A few thoughts on what we owe each other
Let's take a look at the past few presidential elections in France. For the past few cycles, the mainstream candidate, whether he (and it's been a he) or she, has been matched up against the candidate for the fascist National Front. Before, it was the founder of the party, Jean-Marie Le Pen. Now, it's his daughter, Marine Le Pen, who, Goneril-like, exiled her father in a vain attempt to appear more moderate. When the mainstream candidate was a conservative, liberals and socialists voted for him over the Le Pens. When the mainstream candidate was a socialist or a liberal, conservatives voted for him over the Le Pens. French voters of all political hues outside of the Le Pen cult recognized the duty they owed to the Republic and their fellow citizens to prevent a fascist from assuming power.
See, that wasn't that hard. French voters knew what they had to do to preserve their democracy, and they did it, even if they would have preferred a contest between two mainstream candidates. But that's not always possible. France is going through the same fragmentation politically that most of Europe is going through. In fact, if one is to look at it clearly, the US, for all it's current problems, is much more stable politically than Europe. Democrats beat back the loony left's takeover attempt. The GOP will struggle on for a bit longer, hopefully suffering a catastrophic defeat this November. If it does suffer a resounding thrashing, it won't go away; but it will be crippled, and the country will be under stable leadership. The Democratic Party is the true big tent party, as it sweeps in everyone from socialists like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez to moderate conservatives who will put country above party, because their party no longer exists. This will be unwieldy, and will, as with all things, eventually split apart. But if the Democratic Party can reposition politics so that there are again two mainstream ideological parties, it will be regarded as the savior of the Republic.
But none of this will happen if people are of the opinion that their vote is theirs to do with as they wish. This goes both for the left and the right. We are at a precipice every bit as momentous as that in 1861, as the Old Confederacy declared independence. Justin Amash's quixotic campaign for the Libertarian Party is failing to read the room. People who might normally be attracted to him are, mostly, having none of that. Our votes are not our own to do with as we wish. Mine belongs to my wife, and my family, and my friends, and my community. Mine belongs to people who are suffering under Donald Trump's regime. Mine belongs to a world aching and thirsting for renewed American leadership. Mine belongs to those yet unborn, so that the world they inherit is better than the one we came into.
It is nigh unfathomable to me that one can think oneself so autochthonous as to have no connection to what goes on around him. We see this in pundits like Chris Cillizza, who berate Trump, but really don't want to see him go, because, let's face it, Joe Biden will take up again Barack Obama's no-drama. There is a strain of people who love chaos, whether or not they admit it. They love the hurly-burly, the anxiety, the utter disorder, thinking it won't affect them, mostly because they have white skin and possess penises. They may tut-tut over brown kids in cages, but when they're called on to act, they retire to their well-worn tropes. My vote is my own, my voice is my own, and I will damned well allow the perfect to be the enemy of the good, because I think it's the only agency I possess.
And that's it right there. They, deep down, feel themselves to be powerless. They're not being heard, they think. So they will punish everyone with their selfishness. They will burn down the forest because their favorite tree isn't the center of attention. They feel that they've gotten a raw deal, so why should they care about anyone else?
Of course, it's in solidarity that we have our true power. Individually, we are atomized. But joined together, we can move the universe. Only those who join the game have any say in the rules. If you stay home, or if you throw away your vote on a Jill Stein, you have no voice. You may as well be screaming into a bag for all the good you're doing. Further: You're not just throwing away your vote, but actively causing harm. Any vote for a chimerical third party candidate works against the causes you purport to back. In no reality is a vote for a Green Party candidate in a swing state not a vote for the fascist. The GOP thanks you for voting for the Peace and Freedom Party. The GOP surreptitiously supports campaigns to gather signatures for third parties to make it onto the ballot and dilute the liberal vote. You may think you're being brave, but you may as well have marked the ballot for Donald Trump.
We're not Weimar Germany. Moreover, we're not Viktor Orban's Hungary. We have a centuries-long, wonderful, infuriating experiment in self-government. For far too long, we've allowed it to wither. What this regime has driven home is that some things are worth fighting for. And some of us have died for them just in these past three years. But it's as nothing if we don't act.
The Benjamin Franklin quote everyone likes to mention is his answer to what kind of country we'll have: A Republic, if you can keep it. But there's another Franklin quote even more germane: We must hang together, or we shall surely hang separately. This November, we must hang together. You can guess what will happen if we don't.