Post by Joshua Wrolstad
[Editor’s Note: NWTRCC is a big tent organization that is composed of people with various political beliefs. We welcome blog post submissions on war tax resistance from many points of view. The publication of personal opinions expressed in these posts should not be construed as an endorsement by NWTRCC, which makes decisions by consensus. Readers are always invited to post comments to continue the discussion.]
Joshua Wrolstad
The “worse genocide” hypothetical is the dangerous new “lesser evil” iteration, obscuring the truth regarding the genocidal duopoly in the United States, and points to a dangerous precedent of previous moral compromise.
It was during the November 2024 National War Tax Resistance Coordinating Committee Conference that I was able to confirm a suspicion: many of my fellow War Tax Resisters default to the “lesser evil” rationale. I was shocked to learn that there was at least a sizable contingent of WTRs who voted for Kamala Harris. This revelation should be concerning to our group. Perhaps the ONLY irrefutable truth I feel I do understand about War Tax Resistance is that it places war, imperialism, capitalism, environmental destruction, and yes genocide, above any single issue. For me this truth is the moral essence of our activism and without it we are lost.
From the onset let me emphasize that I am in no way implying that the potential dangers represented by Donald Trump are either lesser or greater than what would have been a Kamala Harris Presidency. My criticisms are based off of the Biden/Harris administration which fomented, armed, and funded the genocide of the Palestinian people through the state of Israel.
Mandate for genocide
“Destruction Ruins” in Gaza. Image by Hosny Salah from Pixabay
The portion of the public that chose to vote for Kamala Harris represents a position mandating this genocide. Those forces which are profiteering from said genocide have embedded themselves within the duopoly. Those millions of votes for Kamala are a confirmation for the continued and future sale of weapons under a Democratic Administration. The military industrial complex clearly understands that the terms, targeted drone strikes, proxy wars, and astonishingly now genocide, are not barriers to the continuation and expansion of militarization. The United States is leading with 40% of the total global arms trade.
This act of voting became an irrefutable indication of our willingness to compromise on a subject as unthinkable as genocide and war. Can we then assume that many within our ranks have been voting for Democratic Presidential candidates for multiple election cycles? If voting for Neocon Democratic Candidates like Hillary Clinton, Joe Biden, and most recently Kamala Harris has taken place within the WTR community, for me this compromise has the larger impact of diluting our morality on war and with it the conversation.
A new generation of War Tax Resistance
Flyer made by Kenzie to spread word about war tax resistance.
For a new generation of WTRs, trying to find the inspiration to alter their lives forever, to live to the extent possible outside the compromise of war (and genocide) they will see this as a contradiction. For me it would be a contradiction to explain to them that during this bold step we take when we begin our WTR journey, we can and do still vote for Democratic war mongers, possibly even for multiple elections. Why should we push this hypocrisy that yes, we are emphatically and empirically against all forms of war and genocide, unless Donald Trump is running for president?
There cannot be a political range within the WTR movement from liberal to conservative when it comes to war and genocide. We cannot avoid talking about the dangers that voting for both Republicans and Democrats pose to life on this planet. We have to foster a community where compromise on genocide, war, imperialism, and the very real possibility of total ecological collapse are never contemplated especially in the very trivial act of voting. Those people protesting and putting their bodies on the line for the Palestinian people do not and will not understand this compromise. As the lines continue to be drawn this false bargain is and will continue to be a barrier to solidarity.
A plea for discussion
Hopefully this can be a continued discussion, which is the only way I have been able to formulate my position on this matter. I cannot be around what I can only describe as gas lighting by people willing to dilute the definition of genocide with clever apologies and false equivalencies. I get plenty of that from friends and family who fight tooth and nail to convince me that genocide and war abroad are comparable to other social problems we face in the United States today. I hear the exact same apologist rhetoric from supposedly radical WTRs as I do from “vote-blue-no-matter-who” liberals and it gives me an actual sick feeling in gut.
Are we going to be a group forever aging out? Unwilling or unable to get in touch with the radical dialogue of our day? Can we cultivate an environment where the most difficult questions are asked and discussed? Can we approach the truth that there is not going to be meaningful change within the two-party duopoly and that those supposed individual saviors like Bernie Sanders, have and will only continue to sow confusion within our ranks. We must reject the allure of the Blue MAGA exceptionalism, as comforting as this false dream might be. I will hold out hope for the NWTRCC, but the truth is there are a wealth of groups that reject the lesser evil compromise completely and ultimately this is where you will find me.
Hmm . . I’m sorry to be giving you “an actual sick feeling in gut.” But I’ve been a war tax resister since1987, multiply (and recently levied), public (you can check out some of what I’ve written on the nwtrcc site), a fundamentalist pacifist; and since1969 I’ve also regularly voted for Democratic electoral candidates. I do that because I regard American politics as a zero-sum game, with a sadly limited range of choices in elections, with the winner taking all, and because I think the results of electing Republican candidates, Trump in particular but not only Trump, have been and are and will be catastrophic for people I care about – at the present moment, for example, for the whole trans community. They’re already catastrophic, in fact, and not least for Palestinians and their American supporters.
Beyond that – well, I’m 77, a retired (mostly) professor of, among other things, Peace & Justice Studies. I don’t think I’m an apologist for genocide, given my public statements and actions and my work within my own congregation. I do think that unlike many wtrs I’m interested in wtr as a means of political power.
I don’t mind being lectured to; I find it bracing, and if the writer and I were in the same town, I’d propose meeting for a drink. But for the moment, though I find the blog post bracing, I don’t find it persuasive.
Right on !
Thank you for raising this. Harris ran on a military platform. Neither the Dems or Rs should be condoned by WTRs due to them being bought by the MIC not to mention the genocide they are performing against the Palestinians.
I think there are many here in this group who agree with you. That even the act of voting represents support for a dysfunctional and fatally flawed system. Thank you for your opinion piece, and I hope you stick around. Many radical groups do not promote the concerted civil disobedience that is war tax resistance.
The introduction to this opinion piece is important. People who support NWTRCC have a range of opinions about politics and many other things. Many of us, I suspect would be very happy if we had more opportunities for ranked choice voting to eliminate some of the lesser of two evils problem that many of us struggle with. I consider military spending and war making as my top of the pile issue. If Mr. Trump cut the military budget by 50% as he once implied he might, I would applaud and appreciate that action. But as the phrase goes, “the devil is in the details“ in so many situations, including in our US society. Most of us do not live isolated from the world, and we probably unintentionally contribute to many things that we wish we could avoid. I am more concerned about trying to understand what makes a person willing to undertake the civil disobedience of openly withholding some or all of their federal income taxes then how they decide to cast their vote. There is a lot of complexity wrapped up in each single person as we all try to struggle with living in a way that reflects our values as much as we possibly can, knowing we are fallible human beings.
Please take comfort that I refused to vote for the evil of two lessers. I, too am against the Demoplican Republicrat Duopoly. It is only when people desert parties that do not represent them to form and strengthen 3rd parties that do that we can hope for real change in Congress. I will not be compromising until they get around to that,
thank you. i am with you, sir. lynn bradbury lubec
Thank you very much for writing this post. I’m a newer war tax resister who wrote in “Free Gaza” instead of voting for president. I feel seen, now.
Another aspect of tax resistance that might be worth reflecting on is resisting taxes that fund the police: state and local taxes. Can we start looking at what percentage of our state taxes funds the police? Can tax resisters withhold that amount? And if we withhold state taxes, can we care for each other and our neighbors better than the state can? (I think the answer is yes.)
I am a brand new WTR. I’m not able to participate this year due to changing my withholding too late in the year and all that.
On an intellectual level I agree with you. I have never voted for a Democrat or Republican presidential candidate. But for me, WTR is about choosing peace in the here and now. I don’t know if we will end genocide or not, I don’t know if we will end war, but I know I don’t have to support it. Most of my friends and family are True Blue Democrats and my in-laws and extended family are Trump voters. I choose peace in my relationship with them as well. For me it’s about not letting Trump’s wall into my heart.
I hear the anger and the sick-feeling-in-the-gut in your words and I am grateful you shared that with us. I wouldn’t want you to keep it inside or pretend you feel otherwise.
I agree with you. Neither party is nonviolent. Only nonviolence will create a nonviolent world. I choose not to pay the military tax, which is 50% of where federal taxes go, As long as people believe that violence pays we will have wars and the lack of peace. Vote with your actions. You get what you pay for. If you vote for people who are violent you will get violence. Refusing to pay for violence is the part we should be playing.
I would like to understand where this strong desire to hold onto the Democratic Party or specific so-called do-gooders within it, as some kind of last hope for the United States. And even more intriguing is this plea among WTRs. WTR is the escape from the trap of the Democratic Party. Our activism of sacrifice means we believe in other means of achieving peace and at the very least can exist in the political wilderness. Capitalism has the capacity to absorb almost everything but not the action of WTR. This debate is between those people who can pick their heads up and look outside this paradigm and other people who are keeping their heads down still enamored with aspects of the false belief in political choice within Capitalism. With my own lying eyes and ears, I have witnessed Bernie Sanders vote for continued war as well as opening pushing the narrative of peace through war. With Bernie Sanders flock scattered to the wind after two shameful capitulations to the Democratic leadership someone convince me that Bernie Sanders was a net positive for the militant left…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BECwJwZZDXo
https://blackagendareport.com/bernie_sanders_stalwart_of_empire
https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2022/11/09/dehr-n09.html
This is definitely the reason Dorothy Day (cofounder of the Catholic worker movement) fought for women’s right to vote, but never voted herself. I appreciate your challenges.