There is an old saying from the \u201cbad old days\u201d of the Southern Democratic Party. It went: \u201cI\u2019d vote for an \u2018old yeller dog\u2019, as long as there\u2019s a D (Democrat) beside it\u2019s name.\u201d And, to be honest, I am pretty much of a \u201cOld Yeller Dog Democrat\u201d myself. I can count on one hand the number of Republicans I voted for in the almost fifty years that I\u2019ve cast ballots. In fact, I can count on one hand, with three fingers and a thumb to spare.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Why is that?\u00a0\u00a0Why don\u2019t I \u201cvote for the person\u201d (vote for the \u201cman\u201d in the old days) not just the Party?\u00a0\u00a0Because, despite George Washington\u2019s dislike of partisan politics, our Federal and State governments are organized by political party, not individuals.\u00a0\u00a0To get anything done in our current structure it requires a majority:\u00a0\u00a0of 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.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0And that majority consists of folks with like-minded ideas organized by political party.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So voting for the \u201cperson\u201d doesn\u2019t mean much, if that \u201cperson\u201d can\u2019t get anything done.\u00a0\u00a0Or worse, if the person, as wonderful as they may be, still votes to put a political party in power who doesn\u2019t represent your ideas.\u00a0\u00a0Need an example?\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
There\u2019s Larry Hogan, running for the US Senate in Maryland.\u00a0\u00a0Maryland is a moderate\/Democratic state, and when Hogan was the Republican Governor, he was a moderate, down the middle, kind of leader.\u00a0\u00a0But if he were elected (not likely; the latest polling; down by eight), he would still organize and vote Republican.\u00a0\u00a0He would support the MAGA Agenda in the US Senate, even if that\u2019s not really what he, as a \u201cperson\u201d agrees with.\u00a0\u00a0So a vote for him is a vote for that agenda.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It\u2019s 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 \u201coff script\u201d in rallies, he talks about shark attacks and electric boats, and sometimes can\u2019t remember where his sentence is going. And when he stays on script, his plans are authoritarian and he wants to be a \u201cdictator for a day\u201d. And he lies, a lot, factual lies that he pushes out so fast, it\u2019s near impossible to fact-check. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
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\u2019s \u201coff script\u201d, he sometimes gets lost (though he doesn\u2019t seem to worry about the shark v electric boat crisis).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It would be easy to say, \u201ca pox on both your houses\u201d (one of Mom\u2019s expressions) and either make a symbolic stand and vote for an \u201calternative\u201d 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 \u201cbetter choices\u201d. It\u2019s not taking a stand; a stand for one political party or the other. By \u201cdodging\u201d the binary choice, you are simply saying that you\u2019re OK with either party\u2019s agenda being in control. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
As an \u201cOld Yeller Dog\u201d Democrat, I\u2019m not OK with that. The MAGA agenda, that has co-opted the Republican Party of my father, is not \u201cOK\u201d. It\u2019s against almost everything I\u2019ve stood for in my sixty-four years of political life (yep, I started young). They\u2019re pro-rich, against the poor. They\u2019re racist, trying to maintain white control even as our nation becomes a majority-minority population. The MAGA agenda doesn\u2019t care about the environment, or the cost of health care, or the rights of those who are \u201cdifferent\u201d than them. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
That\u2019s 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 \u201cPax Americana\u201d that has kept the world from global conflict for almost eighty years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And, with the ready assistance of the United States Supreme Court, the MAGA agenda would\u00a0\u00a0weaponize the Justice system against anyone who stands in their way.\u00a0\u00a0You think that Biden\u2019s Department of Justice \u201cwent after\u201d Trump?\u00a0\u00a0Wait until you see what Attorney General Jim Jordan (or the like) does against any political opposition to the MAGA views.\u00a0\u00a0As Trump said, \u201c\u2026and when you\u2019re a star, they let you do it. You can do anything.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0That attitude will be writ large, in a second Trump Administration with practical immunity for every action.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And finally, the \u201csmart folks\u201d behind MAGA\u2019ism are making sure they\u2019ll never be defeated again.\u00a0\u00a0You don\u2019t have to read the entire 922 page\u00a0Project 2025\u00a0<\/em>plan, the executive summary will do.\u00a0\u00a0It\u2019s a plan to co-opt the United States government, to do to the civil service what Trump has done with the Supreme Court:\u00a0\u00a0implant MAGA loyalists at every level.\u00a0\u00a0It\u2019s not about expertise, it\u2019s about ideological loyalty to the \u201ccause\u201d.\u00a0\u00a0And that\u2019s the scariest thing of all.<\/p>\n\n\n\n To be frank, Donald Trump is the \u201cempty vessel\u201d, filled with right-wing idealism that pledge allegiance to his candidacy. Joe Biden is not an \u201cempty vessel\u201d, 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But it\u2019s not about the personality or even individual political views. It\u2019s 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; \u201cTruth, Justice, and the American way\u201d. What will we look like in 2032.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Don\u2019t like Biden? Think he\u2019s too old? Pretend he\u2019s an \u201cOld Yeller Dog\u201d — and vote.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"