 So I've got a little bit of a spicy topic that I want to get into but I think that it is It's really interesting this video this series of clips that I'm about to play for you It struck a chord with me because I think this conversation even though it is inherently divisive. I think it's important I think it's worthwhile to explore because of everything. That's at stake in this election So Noam Chomsky someone who I respect he's to the left of Joe Biden obviously into the left of Bernie Sanders even He appeared on a podcast with hosts that I am a huge fan of Brianna Joy Gray and Virgil, Texas They have a new podcast called the bad faith podcast and they interviewed Noam Chomsky And they basically challenged him to explain why he believes it's so important for the left to vote for Joe Biden You know even if that may yield a short-term benefit That's undeniable because of course we have to defeat Donald Trump in the long term Are we actually doing more harm than good because by falling in line every single election? Are we basically telling the Democrats no matter what you do no matter how shitty you become you're always going to have our votes So this is what Brianna Joy Gray asked Noam Chomsky and you know, let's listen to his answer What are the long-term consequences of everybody on the broad left? Democrats liberals everyone saying that under any circumstances We will vote for a Democratic candidate as long as they are Incrementally better than the Republican candidate does that way of thinking contribute to the right word shift of the Democratic Party over years And what mechanism will ever stop that shift if we're not willing to ever under any circumstances leverage our votes What you're saying if you think it's true is we should help Trump win Because maybe in the long run that'll affect the Democratic Party. That's a terrible choice Helping Trump win as you're proposing Would mean four more years of destruction of the environment Getting possibly to tipping points at which would be irreversible Certainly making any effort to deal with it very difficult It would mean stacking the judiciary with young ultra-right lawyers top to bottom so that nothing would be possibly done for a generation and I can go on and on I don't think that's a wise choice Just on the hope that maybe sometime in the long term The Democratic Party will pay attention to the fact that you're part of the 50% of non-voters I take the multi-generational threat very seriously you know as a black American whose family members have been living as a Third tier in American society My mother was born into an America that didn't recognize her basic human rights in 1960 She's a relatively young woman. And so what concerns me is the way in which the vote blew no matter who? think mindset basically privileges more recent Concerns that are equally grave as more long-standing Concerns that are built in the status quo and says we have to vote for X candidate to prevent X ill from happening At the same time those who have suffered under the status quo never seem to get an Opportunity to have their issues heard that was interesting But before I tell you my thoughts about that segment I want to get to one more clip where Noam Chomsky brings up what's at stake He says, you know, this is about survival and then Brianna Joy Gray brings up the fact that I mean people already are going to die Regardless of the outcome of this election, you know, I mean people Their situation will not be improved, which is why they feel Disinclined from voting listen to what Noam Chomsky says now we have a simple question Do you want your grandchildren to survive? I? Think the people you're talking to say yes I want my grandchildren so many people's grandchildren are already not surviving Yes, that's the issue want to ensure that they'll live underwater or have a chance to survive So many people aren't thinking about living underwater because they're incarcerated or they're unhomed Then as an activist your goal is to make get them to think about it because that is what is at stake Okay So there's one more clip that I'm going to get to with Virgil Texas asking Noam Chomsky about capitalism but before we talk about that I want to discuss the two clips that we just watched because I think that It's really important that Brianna Joy Gray pressed Noam Chomsky because he has talked about the importance of You know voting for Joe Biden But here I think her pressuring him to really explain himself further made him be more clear in a way that actually resonated with me further So basically the way that he talks about voting for Joe Biden You can tell that he's not trying to gaslight you right He's he's discussing the uncertainty of his strategy and The left strategy who don't intend on voting for Joe Biden Which matters to me because when I hear people trying to make the case for Joe Biden You know they instinctively knowing that the left is very you know policy driven say look just look at Joe Biden's platform You may think he sounds like a neoliberal and he's been a neoliberal but his platform is super progressive But that's not persuasive because we all know that politicians don't pay attention to their platform In fact, I'd argue that Joe Biden probably doesn't even know what's on his platform So that's not persuasive to me Um, so if you're gonna make the case for Joe Biden in a way where you're not invoking Donald Trump and you're trying to sell us on Joe Biden specifically that to me seems inherently disingenuous And it just doesn't land but what Noam Chomsky says here that actually does resonate with me because He's talking about the inherent uncertainty of his strategy and our strategy Which is important because none of us are infallible, you know, we are all trying to do the best that we can We are in good faith making a decision to vote that will ultimately lead to a better society But neither Chomsky or Brianna Joy Gray are guaranteed That society based on how they vote the entire situation is Up in the air, right? So when it comes to Voting for Joe Biden, you know, if you vote third party Noam Chomsky says, you know, if you do that Maybe in the long run it will affect the Democratic Party But he says I don't think that's a wise choice just on the hope that Sometime in the long term the Democratic Party will pay attention to the fact that you're part of the 50% of non-voters now Here's why that is appealing to me and basically pointing to the flaws in my own strategy because if you look back to my videos in 2016 I was on board with voting third party. I was enthusiastically supporting Jill Stein But by voting for Jill Stein to send a message to the Democratic Party There's no guarantee that that is going to Actually yield the results that we want. We're basically hoping that if we make a big enough stink Democrats are going to listen to us But within that four years between voting for Jill Stein and this election We have learned it definitively that Democrats do not give a shit about what the left wants Joe Biden is our nominee if the left had a big enough say Bernie Sanders would be the nominee right now But on top of that, you know Noam Chomsky is also tacitly admitting that his strategy in and of itself Isn't going to guarantee a victory as well, right because this is about survival He goes on to say do you want your grandchildren to have a chance to survive and Inherent in that language is not an assumption that we will guarantee ourselves a specific future if we vote for Joe Biden Just that there's a chance There's already going to be a lot of people that die regardless of the outcome of this election But can we reduce harm to the extent where it's worthwhile to vote for Joe Biden? And you know his conclusion conclusion ultimately is yes, so when you kind of Accept that the future itself is Grim regardless of the outcome. I think it makes it a little bit more easier to make Your decision and it's why I ultimately have begrudgingly decided to vote for Joe Biden because I've kind of accepted the grim reality that One the Democratic Party Genuinely is uninterested in what the left wants and no matter who we vote for that's not going to influence their policies because at the end of The day their donors will dictate what they want. That's number one number two If we accept that the outcome is neoliberalism no matter what if Joe Biden wins we get neoliberalism If Donald Trump wins we get neoliberalism once we accept that grim reality Then we try to determine what factors do we actually have influence over and the real decision is do we want Fascism or not because we're getting neoliberalism. We're getting neoliberalism Regardless whether we like it or not so do we want neoliberalism or neoliberalism plus fascism and What Chomsky said that really resonated with me was the fact that there are so many people not voting a hundred million people sitting out this election and if a hundred million non-voters Aren't making a big enough or sending a big enough message to the Democratic Party to get them to change a Fraction of leftist voting third party isn't going to be enough to get them to pay attention. They just don't care They don't care so The reason why all of this has led to me voting for Joe Biden not because of this video, but beforehand is Because I want to try to do what I can to control the situation If we're in freefall if there's going to be damage done no matter what if there's going to be deaths no matter what I'm going to try to take actions to minimize the deaths and Destruction at least with Joe Biden. We can expect him to handle COVID-19 better than Donald Trump not saying that I would agree with his handling of it 100% But I know for sure he would do a better job than Donald Trump Even if his actions were no different if he just stopped spreading misinformation that alone Would save lives So that's one reason why I think that you know This gives us a chance at survival as Noam Chomsky puts it furthermore Even if Joe Biden is terrible even if we replace Joe Biden with Mitt Romney The difference between Trump and other Republicans is that Trump is very explicit in his attacks on democracy and Republicans already got away with stealing the election from Democrats in 2000. So if Trump actually Does what his lawyers are gearing up to do and try to get a Republican Legislature to appoint their own electors to the electoral college to overturn the will of voters in a particular state if it's close Then democracy is functionally dead at that point because if they can get away with it in this election They're gonna do it in the future because Republicans know they can't win If people actually make their voices heard which is why they are always suppressing the vote But if they see that literally stealing an election is how they can win Then in the future, we won't have a chance to elect someone who's progressive It's not an option, you know ignore the fact that Democrats aren't gonna listen to us But we won't even have a chance to make our voices heard and be disappointed Which is why I think that you know, I agree with Chomsky that It made me decide to vote for Joe Biden and listen when I came to that realization But a month or so ago that I'm going to vote for Joe Biden It literally caused me to be depressed not just how I feel down like I genuinely felt actually clinically depressed It's that bad because upon Acknowledging that I will be doing this voting for Joe Biden basically betraying what I feel is my own principles I'm accepting this grim reality that it doesn't matter who we elect We're getting more neoliberalism, but this is basically me trying to stop fascism now I get people will say but Mike you live in a blue state So it really doesn't matter but after everything that's taken place with the wildfires and all of the division in Portland with Donald Trump The proud boys and you know anti-fascist protesters, you know with everyone being this polarized and more galvanized than ever I just don't want to risk it But also more importantly, I can't just sit here and say I'm not gonna vote for Joe Biden in a safe blue state But if you're in a swing state, you better vote for Joe Biden because we definitely don't want Trump to win Like somebody pointed this out to me in my in my personal life who I Trust who watches the show and said Mike you have to understand why that's kind of a fucked up thing to say because you're basically saying look I don't ever have to vote for Joe Biden I could be perfectly principled and feel great because I never have to vote for Joe Biden Because I live in a blue state But I have this expectation that people in swing states vote for Joe Biden so we can ultimately defeat Donald Trump So, you know, you're expecting other people to do what they don't want to do while you can just comfortably in your safe State say I didn't vote for Joe Biden I didn't bring on any of this But that is kind of a shitty thing to do especially given how large my platform is because back in 2016 My platform was small like I was an up and coming youtuber with like 50,000 subscribers I think in 2016 now we have six times the people following So somebody who lives in a swing state might see me talk about not wanting to vote for Joe Biden how I'm not gonna vote Joe Biden they might think well fuck it I'm if you're not gonna vote for Joe Biden I don't want to vote for Joe Biden. So just me individually as a podcast host I feel as if I have a responsibility and I don't want to be a useful idiot to Republicans. I don't want to enable fascists Right because at the end of the day We're not gonna get socials socialism by not voting for Joe Biden. So I have to try to figure out what I do to Stop the suffering from taking place and for now we just put a pause in the apocalypse for about four years with Joe Biden We're not gonna save the country But we get a little bit of time to breathe and I know the response will be but Mike look at what happened during the Obama years I mean the Democratic Party is based on to sleep and to that I say that's fine Go to sleep while the left remains activated and engaged because while they're all sleeping and thinking everything is fine and Peachy keen and everything's copacetic in the country. We're gonna be dominating primaries. Hopefully we'll stay engaged and Be active while they are out at brunch That's my thinking and maybe that isn't a guaranteed thing that will happen But we've got a chance because again, we're not working with certain teas here And that's what Chomsky said that really resonated with me. None of us know none of us know What's going to be the catalyst that ultimately facilitates change? We don't know We're just working with probability everything that we do either voting for Biden or voting for third party gives us a probability of Getting a particular outcome that we desire But it's not a foregone conclusion. It's not guaranteed So that's why I think that When I crunch all of the numbers in my head and I play out these scenarios I have to make sure that I do what we can to defeat Donald Trump Even if I absolutely loathe Joe Biden and voting for him will make me feel Like shit because he's he's a terrible human being and I'll feel responsible for everything that he does But I accept that responsibility and I accept that you know, we have to push to get electoral reform because between you know, 2016 and now Democrats complain about spoilage and how the Green Party is the spoiler But they don't do anything to get a brain choice voting But also, you know, the burden is on us who vote third party who support the Green Party and a new people's party to get Third party as well because I don't want to just keep voting for a third party because Democrats suck I want to vote for a third party that can win and we can't do that unless the left gets serious about electoral reform and pushes HR4000 which would get ranked choice voting Nationally among other things, right and Earl Blumenar just co-sponsored that legislation on October 1st So unless the left is serious about pushing legislation that is going to actually get ranked choice voting Then you can't you can't skip the step and just start trying to make a Third party become relevant like it. I don't want to vote for a party that will be obscure and irrelevant I want to vote for a third party that's capable of winning And so we have to come up with a plan and be introspective about whether or not what we did in 2016 worked And I don't think you know people who voted for Jill Stein myself included are responsible for Trump's victory because we are lucky enough to Have two spoilers, you know one on each side with the libertarian party who gets more of a vote So I wouldn't vote shame anyone and say you're a piece of shit if you don't vote for Joe Biden But for me Because I have a large platform and I feel a responsibility to not enable the Republican Party Because I feel as if you know, I don't want to take a chance Even if I think Oregon's gonna go blue I'm not gonna risk it because Trump is a fascist and he's literally trying to consolidate his power I feel compelled to vote for Joe Biden. Even if I hate him I feel like we can't allow our dissatisfaction with the Democratic Party to enable fascism and look it is correct that The situation will continue to get worse if Joe Biden doesn't actually address the factors that led to Donald Trump in the first place and actually Pay attention to the material conditions in the country that leads to widespread dissatisfaction and radicalization both on the left and the right With the right now lurching towards fascism Then you know things will get worse But what voting for Joe Biden does in my opinion it doesn't give me a chance to pressure him to move left Even though of course we'll attempt that but I'm not holding my breath I don't think Joe Biden is going to listen to anything that the left says because he doesn't give a shit I'm not under that, you know delusion But voting for Joe Biden in a way just basically gives us a chance a little bit higher of a percentage of clinging to life Surviving a little bit longer because mass suffering is going to ensue no matter what but maybe with Joe Biden There's a little bit less mass suffering a little bit less death and destruction Maybe we get COVID-19 under control. Maybe the left gets hyperactive while centrists go to sleep. Maybe It's not a foregone conclusion It's not a guarantee but it's a big enough maybe that makes me feel as if that's what we have to do at least until the left Comes together in some way to really push for electoral reform because again, I want a third party I don't want just a third party. I want five or six parties But I don't want to just vote for a party that will never win and the left talks more about wanting a new party Than getting electoral reform, which is necessary for a third party So until the left actually starts really pushing for ranked choice voting and does To hr 4000 what they did to hr 676 which was the medicare for all bill and get everyone in congress Who's a democrat to co-sponsored basically then, you know voting for a third party isn't going to be enough Especially if we're just saying, you know, I'm voting because I want these policies reflected in law because democrats don't care They're not listening to us. So that's my conclusion and you know, ultimately people may disagree with it But at the end of the day, that's my choice And it's just what I think will be the best decision given the shitty set of circumstances It's not a desirable outcome, but no outcome is desirable at this point. So I'm just voting for a chance A chance and maybe turning things around even if that chance may not necessarily be Very likely. It's a big enough chance because any chance Is worthwhile given how bad things have gotten. Okay. Now moving on to the last clip We spent a lot of time on that Virgil texas asks About capitalism and you know participating within the capitalist system It kind of enables it in a way Noam chomsky had a really good answer for this and I'll tell you why I agree with him if these institutions if these capitalist institutions Result in recurring ecological crises and existential ones as they do Then isn't the real fight against those institutions instead of a reform that maybe gets us over the hump in 30 years if it were possible to Lobby those in power through Activism some kind of brokering those who are Behold into the profit motive even if it destroys the environment We have maybe a decade or two to deal with the environmental crisis Is there the remotest chance that within a decade or two Will overthrow capitalism It's not even a dream Okay, so the quest with the point that you're raising is basically irrelevant Of course, let's work to try to overthrow capitalism. It's not going to happen Like that there's a lot of work involved Meanwhile, we have an imminent question Are we going to preserve the possibility for organized human society to survive? Are we going to preserve the possibility for us to work to overthrow capitalist institutions? Or are we going to say it's hopeless? Let's quit I prefer the first what chomsky says here He's being realistic and he's accepting the grim situation the reality, right? We have like a decade or two to act on climate change and literally save the planet from us all going extinct We're not going to have enough time to overthrow capitalism abolish capitalism and then Take on climate change. That's just not realistic And we talked about this over the weekend if you watched my interview with Liam O'Mara There's no single bill in congress that is going to get rid of capitalism in one fell swoop We just have to keep pushing towards more publicly funded policies and away from privatization, right? It's like a neoliberal cult where we see everything in society become commodified including elections healthcare, you know Even uh supreme court appointments now they rule not on what the constitution wants but based on the interests Of big business because the supreme court. They're just a bunch of ideologues So I mean, we're not going to get rid of capitalism quick enough To stop climate catastrophe. So what we have to do in the meanwhile Is fight to as chomsky puts it preserve the possibility of organized human society And preserve the possibility to work to overthrow capitalism because we're not working with You know guarantees. We're we're operating here with a lot of uncertainty And by getting donald trump out and voting for joe biden that at least preserves the possibility That we have a chance to maybe elect someone who's better than biden down the line or have a chance To survive and again, that's not because I think that joe biden is going to be a savior. It's because donald trump Is going to do so much harm Even if joe biden will also do harm and grant more permits to frackers It's going to be less harm Then uh, you know donald trump and I get that this is the lesser of two evils argument And theoretically if you keep voting for the lesser of two evils, you can expect them to get worse and worse But I think that if you don't vote for the lesser of two evils, then we learned after 2016 they'll still get more and more evil and um The situation overall will just get worse and worse But we all told ourselves that if we stop voting for the lesser of two evils, then maybe The evils won't be so bad But that didn't bear out We couldn't get the greens to five percent only one state has ranked choice voting and the left is deeply unorganized right now We have a lot of people Battling each other. We're at odds You know, we have people who are saying we can only You know reform the democratic party and other people saying We you know, we have to pursue a third party But I feel frustrated because nobody is doing what it takes to get that third party viable And meanwhile while we're all bickering about all of this the fascists are getting more and more popular So I feel like we're back into a corner and we've run out of options So look, I'm not going to vote or shame anyone I think that your vote is ultimately your choice and I'm not going to persuade you But I do feel as if because I have a large platform it is incumbent on me to be responsible in using my platform and to be open and honest I have to be open and honest. I'm going to vote for Joe Biden and it feels Really terrible admitting this But I feel like there's not really Anything else that's going to change the situation I want a third party. I want socialism. I want medicare for all But letting the fascists win is not going to be conducive to getting the things that I want implemented so all we can do right now is try to um mitigate damage Put a pause on the apocalypse and authoritarianism that trump has openly stated he wants And just attempt to buy ourselves a little bit more time in hopes that we can come up with a better plan To survive if Biden gets elected. I don't believe we're going to be able to influence him But that extra four years where we're not fighting to survive with the pandemic And everything else that we're faced. Maybe the left can get a little a little bit more organized and come together and figure out What do we do? We've got four years to act What do we do going forward if we want to go the third party about How do we do that? How do we make sure that we get rank choice voting on the ballot in every state where they have Referendums as a possibility. How do we make sure we take over the democratic party? More so than we already have, you know, we've got our foot in the door But that's not enough We just need a little bit more time to try to craft a strategy because right now the left is just too Disorganized and there's just not enough people to vote third party To where it's going to make a difference, you know with regard to the democratic party because again If they're gonna take any kind of a message you'd think it'd be from the 100 million people who stay home every single election cycle But the fact that they're ignoring all of those potential voters tells you that we need a better strategy Then figuring out how to influence the democratic party and when I voted for jillstein in 2016 I wasn't voting specifically because I wanted to influence the democratic party It was a sincere vote for someone who I agreed with and I wanted those policies reflected, you know in law But at the same time the circumstances have changed and my strategy there Has not led to me getting any closer To getting policies that I want if anything we're further away now with a neoliberal nominated someone who's not more progressive than Bernie Sanders, so that's where we're at. That's where I'm at I think that you know gnome chomsky in everything that he says he really highlights the uncertainty of the situation We don't know What's going to be the the best strategy right now? But what we do know for sure Is that we don't have a lot of options and we certainly don't have a lot of time