No final victories
Earlier this month, Northampton County, in the commonwealth of Pennsylvania, issued a notice that my overseas ballot has been approved and is currently being processed. I greeted that confirmation with a profound sigh of relief. My relief was even deeper than the last time I cast my vote in a presidential election. That was when I voted for Joe Biden in 2020. I will be voting for Biden again in November.
Prior to the last two presidential elections, whenever I voted I was casual, perfunctory, an American participating in democracy to be sure, but with the insouciance of a man ticking off items on a todo list. All that has changed. Now my vote represents an urgent act of survival.
Adding to this urgency is the knowledge I will be voting in a battleground state. Pennsylvania could decide the election, and my vote could decide Pennsylvania. I am aware of the odds against that, but I am also aware that this election could decide the fate of the world. Not voting would be a gamble I would not, could not consider in any event. Not voting in a battleground state is unsustainable. I won’t bore you with talk of wild horses, but yes, my vote matters to me more than anything else in my life just now. Anyone trying to stop me had better be prepared to lose.
But I also approach this election with my eyes wide open. I am confident we will win, but I am not certain we will win. It is that uncertainty, however small, that keeps me awake at night. Another Trump presidency will mean the end of America and quite possibly the end of the human race. It has literally come to that, and I never before dreamed it would. We aren’t merely voting this time, we are literally combatting the forces of pure evil.
I am also aware that this election is only our next battle in a long, protracted war. The apparatus of the MAGA infection is stronger this time. They learned from their mistakes. This time, even if Trump loses, the machinery that put him in power the first time will reload. There will never be a final victory until that machinery has been completely defeated.
I am also aware that this article could have been written by a MAGA fanatic. Just swap a few names and ideologies, Trump for Biden, Republican for Democrat. You get the idea. But there is an important difference. We are right and they are wrong. I say that with the same level of confidence that I tell a flat earther that the world is a sphere. It really is just that simple.
We are objectively, provably right. There isn’t any question about it. We represent democracy, inclusion, civil rights for all, the empowerment of women, the rule of law, the good of all peoples everywhere. They represent hatred, violence, guns, dictatorship, lawlessness, enslavement, the wealthy one percent, bigotry and white supremacy. I would sooner confess that the earth is flat than I would that we are wrong. But it doesn’t even matter what I think. We are right, all the same.
If you don’t understand this, understand it now. You must also vote. You must also rally your friends to the polls, support Democratic candidates in tossup elections and speak out every chance you get. Carry with you a list of every good thing President Joe Biden has done and every evil thing convicted felon Trump promises to do. Be prepared to use that list in any conversation with anyone unclear on the difference between the two candidates. We the people can win this election, but we the people must act. And, as ever, ladies and gentlemen, brothers and sisters, comrades and friends, stay safe.
Robert Harrington is an American expat living in Britain. He is a portrait painter.