9 Comments

Firstly - Congrats on the move! Hope things go well there. Secondly - My take on Biden has turned into one of pure apathy. He's milquetoast enough to absorb those abandoning Trumpism voluntarily, and those who just want things to be "back to normal". He's no where near what anyone actually wants in a president, but considering our current president is sending death squads to kill black people who just want to breathe in peace, I'll take the milquetoast. I can only hope that the Dems actually become Dems and use their mouthpiece to promote actual progressive policies, but will settle for a "return to normalcy" or a year or so. That'll give me time to refresh and get actual mad, instead of just worn down like I am now.

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Thank you for writing this, it has put a lot of my personal worries about Biden into words in a better way than I ever could.

Thinking back to the Remain campaign in the UK, I think it is fundamentally a bad idea to run on a platform of 'normal is fine' after over a decade of war, austerity, and decades of relative economic decline. Similarly, Made America Great Already was always a terrible response to Make America Great Again, and that felt like it was at the heart of the Clinton campaign. I'm not really sure a campaign that essentially hinges on setting the clock back to 2016 and 'no one's standard of living will change' is anymore of a good idea. I don't think this will win Trump more votes necessarily but it might mean people are not willing to go through the hassle (or danger this year) of voting. (My ability to be optimistic is not helped by the number of people on Twitter talking about people who don't vote must be massively previleged... which is literally the diametric opposite of what is actually true.)

For the record, I am British but would vote for Biden if I was able.

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Congratulations on your move, Patrick.

I live in Canada, where we have a very different political system, but I've always had a fascination with the psychology around electoral choices.

Especially in the USA, where there are short electoral cycles, vigorous primaries, an empowered Congress but a winner-takes-all Presidential system at the state and national level, and every position from President to dog-catcher on the ballot, it seems to me that the time and place for idealism is between elections (party activism, primaries, etc.) and / or "down-ballot".

When it comes to the Presidential race -- there are two options. Either Biden wins, or Trump wins. Those are the only two possible outcomes. "None of the above" and "the non-Biden primary candidate I am passionate about" will not win this election. So people need to consider which of the two actual possible outcomes they would prefer to see, and vote accordingly.

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I was (and still am) hesitant to support Biden. Even if I weren't concerned about his age and mental fitness (I am), his personal and political history just doesn't suggest of presidential material to me. But at this point, getting better takes getting back to at least where we were, which is terribly sad. Any thinking I may have had about things needing to get worse before getting better suggest a hubris on my part that I know what the future might bring. I do not. Fingers crossed for the best.

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I think that the fact you can openly say who you support and who you vote foe is a welcome relief, even if I disagree. I believe your opinion should be respected. On the other hand, it's sad that you cannot say you support the opposite candidate without being met by insults and verbal abuse. I find this to be contradictory and of a double standard. It seems that unless you move with the flow, you're marginalized. I come from Cuba. A country where you don't have a choice of who you vote for, when and if there is a vote. These are most troubling times.

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Belated welcome to AZ!

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Can you provide an actual evidence of Trump’s racism? Aside from misinformed comments regarding the participants in the Charlottesville incident, I am not aware of anything. It seems if there was some ‘gotcha’ incident or document that it would have been brought to light considering the intense scrutiny Trump has been under. This is in contrast to Biden who was friendly with and publicly praised many of his senate colleagues that were well known and open racists, several of whom were documented members of the Klu Klux Klan. It seems hypocritical. Sort of like the MeToo movement giving Clinton a pass. This is the problem with those of you that reside in the logic tight echo chamber of academia is that you actually believe everyone one else believes what you are saying. Sadly, academia has become a place where free political speech is not tolerated and any dissent from the accepted leftist political orthodoxy is actually banned, shouted down or met with violence. So please refrain from making broad stroke statements about those that disagree with you and with whom you have very little contact or dialogue. Any of your colleagues would risk their classes being boycotted or worse if they really told you how they felt. A great example is labeling anyone that opposes BLM’s radical socialist ideas as a racist. Most people that support BLM have not ever bothered to understand this agenda (recently taken down from their website but available on web archive site). The American people are actually not as stupid as you assume and see through this phony virtue signaling and hypocrisy. Crying racism when it is not present or throwing around Nazi and Hitler comparisons play well with the indoctrinated but the rest of us see it for what it is. If someone is really against racism and fascism they would see that such false claims and hyperbole actual help mask real threats in these areas. Stick to history Patrick.

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Welcome back! Hope the move was as smooth.

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Welcome to Arizona! It’s a beautiful state and you will make it even better. 😊

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