There Are Two Candidates Before You

It feels really weird to be quiet about an election with so much stakes for our lives and for our country. There is a cloud of noise out there so I'm going to put this as simply as possible. So here goes. There are two candidates — whatever hangups you have about there being only two choices, you have to get over. Sorry. So, yes, there are two candidates. 

Here is one: he was recently convicted by a jury of his peers on 34 counts of fraud.  He still faces at least three other criminal charges, including two for trying to illegally steal the 2020 election. He represents an entire movement to desecrate our institutions through a manifesto they've tagged "Project 2025". Here are some of the plans under the proposed Project 2025: they want to fire civil servants and replace them with only people staunchly loyal to their dear leader. They want to eradicate NOAA because it is "alarmist about climate change". They want to eradicate the Department of Education because they are "making teachers teach kids to be woke". The Department of Human Health will be Department of life. He believes these things. He refers to immigrants and people with different ideologies as "vermin". "Vermin" is language that Hitler used to describe his political enemies and what authoritarian leaders use to dehumanize their political opponents. He has a weird fascination with autocrats so it should not be surprising he has promised to be a dictator from day 1. He said immigrants are poisoning this country. He has no morality. He is on his third wife, and allegedly had an affair with a porn star while one of those wives was pregnant with their child. He has plans to jail political enemies. He does not care about anyone but himself. He is erratic.  Guns. He called veterans losers. He denied COVID for so long and caused the death of thousands of Americans. He incited an insurrection because he lost an election. He throws tantrums more than two-year olds. He stood by while his supporters called for his own Vice President to be hung. Said Vice President wouldn't even endorse him—an unbelievable, unprecedented mark in U.S history that seldom gets talked about because of the myriad of other abnormalities. He is a twice-impeached president. He hasn't even committed to accepting the results of the election he is contesting for. He is crude. He is manipulative. To call him racist would be an understatement. He openly said he would grab women by their vaginas. He would rather give tax breaks to rich people than one ounce of concern for most Americans. That is, he would rather you and I pay more taxes than his billionaire friends. I have never in my life seen anyone who lies as much as this man.  

Then here is the other: he led the country out of a global pandemic towards a recovering (not perfect) economy. He led the passing of a bipartisan infrastructure bill despite being in one of the most divisive partisan climates. He believes in science. He has forgiven billions in student loans. He reformed student loans and introduced the SAVE plan so that while not forgiven, most can have their payments managed. He has invested over $7billion in HBCUs. He has implemented federal protections for abortion rights. He has saved the affordable care act (P.S: this, also called Obamacare, is how you don't get kicked out of your parents insurance till you're 26. #thanksObama). He oversaw the biggest climate change bill in world history. He has a record number of Black judges. He has the most diverse cabinet ever (female head of the Secret Service, a Black Secretary of Defense, a Female Secretary of Treasury, a gay Secretary of Transportation) not to mention a Black female Supreme Court Justice, and of course, a Black female Vice President.  During his presidency, we have the lowest Black unemployment rate ever. He capped the price of insulin. HE CAPPED THE PRICE OF INSULIN AT $35 FOR SENIORS. He expanded free lunch programs for 10 million kids. He believes in democracy. Okay so, he is old. He is really old. Yeah, sure, he stutters. He could have been more aggressive in pushing for a Palestinian state and getting a ceasefire (Netanyahu is story for another time). So anyway, no, this is not a perfect person.

Those are the two candidates before you.

No matter how angry you are, these two men are your choices. If I thought that a replacement for Biden would placate people, I would advocate for it too. But the people who do not like Biden wouldn't like anyone. No one would be good enough for them.  It would always be something; if it's not someone's emails, it's someone's age, or someone else is too progressive, or another is just not progressive enough, or another is genocidal, or another is too Black, or yet another is too female, or another said something one thousand years ago and so now they are disqualified. It would always be something. Because their end; their goal is piety, sanctimony. Their entire morality is their willingness to demean everyone else for not being good enough. Even though at their core they really don't desire for people to be better because they would have no one else to condescend to. And then what else would they have going for them? Nothing.

You can see why I'm convinced if you're still undecided in this election, you are either a coward or you are severely lacking in any kind of moral principles. Know that I write this with the fiercest kindness possible. There are iterations of this post that are thoroughly unkind. But it is important to me that the message is not marred in the medium. 

I have [tried to] carefully displayed two candidates before you now and it's up to you to pick. It's up to you (well, all of us collectively) to decide the fate of this country.  So that you get the full picture as you read this, I'll say this: In the 2020 Democratic primaries, I was staunchly against Joe Biden. I say that to let you know that this is not about some blind loyalty. He is not above my criticisms, which is why I am not afraid to say he didn't do well in the last debate.  I didn't watch it but I'll take y'all's word for it: his performance was poor. You know what he didn't do after? He didn't blame CNN. He didn't cower under mountains of conspiracy too asinine to dig through. He owned it. He owned his failure. It is that kind of humility that is so lacking in leadership today.  He is not perfect. But perfection is not an ideal anyone can live up to. We must not then throw the baby out with the bath water. We must not cut our own nose just to spite our face. If you read this and say I'm part of the problem, fair enough. Or maybe I'm just a grown up who has spent all of her adult life studying autocracies, democracies, and political violence. So believe me when I tell you that other guy means what he says when he says he will be a dictator from "day one". He will.  I'm just someone who knows the next president would elect at least one more Supreme Court justice. I'm just someone who knows there is too much at stake in November.  I don't disagree that Biden is old. If I believed in my heart that there was any other candidate who could beat the other guy, I might even concede to the point that maybe Biden should have stepped aside. But I don't believe that so I can't say that. 

But know that there are two candidates before you and before us.

It is up to us to save this country.

Love,

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