Stolen Election

Voting for Ukraine in New Hampshire

Trump Supporter, ©2024 William L. Brown

I voted for Ukraine this morning. Today is the New Hampshire presidential primary.

I calculate two ways to support Ukraine in the primary. One is to vote for Joe Biden on the Democratic Party ballot. The other is to vote for Nikki Haley on the Republican Party ballot.

Each of these has the same intent - to weaken Republican candidate Donald Trump. Because, if Trump wins the general election, so does Vladimir Putin. Trump is against sending more aid to Ukraine. He’s anti-NATO and eager to disrupt the international world-order, which aligns with Putin’s imperial aims to expand Russia’s borders and influence.

ТРАМП, 2024, ©2024 William L. Brown

Haley supports Ukraine. If, by some miracle, she becomes the Republican nominee against incumbent Biden, Ukraine aid will be assured regardless of the outcome.

Biden is the strongest candidate for the Democrats if only because he has the incumbency. Another candidate may be younger or more charismatic, but they won’t have the “bully pulpit,” which lowers their chances considerably, especially against Trump. Another Trump term is not a risk worth taking.

The more votes Haley gets, the less inevitable Trump’s candidacy becomes. Campaign funds spent in primary elections are funds he won’t have for the general election. Inside-party battles provide a steady stream of Trump-bashing to the media, also.

It’s a hold-you-nose-and-vote situation for many of us. Biden has been disappointing on several issues, not least of which is ineffective long-term planning on Ukraine and slow, even reluctant, delivery of arms.

"I voted" sticker from the New Hampshire Presidential Primary, a Keene, NH polling station with only two lonely campaigners out front at 8:30 am. No candidates were there, very disapointing

Primary complaint

Biden has soured a lot of New Hampshire voters because he and the National Democratic Committee stole the New Hampshire presidential primary.

New Hampshire has held the first in the nation presidential primary since 1920. The state constitution requires that it be the first. If another state tries to schedule a primary before it as many have tried to do, the state law kicks in, and the New Hampshire primary is rescheduled seven days before it.

Joe Biden lost the previous New Hampshire primary which seems to have set him against it. The national party, using the excuse that New Hampshire is not diverse enough or representative of the nation, scheduled the South Carolina Democratic presidential primary before the NH primary. Of course, NH followed its constitutional law as required and rescheduled its own primary seven days prior. Knowing this would happen, because ITS THE LAW, the Democratic National Committee nonetheless had a hissy-fit, refusing to seat NH delegates to the national convention next summer based on today’s primary vote. Stolen election!

I suspect the diversity issue is a smoke screen, a convenient way to shut down critics.

The more important point is the loss of retail politics, the New Hampshire Presidential Primary’s greatest democratic (small-d) feature. Because NH is a small state, a candidate with modest funding can come here with a few volunteers, knock on doors, meet with small groups in supporter’s living rooms, and create a viable campaign.

Noteworthy candidates and grassroots movements have been able to do this for over 100 years. Peace-candidate Eugene McCarthy’s campaign in 1968 was one such. He didn’t win, but he got such strong support that the incumbent president decided not to run for reelection.

Poll-dancers, ©2024 William L. Brown

The South Carolina Presidential Primary is not retail politics. It is wholesale politics. Only well-funded candidates can compete. The events are all in large venues such as gymnasiums or stadiums. There is no opportunity, as there is in NH, to shake a candidate’s hand, look them in the eye and see if they are adept at anything other than looking good in front of a camera.

The only demographic groups that benefit from this are big-money interests. Could the real reason for this change be that those groups don’t want any out-of-their-control upstart candidates coming along to spoil their well-bankrolled candidate’s chances?

A more sincere reform would be to move the first primary to another, more diverse, small state where retail politics are possible - Rhode Island or Delaware, for example.

Addendum on primary alternatives 01/25/24:

From the comments section below: Here's a good NPR article about what states would be better, more representative, to hold the first-in-the-nation primary. It overlooks my concern, which is that the first-n-the-nation primary should be in a small state where underfunded, grassroots candidates have a chance. The big states the article recommends, such as Illinois, would be unaffordable to such candidates. The small states of Delaware and Rhode Island are #9 and #10 on the list of "perfect states," however. South Carolina is #32 on that list.

Thanks to reader Steven Woodruff for sparking a useful discussion in the comments.

Meanwhile, …Ukraine

The US Congress is still holding Ukraine aid hostage to domestic politics. There are reports of arms and ammunition shortages in Ukraine as a result.

Deadly Game, © 2024, William L. Brown

Here’s the latest video report from Ekaterina Minakova in Dnipro, Ukraine. The war grinds on.

She writes today, January 23, 2024, in her public war diary, “Today we had a big explosion and multiple long sirens in the city. In Kyiv in the morning there were over 30 rockets. In the city nearby (Pavlohrad) russian rocket killed a woman. Kharkiv was badly affected with multiple victims including children.

“With my friend we were talking why the world (Western mostly) doesn't want to help us to win. It is about oil, gas and food trade economically and nuclear weapons politically. How can politicians be so blind?”

Good question!

Happy New Year!

Welcome 2024! ©2024 William L. Brown