As I grapple with my primary ballot, due in 5 days, I wonder if my vote really counts! I've been a loyal democratic voter since I started voting, always along party lines. The 1980 election was my first election, fresh out of high school, and I couldn’t believe an actor, Ronald Reagan, was running for president. I hadn’t known him as governor of California in 1966; I was a mere child. But I remember watching him on television in the western movies my grandfather preferred. Not being politically astute, all I knew about the democratic contender, Jimmy Carter, was that he pardoned all Vietnam War draft evaders on his second day in office. A noble act by my standards, so a democrat I would become.
The 2000 election threw me into a tailspin with the realization that the Electoral College could supersede the popular vote in the presidential election, a nuanced understanding of the political process. The Electoral College would select George W. Bush as president even though Al Gore won the popular vote by 543,895 votes. Fast forward to 2008, with years of political awareness under my belt, I marveled at the idea that my vote would help make history by electing the first African American, Barack Hussein Obama, as the president of the United States of America. As Sam Cooke sang in 1964, "A Change Is Gonna Come," which became an anthem for the Civil Rights Movement, I believed change was happening.
America would be better, do better, and live up to the Declaration of Independence: “…that all men (and women) are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of happiness.” Had we moved forward into this preamble? Was America finally becoming a true democracy “of the people, for people, and by the people?” Were we forming a more perfect Union, establishing Justice, ensuring domestic Tranquility, promoting general Welfare, and securing the Blessings of Liberty, as established under the Constitution of the United States? Or so I thought!
The 2016 election would diminish my belief in "We the People." The Electoral College would once again call the presidential election by declaring 45 the president over Hillary Clinton, who won the popular vote by 2.87 million. The 2020 primary election gave me hope with lots of choices. Biden not being my first or second. The democratic contenders included Cory Booker, Pete Buttigieg, Julian Castro, Kirsten Gillibrand, Amy Klobuchar, Tulsi Gabbard, Beto O’Rourke, Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren, and Kamala Harris to name a few. Choices we had! But it would come down to “the lesser of the two evils.” Vote Biden to ensure 45 doesn't get a second term. So, I would go along with the rhetoric of the democratic party and vote along party lines. But was this my vote? Or was it the vote I made to believe was my only choice?
Finding myself in the same predicament in the upcoming 2024 elections: vote for Biden to save the democracy from 45. What the hell? Is this a democracy or sell the presidency to the highest bidder? Biden and 45 are two sides of the same coin: corporate plutocracy, the military-industrial complex, mainstream media propaganda, super PACs, and the power elite. Let me be clear, 45 would not be good for the country for a number or reasons that I don’t need to explain. But are we being led to believe that Biden is our only hope?
As Wall Street continues to guide America's political and economic direction, I ask myself, "Which presidential contender is looking out for Main Street or My Street?" Palestinian American Congressperson Rashida Harbi Tlaib is asking that question on behalf of her community. As she called for an "uncommitted" vote for Biden in the Michigan primary, her stance challenged Biden's policies on a cease-fire in Gaza. It sends a message to examine the power of our vote. In 2001, Congressperson Barbara Lee was the only member of Congress to vote against an open-ended war authorization on Afghanistan. Her response explains her decision, as captured in The Washington Post by Gillian Brockell on August 17, 2021, "However difficult this vote may be, some of us must urge the use of restraint. Our country is in a state of mourning. Some of us must say, 'Let's step back for a moment, let's just pause, just for a minute, and think through the implications of our actions today so that this does not spiral out of control.'" This represents how women of color lead, from a place of humanity, equity, and justice.
We must acknowledge choice; third-party and independent candidates are running in the 2024 United States presidential election. Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., an activist and environmental lawyer from California, and Dr. Cornel West, an academic and activist from California, both under the Independent Party. As Dr. West explained in an interview on the Tavis Smiley KBLA Talk 1580 Podcast, when asked if his candidacy would pull votes away from Biden, “…when somebody chooses to vote for you, he’s (she) not pulling votes away, you see Biden doesn’t own any votes, he’s got to earn it. He’s got to earn it if the Democrats are putting out mediocre milk toast neoliberal politicians who can’t say a mumbling word about militarism, can’t say a mumbling word about serious response to poverty, can’t say a mumbling word about serious white supremacist practices. I supported Biden last time; I did because I thought Trump’s fascism was such that we had to fight. Does that mean then we’re choosing between a neo-fascist catastrophe and a neo-liberal disaster?” Smiley responded, “To your point if they (Democrats) came correct, they would not need a Cornell West candidacy.” Well, there you have it, folks!
Other candidates include Peter Sonski, a local politician from Connecticut, and Lauren Onak, a Florida teacher, with the American Solidarity Party; Claudia de la Cruz with Karina Garcia, activists from California running under the Party for Socialism and Liberation; and Michael Wook and John Pietrowski, Prohibition Party. They all have ballot access to fewer than 270 electoral votes, the minimum number required to attain the presidency. The Peace and Freedom Party will hold a non-binding preference primary in California on March 5, where Claudia de la Cruz, Jasmine Sherman, and Dr. Cornel West will all appear on the ballot.
We also have the Libertarian Party with a bunch of white men running in the primaries, including 40-year-old Joshua Smith from my side of town, Antioch, CA. Then we have the Green Party with Jill Stein and Randy Toler from Illinois, Jasmine Sherman from New York, and Jorge Zavala from California. The Legal Marijuana Now Party will list five candidates on the Minnesota primary ballot: an activist, archeologist, performance artist, and others. The American Independent Party will hold a presidential preference primary in California with only one candidate on the ballot. The Forward Party will not nominate a candidate but endorsed Dean Phillips in the Democratic primary. Then you have other parties and independents without ballot access, including an engineer, a rapper, a Catholic podcaster, and a former college football coach. We even had Kanye West announce his candidacy before suspending his campaign.
But we don’t know about any of these and don’t see them as choices, except for Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., Jill Stein, and possibly Dr. Cornel West. Why? Because money dominates politics. SuperPAC gets 77% of its contributions from the top 100 donors, and 1% of donors give 64% of campaign contributions. See Center for Responsive Politics. The most significant contributors to political campaigns are financial institutions and real estate developers, who work hand in hand. Election debates and commercials have become performative in the worst way, with fearmongering, insults, and inappropriate bantering. Then we have the non-voters. The Knight Foundation released a study in 2020 on why millions of Americans don’t vote. Some insights revealed less faith in the electoral system and feeling their vote doesn’t matter, less engagement with news and information, and uninformed to decide who to vote for; Gen Z are less interested in politics and less informed. We have a choice but are made to believe that we don’t. We have bought into the two-party-only illusion. We can’t really vote for who we want; we must vote for the white guy who can beat the other white guy. If we want a different outcome, we must be willing to move in different directions, like Rashida Harbi Tlaib, Barbara Lee, and Dr. Cornell West.
What if I voted my conscience? What if I voted for who I believe could make a difference, not just "the lesser of the two evils." As a woman of color, the daughter of immigrant parents who couldn't vote, and the granddaughter of a family exiled from their country because of political differences, what if I voted based on my self-interest, my family, and the interest of my community? Would my vote count? Would it make a difference? What if?