In Tikkun (Summer 2000) I found an important article by Michael Lerner: “Don’t Vote Lesser Evil Politics.” His insights are still valid for this decade. In what follows I will summarize by quoting and paraphrasing Lerner, but without reference to specific candidates. Personally, I don’t identify any candidates as evil; but the consequences of some of their policies may undermine a true democracy.
Many political progressives are conflicted about the November elections. Learner wants us “to encourage debate about the morality and social consequences of …’lesser evilism’ in politics.” By ‘lesser evilism’ he means choosing the candidates “who will do the least harm rather than choosing the candidate who comes closest to expressing your own views and attitudes” out of fear that a worse candidate may win.
1) Powerlessness corrupts – By “accepting the lesser evil we lose the inner quality of soul that makes it possible to fight for anything against the odds.” This can lead us to accommodating evil on other occasions, “a moral and spiritual corruption.”
2) Liberal and Progressive forces are disempowered – In accepting the lesser evil argument we weaken democratic politics by supporting a wing of the pro-corporate “Property Party” (our current system) when we believe in neither wing.
3) Winning is abandoned – Actually, you might win! If many operate on a “we can’t win” assumption we contribute to a self-fulfilling prophecy. “By not voting your conscience you are giving the media the justification it seeks to ignore significant alternate views,” marginalizing yourself.
4) Consequences of the lesser evil winning are unknown – Getting “snookered out” after elections has happened repeatedly to many of us. Supreme Court appointments and international actions may not in fact reflect a lesser evil.
5) Lesser evilism weakens faith in democracy – If we repeatedly vote for candidates in whom we do not believe, we end up feeling we are without representation and “government itself feels less legitimate.”
6) Lesser evilists ignore how policies get shaped – “The key factor in determining what happens in politics is the relative balance between corporate power and popular mobilization for progressive ideals.” Candidates of a dominant political party will feel little pressure to satisfy “progressives” to initiate and establish programs and policies that are urgently needed to rescue democracy from our current plutocracy when they assume that these citizens will vote for them anyway!
7) Voting for a lesser evil means abandoning those who share your perspectives – When “you look around for allies for some visionary idea or moral cause that inspires you, you will find fewer people ready to take risks, because when they stood up for their ideals at election time you weren’t willing to support them.” Voting for the lesser evil reinforces despair about changing the system. We will “never win a society we believe in unless we are willing to stand up and fight for it, even if in the short run we lose some of our battles.”
In sum, Lerner contends that we shouldn’t throw our votes away by “authorizing someone we don’t believe in” to represent us. However you vote, consider not only your choice at the polls but how your decision affects the choices all of us have in the future.
All humanity and other living things depend upon radical, prompt action regarding climate change. Half-hearted endeavors by governments and citizens will not prevent coming generations from catastrophic consequences.
P.S., more personally—My plea is that we each vote for individual candidates who have modeled integrity in their careers, have not been “bought” by lobbyists or by big money. (To whom are they beholden for their election and service?) Some have been “bought” by rigid party-line loyalty. Some have manifested integrity by an ability to buck popular but unwise legislation. Now that corporations have been given the status of “persons”, we need to be even more cautious regarding those who are “bought”.
When I lived in Washington State during the McCarthy “communist fear” years, I once voted for fine persons I knew in four parties! I trusted them, wanted more of them. The actions needed for responding to climate change will require innovation and a strong commitment for actions that will buck “corporate special interests”. So, I do vote for some people I know and trust in the two major parties. Officially, I am a Green Party member for their basic policies of nonviolence, full gender equality, supporting the right of workers to organize, and other aspects of their party platform. We need commitment to future generations by actions NOW and vote for those candidates, building a committed corps of official Congress persons, judges, governors, and so on that are so dedicated.
The two major parties have arranged structures that keep other orientations from being read, seen, or heard. A price will be paid if all approaches are not included in political debate.
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