You Don’t Have to Feel Good About Voting for Joe Biden—to Vote for Him Anyway

If you are planning to vote third party because you think it’s revolutionary to try to abolish the two-party system, in effect you are supporting a one-party system and voting for a dictatorship.

Especially with the new Supreme Court ruling that gives the president immunity for crimes while engaging in “official acts.” What are “official acts” are themselves decided by fox guarding then chicken coop—the Supreme Court itself.

If you are voting third party, remember it’s for your own feel-good, because they have no chance at winning.

If you think you are being progressive abstaining from voting or voting third party, you are not that either. Because, in effect, you will be voting for Project 2025, which is a throwback to decades prior when, for example, women, people of color, and anyone of non-traditional gender were stigmatized and marginalized.

If you think it doesn’t matter who is in office because anyone there is controlled by hidden powers, you are right. You are also, crucially, wrong. It’s not black or white. The president, especially a deeply deranged individual like Trump who has no real interest in policy or government, but only personal power and unjustified vengeance, has great power to do tremendous harm.

You don’t have to feel good about your vote, which is immediate gratification instead of longer-term survival. This isn’t about your ego and pride. You just have to do the right thing, even if it feels bad.

When you go to the dentist or for surgery, you don’t go because you enjoy it; you go because not doing so is more likely damaging.

When you have to share difficult feelings with someone, you don’t do it because it feels good, but because no pain no gain for the long run.

When you force yourself to work out, or to do anything that is difficult, you don’t do it because it’s enjoyable. You do it because rewards often require toil.

We do these things because they are the right thing to do, not because they feel good in the moment.

They all require being comfortable with discomfort. They are examples of why tolerating difficult feelings is so important for a better life.

The key to tolerating these difficulties is knowing just what a Trump presidency means. It is apples and oranges (literally!) to Joe Biden. It is categorically distinct. It is a different animal, not even on the same scale.

And if Joe is not the Democratic candidate, then we likely have vote for whomever the Democratic representative is, as long as they are not worse than Trump, which is hard to imagine.

Yes, unfortunately we are in still damage control. We may be for a long time. But throwing in the towel for anyone who, for all intents, cannot win now and giving Trump any support is surrender.

So, don’t worry about feeling bad voting for Biden. Just know you are doing the right thing. That is, if you value your life and the lives of others.