It’s natural to look at voting from a tactical perspective. Especially now that so much of our concept of democracy is reduced to just the act of voting, we have fallen into the mindset that the only way to take democracy seriously is not only to vote, but to vote. It’s easy. One of the two major political party candidates.
But that is a flawed and narrow way of understanding democracy. There is value in voting, but there is also value in not voting. Both can be expressions of one’s beliefs about the kind of society we want or don’t want to see in America.
In the 2024 presidential election, I will unfortunately cast what is known in political science parlance as a “wasted vote.” I’m voting for Professor Cornel West, but I don’t think my vote will be wasted.
I am a long-time Republican (in fact, a former Republican Congressional candidate) and am dissatisfied with the mainstream Republican Party. While I do not agree with the inhumane tactics and attitudes of groups like the Lincoln Project, I do not agree with the plight of the Republican Party, which feels it must be opposed within the party because of the character and divisiveness of Donald Trump. I sympathize with the non-Trumpers who are forced to stand in this situation. The threat he poses to democracy. I voted for Mike Pence in the Republican primary based on this.
Neither Democratic nor Republican candidates are worthy of support.
But I part ways with many of my Republican friends who are by no means Trump in that I think the failures of the Democratic Party and its allies’ interests don’t compare to the failures of the modern Republican Party.
My frustration stems primarily from the political left’s devastating misrepresentation of race and police issues in the wake of the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis in 2020, and the public misrepresentation in the context of illegal immigration. This is due to indifference to safety and narrow-minded and excessive approaches to lockdown. It is the coronavirus pandemic (for which President Trump is also responsible) and his stance on the coronavirus pandemic that attempts to mislead the American public about the mental health of the current US president.
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I have few specific complaints about Vice President Kamala Harris other than that she seems to me like a cog in the progressive Democratic Party. But what I have a hard time voting for is the wheel.
I live in California, and the election results there are considered final. This fact gives me the luxury of voting with my conscience. However, the most notable third-party candidates in this election campaign are more substantial and dignified than the major party candidates.
Among them is Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Although dismissed as a conspiracy theorist, Kennedy makes a convincing indictment of the Democratic Party establishment, and goes beyond criticism of its lockdown policies (which I have some sympathy for) to the rest of the world. It also draws attention to major issues. Concerns that Harris and Trump ignore, such as corrupt food safety standards.
Kennedy decided to support Trump without thoroughly interrogating the former president’s claims of a stolen election, unwillingness to commit to a peaceful transfer of power, and the events of January 6, 2021. Ta. I believe this endorsement represents what he feels is Kennedy’s final rebellion against his party. But he failed to explain the wide range of anti-democratic actions carried out by both parties in recent years.
Still, Kennedy has campaigned with respect for the beliefs of Democratic, independent, and Republican voters without degenerating into humane contempt for his opponents. I respect him in this regard.
Cornel West, on the other hand, has received less attention as an independent candidate than Kennedy. On a traditional analysis of the political spectrum, I may have less in common with West than with other candidates in the race.
West is openly leftist. His progressive politics are inflammatory to standard liberal Democrats (and anathema to conservative Republicans). If policy were the only factor, Mr. West would not be a consideration at all for moderately conservative Republicans like me.
However, policy is not the only thing I need to consider in this election. That shouldn’t be the case for America either.
American politics is facing a crisis in its understanding of the condition of its citizens and human dignity, and ultimately a spiritual crisis of a society reeling in search of a sense of meaning.
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At the root of the crisis in our institutional credibility and basic political functioning is the inability of our leaders, political parties and media institutions to treat dissent and dissent with dignity and empathy. It’s political culture.
This is also reflected in the way we treat our neighbors in this era of polarization. We also center discussions in culture war politics and frivolous political maneuvering around the plight of the poor at home, suffering abroad, and the most disadvantaged in society as a result of our country’s as well as nation’s deficiencies. I haven’t been able to put it on. Not just in policy, but also in the ethical emptiness of our political culture.
And all of this is reinforced in modern times by a way of life that seeks fulfillment through material consumption, through status and good looks, through violence and the glorification of the ego in the vacuum of a deeper spiritual commitment, and through which gross partisan politics rushes in to fill the gap.
Cornel West is a model for our democracy
I stand by Mr. West not only based on his current candidacy, but also in recognition of the example he has set as both a scholar and an activist in his life’s mission to elevate the conscience of American society. I plan to vote to support Mr. West. We find in this the deeper meaning of healing the wounds of people in weaker positions by transcending the differences in our positions.
West’s career is also exciting because he pursued his mission in the face of political division.
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West is best known as a voice for social justice and a leader in the black community. But he stands out among most who share that description.
A prodigious scholar (he is the author of at least 20 books and has edited at least 13 more), West’s best-known work is the essay collection Race Matters. This book was published in 1993, in the aftermath of the Rodney King assault and the Los Angeles riots, and was written in 1993, in the wake of the Rodney King assault and the Los Angeles riots. The opportunity was ripe for a leader who wanted to do so.
West, the Dietrich Bonhoeffer Professor of Philosophy and Christian Practice at Union Theological Seminary, led a righteous indignation to revive calls for justice in “race matters.” But he also did something deeper.
In a moment of passion and instability that rarely conveys a nuanced or insightful overview of the forces driving black anger and black identity in America, West confronts black liberals, progressives, and the black nation. Not only did it acknowledge the cultural and political contributions of African Americans and even black people, but it also humanized them. black conservatives.
His criticism of each of these groups is sharp. But there’s not an ounce of spite in his criticism. West’s analysis of the strengths and weaknesses of these ideological factions in the black community was also fair and accurate.
In the book’s first preface, he writes, “The predictable conflicts between liberals and conservatives, between great social Democrats and self-help Republicans, are reinforcing intellectual parochialism and political paralysis.”
West argued that the common flaw on both sides was that they perceived black people as a problem to be managed in American society, an attitude that was not humane.
Thirty years later, West is still in deep public dialogue with economists and prominent black conservative intellectuals, including Glenn Rory. Two of their conversations can be seen on “The Glenn Show,” including one in which Lowry opposes Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, a political pariah among progressive black Americans. This is West’s response to his defense.
“Brother Clarence has always been my political enemy, my ideological enemy, there is no doubt about that. We can worry about our loved ones and our families, and we conflict. And people say, “Oh, Brother West,[Thomas]just pushed through a bill to restore women’s rights.” I say, “I know, that’s why I’m going to the streets.” That’s why I champion reproductive rights. …But he’s a loyal right-wing brother through and through. …There have always been conservative people in the black community. They were part of the community. ”
West’s use of the words “brother” and “sister” is not limited to black people, but to all people with whom he feels a human connection. And he continually seeks to connect with people on a human level.
Almost unique among progressives, Mr. West also stands up to some of the most punitive conservative commentators, including Fox News’ Sean Hannity and many others, on the serious issue of Israelis and Palestinians. He consistently succeeded in holding discussions with respect and a sense of brotherly love.
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Opposition to the Israeli-Hamas war in Gaza has become an animating movement in Western presidential campaigns, and his commitment to Palestinian rights and freedoms is longstanding. But West’s solidarity with Jews, respect for the historic relationship between the Jewish and African American communities, and opposition to anti-Semitism are longstanding as well.
A homage to the deeper heritage of America and Western Civilization. A commitment to intellectual inquiry and the free exchange of ideas. A moral commitment to the plight of the poor and downtrodden. A proven commitment to treating even adversaries with dignity and bridging gaps. These are Cornel West’s virtues.
When I vote for this man, even as a Republican, I vote for these virtues. It will not result in the West landing in the White House. But it gives me the opportunity to vote for the kind of values and political spirit that I would like to one day see represented in the White House and the general spirit of American democracy.
I can actually vote with faith because Cornel West has chosen to run for president.
John Wood Jr. is a columnist for USA TODAY Opinion. He is a national ambassador for the Braver Angels, a former candidate for Congress, a former vice chair of the Los Angeles County Republican Party, a musical artist, and a noted author and speaker on subjects such as racial and political reconciliation. there is. Follow him on X: @JohnRWoodJr