An interesting phenomenon has emerged in the current US presidential election. Quite a few voters do not like either candidate and therefore do not intend to vote. But why not consider the litotes of ‘like’ and vote for the candidate one dislikes the least.
There are 22 countries in the world where voting is compulsory with fines and other penalties for those who default. The US is not one of them. If for most of us going to vote is a chore every two years (which matches the serving term for our congressmen) there are ways to reduce the burden. Senators are in office for six years so sometimes their elective term coincides with the presidential election and sometimes it does not. Then there are state governors and so forth including numerous judges.
To vote in the convenience of one’s home which makes it easier one might want to order a mail-in ballot. It also lets us have the time to examine the candidates more carefully. Of course, people start ringing your doorbell to canvass for the candidate they are serving as volunteers. Naturally they are not unbiased in their views but the internet now is another helpful tool for assessing candidates.
If all of it sounds like too much work, it is not. Surely a half-hour to at most an hour every two years is worth an informed choice, and a vote for a person who can serve this country well.
Many countries have had to struggle, even go to war to preserve, or win their independence. Often it has also included the right to vote for who will govern them. If in democracies we do not have some general in charge putting those who disagree with him in jail, then let us thank our lucky stars and keep it that way. Just look at what happened in countries where dictators ruled in the last century … starting perhaps with Germany.
To return to the present and the two regions in crisis, we have Netanyahu running rampant and Ukraine going Russia’s way with a likely split. There is little the US or Europe can do to thwart Russian goals in Ukraine. After all, they are right next door. Of course Zelenskhy has a ‘victory plan’ but the response from NATO has been muted.
The Kremlin dismissed the plan, adding that Kyiv needed to sober up. Key elements of this ‘victory plan’ call for strikes deep inside Russia with newly supplied weapons; this the West fears would cross a Russian red line. The Wall Street Journal reports the plan is little more than a repackaged request for more weapons plus the lifting of restrictions on the use of long range missiles. Worrisome for the West, as it makes it appear it is using a proxy to attack Russia. That the plan also lacks a ‘comprehensive strategy’ according to the Biden administration gives pause for additional concern. Nothing then to visualize any end to this war.
On Netanyahu and his excursion into Lebanon, the US administration claims to have helped reduce civilian casualties, although due to his attacks there and in Gaza, 166 doctors have been killed including Soma the doctor sister of journalist Ramzy Baroud, a frequent op-ed columnist.
War is a sequence of tragedies on an individual scale and often, sadly, much larger — needless deaths that could be averted if we humans develop a mechanism to resolve conflicts peaceably. Yet the give and take then necessary is only likely to be achieved (paradoxically) by the threat of force.