Glaude rejects lesser-of-two-evils voting as a scare tactic

Evidence

Some might say what I’m recommending amounts to electoral nihilism. We would end up giving the presidency over to Republicans and their extremist base. The Supreme Court would turn Red for the next thirty years. We would see the undoing of the health care law and the further erosion of the social safety net. And the country would be left in the hands of libertarians and corporatists, a remarkably high price to pay for all Americans. But these same people who shout gloom and doom fail to advocate for dramatic change to take back the country from these folks. This is the scare tactic that clouds our imaginations: that no matter the circumstances, choosing the lesser of two evils is always better. By this logic, we are imprisoned in a political cage—to accept matters as they are. — Eddie S. Glaude Jr., Democracy in Black, 622

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to the ‘blank-out ballot’ proposal discussed earlier in the book and to general critiques of lesser-evil voting in third-party and abstentionist political literature.