BY JOYE PYRONNEAU
Introduction
When you ask an American about Project 2025, you will get a variety of responses. Some
are repulsed that people could even come together and make such plans for the future of the
country, some support the project with open arms, and then there are those who don’t even know
what it is. While the supporters of this document are a topic within itself, we will be talking
about those who do not know and more specifically why? In an age where information is only a
click away, why is there a large group of Americans that don’t know that Project 2025 promotes
a mass deportation plan, it seeks to remove checks and balances for the president, it wants to ban
widely used abortion pills, overturn the ban on discrimination in the workplace based on sex,
sexual orientation, and gender identity, as well as so much more? Why not vote for the other
candidate who is against all of these ideals? The short answer is willful ignorance that stems
from a place of privilege. But the long answer is that we live in a world where we have put
individualism over the common good, and that there is no better example than the 2024
elections. In this article, we will talk about what individualism is, and why it ultimately stems
from a place of privilege as proven by these elections.
Kamala Harris vs Donald Trump
To backtrack, let’s talk about why the 2024 elections are such an important time in the
United States. The presidential race is focused on Vice President Kamala Harris versus former
President Donald Trump but citizens have separate doubts on each candidate. Donald Trump has
already served his first term and not only did his approval ratings average at a low 41%
(Presidential Approval Rating) but he is also one of the five presidents to win the election
without winning the popular vote. While he was president he was also the only president to be
impeached twice as well as the first candidate to run with 34 criminal charges. Some American
citizens, (usually left leaning) have disapproved of his stance on immigration, LGBTQ+ rights,
and his thoughts on banning abortion. People have also shown concern that at least 140 of
Trump’s former staff have been involved in Project 2025, including his running mate J.D.
Vance.The public has also been more than dissatisfied with his stance on the genocide happening
in Gaza. According to him, “ They have to get it done. Get it over with, and get it over with fast,
because we have to, you have to get back to normalcy and peace” (Sullivan, 2024). He also goes
on to say that Israel has to finish what they started and fast because we need to “get on with life”.
Compared to him, Kamala Harris’s criticism’s tend to be a lot shorter, considering that
she doesn’t have a previous term for people to hold against her. She tends to lean on the opposite
side of Trump on multiple stances like abortion, saying that when she is president of the United
States that she will immediately sign into law that women get their reproductive freedom
(ACLU, 2024), as well as equal rights for those in the LGBTQ+ community. Where the main
criticism with her lies is her stance on the ongoing genocide in Gaza. While Israel’s occupation
of Gaza has been going on since 1967, it really started to gain focus in western media last
October. With this came heavy criticism on President Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris
since the US supplies roughly 70% of Israel’s weapons as of recent years and has sent $6.5
billion dollars since October. Kamala Harris has recently advocated that she wants a two state
solution, but so did Biden and he obviously hasn’t stuck by his word, so the majority of the
public does not trust Kamala to ensure the Palestinians safety and reparations if she becomes
elected.
How Americans Feel
But with an increasing number of Americans, especially within the younger generation,
getting more and more passionate about the US’s foreign affairs, some are at a loss for what to
do. There are those who are going to vote for Kamala Harris because even though she isn’t very
promising to be the one to cause a stop on the genocide against Palestinians, she at least won’t be
pushing America backwards like Trump is with Project 2025. In my opinion, voting Kamala
would be the logical answer, but there are those who don’t want to vote either of them. They feel
as if they are complicit in the genocide that is taken place if they vote Kamala Harris or Trump.
Most people who feel like this are taking one of two actions, deciding to vote third-party or
simply not voting at all. But the question I pose to this type of thinking is why? What benefit
does this bring to anyone but the person doing it? I think that these answers lie in how America
values individualism but also the “pursuit of happiness”.
Individualism
Individualism is a way of thinking that focuses on a person’s achievement and
self-fulfillment; they should be free to chase what makes them satisfied independently of others
(Andre, C. and Velasquez, M., 1991) John Locke is mainly credited for this thought process
being so prevalent in the United States and how individualism, along with ideas like an
individual’s unalienable rights were the main ideas kept in mind when forming this country. And
while individualism is a very important concept to have in any government, America has come to
a point where we put it over the common good. In Claire Andre and Manuel Velasquez’s article
on the common good, they express that how hard it is to achieve it in a society focused on
individualism: “In this individualistic culture it is difficult, perhaps impossible, to convince
people that they should sacrifice some of their freedom, some of their personal goals, and some
of their self-interest, for the sake of the ‘common good.’” (Andre, C. and Velasquez, M.,1992)
This isn’t to say that an idea of the “common good” doesn’t have issues in practice, but in
an ideal world there would be a balance between someone’s desires and what is deemed best for
society. Now some may look at this and wonder what this has to do with someone not choosing
to vote or voting third party but I‘d argue that it embodies exactly what happens when
individualism is taken too far.
Analysis
Statistically, third-party candidates do not win the election in both the popular or electoral
vote. In fact, third-party candidates in the last century didn’t win enough electoral votes to win a
single election (third way). So why are people so hellbent in voting them if they have no chance
of winning? I would like to go back to something I stated earlier. People who are voting
third-party because of recent foreign affairs feel complicit in the actions that the US takes. That’s
the key word here, feel. I would like to argue that this line of reasoning isn’t as selfless as people
make it seem.
We are equating morality with our votes when it is simply a tool to elect people who we
think will do the job best out of the options presented. It’s interesting that people know that if we
don’t put our votes where it counts, Donald Trump will win. Someone who has gone on to say
that if he were in presidency, Gaza would be gone by now. But because people can’t seem to live
with themselves by voting Kamala Harris, they would rather take the neutral part in this election.
Because just as choosing neutrality is choosing to side with Israel in this genocide,
choosing neutrality in these elections is choosing Trump and the horrid causes that he supports.
Choosing neutrality is choosing the side of the oppressor. And to ignore this fact to protect some
sense of moral dignity that a person may feel is ignorant at best. What makes someone able to
decide that the people in Gaza deserve help but those in America do not? What makes
someone’s pursuit of happiness, pursuit of moral righteousness more important than a person’s
basic rights?
Using a person’s “care” for others as an excuse when the reality is that it’s because they
cannot live with their moral conscience when they don’t make the “morally correct” choice. But
there are people in the world who are forced to make that choice because they know that not
voting is still contributing to the election and in this case, it is contributing to someone that
nobody wants in power. They can’t live with themselves if they vote for a genocide but they are
okay with trans, gay, and people of color losing their rights? But the people who supposedly
“care” for the people have no need to fix that, something they would arguably have more of an
impact in, but genocide is where they draw the line?
Conclusion
I care about the people in Gaza and what’s happening to them is horrendous and
disgusting. But I am also a black woman who is a part of the LGBTQ+ community living in
America. I have to make the morally “wrong” choice and vote for who I think will protect my
rights so I can have the privilege to fight for someone else. I implore you to vote for Kamala
Harris even if you don’t agree with all of her stances. If you don’t, then you aren’t helping
citizens of America, Palestinians, and any other country the US has harmed. You are only
helping yourself, and the moral conscience you placed above the common good.
Mehek Punjabi 
Jeszy