A WAR CRIMINAL IS ALWAYS THERE TO FILL IN YOUR BLANK SPACES
There's a huge, entrenched, inherently conservative, largely hidden team of "national security experts" that exists to pressure lawmakers to commit war crimes once they're in office. Candidates who didn't take a strong, moral, anti-racist stand on human rights and foreign policy during their campaigns are especially susceptible.
Many of the same Middle East hawks advised Bush, Obama, Trump and Biden. Their value system is consistent. Regardless of the personal beliefs of an individual politician, unless they’re known for a clear stand on human rights and foreign policy, they’ll end up defaulting to traditional imperialist doctrine. Exactly what happened under Obama.
It’s crucial to demand more from our candidates. It's a mistake to fantasize that you know candidates personally and just hope for the best, when they don't actually take a clear stand on ICE, genocide, billionaires, immigration, healthcare, fossil fuels, world war, or any other human rights issues.
Overtly pro-billionaire, pro-ICE, pro-genocide candidates like Newsom and Harris obviously don't stand a chance. But also many "progressives" are notoriously weak on human rights and foreign policy. Warren gives Trump a standing ovation for his Iran policy. It's confirmed that AOC lied when she said Biden was "working tirelessly for a ceasefire."
Actions are louder than words. Someone who says they don't "want" a genocide but still gives funds or votes to the ones committing it, is still liable. Creating rewards for genocide makes it more likely. Refusing to report genocide accurately actively normalizes it.
Our system deliberately makes resisting genocide difficult. There are strong incentives and punishments. "Not wanting" a genocide is not enough. We need incentives for resisting genocide. That means strikes, boycotts, and refusing to vote for Israel-funding candidates. The same is true for all the big issues facing our species where Dems are falling short: ICE, taxing billionaires, genocide, AI, imperial war-making.
By investing taxpayer money in genocide, you do more than just become an accomplice. Insidiously, you also tie Americans' personal finances, against their will, to the success of those enterprises. It creates an artificial incentive among taxpayers to want those projects to succeed, now and into the future. It’s investing our own futures in evil.
Harris and the DNC handed us Trump by being unwilling to compromise on genocide. That's no reason to try and make people stop caring about genocide. It's not a reason for Dems to try to be more like Trump. Trump is very unpopular. It's a reason for the DNC to reinvest in human rights and human values, or move aside for those who have the courage to do so.
Billionaires talk politics whether they seem to or not. Their criminal agenda is promoted non-stop through the politicians, networks, newspapers, entertainment companies, and marketing teams they own. Resisting oligarchy means delegitimizing these outlets, not just by ignoring them, but by relentlessly fighting back with sane talking points that aren't written by billionaires.
For example, If the U.S. federal government now makes the policies that determine who lives and who dies in Iran, Cuba, Gaza, and Venezuela, then to me it’s only logical that the populations of Iran, Cuba, Gaza, and Venezuela should be allowed to vote in U.S. elections.
For example, If the CEOs of tech companies, weapons companies, oil companies and finance companies write U.S. policy, then it's only logical that we all be allowed to vote for who becomes CEO of those companies.
For example, Newsom suggesting that Dems need to become more "normal" is hardly a reason to back genocide or ICE or billionaires like he does. Most humans don't support genocide or ICE or billionaires like he does. Most humans don't enjoy wrecking encampments like he does.
For example, how is calling it "antisemitic" to criticize the Israeli government for committing premeditated, racially motivated mass murder any different from saying that Judaism is inherently genocidal and evil? How is it any less antisemitic than the Proud Boys? Saying that you stand with Israel or want Israel to exist, and the only way to make that happen is by liquidating the indigenous population, is not a philosophy most humans will ever get behind.
Whether we just want to avoid a Vance presidency, or want remove the far right from power permanently, the way to do it would be run popular candidates who align with human rights and inspire people to vote for them, not take their orders from AIPAC, ICE, and billionaires.