get it and feel empathy for you. The temptation to turn away from political action, of any kind, is strong. As Ken Kesey said ( about the VietNam war) “just look at the war and turn your back on it and say fuck it” .
But for those of us outside the US ( I live in New Zealand) we are worried, because the US is armed to the teeth: has the biggest collection of heavy duty armaments in the world, is the world’s biggest producer of armaments by far, has initiated or been the major player in hundreds of global wars and conflicts for decades. From the outside we see a heavily armed bully with a bad reputation for death and mayhem.
So we would really really like to see US citizens do something about that. Not the politicians, not the state but people. My biggest moment of optimism came recently when it seemed like 10 US states we rebelling against the Federal Authority , even with CA state governor calling themselves a sovereign state. Wow could this be it , the beginnings of the collapse of the American Empire as it tears itself to bits .
Countries outside the US will shift away from collaboration with the US as this Covid crisis morphs into a depression , the pressure will come on from the outside but it needs a uprising from US citizens or perhaps a collapse of the United States into a union of independent States will get the same outcome.
It took me a while to catch on but by Bill Clintons first term, I HAD HAD ENOUGH!
For a while after that I “voted” 3rd party, the Greens but now after that disasterous & clearly RIGGED FRAUDULANT “ELECTION”, I’ve had it with these FAKE, RIGGED “ELECTIONS” & like I have said many times before, “Voting for the ‘lesser’ of those two evils is still VOTING FOR EVIL!”
Why can’t other voters see that? the “lesser” of those two evils is STILL EVIL!
I REFUSE to “vote” for EVIL, I would rather not “vote” at all in such rigged, fake, hacked, disenfranchised, racist corrupt “elections”.
So since 2016, I have been calling for a “BOYCOT THE RIGGED, FAKE, FRAUDULANT 2020 “ELECTIONS”!”\
Stay home, stay sane!
Voting does nothing but grant them a source of authority. Best to ignore them as much as one can and still bear their assault on those who do so.
Bernie Sanders was the “lesser evil” in 2016 and also 2018.
Donald Trump was the “unknown evil” in 2016, but he’s now risen to “status quo”.
Who will the DNC Sith Lords run this time? They probably have several cards they might decide to play, based upon how things look in July.
It sure won’t be Joe Biden, but they might give him a running mate to be the real candidate.
Would I vote for Michelle Obama? Maybe in 2008 I would have…
We have seen a lot since then.
Growing vegetables is way more important to the future than voting appears to be, but there is probably room to do both. http://www.johndayblog.com
Yup agree with you, growing vegetables is way better that “Voting” for Vegetables…..
It’s obvious that 99% of US citizens have fallen for the fake US statistics and Fauci provided misinformation on COVID-19. Obviously citizens can’t see through propaganda and MSM generated fear mongering from lying politicians and from governmaniacs who are testing the nation’s blind obedience. And lying politicians are obeying the Deep State’s push towards population blood testing, surveillance and total control, like China!!!
From outside the USA it always seemed crazy you only had 2 parties, where most democracies have 3 plus.
Now it appears there is only one party , really.
But the US projects a champion of democracy image, an exemplar that we outside the US should aspire to.
The reality is a one party state bullying the rest of the world to its will.
World Wars were created over this type of rogue state behavior.
Its getting time the rest of the world needs to pull together and take down the USA , get rid of the United bit and let north america flourish as a collection of nation states. Hey Europe has been doing this for a while now.
I say this because I am losing faith in the US peoples to control their own government . I mean… Trump… really ! The tragedy is not Trump but that he was supported by the party and voted in by the peoples.
Well stated! Politicians, actors, media personalities are all in the same group. Politics has always attracted the worse among a population. Those who want to rule shouldn’t and those who should rule don’t want to.
That cartoon says it all. I have always loved political cartoons and that one just perfectly encapsulates the circumstance. AND the best response.
Take your pick–“Syphilis or Gonnorhea.”
Julian Assange
The job itself has attracted lesser and lesser people as the time goes on. I can’t remember having having a president in my lifetime that really got respect and was looked at as the smartest guy in the room.
The smartest guys now, stay out of politics and actually contribute to the greater good in some meaningful way.
Jimmy Carter became the person he was meant to be, once he got out of politics.
That job now is reserved for the dumbest people who could not make any kind of difference in the real world.
It was kinda of like professers. Those that can’t teach.
I have not voted in twenty five years. I will never vote again unless it is somebody that has to be respected and is truly a game changer and the smartest guy in the room.
Don’t see that happening most likely ever again.
All issues and reasoning aside, just gut level reaction to facial expression, if I had to choose Biden seems the greater evil, Trump seems the obnoxious fool with bad taste and poor choice treated as feature, Biden out and out the malevolent inquisitor , real sneering contempt and hatred, actual malice as the primary feature. I find Biden’s personal demeanor to be horrifying, I liked virtually every other presidential candidate more than Biden, even they to whom I was vehemently opposed such as Trump, Bush, Reagan and so on
Love this and your well written missives. Such an important voice you are!
The EVIL of two lessers…..same thing
love it!
Apologize for repeating myself …
Literally nothing in political strategizing is more damaging in my lifetime than the concept of lesser-evil-voting (LOTE). The false rationale is far more insidious than simply contending it’s somehow ‘better’ to careen off the cliff at 40 mph rather than 100 mph. Not to mention the absurdly snooty and ultimately ignorant notion that the LOTE promoter knows who/what the lesser evil is in the first place.
One of the most disgusting ironies is that while the people making the LOTE argument use elitism as a shaming tool, the LOTE argument itself is extraordinarily and blatantly elitist. There is nothing more elitist than sitting in your relatively comfortable place and pontificating to desperate fellow humans that ‘change takes time, don’t you know!’ ‘Why, Rome wasn’t built in a day, dear friends.’ ‘One seat at a time, Rosa! What in the world could you be thinking?’
That monstrously lazy and elitist thinking has led inexorably to catastrophe and damn you, to Donald Trump. As Ron Placone argues: there is no such thing as an incremental solution to a catastrophic problem.
Your LOTE ‘strategy’ has predictably led to disaster. Continuing to promote it makes you part of the problem. Four decades of failure is enough. Step the fuck aside.
I’m with you (and Ron). Glenn Greenwald recently wrote an article on the wrongness of those who try to privilege-shame those of us who refuse to vote for Biden.
I think Jimmy Dore recently asked those who tell us to vote for Biden, “What’s your exit strategy?” Seriously, we’ve been eating shit for decades at least, and Democrats are perfectly happy to have us continue to eat shit until the planet is no longer habitable to human life.
I want to ask blob voters, what’s your limit? How evil does a candidate have to get to lose your vote on the basis that that evil is too much? If Biden were biting the heads off live babies in public every other day, would they say, oh we have to vote for him because surely Trump would bite the heads off live babies every day?
Dealing with blog voters is a mind-numbing experience.
As an aside, I do understand the argument for not voting and respect those who don’t. It’s a powerful non-violent strategy of withholding consent that has worked in other countries. I just don’t see that happening in the USA because of the overwhelming control of the narrative the oligarchs have, as Caitlin has written about extensively.
So I will likely vote. Of course, not for Biden or Trump. My liberal blob voters are shocked and chagrined I would ‘waste’ my vote. ‘A non-Biden vote is a vote for Trump,’ every last one of them has lectured me. But not so much since I countered with ‘I’m not voting for Trump, so by your impeccable logic I am voting for Biden. No need to thank me.’
*blob voters*, of course. Great phrase.
Heh heh…. I’ve been wanting to try that logic on a blob voter, “I’m not voting for Trump, so by your impeccable logic I am voting for Biden.” But I’m afraid of seeing them have an emotional meltdown. I wonder if they might find their way out of their cult faster without me provoking them.
I plan to vote Green Party again this year, and honestly I respect any voting strategy OTHER THAN handing your consent to the blob. That includes voting third party, voting write-in, turning in a blank ballot, or boycotting the election.
Chomsky lost all credibility years ago as far as I am concerned. No true socialist would listen to a word he had to say, for example, and I am a socialist.
Apparently Chomsky (and by logical expansion everyone else) has to agree to the finest detail with your opinions to deserve to be called a true socialist.
People of your ilk are the fundamental problem with socialism — not Chomsky.
Chomsky’s knee-jerk rejection–indeed, derision–of the substantial and cogent scholarship derailing the official 9/11 narrative was enough to check him off my socialist list. Same, I’m afraid to say, with Hedges and other “leftists” who duck or disparage, in obvious bad faith, perhaps the central issue of our time, the culmination of what happened on Nov. 22, 1963.
You have identified what is probably the single outrage that confirmed for the cabal that orchestrated the WTC destruction that there is NO LIMIT to what a propagandized public will accept. The possibility that elements within a ‘democratic’ government could be so cynical and evil is simply beyond the comprehension of these indoctrinated minds.
I do not consider recognition of 9/11, for the Deep State event that it was, a criterion for categorizing who is and who is not a socialist. I cannot be aware of the pressures/threats that some of these people may be under to exhibit ‘bad faith’ but I agree that there is no sound argument for lack of knowledge that would permit accepting the official conspiracy theory.
Some people will STILL not get it. They will march like good little obedient children into a voting booth and vote for Biden (unless they are actually Trump supporters) and feel all smug and warm inside for having done what they believe is their duty. And the hamsters will still run in the wheel and the pit will deepen.
Any thoughts on the ”beloved” lefty, Noam Chomsky-??
https://caitlinjohnstone.com/2020/04/19/you-wouldnt-have-to-knock-people-off-their-pedestal-if-you-didnt-put-them-there-in-the-first-place/
I’ll share this. Maybe a cartoon will spread some light. It seems more and more that sheeple don’t read much.