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Things are weird in the USA — and over the next few months they are going to get weirder. I find it necessary to lay out where I stand and the line I will walk as we turn and turn in the widening gyre.
I am weary of people telling me (as they have for about 20 years) that I “must” vote for X because they’re better than Y. I won’t vote for someone whose values and principles (if they have any) are contrary to my own. Won’t do it. I’m not a purist; I can vote for someone who I have disagreements with. But if we don’t align on, say 70 percent of issues, and on issues that are fundamental to me, I’m not going to support them. Sadly, given the drift of both parties to poles, beyond about the county level, I don’t feel represented at all. My state is deep blue, so my vote won’t matter anyway, and I can’t write a fat check to a campaign, so I might as well not trouble myself with the arguments.
I will comment on issues and policies and actions as I am moved to do so, either here at RIR, at Frontier Partisans or in the pages of The Nugget Newspaper. But I will not be indulging in political posturing on social media — and will delete any politically-oriented post that tags me. I will speak on that which I wish to speak on and nothing else and will not allow anyone to presume to speak for me.
I will happily engage in good-faith discussion of the content of anything I write on those platforms, but I will not be drawn into discussions outside their scope.
I will not attempt to have an honest conversation with dishonest people.
For years I have maintained friendships that I value with people of widely diverging political affinities. I hope to continue to do so. The ONLY thing that will jeopardize those relationships is an insistence that I must agree with you or a judgment of my values or personal integrity that is subjected to a political litmus test. Of any kind.
And within a few days, I’ll have my political manifesto emblazoned on a t‑shirt, to be available at the Frontier Partisans Trading Post:
Matthew says
I tend to vote for the one I think of as the lesser of all evils. I don’t think you ever get anything but a choice of evils. (Okay, maybe Lincoln was not an evil.) For most of human history you were stuck with the evil that was either descended from the previous evil or was able to seize control through brute force. So I see it as a net gain to choose the lesser of all evils. That said I think that one has to acknowledge that a lesser evil is still an evil. I’m not telling you how to vote. I’m just saying I have a different perspective.
I do think however if we are going get out of this mess the solutions are probably going to not come from whoever is elected president. I think a more grassroots approach is what is needed. I think that we might be more simpatico on that.
Grassroots. I put no faith in political saviors.
This is a manifesto I’m willing to sign.
Quixotic Mainer says
“But if I’m to choose between one evil and another, I prefer not to choose at all.” ‑Geralt of Rivia
I’m right there with you, personal accountability, and ordinary courage and self sufficiency are the only ways out of this quagmire. Little pure drops, all filtered, slowly fill up the canteen. Just sticking it in the pond is surely faster, but you pay for that quick bulk fix with political giardia.
“Political giardia.” Love it. A public health crisis.
Alexander Lauber says
Good stuff! Thanks for putting into words what I feel. “Political giardia”, that’s just great.
Quixotic Mainer says
I get inspired every time I stand downwind of a debate. It’s the opposite of hunting, you have to approach carefully, from upwind, if you choose to at all! There’s a lot of good kindred spirits here, I am just happy to be in good company.
Reader says
Let’s say you live in a peaceful town, where you work hard and tend to your own business. Intruders, determined to destroy your chosen way of life and impose their own agenda—which might outlaw oh let’s say hunting, fishing, gun ownership, religion, homeschooling, displaying your nation’s flag, prosecuting criminals, and truly free speech—are growing in number. The rich, boisterous, foul-mouthed jerk who owns the town’s only car dealership, and who used to wolf whistle at the girls in his youth and may or may not have had an affair with Ruby at the diner, offers, not without selfish and egotistical motivation, to represent the quiet, inward-leaning locals’ concerns and take the heat that the intruders are throwing. Do you support the car dealer now or wait until you are outnumbered and have to do a hell of a lot worse to protect your home and regain your rights?
tom says
i agree with matthew, difficult life choices are always ridden with evil, but i’ll take the lesser evil. this is the most important political election i’ve ever faced, even more important than the vietnam era when i faced the draft, and got drafted anyway. this monarchy and dictatorship ruling this country is so strayed from the constitution that we have to make an “evil” choice.….…
Jim says
I tend to believe that there are no good choices in politics. If there is someone who would hold the same philosophical views as I do, they probably would have the common sense not to run for political office. primarily because they can’t and won’t sell out their ethics. That being the case there aren’t a lot of choices for me.
I appreciate your willingness not to vote for someone you don’t respect but that’s easy to do in a state like Oregon that is decidedly blue and like you said, your vote doesn’t count anyway. Second-place is first loser. I felt that in California. But you can throw the baby out with the bathwater.
Up here in Maine though, it matters. Maine is purple. And always teeters between blue and red. The most recent House Seat was only made blue because of rank choice voting and stacking the Democrat side with multiple candidates. The traditional vote would have gone red. It went blue by very few votes. If there were voters who had philosophical issues with the Republican candidate, they handed another seat to a burgeoning leftist contingent in Congress. What good would that do.
I’m not voting for my doppelgänger. Sometimes that vote only consists of a aiming in a general direction. Sometimes the general direction is all that matters between leftist and freedom.
lane batot says
I’m not trying to convince anyone of anything here(in this comment), just state what I tend to do–like so many that vote regarding–NUMBER #1 issue!– gun rights(and they are very common! At least in my neck o’ the woods…), I personally vote–NUMBER #1! issue!– ENVIRONMENT! Not that I believe those politicians spouting pro-environmental platitudes will ACTUALLY follow through on such an agenda, but it is at least better than those who denigrate/ridicule such efforts, or don’t even bother to mention it. Ditto for a lot of other issues on that. But without a healthy environment/planet, NOTHING ELSE counts for spit! EVERYTHING depends on that! I certainly pay attention to many other issues, but for me, the environment is numero uno. I can well understand NOT voting or supporting any candidate that one cannot agree with or want to be associated with(although I, too, often view my choice as the “lesser evil”!), but I went that way last go-’round, figuring there couldn’t POSSIBLY be enough supporters to vote you-know-who in(“he who must not be named”! )–and I was mortified to find out the opposite. Discovered a LOT of things about many of my fellow Americans I had no clue about these past recent years gone by. And here I was thinking folks were thinking purty good and improving ethically! How naive I was. This WILL NOT happen, with me at least, THIS year! No how, no way! And I don’t care WHAT color my state is, or if I am the lone voice crying in what little is left of the wilderness(isn’t that what being a Frontier Partisan is all about? Forging ahead in no man’s land, and fighting against the odds?), I WILL be voting this time, BY GAWD! And can say, at least I TRIED. A waste of time, in this corrupt world? Perhaps. But if history mocks my infantile, microcosmic effort, I will know for myself, I TRIED. I can then retreat to what little wilderness remains.…..
eric petersen says
Having been a county commisioner for one term ie I was no politician. Ican tell you that even at that low level most of my fellow elected officials were in it for the money and hood winking the public into thinking they were doing something.
Yeoman says
The thought that two parties can even contain the views of all Americans, as is so commonly assumed, is simply insane. If a person find that its really the case that they agree with all of the things seemingly espoused by one of the two major political parties, they probably ought to reassess them.
That’s not a reason to to vote for a Republican or a Democratic candidate, depending upon ones views, but none the less, the two parties ought to be rationally at least four.
And that’s part of the overall problem.
Indeed.