Sue Donovan FACEBOOK responding to a post on THE-Ave.
If Donnie Darko is elected, they’ll claim the election was “rigged” to salve their public face. I would say soothe their consciences, but people who risk a trump presidency have no consciences – they care only about number one. Many who voted for Nader in 2000 are voting for Stein. In 2000, FL was lost by a handful of votes. They can claim all they want that this is a protest vote – but it boils down to a vindictive vote by people with an insatiable appetite for calumny. The anti-Hillary propaganda, often slung by those on the LEFT, was truly amazing. (Especially when we follow the money and find Karl Rove’s prints all over it.)Bottom line: Stein has no prayer of winning. Just as Nader had no prayer of winning in 2000. Yet, the PAIN of those Trump will target will be the same as if they voted directly for Trump, or for Stein, or write in Bernie, or sit home: Single mothers, non-whites, the poor, undocumented aliens (whom trump has happily exploited), LGBT people, chronically ill people with illnesses exacerbated by pollution (COPD, asthma just to name two). Workers. (Oh, yes! Workplace safety costs MONEY and OSHA is Trump’s enemy.)
If I had my wish, I’d round up the (Iraqi nationals who survived the Iraq invasion and the people who voted for Nader in 2000 and put them in a vast stadium. I’d ask those survivors if they felt any less pain knowing the Americans in the room had lodged a “protest” vote for Nader. Did it negate the pain from watching their own children bombed into oblivian, crushed under collapsed buildings or burned alive from incendiary devices? How about civilians (mainly elderly and children) who succumbed to water born diseases after destruction of their water supply? Or how about their loved ones whose injuries required surgery – performed without anesthesia – bc there was none available? The vote for Nader was extremely expensive – but paid for by the suffering of others.
At least this time Stein supporters have one thing in their favor: we are not exporting suffering to OTHER nations and OTHER people. Trump is targeting the poor, the elderly, women (especially single moms) all members of the LGBT community, undocumented human beings, and workers (oh, yes! Workplace safety costs money). Those are just a few. He’s also targeting environmental laws, which means suffering for kids and anyone whose illness is worsened by dirty air and water will. Everyone knows someone with asthma or COPD. I’m sure they’ll be mighty grateful you voted for Jill Stein!
No one in good conscience can claim to simultaneously back progressive issues while backing Jill Stein. The VOTING BOOTH IS NOT THE PLACE TO VENT POLITICAL ANGST. That’s what the media is for: Voice your anger: write an op-ed piece. (Or two or three or a hundred.) Start your own blog. First make your unhappiness public and next work for change. Voting for Stein only guarantees the triumph of political corruption at its worst. (Read this to inform yourselves: http://www.nytimes.com/…/donald-trump-silvio-berlusconi… Remember this: Trump will shape the SCOTUS for generations to come. I was a kid when Reagan appointed Scalia. And he just died and I’m pushing 60. Do you get my point? Trump’s reach will be from the grave, and not just for 4 or 8 years.
For Italians, Donald Trump’s Act Is Familiar
NYTIMES.COM|BY CELESTINE BOHLEN