Election is coming up. Bleh. Whatever. We’ve heard a thousand times about how it is going to be pretty gnarly. Both candidates are icky. Some of us are thinking about abstention. That’s cool. You are making a very reasonable and justifiable decision. But others among us will still vote, and these brave souls have a tremendous task ahead. When you have two candidates as nasty as these, finding the better one is quite challenge. Or is it?
Maybe I am alone in the world and my experience is utterly disconnected from reality, but I feel a strong pressure from the world to become an educated voter. When I say “educated,” I don’t just mean a voter with a bit of political savvy and know-how. “Educated” takes on some peculiar connotations when used in this context. I find that the “educated” voter is expected to examine the issues so thoroughly that he or she discovers the so-called “better” candidate.
I suspect this strange mess of semantics arises due to the preexisting biases (justified or otherwise) that are present in many or most Americans. Basically, most people have already concluded that there is absolutely a better candidate between the two. There may be some disagreement as to the identity of this candidate, but regardless this candidate must exist. Despite the heated passion surrounding the presidential election, the idea of a better candidate commands a lot of unity.
This unspoken agreement among Americans creates a wacky objective standard. Without even noticing it, we can fall into a trap of assuming that we would all end up voting for this unicorn candidate, if only we were all smart enough, knowledgeable enough and perhaps even sensible enough. Some believe that they have a full understanding of this standard. They, with the aid of their near-divine intellect, have found the ONE TRUE CANDIDATE. And when this happens, the objective standard becomes even more cemented in our culture.
Please don’t think that you are innocent of this crime. I’m not. Every time we begin to caricature the candidates into ones we like and ones we don’t, we participate in this travesty to a greater or lesser extent. I am inclined to say that the dynamic is pretty much inevitable.
Also, this is a bad thing. Maybe there are a few Enlightenment rationalists out there quietly disagreeing with me, but I think it is obvious that even a vastly more intelligent community would still have considerable disagreement. America does not have, and never will have, a shared concept of what is good. We want different things for ourselves, and that is just fine.
This is why I suggest voting irrationally. I’m not asking you to completely ignore reality, but there is no need to think that you will be able to jump from the facts to the discovery of the better candidate. Facts are not sufficient. So lean into your experience and identity. Your religion, class, ethnicity and a myriad of other factors are the fount of your understanding of a good nation. Not cold, naked rationality. So save yourself some stress and effort by throwing your rational brain out the window come election time. You’ll thank me later.
