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Unread 06-02-2020, 08:29 AM
Aaron Novick Aaron Novick is offline
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Join Date: Sep 2016
Location: Seattle
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As a pragmatic guy, I recognize that an individual's vote is irrelevant. At best, a vote for Biden would express symbolic commitment to the lesser of two evils. But I might find I prefer the symbolism of not voting, this time around. We'll see. I am genuinely undecided. But let us not lose sight of the fact that voting is a symbolic act and nothing more.

I'll admit I really don't know what the hell Jim meant with his "keep our eye on the ball" metaphor. Given how closely he tied Obama's presidency to "keeping our eye on the ball" and Trump's presidency to not doing so, you can understand my interpretation, I hope.

The one thing I can say to Trump's credit is that he has shown little interest in starting extended violent conflicts in other countries, even when he's had the opportunity, so I think it is far from obvious that Trump's response to 9/11 would have been more catastrophic than Bush's. Regardless, we can argue counterfactuals until we're blue in the face. The fact remains that Bush started an offensive war that has killed hundreds of thousands (minimum), and Trump, as yet, has not done so.
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