Many voters believe, with good reason, that none of this would have happened without Biden’s assent. Biden has continued to speak of Israel’s attack on Palestinian civilians using the absurd language of “self-defense”. He has insulted Jewish Americans and the memory of the Holocaust by invoking them to justify the slaughter. And though his White House repeatedly leaks that he is “privately” dismayed by Israel’s conduct of the war, he has done little to stop the flow of US money and guns that support it.
Even after the US state department issued a vexed and mealy-mouthed report on Israel’s conduct, which nevertheless concluded that it was reasonable to assess that Israel was in violation of international humanitarian law, the Biden administration has continued to fund these violations. That state department report was published on 10 May. The Biden administration told Congress that it intends to move forward with a $1bn arms sale to Israel. “OK, [Israel] likely broke the law, but not enough to change policy,” is how one reporter summarized the administration’s judgment. “So, what is the point of the report? I mean, in the simplest terms, what’s the point?”
Meanwhile, Biden has expressed public disdain for the Americans – many of whom he needs to vote for him – who have taken to protest on behalf of Palestinian lives. Speaking with evident approval of the violent police crackdowns against anti-genocide student demonstrations, he said coolly: “Dissent must never lead to disorder.”
Why is that the choice in what is supposedly the most free country in history?
We’ve never been a free country. They meant free from the monarchy. Free to own their own slaves, etc.
But I hear your point. Another poster pointed out that if these are the two choices, democracy is already over, if it ever was to begin with.
I might end up voting third party. But the harm reductionist in me knows Biden is not as bad as Trump. And it’s hard to vote my conscience when a vote for Biden means fewer dead bodies.
Agreed. Though there is the argument that neoliberalism leads to Trump/fascism. So a vote for Dems/Neoliberals/Biden is just prolonging the inevitable - which, even if true, is still worth prolonging
Unless you live in a swing state, then you might as well - there’s really no reason for voters in California or Oklahoma, for instance, to vote blue/red. And 2000 and 2016 demonstrate that popular vote victories have extremely limited moral/political significance.
I do live in a swing state. So yea, it matters here.