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Could Voters Opposed to Both Clinton and Trump Team up Using VotePact?

posted on: Apr 27, 2016

BY: Sam Husseini/Contributing Writer
There’s a solution to the predicament most of the U.S. will be facing between now and November: Liberals, progressives, and others disenchanted with the likely Democratic nominee and conservatives disenchanted with the likely Republican nominee can pair up and each vote for the candidates they genuinely want.
Both Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump have incredibly high negatives. Most people don’t agree with, like, or trust either. In a political system responsive to the public, an alternative with broad support would emerge if they become the nominees, as seems increasingly likely.

Unfortunately, in our system – which enshrines the dominance of the two establishment parties – the negatives of each end up perversely being the basis of support for the other. Voters end up being trapped by the unpopularity of the candidates. The main things holding the system together are fear and hate – even as the candidates claim to be bringing people together.

That is, most people supporting Clinton are not doing so because they view her as upstanding, wise, or just. They support her because they fear and despise Trump and his misogyny, racism, and temperament.

And the same largely goes for Trump. His supporters back him because they detest the establishment of the Republican Party, as well as Clinton, who shares so much with that very Republican establishment, even as she postures as a newly born progressive.

So, voters could end up just cancelling each other out — one voting for Clinton and one voting for Trump, with neither being happy. But if voters who know and trust each other – relatives, coworkers, neighbors, debating partners – team up and vote for their preferred candidates (be they Green, Libertarian, Socialist, Independent, etc.), then they can begin to break out of the prison of the two-party system. And if they do this in pairs (forming a VotePact), they can do it without the risk of helping the candidate they want the least.

Politicians make such alliances all the time. Witness the recent alliance between Ted Cruz and John Kasich against Trump, but voters need to do this with a level of integrity and honest dialogue that’s alien to the political class. It’s well past time that the public vote strategically instead of continuing to be the perpetual play thing of the duopoly.

Certainly there are schisms in each establishment party. Bernie Sanders has made some of those evident on the Democratic Party side, especially in his forthright critique of the healthcare system, Wall Street domination, and increasing economic inequality.

Additionally, Trump has made some indications on foreign policy which break from perpetual war orthodoxy and embraces some populist rhetoric. How genuine that is, however, is questionable. It’s possible that it’s no more sincere than Clinton’s new-found stated opposition to undemocratic corporate-backed deals like the Trans-Pacific Partnership.

The Arab American community is particularly sensitive to the corrupt collusion between the establishment Democrats and Republicans and the disastrous effects this has had, both in Arab counties and in the U.S. itself.

They can take the lead and assert themselves in the U.S. electoral map by uniting and adopting such a strategy that would give them more power.

Husseini is founder of VotePact.org.