why this still angry sanders supporter is voting biden-harris (even in california)

dear sanders supporters and green party voters and people who are thinking of not voting because there’s no difference between Trump and Biden,

[first of all, if you are someone who is not angry at the leadership of the democratic party for failure to protect and extend the benefits created by the new deal and to address the climate crisis, this letter is not for you. if you are perfectly happy with the biden-harris ticket, this letter is not for you. if you are certain that the reason hillary clinton lost was due to bernie sanders and his supporters, this letter is not for you. if you are trying to shame people who are angry and hurt at a national democratic party that claims it stands for regular people but has failed to enact a living wage, medicare for all, affordable or free college, or take meaningful action against the existential threat of climate change, this letter is not for you. if you are trying to shame people who are angry at the democratic party into voting for biden-harris at all, this letter is not for you. if you are trying to claim that biden & harris really agree with those who have had enough of the kleptocracy, this letter is not for you. if you don’t know what “kleptocracy” means, this letter is not for you. to all of you to whom this letter is not addressed, i love you, i know you, i bless you, but you have plenty of other forums (fora?) to engage in, you do not need to engage in this private conversation between me and those to whom this letter is addressed.]

okay, good, now it’s just us and we don’t have to worry about them. i wanted to let you know why i’ve decided to vote for the democratic ticket instead of the green party candidate in a state that will deliver its votes for the democratic ticket regardless. first, a little background on me: i was raised in california by a radical socialist professor who routinely would vote for the farthest left candidates in democratic primaries and then would vote (at that time in the 70s and 80s) for the peace & freedom party candidates in the general election. my mother was and is and a mainstream democrat born in charleston, south carolina in the cradle of the confederacy. invariably whomever she supported in the democratic primary would win the nomination. they would have fierce arguments about his choice to vote for a third party. i remember in 1980, he voted for barry commoner for president in the election between jimmy carter and ronald reagan. my mother, who referred to reagan only as “that awful man” wouldn’t speak to him for a week and personally blamed him for having elected reagan. of course in that election california did deliver its electoral votes for its former governor. during the reagan administration, my father quite literally became heartsick at the direction the country was taking and, at the age of 55, died of a heart attack.

for most of my voting history in california, i have followed my father’s course of action not my mother’s. i have never, for example, voted for our longtime us senator dianne feinstein. not once. i voted for ralph nader multiple times in general elections over al gore and whomever else he voted for, although i was very clear in those times that if i had lived in a “swing” or what we now dub “battleground” state, i would have voted for the dem. i have one friend who voted absentee for nader in florida in the famous “bush v. gore” supreme court stolen election and never voted third party again.

this year i was so very hopeful at bernie sanders winning the california presidential primary and so very angry at the democratic party for engineering the coronation of someone who i considered its weakest standard bearer, that i firmly planned to vote for the green party candidate in california. what possible harm could it do? no. i don’t want trump to win but enough is enough. california will deliver its electoral votes to biden regardless, i don’t need to soil myself by pretending that his completely inadequate center right agenda reflects my values. it doesn’t. and i refuse to pretend that it does.

and i still resent my friends who split the left vote by supporting elizabeth warren long after it was clear she had no chance thereby paving the way for this center right weak choice that we have.

yet, upon further reflection and prayer, i have made a decision to cast my vote for biden and harris in this election. and so i wanted to explain to those few of you to whom this letter applies what my reasoning is. i stand with bernie sanders, cornel west, michael moore, alexandria ocasio-cortez and john cusack, all of whom were strong for bernie in the primary and share all my beliefs, in choosing to vote for biden-harris nonetheless.

too much is at stake in this election for me to cast my vote for green party out of anger or pride. and it is not merely a case of lesser of 2 evils (although if that does it for you, have at it). here are the reasons that i am voting biden/harris instead of third party this year despite the mainstream democratic party’s cynical manipulation of the left and its likely plan to sell out leftwing support:

1. biden-harris has some respect for the rule of law, the separation of powers, civil liberties and the judiciary. only with a biden-harris administration can there be the possibility of anything approaching a fair election. without a fair election, my opinions are rendered meaningless. it is not outside the realm of possibility that a second trump administration would begin throwing people like me in prison for our beliefs. seriously. it isn’t.
2. because the trump administration is affirmatively using all aspects of its power to retain power, and because the winner of the popular vote has lost the electoral college multiple times now, only a total repudiation of these tactics will be guaranteed to actually win. i want to run up the score in california so high that it helps send a message to future presidents and administrations that they can’t behave like this and get away with it. yes, anti-trump, not pro-biden.
3. although biden-harris is very unlikely to enact medicare for all, green new deal, or universal free college education or preschool, trump-pence has been and is affirmatively working to undermine social security, expanded medicaid coverage from obama care, enforcement of existing clean air, water, food and drug safety laws, civil rights laws and enforcement, the rule of law itself and to stack the judiciary with far right pro corporate judges. that unraveling would cease with biden-harris and we would have at least a chance of retaining the protections we already have. any false equivalency between the 2 administrations must cease, they would be very different.
4. For these reasons, i am choosing to form a coalition between the center right democratic party and the leftwing party i belong to defeat the ultra right white nationalist totalitarianism.