The Catholic Worker and the 2024 Vote

This article originally appeared on page 1 of the October-November 2024 edition of The Catholic Worker. It is reprinted here with permission from the author.

The question of how one can ethically vote, or not, within this “filthy rotten system,” as Dorothy Day described US capitalism, feels impossible to answer. As we discern our own role within national politics at a time such as this, let us step back to consider historical witnesses who took a clear stance for justice and against the evils of the status quo.

In the introduction to Caste, Isabel Wilkerson describes a famous photograph where the “Man in the Crowd” did not outstretch his right arm in unison with everyone else as they indicated their allegiance to Hitler. Reflecting on this image, Wilkerson states: “Unless people are willing to transcend their fears, endure discomfort and derision, suffer the scorn of loved ones and neighbors and co-workers and friends, fall into disfavor of perhaps everyone they know, face exclusion and even banishment, it would be numerically impossible, humanly impossible, for everyone to be that man…. What would it take to be him now?”

While Wilkerson poses this question in the context of caste and the evil of racism in the US, I’d like to broaden the question to consider class and militarism, encompassing the three evils which Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. shared in an address in 1967. What would it take for us to take a clear stance against the hoarding of wealth, racial hierarchy, and US imperialism?

Let us consider together the history of our broader movement to see such moments of clarity. We remember the Catonsville Nine who burned over 300 draft cards in order to say no to the Vietnam War. In a statement he read at trial, Fr. Dan Berrigan pointed to the upside-down order maintained by the status quo, “We have chosen to be branded as peace criminals by war criminals.” In standing against US militarism, the Catonsville Nine rightly recognized that those in the US government complicit with the killing of children were indeed war criminals.

We remember the air raid drills of the 1950s and 60s in which Dorothy Day and others refused to go into the subway stations in order to protest the propaganda that people could be safe against nuclear warfare if only they were prepared. Instead, they handed out pamphlets which read, “We will not obey this order to pretend, to evacuate, to hide…. We refuse to cooperate.” They, too, took a clear stance against the US war machine which falsely leads those within the US to believe that we can be safe even as our government kills or plans to kill those abroad.

And certainly, we remember Dorothy’s article “We Go On Record” in which she begins with the line “Mr. Truman was jubilant.” She describes his satisfaction and joy in reporting to the papers that we “successfully” dropped the atomic bombs killing over 200,000 people. Dorothy then refers to those killed in Hiroshima and Nagasaki by hauntingly suggesting, “Perhaps we will breathe their dust into our nostrils, feel them in the fog of New York on our faces.”

In holding these witnesses from the past, I think of our present reality. Is today not also a clear moment wherein people of conscience must stand clearly with the least among us against our heartless political system?

Yes, November 5th is quickly approaching. And, yes, young people are disaffected by the status quo which the two-party system perpetuates. We have heard lie after lie from President Biden and Vice-President Harris about how they will affirm human rights. We are increasingly worried about President Trump’s threats to use nuclear weapons abroad and the way in which his rhetoric could further activate violent fascist groups in the US. No, we don’t want to allow fascism to take hold even more than it already has. No, we don’t want more false hope for an inclusive future vision of our country built upon the graves of dead children abroad. And, no, we don’t want to allow ourselves to be influenced by the billions of dollars wasted on this election while people remain hungry and without shelter in our neighborhoods.

I had a conversation the other day with a woman whom I live with at Maryhouse, and she was emphatically sharing how neither political party cares about her. They do not know who she is, and they do not care about helping her, no matter what their campaign messaging is.

I had the honor to hear Rev. Munther Isaac, Palestinian pastor of the Evangelical Lutheran Christmas Church in Bethlehem, a few weeks ago as he delivered his address, “Silence is Complicity” at Riverside Church. He, too, is disaffected with the US political arena. In his speech, which called upon US churches to be clear about the ongoing genocide in Palestine, he also spoke about the courage of college students and their organizing on campuses. Rev. Isaac said that he is far more invested in the moral clarity which the students provide than in the upcoming US presidential election, stating, “What will happen in September is far more important than what will happen in November.” Then, seemingly as an aside, he said, “Honestly I could care less who’s elected in November. It’s a machine that will continue to run.”

This machine was on full display at the Democratic National Convention (DNC). The propaganda fed to those of us on the left is that we have to get in line with the Democratic Party in order to build power, or more effectively push for our concerns. Juan González, who was involved with the Young Lords movement and is a co-host of Democracy Now, described the upcoming election as a choice between two faces of capitalism. While González described the Republican face as “white supremacist capitalism,” “anti-immigrant xenophobia” and “patriarchy and war on the working class,” he described the Democratic face as “multiracial neoliberal capitalism” which “seeks a kinder, gentler form of mass deportation and militarism.” He saw the DNC as a “choreographed mass spectacle,” wherein the ruling class controlled the narrative.The tight grip which the two-party system holds on the narrative of this election makes it difficult for the masses to dream and to build power outside of electoral representation. How can we instead look to each other and reframe the narrative in order to build solidarity apart from systems of violence?

A glimpse of this solidarity building was seen in Chicago, where people marched on the convention center and gathered to dream an alternative future. Although the uncommitted delegates who represent a movement of voters unwilling to vote for any candidate funding Israel were denied a speaking spot within the DNC, this counter-convention provided a space for mutual aid, art installations, workshops on topics from Gaza to Cop Cities in the US, and third-party candidates including Cornel West and Jill Stein. While this diverse group brought together many perspectives on resistance, they united with one voice to say: stop US aid to Israel, stop the genocide in Palestine. Will we look back on this moment, fifty years from now, and use the witness of these dissenting voices as examples of what it means to stand on the right side of history?

At this point, some within the CW movement might wonder why I’m even taking the time to address electoral politics. While a second Trump presidency would be far worse than a Harris presidency, I have been sick at heart to see the headlines shift from covering the genocide in Gaza, however poorly, to Kamala Harris’ “Brat Summer” and Tim Walz’s favorite kind of tacos. Therefore, in an effort to remember those we love who are forgotten by the two-party system, I feel an urgency to address the false joy promulgated by the Democratic ticket this election season.

Many speakers at the DNC highlighted a key theme of joy. Oprah Winfrey said, “What we are going to do is elect Kamala Harris as the next president of the US, and let us choose joy.” Bill Clinton said that VP Harris would provide “an America that is more joyful, more inclusive, more future-focused.”

Let us remember the parable of the talents, wherein the master entrusted three servants to hold his wealth while he goes away. If we accept William Herzog’s proposition, from his book Parables as Subversive Speech, that the master in the parable is not God but rather a wealthy landowner, the traditional interpretation that we should be good stewards of our wealth and talents must be re-imagined. Consider when the first two servants multiplied the master’s wealth and the master said to them, “Come, share your master’s joy.”

We must question this joy that the servants are invited to share with the master. Herzog states that the master “is inviting his clients into a celebration of their plenty in the midst of others’ deprivation and want.” Can one experience true joy when it comes by means of others suffering? These servants are caught up in systems of violence, just as we are today, which lead them and us to likewise seek joy in the wrong places.

Let us now be emboldened by the third servant who buried his talent and did not multiply the master’s wealth as we reject this false joy that Harris is inviting us into, a joy that is complicit in the exploitation and bombing of others. Surely any Catholic who truly seeks solidarity with the suffering cannot find true joy within the Harris-Walz ticket, or any candidate that funds a genocide and consistently reaffirms Israel’s “right to defend itself.”

I have not come to this position easily, and have had moments wherein I gladly shared in the master’s joy. For much of my life, I have been comfortable with reality, with the way things were, and I have had my basic needs met. Due to this, politics were not much more than something fun to theoretically debate with friends. But I have learned through encounters with folks who were raised without their basic needs met, that for many people political choices are often life and death realities.

Dorothy Day, who went to jail for protesting for women’s suffrage, never voted in a national election, and today many Catholic Workers and those inspired by her witness follow in her footsteps. She reminds us of the importance of local grassroots efforts. Dorothy reportedly said, “An individual can march for peace or vote for peace and can have, perhaps, some small influence on global concerns… If peace is to be built, it must start with the individual. It is built brick by brick.” Ultimately, when considering the work we have to do, it matters very little who wins this national presidential election. As Catholic Workers we know that our task is to stand against the crowd in a refusal to participate with the status quo as we strive to live the Works of Mercy. For some, this will mean voting against the threat of fascism while for others it will mean abstaining from the system completely.

Perhaps it is not as clear-cut for us to write as Dorothy did, condemning President Truman for his role in dropping the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. But yes, we have people today, including Kamala Harris and Donald Trump, who have in the past and will in the future set in motion the killing of children.

We will still be open at Maryhouse on November 6th serving lunch and building peace, outside of any false joy promised by our politicians, one brick at a time.

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Cover photo: Protesters marching on the Democratic National Convention in Chicago. Photo by Chris Bentley and reprinted here under a CC BY-NC-ND 2.0 license. DNC protests | Protesters with the “March on the DNC 2024” i… | Flickr