I run a business and have kids in high school and college. I don’t have time to get lost in my social media—very often.
When I do check my campaign’s Instagram and Facebook, this freedom-loving candidate for governor of a state where Republican politicians are systematically stripping the basic rights of people who don’t have their vast riches and connections, or who don’t think religious fanaticism is a good excuse for forcing women to give birth or die trying, or who are well on their way to destroying our most effective pathway for people to escape poverty—public education—well, I love to scroll Instagram to engage with friends and supporters who aren’t willing to sacrifice freedom for … Electoral greed? Religious hegemony? Fascistic fashion trends?
Yet, as much as I want to dance in digital sunshine, the internet’s algorithm goblins keep stuffing my news feeds with gloom. That’s how an unplanned bout of doomscrolling dredged up the ‘60s and ‘70s counterculture gonzo journalist Hunter S. Thompson.
Thompson’s classic election-year novel, Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail ’72, is NOT a piece of writing that will make you feel better. In fact, it’s a pre-internet version of doomscrolling. Thompson wrote for the Rolling Stone as he followed the Democratic presidential primary.
What’s amazing about the 1972 reporting is the same life-or-death urgency that we feel today: Kamala v. Trump.
Voters are worried about wars maiming and killing America’s youth. Voters don’t understand how their political lions meekly put party over politics. Voters feel betrayed by being forced to choose between someone unhinged and corrupt versus someone sane … they always want a choice between two sane candidates. Voters are battered with emotional distractions, crude insults, and outright lies.
And, at the end of the ’72 election, Nixon, the cheating criminal, won—only to resign two years later. We all know that today’s Congress will not hold the felon on the 2024 ballot to account, ever. That’s just galling.
I made it about 60 pages into this book and then put it down.
The truth is, today we have a great candidate for president who has worked to uphold the laws of the land. Someone from America’s middle class. Someone who believes that Americans who disagree with her are still Americans. Someone who isn’t beholden to billionaires out to buy their very own corrupt and cruel fascist.
Still, as a former Republican, my enthusiasm for Kamala Harris is tempered with my deep sense of betrayal by Republican political leaders. Why on earth did they field a presidential candidate who is so mean, senile, and criminal?
Vice President Kamala Harris is a great candidate any year. This year, she’s the only candidate we can trust to lead America with true greatness.
Please vote.