74 Comments

I feel a sympathetic ache with you all across the great water, overlaying the constant buzz of anxiety. And spasms of nausea kicked up by throbs of guilt. I renounced my US citizenship some years ago, the appointment of GW Bush by the so-called Supreme Court and invasion of Iraq being the straws that broke the camel's back. My reward for this empty symbolic gesture (following hefty "exit fees," and two quasi-interrogations at a US embassy) has been the obligation to vote for some bland, white-collar sneak thief in order to block Marine LePen every few years. And now we have an unelected , right-wing government here on the sufferance of Mme LePen's party. "All places shall be hell that is not heaven." Or at least a reasonable shot at it. Let's all pray for us all. Thank you for your nephew's piece. Two heavenly seconds of smiling.

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As to the election, a recent political comment from a musician has really stayed with me. Over the weekend, I attended an excellent concert by the Vijay Iyer Trio (featuring Linda May Han Oh and Tyshawn Sorey) at the San Francisco Jazz Center. Iyer--and I think he was quoting someone, but I didn't catch whom--said to remember than when we vote, we are choosing whom we are going to fight. In other words, if you are for justice and peace, if you are for compassion (the title of this trio's recent album), forget the idea that the person you vote for is going to usher in a perfect world, or enact all the right policies. Assume that you will be in the opposition; assume that you will always be in a struggle with the political class. But do you want to be in a fight with someone who would be happy to burn the whole world down for their own aggrandizement, and who will do all they can to destroy every shred of progress that has been made in struggles of the past? Or with someone who has some significant level of commitment to norms of democracy, decency, respect, and truth? Does it suck to always be faced with a choice of the lesser of two evils? Yes. But considering the long sweep of human history and the options most people have faced, being able to make that choice, and then--one hopes!--to be able struggle against that lesser evil, is a high privilege. That's what I'm telling myself these days, anyway.

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I may be an extreme person and have high standards, but having at least one candidate who doesn't support genocide seems like a pretty low bar.

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The bar has burrowed into the Earth’s core here in America

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Indiana won’t become a swing state if those who want change won’t vote to make it so. The insurmountable cannot be taken as a given. I think Bonhoeffer of blessed memory had something to say about that.

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author

You might be right.

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I still stick to my guns and don't vote in national elections

Choosing the lesser evil since time immemorial has left us with nothing but evil. I also may be a slave of the system, but I won't put myself through the indignity of choosing my master.

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author

You too may be right.

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Nov 4·edited Nov 4

Was this a subtle reference to Fidler on the Roof?

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Two rights— make a what?

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Something incomprehensible to Trump.

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Perfect!

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Voting is simply ratifying which conservative orientation to manage capital & repress the global underclass. Either way you’re ratifying mass murder. No thanks.

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In this fallen world we will always be choosing the lesser evil. Combine that with a first-past-the-post system, and we only have two realistic choices, both of whom will have severe flaws.

There will always be a reason to be unhappy with a candidate, but one this go-around wants to end the democratic process altogether, which I guess would foreclose the necessity for candidates to seek our approval in the future.

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Perhaps a revolution is in needed to impose a better system that doesn't always end up like this. At least one of the candidates should not support genocide.

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Congrats to those who refused to vote and choose the lesser of evils. Today we have MORE evil, and it will get much worse. More Palestinians will die, fewer kids will be vaccinated, and our green Earth will be less green. But your consciences are clean. That’s the silver lining.

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Shut up. Only in idiot world are people who didn't vote to blame for the rise of fascism. Blame the fascists, blame the Democrats for running one of the feeblest campaigns in history, blame capitalism and its state managers for bringing us to the point where enough people are desperate and uneducated enough to choose authoritarianism, blame Harris for not speaking out against genocide. Conscience? What a stupid reading. We don't care about our consciences' relative cleanliness. We care that the domination under which we live continues no matter what we do, no matter whom we vote for. Wake up to history, jackass.

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Keep on believing that fantasy. Capitalism isn’t going anywhere. The move towards the far right and fascism is not only an American phenomenon. And neither your insults nor your telling me to shut up will accomplish absolutely anything. You wasted your anger.

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If it were true that it's not going anywhere, it would be because sad liberals like you keep believing against the evidence of decades that real, lasting change will come via the ballot box. It won't, not ever again.

But of course all economic systems end. Read Arrighi, read Brenner, read Malm, read Berardi. This one will certainly end, absolutely, because it is literally killing the planet. Do you really think that a mode of production based entirely on the extraction and consumption of natural resources for profit is immortal? Do you understand the notion of finitude? It might well end in the complete collapse of civilization, of course, especially if delusional people keep trying to vote the problem away.

Foolls like you just make me tired.

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deletedNov 6·edited Nov 6
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Man, you don’t know me. Stop embarrassing yourself.

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founding

The longer I am Orthodox, the less I identify with politics. I get my politics from the gospel of Matthew -- specifically, the discourses. I vote for whoever appears to be more like the Christ of the gospels, and whoever's policies appear to be more in line with Christ's teachings. I do this, knowing all humans are fallible and all politicians are liars. I vote, but I rarely feel good about it.

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Nov 4·edited Nov 4

I am not an American, and, under normal circumstances, it would be presumptuous of me to comment on your elections. But in this case, I will make an exception.

First, neither of the two main candidates really merits the votes of the fine readers of this substack. Second, despite some... questionable actions on the international arena, the USA is still a great country and does not deserve to be led by the man who already made it once the laughing stock of the world and who was identified (by no other than our beloved host) as a modern devil incarnate years before he had decided to run for president. (I would post a link to DBH’s prophetic article, but it is on the website that shall not be named.)

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I wonder what the millions of people the US has slaughtered over the years would think of that characterization.

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Michael, I thought it was clear that "questionable actions” was used as litotes.

Of course, I can say plenty of unpleasant things about the USA, but I don’t find it polite to insult DBH’s (and your) homeland on his own website. Please also bear in mind that I come from an ancient country that, before it willingly joined Pax Americana (through NATO), had been conquered or dominated by three other empires (Byzantine, Ottoman, and Russian), and, honestly, America’s “yoke” is the easiest to bear so far. And my own country (as every other nation-state) has done its fair share of atrocities that have not happened on a wider scale only because of external factors.

When I say that the USA is a great country, I don’t mean your military or your foreign policy. It was a statement of admiration born out of respect for your science, literature, filmmaking, visual arts, and other civilizational achievements. That’s why, despite the two awful frontrunners, I wish that you have a president that is at least above the level of grotesque.

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author

You needn't spare my feelings. Certainly, you need not worry about my patriotism, since I don't own one. I am loyal to Maryland (the most left-wing state in the union) and the Orioles.

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OK, in this case I will only refrain from insulting your home state and its good people, with the possible exception of a certain actor who used to ply his trade at Ford's Theater. And I will praise The Wire until my last breath. 

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I prefer to think that JWB was a Virginian flying under false colors.

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Great powers have great power capabilities and responsibilities, including waging wars (and superpowers much more so). All great powers sometimes end up waging unjust wars, e.g. due to business interests, succumbing to the call of geopolitical "necessity", simples misjudgements, or a juxtaposition of all of the above. A mere fact of unjust wars does not mean that one ought to trash the country in question, particularly one like USA

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Is this International Relations 101? This is thinking for babies. There are no "great powers," there are only states founded on violence & theft serving the interests of the ruling classes.

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There are great powers in the sense that there are countries which are bigger, richer and more powerful than others and as a result have a larger reach.

I do not really know what do you mean by "founded on violence and theft serving the interest of rulling classes". If you mean that every relevant person in charge has been comically evil, then I think most biographies of people in question will disprove this. If you mean something else, then how precisely is that different from what I said above, which is that business interests can have a significant, malicious influence on policymaking?

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lol literally founded on violence & theft. look up how this country, for instance, got started by European settlers, & who provided its free labor for centuries. I’m not sure you understand the history of the nation state. And as far as the modern state is concerned, I’m not sure you understand its relation to capital.

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Compared to Utopia, the US bears all the marks of a fallen world. But I for one think we should remain quite grateful. We do have a lot of great things in this country and a lot to be proud of. As St. Thomas and others knew, anger is just to the degree it’s rational and proportional, so we ought be meticulous when evaluating the sins of our predecessors, though I understand that a lot of this animosity and rhetoric in some circles that violently denounces our history comes out of a desire to escape our complacency.

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Oh please. The US killed two or three million people in Indochina alone, it's more unequal than imperial Rome, & it incarcerates more of its own citizens than any nation in history—& you want to tell me that I'm comparing it to Utopia if I adjudge it a murderous imperialist power devoted entirely to rapine. Go away.

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Well I don’t think the sins of the CIA or Goldman Sachs redound to the entire populous. The country is not identical to its government, and is frequently dissatisfied with how it governs if not unaware.

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If that's what's bugging you then you can rest assured that Harris would also maintain the Zionist status quo of Washington

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Another fine Hart family writer to add to my reading. I adore Addison’s microfictions, I must say

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Dear David and friends, my sincere condolences on 'your' country's sad choice of head of state. Should the weather in the UK prove too dreary a prospect for you, perhaps you could consider moving south to Australia or New Zealand? Not only do your writings have a following here, maybe our warm ocean waters might offer a welcome to your suffering back?

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founding

Am I understanding you correctly? Let's vote for the Party that Dick Cheney is now supporting?

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author

As I said, the question is whom one is voting against. Voting for is a luxury not accorded us in this world just now.

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founding

In my experience it is usually the lesser of two evils, but I raise the point because it seemed that warmongering was your most important issue. The Democratic Party has become the best friend of the military-industrial complex.

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author

I’m not aware of any difference between the parties on that score. Neither are you.

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founding

The generals appeared to disagree with you on that. But now I guess we'll find out.

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author

That is nonsense, as you well know.

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founding

I would respectfully issue you a challenge. There is obviously a profound divide in America on how we percieve reality. Most of your subscribers here clearly fall on one side of that divide. Would you be willing to make a list of your worst fears for the next four years? Something concrete that could be evaluated in 2028 for its prescience and perspicacity. Oprah Winfrey predicted on the eve of the election that a Donald Trump presidency would mark the end of elections in America. That's a prediction that can be graded in 2028. What would be on your list?

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I already liked the previous "micro-fiction" you shared of Addison Zeller and this one was even better in my eyes. Although I thought he could have done more with it, which is probably just part of what a micro-fiction is.

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Nov 7·edited Nov 7Author

What a silly and irrelevant remark.

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Nov 7·edited Nov 7

I don’t think that poor Dianelos merits this comment. He is, in fact, wrong, but he never struck me as stupid or malicious. And he is a man who deeply respects and loves you.

Dianelos, there is a clear explanation for the fact described in your previous post. First, at the beginning of the war, when the Russians had the means to flatten Kyiv, they wanted a quick victory and to retain the sympathies of some of the Russian-speaking population in the eastern part of Ukraine. After the blitz failed, they removed the mask of restraint (which slipped much earlier in certain locations like Bucha) and proceeded to bomb Ukraine with unmitigated brutality. However, in the meantime, Ukraine was supplied by its Western allies with very good anti-missile systems, which they used to protect the capital and other major cities. They also managed to push out the Russian forces much farther to the east, so now Kyiv could be attacked only with (expensive) rockets and drones and not with the (much cheaper) normal artillery. If you want a fair comparison, look at the destruction of cities such as Mariupol or Bakhmut that didn’t benefit from this state-of-the-art protection. If Kyiv is to be besieged again, God forbid, it will be mercilessly pummeled to the ground. Michael is also right that they are afraid to provoke the USA, but I think at this stage it applies only to the deployment of weapons of mass destruction.

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author

I’m a bit on edge. Health problems, the end of civilization…

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Nov 7·edited Nov 7

...Maryland having only the third highest anti-Trump majority after Vermont and Massachusetts (fourth, if DC is included).

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author

Eastern Shore, Western mountain region.

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Let’s remember that if Harris had won it wouldn’t have changed the overall trajectory, just slowed it. There is no solution within the modern nation state for the unsustainability of the material social order. It will collapse.

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Nov 9·edited Nov 9

First of all, I didn’t mean “poor” in a condescending way. It was an expression of sympathy, and I apologise for the misunderstanding.

Otherwise, I respectfully disagree with many of your conclusions. I don’t need to read western pundits to understand the war (although I have read and continue to read such analyses, of course), as I know enough Russian to read their own media and see how evil or crazy many of their politicians are (not to mention that disgrace Patriarch Kirill). And it pains me to say that since, as many Bulgarians, I otherwise have deep sympathies for Russian culture and people. But I can agree with you that if anyone has benefitted from the war, it is the USA that has enriched itself immensely from the sale of weapons and replacing Russia as a major fuel supplier for Europe. And I also think that continuing the war with the current level of support for Ukraine is just cruel and will lead to its irreparable ruin. The West should either support them unconditionally with every conventional weapon and troops (because the latter is what they mostly lack) or help them negotiate peace even at the expense of territory. But, to be honest, this wavering western support is rather typical. First they encourage you to rebel against the Russian tyranny, then praise your bravery in their press, and at the end they abandon you to your fate. This has happened with Hungary in 1956, happens now with Ukraine, and may yet happen with Georgia.

But, if you wish, we can continue this discussion via private messages as it is not relevant to the article.

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As much as I hate Netanyahu, we have to consider that he has carte blanche from the greatest military power in history to do as he pleases; indeed it supplies him with his weapons. Whereas Russia knows there are limits to what it can do without provoking a response from the greatest military power in history.

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This just reinforces my point: you can't judge Putin somehow less of a mass murderer than Netanyahu based on their respective conduct in war. One of them has to deal with the threat of US retaliation (not limited to warfare) and the other is basically a US proxy.

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deletedNov 4
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author

Sorry, there is a no coarse language rule on this page.

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Yeah, sorry. Feeling quite coarse these days I guess.

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