I Was Horrified by the '24 US Election
But not for the reasons you might think
I did not vote for Donald Trump any of the three times he ran for office. While I liked some of the Republican policies, I just could not get over the man’s character flaws. I struggled with that as much as I did over my distrust of the Democratic Party.
I remained an undecided voter until the very end, but when voting day came, neither major party had won my vote, so it went to the Libertarian Party, whose policies most closely represent my own. I cite the six reasons I voted that way at the end of this essay.
I was not surprised when Trump won, nor was I disappointed. From my point of view (I live outside the United States), the U.S. held a free and fair election with high voter participation. Trump’s victory was an expression of democracy at work, and according to journalist H. L. Mencken:
Democracy is the theory that the common people know what they want, and deserve to get it good and hard.
What horrified me was what happened in the days and weeks after the election, and that is still going on.
Despicable Behavior
Take a look at some of these screenshots directed at the 74 Million American citizens who voted for Trump. They’ve been called “mentally deranged, stupid, ignorant, hateful, garbage, rapists, immoral, without values, greedy, misogynist, racist” and “a nation of idiots” who belong to “Dumbfuckistan.” One person said: “I will do damage to their faces.”
Most disturbing, to me at least, is when Trump supporters are demonized as “MAGA” or “The Deplorables.”
Labeling the Enemy
This last behavior is evidence of “enemy imaging” or “demonization,” that is, the act of labeling or describing an enemy in a way that dehumanizes them, often to justify hostility or violence. Examples from history include labeling the Viet Cong as “gooks,” liberals as “libtards,” and black people as the “N-word.” Enemy imaging makes it easier to rationalize negative treatment or aggression toward the enemy. It’s easier to kill a “gook” than it is a human being.
The most egregious example of this form of “othering” is when the Nazis labeled Jews, Slavs, and anyone not of pure Aryan race as “Untermensch,” literally meaning “subhuman” (garbage, immoral, stupid, etc. etc.) We know what happened next.
I Condemn Hateful Behavior
These people exercised their First Amendment right to express themselves. Now, I will exercise my free speech, and I won’t mince words — all this kind of behavior is despicable, and I condemn it. Those 74 Million Americans who voted for Trump are our friends, neighbors, relatives, and co-workers. They are not all stupid, and they are most certainly not deplorable or garbage.
I’ll sign my name below “John Hancock style” and post this publically on Thanksgiving Day, 2024, so there will be a permanent record of how I feel.
My Six Reasons for Voting Libertarian
Here are the six reasons I voted third party:
70% of Americans think our country is on the wrong track. Nothing will change unless we do something different. A third-party candidate WILL NOT WIN this time, and maybe not the next 10 times, but change starts small and grows big. Eventually, the powerful will take notice.
On the issue I care about most, US foreign policy, Democrats and Republicans do not differ much. Both parties (aka the “Uniparty”) are beholden to the same misguided NEOCON foreign policies we've had for the last 40 years.
US interventionist foreign policy has Americans involved in wars and countless military bases where we have no business being, spending money we don't have, and provoking people who could be our friends and allies. Nothing else we care about, not reproductive rights, not freedom of speech, not even climate change, will matter if present wars go nuclear. Hear my musical protest against nuclear war from here:
Neither of the two major parties is taking the deficit seriously enough. They both plan to keep spending on the national credit card instead of fixing the problem. Our country is weak because of its out-of-control spending and debt.
Both the Republicans and the Democrats have done a poor job at educating their fringes (radical Christians on the right and the radical Woke on the left) on the treasured and rare concept of liberty. Simply put, the American people should be free to live how they want to, say what they want, smoke what they want, eat what they want, and sleep with whomever they want, free from the fear that some moral purist from either fringe will force them to live otherwise.
I reject the notion that by voting third party, I am “taking away” a vote from either the Democrats or Republicans. My vote was something they had to earn, and they didn't. I vote according to my principles -- full stop.
