“I have never seen a president refuse to drop a bomb, but I have seen them turn school funds into boxes of guns, and that is how I know the ballot won’t save us. We must save us,” poet Hernan Ramos spoke his words with such depth that it evoked a sense of deeper understanding within me and the audience around me. There is truth to his message, an acknowledgement that for the general American there is very little power in politics – especially with the Electoral College being the way it is. Just a few minutes before, writer and educator Darius Simpson had poignantly pointed out that even after casting your ballot, there will not be much action that will actually take place. His exact words: “the reality is that, after [you cast that ballot or don’t cast that ballot], we are still going to be dying – so what will we do then?”. I look around me and see countless homeless individuals hiding from the blistering midday sun in the few trees casting down their shadows on Yerba Gardens, San Francisco. I see the rising cost of living directly reflected in the grocery prices from conglomerates like Walgreens and CVS to corner stores selling the bare essentials. I see traces of environmental decay in plastic bits, bops and bags littering the streets and the sparse presence of insects. 

Lesser than Two Evils … Right?

With the elections coming up (only three days now…), there is a mixed sense of urgency and passivity that most Americans, and predominantly liberal Americans, seem to struggle with. As a non-American regarding the upcoming presidential elections, there is a tendency to, although be aware that both sides have their major flaws, argue in favor of the lesser of two evils – a principle that I have heard being thrown around more and more these days. The argument frequently goes that truly anyone would be better than Donald Trump, a logic that extended even to Joe Biden when absolutely necessary. The switch from president Joe Biden to VP Kamala Harris has provided somewhat of a breath of fresh air and overall people seem generally more hopeful about a potential Democratic win – some even convinced that she simply has to win. At the Democratic National Convention, held in Chicago, Harris presented herself as the torch holder of democracy – in contrast to the tyrannic Donald Trump. And what is the U.S. if not a beacon of democracy? (Ahum).

Despite indirectly knowing that a win for the Democratic party would be a vote for the status quo and all its institutional issues (like rampant homelessness, the rising cost of living, drug problems, overconsumption, environmental decay, increased gun unsafety, growing identity divides… just to name a few), a win for Trump would be a clear detriment to the already weakened existence of a U.S. democracy, its freedoms, the autonomy of truth, and individual safeties. When discussing a potential second Trump presidency, or even the fact that he is allowed to run in the first place, I frequently hear the exasperating moan along the lines of “he’s a convicted felon, for Christ sakes!”. There is a certain disconnect here and for most people it is all too obvious that the upcoming elections are anything but normal. In what other “developed democratic nation” is a man charged with the falsification of business records in connection to a hush money payment and with (indirectly) instigating the violent January 6 Capitol riots and with collaborating alongside allies to overturn Georgia’s 2020 election results (the list seems to go on and on… what did Trump not do?) allowed to run for presidency? Despite Harris’ fairly recent history of not getting much work done during her time as vice president and her iffy history as attorney general she surely must be better than Trump, right? 

Why Vote At All?

Especially her employment history on criminal justice reform stings among people, and I recently almost got into somewhat of an argument when discussing the upcoming elections with someone. I put up my detached-non-American hat and point blank asked who they would be voting for in less than a month from now – expecting to, although un-excitedly, hear them say Harris. They were young, politically engaged, non-white, and not drowning in billions of dollars – surely there is a better option here? Instead the answer was neither here nor there, along the lines of it very much not being my business and the U.S. being “their pot to piss in”. “I’m not voting for a cop,” they concluded (a self-proclaimed Communist and a LA-native with Mexican roots stumbled upon the same predicament a few days later). Besides, Kamala predominantly seems to run on a platform of “Not Being Trump”, which appeals to those already on the fence about Trump, but does very little to convince those lured in by his logic and reasoning. 

Not long afterwards, I asked someone else what they thought about the upcoming elections. I was still reflecting on the response I had gotten before, something within me now more aware of the delicacy and carefulness necessary to breach the subject. He was a 50-something Bay area native, with Taiwanese descent. We got to talking because he had somehow found himself stranded and unable to book a hostel in his, admittedly, drunk state – and he was now waiting for someone to pick him up. He was an agreeable man, clad in business wear which made him stand out from the hostel folk surrounding him – his loafers a stark contrast to my worn down once-white Adidas shoes. He, too, refused to tell me head-on. “In California,” he explained, gesturing toward the empty street we were standing on, with a gentlemen’s club just a few feet behind us, and a strip club not much further, “it pretty much goes without saying who you would vote for, and so we don’t really discuss it”. He expanded his point by adding that California is a Democratic-run state, and there was very little chance that the state would flip over. I could see some logic in the argument – the necessity to vote in a stable state will not feel as hard-pressed as it does in places like Arizona where Biden flipped the state with just 10,457 votes. But is that truly a justification enough to remain silent on your stance and beliefs? And just how self-evident is it that California will stay Blue? When taking the bus between San Francisco to LA a few days later, I saw more Trump support signs than I had seen before, a testimony to changing times and beliefs even in historically democratic states. 

Pro-Trump vs. Kamala-Neutral

I have generally felt that most individuals with Democratic beliefs will not be as staunch in their support for Harris as some Republicans seem to be for Trump. Around Trump, his fans have constructed a cult of personality – whereas Kamala unfortunately has not retained that same commitment which she initially received during Brat Summer when young people organized around her appointment. There seems to be some shame, even, and some general uncertainty and political disconnect. Something that quite surprised me is that people who ultimately choose not to vote, vote third party, or vote against what they already know and what clearly does not seem to be working (as now seems to be the case with Democratic politics) do not reach this decision because they are politically disengaged or uneducated. Instead, I have had some of the deepest and most profound conversations about the core of American politics and society with people who fit somewhere on this spectrum. Especially the genocide in Gaza, predominantly funded by U.S. tax money, has laid bare the deep flaws of American politics. 

There is an increased awareness that neither party and neither presidential candidate will actually genuinely improve or eradicate the institutional issues nestled in the U.S. Sure, there is a lesser of two evils here and for most people it is clear that Trump is not that, but there is also an unwillingness to compromise on the issues that people care about. And, with Trump, there seems to be a stubborn conviction that it will at least be different, whatever that means. With Harris, it might just be much of the same. To people who are on the fence about either side, there is a recognition that real change must come from somewhere else. Of course, voting can act as a tool in the struggle toward a better America, but it should never be seen as a solution. Where, then, can real change come from?