In college, I double majored in political science and economics because I love delving into the in’s and out’s of legislative proposals, supreme court decisions, and economic policy. I trend liberal in my ideology and make no bones about that.
But none of that is how I’m voting this year.
This year, I’m voting for the person who is kind, tells the truth, and believes in science (and by that, I don’t mean a rejection of religion or faith, but a respect for reason and the scientific process).
That’s it. That’s all I really want. You could believe in the Christian God or the Flying Spaghetti Monster for all I care. You could be for tax cuts or against them. For multinationalism or isolationism. In support of our troops or against them. Dog person or cat lover?
Don’t matter much to me.
What I want to know is, are you a kind person? Do you tell the truth? Do you act with integrity and in good faith? Do you believe in some semblance of reason and the scientific process? That’s all I need to know about you.
My, how my standards have fallen.
It’s not that other things don’t matter to me. They do — a lot. Anyone who reads this blog knows just how much they matter to me. It’s just that without the foundations of what makes us decent and human and trustworthy, none of the rest of that stuff matters. None of it.
Granted, the very definition of politics may be characterized as a show of empathy and integrity, but there’s a difference between a veneer of caring and outright contempt, between exaggeration and outright lies, between considering the science and selectively leveraging it only when it suits one’s agenda. Much of the political establishment is the former and leaves much to be desired; Trumpism represents the latter. He is the bully our kindergarten teachers warned us about. He is the liar our parents hoped we’d never date. And yet, here we are.
This is more than a political critique or a toothless plea for kindness. It’s a deep rooted belief that if we lose sight of our core values and justify our beliefs by (virtually) any means necessary, we’ll end up with demagoguery, tribalism, and fascism. That’s an existentialist threat to our country — and to our species — no matter what our ideology or political stripes might be.
Lest any progressives feel smug about this, I see traces of Trumpism in liberalism too. The issue is not so much what one believes but how one condones proselytizing, implementing and safeguarding those beliefs. History is rife with the oppressed mimicking the tactics of the oppressor, and I do fear for how progressives sometimes support or excuse abuses amongst us in ways that are no different from how the right lay the groundwork for Trump today.
But that’s not what this election is about. It’s a referendum on those in power today — specifically those in the Presidency and the Senate. It’s a referendum on whether we find it okay for them to compromise character for ideology; to justify the ends by any unkindness, any lie, and any reasoning necessary.
It’s not okay. And we should speak plainly about that, no matter whether we are Republican, Democrat, or something else.
There’s an old adage that goes, “The person who is nice to you but not nice to the waiter is not a nice person.” This year, I will cast my vote for that person who is kind to the waiter even if I don’t like his menu choices over one who is rude to the waiter but whose menu choices I approve of. That can be a hard message for activists like me to stomach at times, when we so want to fight fire with fire. But the way to a better future is not through more darkness.
I’m dedicating my vote this year to kindergarten teachers everywhere, with the values they tried to instill in us years ago: be kind, be truthful, reason for yourselves.
Show me you can do that much, and you have my vote.
We Can't Go Back 