Your Non-Biden Vote Comes from a Place of Privilege
By: Jessica Lynn
Tags: Politics, Voting, Privilege, Biden 2020, Election 2020

If we magically had economic equality tomorrow it would not change the fact that those on the margins of society are disproportionately affected by pandemics and police brutality, women would still be suffering from sexism at their place of employment, we would still have women in Texas unable to get decent health care or safe, legal abortions, LGBT people would still be unable to marry, racism would still exist.

A revolution for these members of society is more of a threat to their very existence than for those who dominate every area of society. Straight, white men are overrepresented in all fields — politics, media, pop culture, investors, venture capitalists, entrepreneurs.

Revolutions don’t favor those people who are barely hanging on, who long only for the stability most white Americans have daily; clean water to drink, a safe neighborhood in which to raise their children, access to mental healthcare facilitates, healthcare to cover costs like therapy (mental health), the ability to drive down the street without being pulled over by police for not using their turn signal.

Those on the margins are only longing for comfort, safety, and stability.

Recently, rumblings from the same privileged bunch are using the same line that a vote for Biden is similar to four more years of Trump. The same tired, false accusations made against Hillary Clinton that Biden is part of the “establishment” and “more of the same,” whatever that means these days.

The hard-left has so bastardized the words progressive and ‘the establishment’ they’ve lost their original meaning.

They have a problem with every single Democrat, except for their one who only calls himself a Democrat every four years to upset the system and leave UNnominated, unable to capture votes from POC — again.

The hard left is not the only progressive voting block.

Nor do they get to decide which issues are worthy enough to be labeled progressive, nor do they get to choose which candidate is part of “the establishment.”

The only thing that matters is whether your candidate wins. And Sanders did not win enough votes to capture the nomination, either time.

It is laughable and absurd that Sanders labeled Clinton “part of the establishment,” when a woman is unable to penetrate the very establishment he is accusing her of being a part of, and because of her sex unable to break down the barriers preventing her from becoming president.

Her very presidency would have changed the establishment — forever.

Professor Susan Bordo writes in The Guardian,

“Portraying Clinton as the enemy of systemic change, on the other hand, was not only factually incorrect, but proved politically disastrous in the general election.”

Hillary was far more progressive than Sanders on more issues — from gun reform to reproductive rights to prioritizing the specific needs of marginalized people as opposed to seeing everything through the lens of class inequality. She cared about progressive issues Sanders just brushed aside and was utterly tone-deaf on, especially racism and women’s reproductive rights.

If the rights over my body are not a progressive issue, please go and educate yourself.

It wasn’t long ago that women needed their fathers’ or husbands’ signature to get a loan. Women’s reproductive rights are under daily assault at the state level. You are not progressive if you do not care if half the population does not have sovereignty over their bodies.

Should you feel guilty for not voting for Biden?

Yes, you should.

Your non-vote is coming from a place of unbelievable privilege, economic stability, and otherwise. You are not struggling to find money to keep yourself and your family fed. You are under no threat from four more years of Trump. You are under no risk of having your child taken away from you and locked up in an immigration facility. You can drive down the street at any time of day or night in a luxury car and not get profiled and pulled over by police for being black. You have the right to marry whomever you choose. You have clean drinking water when you turn on the faucet to bathe your child in. Your community is safe or in a blue state.

If you live in a progressive blue state, it is relatively safe and not a stand at all to be contemptuous of the Democratic party as not “progressive” enough. You have a comfortable governing majority — your non-Biden vote is one of privilege.

Many marginalized people in red states depend on the Dem Party for not being as progressive as we might like them to be because marginalized people’s basic rights are constantly under assault. Marginalized people, especially those who live in states with legislatures governed by a Republican majority, are thrown into constant chaos by abortion restrictions, “religious liberty” bills, “trans bathroom” bills, housing and employment discrimination, voter disenfranchisement, and all the other political tug-of-war we are obliged to navigate, in addition to social oppression and a ceaseless onslaught of microaggressions that can leave us reeling.” — BNR.com

Your vote is one of privilege is you think politics is about passion.

It is not.

It is about educating yourself on the issues, having a basic understanding of how our government works — how primaries and caucuses work. An education you can get with a few hours of research on the internet.

Politics is about policy, compromise, and making the system work best for everybody in it, even those on the edges of society. It is about changing laws, the allocation of resources, and changing the way systems operate within the larger system.

It is privileged in many ways, to be able to “think big.” To have space and safety where one can imagine seismic shifts that don’t come with the risk of falling off the edge. We don’t all have that luxury.” — BNR.com

When I posed a question recently on Facebook asking what to tell people who don’t understand politics and mistake their right to vote as something that requires “passion” for a particular candidate, that makes them believe voting requires you to “like” the Democratic nominee to cast a ballot in November against Trump when people’s very lives are on the line,

A friend wrote,

“Tell them that marginalized people — people whose bodies and lives are at danger all the time — don’t have the luxury and the privilege of throwing away their votes. If they are a true ally to black people, POC, immigrants, LGBTQ, they will listen to them and vote for Biden.”

That sums it up beautifully.