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BY TOM H. HASTINGS
COLUMNIST

I’m a no-compromise peace and justice person, for the most part.

I served time in three prisons and many jails, coast-to-coast, offering nonviolent resistance to militarism, including against nuclear weapons and against the invasion of Iraq.

Joe Biden is not a peace person.

If Trump is the alternative, however, I’m going to vote for Biden.

I didn’t used to be such a sellout. I voted for Barry Commoner when Reagan was running, even though Reagan was a nuclear loose cannon. A friend then told me, “OK, clearly, you are not as scared as I am.”

So finally, 40 years later, I get it. Hold my nose, no need for an herbal emetic, vote for Biden. Ugh.

But a vote for Trump is a vote to end democracy.

A vote for Trump is a vote for racism.

A vote for Trump is a vote for misogyny.

A vote for Trump is a vote for violence and strongman retribution.

A vote for Trump is a vote against people with disabilities.

A vote for Trump is a vote in favor of environmental destruction.

Unfortunately, a vote for a third party candidate is a vote for Trump.

A vote for Trump is a vote to embrace lying and fascism.

Part of the lying is of kitchen table working-middle class interest. Trump makes extravagant economy claims and he leaves out Biden’s, frankly, astonishingly strong economic track record.

·Wall Street is stronger under Biden than Trump.

·Unemployment rates under Biden are far lower than under Trump; indeed the lowest in decades.

·“ Unemployment rates for Hispanic workers, Black women and people with disabilities have all hit record lows under Biden’s watch,” says the Washington Post.

·Trump claims to be an expert on everything, including the US economy. Trump campaigned in 2020 claiming that if Biden won the US would go into economic recession, possibly depression. The opposite is the case. Even Trump’s boy Larry Kudlow has finally admitted this.

·Trump continues to make extravagant claims about inflation under Biden, when wages are increasing faster than inflation and have been for more than a year.

·Fact-checking Trump’s claims about “Bidenomics” vs Trump’s record result in findings from “slightly exaggerated” to false, false, and more false. Campaigns are supposed to highlight candidates in their best lights, but not by lying. As we are learning from the civil case in New York, Trump’s routine practice is fraud and lies.

Should we vote based on how a president might affect our financial future? For families it’s hard not to. For all of us it should be one of the factors in motivating us; we should never lose sight of the rest of them, from our own values-based assessment.

As an average-income American, I at least want the facts. Looking at the record, I see that under Trump, even when he “owned” both legislative branches in the 115th Congress, he and his cronies like Mitch McConnell only managed one piece of significant legislation–giving rich people and huge corporations massive tax breaks. As for the usual lavish Trump promises about his big accomplishment, none were true. What else is new?

Do we want another four years of failures that Trump’s 2017-2021 term inflicted on us or do we want another four years of Bidenomics–low unemployment, wages increasing faster than inflation, and no recession in sight?

“The government you elect is the government you deserve.”

–Thomas Jefferson

Dr. Tom H. Hastings, PeaceVoice Senior Editor, is Coördinator of Conflict Resolution BA/BS degree programs and certificates at Portland State University.