I'm hardly finished citing that slogan's advantages; I've held back some arguably more important ones. Why? Because explaining them will make more sense while answering a natural, inevitable objection: that it's exaggerated and unfair (and likely imprudent) to brand Biden an "enemy," with more moderate words like "opponent" available. Needless to say, doing so totally eviscerates a catchy slogan, since "lesser of two opponents" is hardly the stuff to set the Twitter world on fire. Though a potent boon to movement publicity, having a catchy slogan isn't everything especially if the slogan is misleading, imprudent, or otherwise harmful.
This section's heading strongly hints at how I plan to answer the objection to calling Biden an enemy I cited. Little in Biden's or establishment Democrats' recent history looks encouraging for progressives; indeed, that history includes powerful, lasting grounds for progressive grievance almost totally buried by mainstream (corporate) media aligned with establishment Democrats who themselves utterly fail to acknowledge our grounds for grievance.
Given 1) that buried, deeply offensive history, 2) the high--indeed, apocalyptic-- stakes, which include humanity's very survival, 3) progressives' overwhelming media disadvantage, and 4) a Democrat establishment unwilling to acknowledge, let alone repent its sins, progressives hell-bent on pressure simply can't afford the luxury of trust. Movements exist to "speak truth to power," to trumpet inconvenient truths the power establishment doesn't want to hear, doesn't want heard, and strives with utmost strength to censor. Based on past (unacknowledged) bad behavior, we should assume Biden and establishment Dems guilty until proven innocent.
Biden himself makes progressives gag; demanding we vote for him is already a big ask. It's simply insulting to demand we vote for him under a gag order, and insanely masochistic that we place a gag on ourselves--especially knowing our profound media disadvantage.
Given what's at stake, progressives' LOTE votes for Biden should carry a high-- indeed, an unprecedentedly exorbitant -price tag. Namely, the liberty to tell brutal home truths about establishment Dems and our long-festering grievances against them. The first of those home truths should be that we're voting for Biden not as his supporters but as his hostages, victims of establishment Dems' longstanding use of electoral extortion, based on ever-increasing Republican craziness, which has reached its culmination in Trump. What's progressives' only good reason to vote for Biden? Because Democrats held a TRUMP to our heads.
People who hold you hostage, pummel you with voter shaming, and extort your vote while offering nothing you deeply want are not your friends, not even your opponents, but your enemies. It seems inconceivable we can pressure such people without publicly screaming that inconvenient fact.
(To be continued in an upcoming article, exploring in depth the buried progressive grievances I've cited too numerous to treat here.)
(Article changed on August 11, 2020 at 22:30)
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