Voting: US Primary Super Tuesday

So… Super Tuesday, is it?

Super Tuesday

You may have noticed that in the US we’re having another presidential election. You may also have noticed that the US Supreme Court has somehow, inexplicably declined to enforce the constitutional provision against insurrectionists running for office, despite the 14th amendment section 3 saying this is to be done. ^[1]

This means the system is, once again, struggling mightily to excrete Donald Trump. Constitutional provisions are mysteriously ruled unenforceable, trials are curiously delayed, and so on. Voting him out so that he will be convicted and imprisoned for the rest of his life is growing increasingly important.

It’s an important day: Super Tuesday. This is an attempt to bunch up a bloc of states so that their primaries are all on the same day, and thus the party primaries don’t drag on forever.

Now, at this point, we need to remember that primaries are run by political parties, not the government. They decide who’s going to be the real candidate for the general election this fall. It’s more or less inevitable at this point that the candidates will be Trump and Biden.

• General Election: Voting this fall will be crucial for the survival of democracy in the US. Specifically, voting for Joe Biden. Nothing else will do. Voting Trump is a vote for fascism. Voting third party is half a vote for fascism. Not voting is also half a vote for fascism. Your only choice is to vote Democratic up and down the line, so Republicans can’t continue to sabotage government in Congress. (Don’t worry if you think Biden has faults; there’ll be plenty of time to lobby him after the election.)
• Primary Election: But for now, in the primary: it’s not quite a democracy-on-the-line situation yet. The candidates will be Biden & Trump; nothing you can do there. If you have a childish insistence on a protest vote for someone other than Biden, this is the time for you to stomp your foot and whine. Do not do that in the fall; hold your nose and vote for Biden.

Yes, I’ve Already Voted by Mail

Yes, of course I’m following my own advice. I voted almost 3 weeks ago by mail.

Here in Massachusetts, you can check the status of your mail-in ballet at the web site of the Secretary of the Commonwealth. As you can see from the image here, they mailed me a ballot on 2024-Feb-01, and I returned it immediately. It’s not accepted (i.e., ready for counting). So that’s locked in and done.

Look, I understand: Biden wasn’t my first choice either. Or my second, for that matter. I really wanted to retire and work on the Elizabeth Warren campaign, but the world ruled otherwise. I had great dread even back in 2016 that Biden was a doddering old politician too bent on compromise with Republican fascists.

I’m happy to report that I was wrong. He’s had a great number of legislative successes in spite of an intransigent fools in Congress, a court system packed with borderline evil Trump judges, and a press that can’t think of anything other than “he’s old”. But he’s gotten those successes by knowing how to work the legislative system. He’s also got the best economy I can remember in decades.

Also, unlike the Trump clown car, Biden’s also surrounded by excellent advisors. And if he doesn’t finish his 2nd term – a distinct possibility – Harris will do fine. She wasn’t my first choice either, but she’ll do fine.

If you want to complain about Biden policy, do so after re-electing him. Otherwise there’s no democracy left to hear your complaints.

(Ceterum censeo, Trump incarcerandam esse.)

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Notes & References

1: R Marcus, “What’s behind the Supreme Court’s furious agreement on Trump in Colorado”, Washington Post, 2024-Mar-04. ↩