Bad Old Days
There is an old saying from the “bad old days” of the Southern Democratic Party. It went: “I’d vote for an ‘old yeller dog’, as long as there’s a D (Democrat) beside it’s name.” And, to be honest, I am pretty much of a “Old Yeller Dog Democrat” myself. I can count on one hand the number of Republicans I voted for in the almost fifty years that I’ve cast ballots. In fact, I can count on one hand, with three fingers and a thumb to spare.
Why is that? Why don’t I “vote for the person” (vote for the “man” in the old days) not just the Party? Because, despite George Washington’s dislike of partisan politics, our Federal and State governments are organized by political party, not individuals. To get anything done in our current structure it requires a majority: of the State House of Representatives, or the State Senate, or the House and the Senate in the Congress and now, sadly, even the Supreme Court. And that majority consists of folks with like-minded ideas organized by political party.
Party not Person
So voting for the “person” doesn’t mean much, if that “person” can’t get anything done. Or worse, if the person, as wonderful as they may be, still votes to put a political party in power who doesn’t represent your ideas. Need an example?
There’s Larry Hogan, running for the US Senate in Maryland. Maryland is a moderate/Democratic state, and when Hogan was the Republican Governor, he was a moderate, down the middle, kind of leader. But if he were elected (not likely; the latest polling; down by eight), he would still organize and vote Republican. He would support the MAGA Agenda in the US Senate, even if that’s not really what he, as a “person” agrees with. So a vote for him is a vote for that agenda.
National Agenda
It’s easy to get wrapped up in the personalities of the 2024 Presidential election. Right now, one side is running a twice-impeached, indicted in two state and two federal courts, convicted of 34 state felonies, seventy-eight year old, former President. Oh, and when he goes “off script” in rallies, he talks about shark attacks and electric boats, and sometimes can’t remember where his sentence is going. And when he stays on script, his plans are authoritarian and he wants to be a “dictator for a day”. And he lies, a lot, factual lies that he pushes out so fast, it’s near impossible to fact-check.
The other side is running an eighty-one year old current President, finishing one of the most successful (legislative) terms in office since Franklin Roosevelt and Lyndon Johnson. His problem: age is catching up. He walks old, he talks old, his voice is old; and when he gets tired, he acts old too. When he’s “off script”, he sometimes gets lost (though he doesn’t seem to worry about the shark v electric boat crisis).
It would be easy to say, “a pox on both your houses” (one of Mom’s expressions) and either make a symbolic stand and vote for an “alternative” candidate (Kennedy, Stein, Oliver, West), or simply skip the Presidential vote all together. But not choosing between Trump and Biden is more than just demanding “better choices”. It’s not taking a stand; a stand for one political party or the other. By “dodging” the binary choice, you are simply saying that you’re OK with either party’s agenda being in control.
It’s About Issues
As an “Old Yeller Dog” Democrat, I’m not OK with that. The MAGA agenda, that has co-opted the Republican Party of my father, is not “OK”. It’s against almost everything I’ve stood for in my sixty-four years of political life (yep, I started young). They’re pro-rich, against the poor. They’re racist, trying to maintain white control even as our nation becomes a majority-minority population. The MAGA agenda doesn’t care about the environment, or the cost of health care, or the rights of those who are “different” than them.
That’s not the scariest part. The MAGA agenda would allow Vladimir Putin to conquer Ukraine, and set up a world confrontation of Russian expansionism. It would allow Israel to suppress all of the Palestinian people, a tactic that will ultimately result in greater bloodshed for both. And it would ultimately destroy the “Pax Americana” that has kept the world from global conflict for almost eighty years.
And, with the ready assistance of the United States Supreme Court, the MAGA agenda would weaponize the Justice system against anyone who stands in their way. You think that Biden’s Department of Justice “went after” Trump? Wait until you see what Attorney General Jim Jordan (or the like) does against any political opposition to the MAGA views. As Trump said, “…and when you’re a star, they let you do it. You can do anything.” That attitude will be writ large, in a second Trump Administration with practical immunity for every action.
Empty Vessel
And finally, the “smart folks” behind MAGA’ism are making sure they’ll never be defeated again. You don’t have to read the entire 922 page Project 2025 plan, the executive summary will do. It’s a plan to co-opt the United States government, to do to the civil service what Trump has done with the Supreme Court: implant MAGA loyalists at every level. It’s not about expertise, it’s about ideological loyalty to the “cause”. And that’s the scariest thing of all.
To be frank, Donald Trump is the “empty vessel”, filled with right-wing idealism that pledge allegiance to his candidacy. Joe Biden is not an “empty vessel”, he is what he always has been, a moderate/Democrat. If he were to step away from the Presidential election, Vice President Harris or others would stand in basically the same place.
But it’s not about the personality or even individual political views. It’s about the choice between democracy and authoritarianism; about the reality of a Nation where one person is now, in fact, above the law. As Superman would say, it really is about; “Truth, Justice, and the American way”. What will we look like in 2032.
Don’t like Biden? Think he’s too old? Pretend he’s an “Old Yeller Dog” — and vote.
