"The Lesser Of Two Evils" Is Historically An Excellent Choice (redux)

(Once more, with WORDS!).

So here are the basic points of this short article:

• A "lesser of two evils" has presided over every political progress in the United States ever.

• Even when voters are convinced that they're candidate is not the lesser of two evils, they are historically proven wrong.

• Abraham Lincoln and FDR - the two presidents most often cited as champions of progress - were seen by abolitionists and Democrats, respectively, as pandering centrists no better than the other side.

• Political outcomes are highly sensitive to initial conditions - extremely small differences can lead to wildly different trajectories. Meaning…

• “Less evil" ≠ marginally less good. In fact, due to the nonlinear nature of politics and its sensitivity to initial conditions, “Less evil” can very well equal MUCH better. “Less evil” can mean the difference between human life and human extinction.

I’ll fill in the Lincoln bit as an example and then hit send. We can argue about the rest in the comments!

The Abolitionist’s #NeverLincoln Campaign.

Abraham Lincoln was not the abolitionist’s first choice… Or even second choice. In fact they kinda hated him¹.

Here is The Annual Report of the American Anti-Slavery Society [AASS] describing Lincoln as…

A sort of bland, respectable middle-man, between a very modest Right and the most arrogant and exacting Wrong; a convenient hook whereon to hang appeals at once to a moderate anti-slavery feeling and to a timid conservatism.'”

William Lloyd Garrison, the most famous abolitionist in America, said this of Lincoln’s Republican party:

The Republican party means to do nothing, can do nothing, for the abolition of slavery in the slave states. The Republican party stands on a level with the Fugitive Slave Law.”

W.A. Hunter:

“Lincoln ignores all the principles of humanity in the colored race, both free and slave; and as abolitionists claim the right to freedom of the one class, and political equality to the other, how can they be consistent, to say nothing of honest, in supporting such a man?”

Hezekiah Ford Douglass:

I do not believe in the anti-slavery of Abraham Lincoln. He is on the side of this Slave Power of which I am speaking, that has possession of the Federal Government…. I went through the State of Illinois for the purpose of getting signers to a petition, asking the Legislature to repeal the Testimony Law, so as to permit colored men to testify against white men. I went to prominent Republicans, and among others to Abraham Lincoln and Lyman Trumbull, and neither of them dared to sign that petition to give me the right to testify in a court of justice! If we sent our children to school, Abraham Lincoln would kick them out, in the name of Republicanism and anti-slavery!… I care nothing about that anti-slavery which wants to make the Territories free, while it is unwilling to extend to me, as a man, in the free States, all the rights of a man.”

These folks positioned Lincoln as the lesser of two evils - even tho he was running against explicitly pro slavery candidates.

Any of this sound familiar? Maybe like Free Palestine online activists raging against voting for Kamala - even though she's running against an explicitly pro Zionist opponent?

Bingo.

Before hitting send, actually…

Let's all remember that even the wildest revolutions are merely evolutions in hindsight. Annnd…

If we want to escape at least the feeling of voting for the lesser of two evils, we need to implement ranked choice voting - everywhere.

Cheers.

1. All Lincoln related quotes pulled from this excellent article.