As of press time, we’re less than two months away from the general election. Clearly, everyone is having a splendid time. No one’s stressed beyond measure; neighbours are chummier than ever, and the future has never seemed brighter.
Wait — is it getting hot in here or is it just me?
For others — the “blue no matter who” folks — perhaps not. This lesser-of-two-evilism is why, I believe, this summer is hotter than the last and this election is more consequential than the previous.
If not for the kaleidoscopic splendour of autumn in a small town, this would be my least favourite time of year. Yards are again littered with vapid slogans and last names turned brands — political signs that interrupt the golden patchwork of fallen leaves, insisting that the fate of the country again lives in the ballot box.
Every four years, we’re told the same thing: “This is the most important election of our generation. Vote like your life depends on it!” Will the 2028 election be the most important one of my life? I thought that was the 2020 election — er, no. This one. It’s hard to keep up.
How do these existential stakes rise so precipitously each election cycle?
Surely this either/or conundrum is a symptom of a deeper malady in our political economic system — one that capitalises off decision fatigue and the illusion that politics begin and end with the casting of a single vote. So what do we do? We choose the quintessential lesser of two evils: the less bad, the not-the-other one, the one who I believe will do less harm to my material conditions.
In a recent rally in Detroit, Vice President Kamala Harris was interrupted by two University of Michigan students chanting, “Kamala, you need to call for a ceasefire in Gaza. We demand an arms embargo and a free Palestine.” Her stern response, urging them to choose between her and Donald Trump, was met with applause, and the students were escorted out.
We do this over several decades, then our Democrats wind up far more right than even the staunchest neocons elsewhere in the world. Our “lesser of” tendencies in the ballot box render progressivism an ideological caricature of itself.
A Black woman president would be a welcome breath of air, but let’s at least be honest about who and what we’re voting for: the continuation of status quo world affairs that come at the mortal expense of those just out of frame. Her record as California’s attorney general shows a similar prosecutorial overreach.
Trump, on the other hand, is a proven sexual assailant, racist, and war-mongering cretin. He’s hell-bent on duping working-class people into believing his stolen wealth will one day come to them, while immigrants are purportedly wreaking havoc in the streets. His choice of vice president is one of Ohio’s greatest (worse) carpetbaggers. To be sure, don’t vote for them.
Table of Recent Political Events in the US
| Event | Date | Key Figures |
|---|---|---|
| 2020 Election | Nov 2020 | Joe Biden, Donald Trump |
| Kamala Harris Rally | Last week | Kamala Harris, University Students |
| Clinton vs. Trump | Nov 2016 | Hillary Clinton, Donald Trump |
| Bernie-or-Bust Movement | Ongoing | Bernie Sanders |
The point of this particular column is simply to ask, “Why?” Why have we allowed our collective politics to slip into such a dismal state wherein we must choose between committing more war crimes and committing more grand larceny? Vote for whomever you will, but please do not begrudge those with misgivings over checking the “lesser” of the two evil boxes on Tuesday, Nov. 6.
To that end, I will be voting for Claudia De la Cruz, the presidential nominee from the Party for Socialism and Liberation.
Tin Can Economy is an occasional column that reflects on objects, form and scale. It considers the places and spaces we inhabit, their constituent materials and our relationship to it all. Its author, Reilly Dixon, is a local writer, gardener and amateur winemaker. He is also a reporter for this newspaper.
