Don't Like The Top Of The Ticket, You Can Still Vote Down-Ballot
Photo Credit: CB24 
This year (2024), Tuesday, November 5th will be an important night for people across the globe let alone the United States of America. The United States’ history of imperialism and global presence across the world stresses the importance of the whole world paying attention to the upcoming United States Presidential Election between Democratic incumbent Joe Biden and the presumptive (obvious) GOP nominee and former U.S. President Donald J. Trump (who was found guilty and convicted in the hush money trial involving Stormy Daniels).
If you don’t like the policies of Donald J. Trump, especially when they affect foreign policy, you’re hoping for the other side to win. However, many within the Democratic Party contemplate whether or not Biden should step aside and allow the Democratic National Committee (DNC) to nominate someone else.
This isn’t specifically about the presidential race between Biden and Trump.
Biden’s dismal performance in the first presidential debate, hosted by CNN, has many questioning his ability to govern the country. Ironically, there’s barely anybody in the media bringing up Trump’s felony convictions into question.
Even though anything can happen between now and November 5th, many contemplate not voting this year. That means not going to the polls on Election Day, not taking advantage of early voting (if and when available), or not registering to vote by mail.
I volunteered to participate in a voter phone bank a few weeks ago that was hosted by Stand United, League of Women Voters, and a well-known Black sorority. The purpose of the phone bank was to inform registered voters who vote by mail that they have to reregister because of a recent law that passed. If they want to reregister, we take their information and submit it to another organization which will contact them at a later time.
Before we officially started, the representative told us that we were not allowed to tell voters to vote for a specific candidate, which is standard operating procedure because Stand United is a non-partisan organization. If they were unsure of who to vote for, we would explain that they’ll have to do their research on the candidates.
The representative then brought up an important question we may get asked, what if the person on the line likes neither presidential candidate? He followed up with the answer, telling them there was still the rest of the ballot to vote on. This was a valuable lesson I learned in 2004 when I campaigned for Senator John Kerry (D-Massachusetts) when he was the Democratic challenger to incumbent George W. Bush (R-Texas).
If people don’t vote because they like neither presidential candidate, everyone down the ballot gets punished.
If people don’t research before they vote, bad amendments get voted into law. Ballots do not only contain the names of the candidates, they also contain amendments that get voted into constitutional law.
In the case of United States elections, you’re not only casting your vote for the United States presidency. You’re voting for your state & national senators, your state & national representatives, your state governors & lieutenant governors, your mayors, your commissioners, your council members, your school board members, your comptrollers, your state treasurers, your local sheriffs, your local police chiefs, your judges and other elected positions.
The hardcore right-leaning Heritage Foundation celebrated early and prematurely released the details of “Project 2025” which aims to thrust the world let alone the United States into a right-wing hegemony. I’ve seen social media posts about “page 103” of Project 2025 which requires public school students to register for the military draft while exempting private school students.
In a democratic government, there are systems in place to prevent the country’s leader from becoming a dictator or an absolute monarch. That changes if people get elected into office who gradually dismantle the systems and change the government from a democracy to a dictatorship or absolute monarchy.
Post-World War II South Korea became a dictatorship until the late '90s as Rhee Syngman, Park Chung-Hee, and Chun Doo-Hwan had their ways of seizing power. In the case of Park Chung-Hee, his supporters put a system in place that rigged elections in his favor and hunted down overseas dissidents who spoke against his regime.
The system in place that empowered South Korea’s three dictators also involved United States imperialism.
In the case of the U.S. presidential election this November, “Project 2025” can still be thwarted if Trump gets reelected. The MAGA block of the GOP, the architects of “Project 2025,” require systems in place. They need to get their people in all three branches (judicial, legislative, and executive) of state and federal government.
One of my history professors said the legislative branch creates the bills, the executive branch signs bills into laws and executes them, and the judicial branch interprets the law. Trump managed to push an ultra-right agenda because his supporters put people in place. The GOP leaders knew that installing Trump as U.S. President was the way to force its will on the world.
To force an agenda, the leader needs support from Congress (substitute it with Parliament outside the United States). Congress comes up with bills to further the agenda as the leader isn’t allowed to make the laws unless the courts rule otherwise. That means we need to vote for state and national senators & representatives who can prevent a dictatorship from happening.
Given the nature of the United States, there’s the issue of state versus federal laws.
The United States President needs support from the state governors. In the case of “Project 2025,” if Trump gets reelected, it’s important to vote for governors to keep the agenda from happening in their states. If something happens to a senator that results in a vacated seat, the governor has the power to install a temporary replacement until the next senate election.
If something happens to a House representative that results in a vacated seat, there’s a special election where voters decide who temporarily fills the seat. A lot can happen between the time when someone fills the seat (temporarily) and their replacement takes office. Even if it’s temporary, the sitting representative can slow down the agenda.
If the leader wants to whitewash history and dumb down students, they need to have a Secretary of Education who has to go through the confirmation process. If the leader wants to abolish the Department of Education, they need a congressional supermajority.
In the case of foreign policy, ambassadors also go through a confirmation process. Ambassadors are the intermediaries between the leaders of their respective countries and the leaders of the countries they’re stationed in. This is how “Project 2025” can be forced on the rest of the world. That can be prevented by getting people into Congress who will ensure those people fail the confirmation process and not be installed as ambassadors.
This is also crucial because it prevents leaders of other countries from also carrying out “Project 2025.”
In the case of the Supreme Court, the justices also go through a confirmation process. In the case of corrupt Supreme Court justices, your party needs a strong majority in the United States Senate to successfully impeach them. This is the case in articles of impeachment against justices Samuel L. Alito and Clarence Thomas filed by U.S. Representative Alexandria Ocacio-Cortez (D-New York). The media believes AOC won’t be successful because the GOP has the majority in the U.S. Senate.
If a state governor tries to become a dictator, you can vote people into other positions of office to keep that from happening. If the state governor wants to whitewash history, they’ll need the help of the county school boards. That means you have to vote for school board members who will keep that from happening.
If the state governor tries to use law enforcement for their personal agenda, you need to vote for people who will not let that happen.
To sum it all up, cast your vote if even you’re not voting for the next president or prime minister.
There is the rest of the ballot to vote on. Even though I’m being specific about the upcoming U.S. Presidential race, this applies to all countries with a democratic government. Do your research on the candidates and amendments, then cast your vote when it’s election day.
In the case of Trump, the right-wing agenda was released because of low voter turnout. That meant that the people who didn’t vote for Hillary Clinton (D-New York), the latter being the former U.S. Senator and U.S. Secretary of State, didn’t vote for candidates who could prevent the right-wing agenda.
Sources:
https://medium.com/@canhoangtran/1st-biden-vs-trump-debate-of-24-cnn-f-ks-it-again-ceb70e5d256b
https://medium.com/@canhoangtran/1st-biden-vs-trump-debate-of-24-cnn-f-ks-it-again-ceb70e5d256b
https://medium.com/@canhoangtran/if-not-biden-theres-still-the-rest-of-the-ballot-5ec58b0c26db
https://www.cnn.com/2016/11/11/politics/popular-vote-turnout-2016/index.html