Why I'm not voting for Kamala Harris | US Election 2024

I registered to vote in 1998 and have voted Democrat ever since. I have not always had a good opinion of Democratic candidates. In fact, I have often felt angry, disillusioned, disappointed, and dirty after voting. Yet that was part of being a citizen in a pseudo-democracy. It was not the only task, but it was something.

In November, however, I have no intention of voting for the Democrats. If the party's presidential candidate, Kamala Harris, does not change her policy on Israel, I will not vote for her.

And I won't be alone. More than 700,000 Americans voted noncommittal in the Democratic primaries, demonstrating their rejection of the Democratic Party's staunch support for Israel.

If Harris wants to win the progressive vote, she must support an arms embargo on Israel and stop funding Israel’s genocide of Palestinians in Gaza. That’s a red line for many of us who haven’t bought into her liberal cult of personality.

When President Joe Biden finally dropped his bid for the 2024 Democratic presidential nomination on July 21, I wasn’t among the many people celebrating his endorsement of the vice president. Harris was on the wrong side of history as San Francisco’s district attorney when she opposed criminal justice reform, and she’s been on the wrong side of history when it comes to Israel, of which she is a staunch supporter.

Yet a small part of me hoped she would be perceptive enough to understand the power of the uncommitted movement that is conditioning voting on support for an embargo on Israel and a permanent ceasefire in Gaza, as well as the level of outrage felt by those who oppose the ongoing genocide, funded over the past decade by U.S. aid. I was wrong.

At a rally in Detroit on August 7, Harris was greeted by a group of anti-genocide and pro-Palestine protesters who chanted, “Kamala, Kamala, you can’t hide! We will not vote for genocide!” In a democracy, this is a perfectly reasonable and acceptable (if not necessary) action. Politicians serve the people, and the people have the right (and the responsibility) to make demands of their political leaders, especially when those leaders solicit their votes and campaign donations.

And yet Harris decided to respond: You know what? If you want Donald Trump to win, say so. If not, I'll do the talking.

What is the point of this attitude? The protesters were simply expressing their demand that Harris commit to stopping arming Israel in its genocidal war on Gaza. A war that has officially killed more than 40,000 people in Gaza; some estimates put the figure at 186,000 or more. A war that has put a million children at risk of starvation, according to the international nonprofit Save the Children. A war that has decimated Gaza’s health sector, causing polio infections to resurface for the first time in 25 years.

Many of us spend our days watching the most horrific images imaginable: toddlers decapitated by Israeli airstrikes, people burned alive in their tents, emaciated children starving to death, political prisoners brutally raped by Israeli soldiers. The atrocities continue. My days and nights are haunted by these images, and none of this would have been possible without American help, without our tax dollars.

But Harris doesn't want to respond to these very reasonable demands to stop funding this slaughter, this genocide, this horrific violence. Instead, she wants to be celebrated for her charisma, for her impact, for her energy.

This politics as a vibration is not new. It is just a celebrity culture that is intruding into politics. It can also be called fascist.

I am reminded of Erik Larson’s 2011 book, In the Garden of Beasts: Love, Terror, and an American Family in Hitler’s Berlin, which tells the story of William Dodd, the U.S. ambassador to Germany from 1933 to 1937, and his family. In the years since the book was published, I have thought occasionally of Dodd and often of his daughter, Martha, who accompanied him to Berlin.

The ambassador was chairman of the history department at the University of Chicago at the time of his appointment and simply wanted to be allowed to finish his book on the American South before the Civil War. He was somewhat concerned but not overly alarmed by what was happening in Germany, telling President Franklin Roosevelt: “Give men a chance to try out their plans as the Nazi party prepares to deny citizenship to the Jews.”

Martha, on the other hand, was caught up in the glamour of the Nazi party and its social life, hanging out and sleeping with Nazi officers.

Many liberals I know are a kind of William or Martha Dodd. Like William, they are either too concerned with their own comfort to care about the daily atrocities experienced and endured by Palestinians, or, like Martha, they approach politics through the framework of celebrity culture and feel-good sentiment, happy to fangirl over Harris, whose charisma and Beyoncé-inspired ads overshadow the boring reality of genocide.

After all, it’s all about feeling good. Don’t ruin our fun! they shout at me (and so many others) on social media. This anti-conformist outrage is deafening. But you can’t live on your vibes alone.

In her memoirs, written a few years after she left Nazi Germany, Martha admitted that she did not really like Jews. This casual anti-Semitism prefigures today's liberal attitudes toward Palestinians, a contempt rooted in Islamophobia and anti-Arab racism that are at the root of genocide.

This is a defining moment: We must pressure Democrats to change their position on Gaza before the November elections. We should all do absolutely everything in our power to end the genocide, but the bare minimum right now is to demand that a presidential candidate who needs our votes commit to ending U.S. funding to Israel. It’s not that complicated.

Harris may be the lesser evil to Donald Trump, but the lesser evil is still evil. If she wants to win in November, she needs to offer us more than just atmosphere and celebrity culture; she needs to commit to ending the genocide in Gaza, first and foremost by not funding it. Anything short of that will cost her the progressive vote and, quite possibly, the presidency. If that happens, liberals across the country will likely blame a nebulous bloc of leftists and progressives, but ultimately, Harris herself will be the one to blame.

The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial position of Al Jazeera.

What Are The Main Benefits Of Comparing Car Insurance Quotes Online

LOS ANGELES, CA / ACCESSWIRE / June 24, 2020, / Compare-autoinsurance.Org has launched a new blog post that presents the main benefits of comparing multiple car insurance quotes. For more info and free online quotes, please visit https://compare-autoinsurance.Org/the-advantages-of-comparing-prices-with-car-insurance-quotes-online/ The modern society has numerous technological advantages. One important advantage is the speed at which information is sent and received. With the help of the internet, the shopping habits of many persons have drastically changed. The car insurance industry hasn't remained untouched by these changes. On the internet, drivers can compare insurance prices and find out which sellers have the best offers. View photos The advantages of comparing online car insurance quotes are the following: Online quotes can be obtained from anywhere and at any time. Unlike physical insurance agencies, websites don't have a specific schedule and they are available at any time. Drivers that have busy working schedules, can compare quotes from anywhere and at any time, even at midnight. Multiple choices. Almost all insurance providers, no matter if they are well-known brands or just local insurers, have an online presence. Online quotes will allow policyholders the chance to discover multiple insurance companies and check their prices. Drivers are no longer required to get quotes from just a few known insurance companies. Also, local and regional insurers can provide lower insurance rates for the same services. Accurate insurance estimates. Online quotes can only be accurate if the customers provide accurate and real info about their car models and driving history. Lying about past driving incidents can make the price estimates to be lower, but when dealing with an insurance company lying to them is useless. Usually, insurance companies will do research about a potential customer before granting him coverage. Online quotes can be sorted easily. Although drivers are recommended to not choose a policy just based on its price, drivers can easily sort quotes by insurance price. Using brokerage websites will allow drivers to get quotes from multiple insurers, thus making the comparison faster and easier. For additional info, money-saving tips, and free car insurance quotes, visit https://compare-autoinsurance.Org/ Compare-autoinsurance.Org is an online provider of life, home, health, and auto insurance quotes. This website is unique because it does not simply stick to one kind of insurance provider, but brings the clients the best deals from many different online insurance carriers. In this way, clients have access to offers from multiple carriers all in one place: this website. On this site, customers have access to quotes for insurance plans from various agencies, such as local or nationwide agencies, brand names insurance companies, etc. "Online quotes can easily help drivers obtain better car insurance deals. All they have to do is to complete an online form with accurate and real info, then compare prices", said Russell Rabichev, Marketing Director of Internet Marketing Company. CONTACT: Company Name: Internet Marketing CompanyPerson for contact Name: Gurgu CPhone Number: (818) 359-3898Email: [email protected]: https://compare-autoinsurance.Org/ SOURCE: Compare-autoinsurance.Org View source version on accesswire.Com:https://www.Accesswire.Com/595055/What-Are-The-Main-Benefits-Of-Comparing-Car-Insurance-Quotes-Online View photos