Madame Vice President, Do You Still Want My Vote?

An Anguished American Asks His Vice President Where the Hostages Stand on Her List of Priorities

(“Your vote is your power—and you must not let anybody ever take your power from you.” — Kamala Harris on X, 9/2/23)

Dear Madame Vice President, 

When President Biden abdicated the nomination and named you as his heir apparent, you promised to earn the support of Democrats as if you had had to win the nomination in a competitive primary. 

Now that the Democratic Party has made your nomination all but certain, I would like to know if you are still interested in making good on your promise and earning my vote. 

Although I have historically been a Blue-Dog Democrat, certain events in the past year have turned me into a one-issue voter, and I would like to know where you stand on that one-issue. 

As a 25-year-old Jewish American who has been to many concerts and music festivals all over the world, I would like to know what your plans are to bring Hersh home. 

Specifically, I want to know where bringing Hersh home ranks in your political priorities.

If you can say publically that bringing Hersh home is more of a priority for you than putting pressure on Israel to sign a ceasefire, then you have my vote. 

I know that you had other, far more important, priorities when you chose to speak at the Sorority event rather than meet with Noa Argamani and the parents of the other hostages, so I need to know the answer to this question before I can cast my vote this year. 

And I know that making a bold and definitive statement that bringing the American hostages home is more important than putting political pressure on our greatest ally might alienate some of your other constituents, but that is the point. 

There is no common ground between the “Bring Them Home” faction and the “Cease Fire Now” factions of the Democratic Party at this time. 

There comes a time in life when hard choices have to be made, and you must make a choice about where you stand on this issue. 

It might not seem that urgent to you – but these are my friends who have been held hostage. 

And, more selfishly, they could have been me.

As someone who both has been to music festivals in Israel and voted for Joe Biden, it has been heartbreaking to see how painfully little his administration has done for what easily could have been me. 

I believe I have made my case clear. 

Without a full-throated and clear promise to bring the hostages home before pushing for a ceasefire, I will no longer be voting Democrat. For the presidency and for anything else. 

And please try to be as clear as possible in your answer. 

A lot of times that Democrats have talked about the hostages in the past 9 months, they just used it as a kind of pro-forma throat-clearing before they started to attacck Israel – please do not do that here. 

I am tired of all the talking. 

I have felt powerless to help bring my fellow Americans home since the travesty of October 7th, but, as you said yourself, my vote is my power, and I will use that power to select whichever candidate and party tells me that returning the American hostages us their number 1 priority.

If, G-d forbid, Hamas commits another act like October 7th, as they have promised, I just want to know where getting me home would rank on your administration’s priority list.

Because bringing Hersh home is certainly not on the top of Biden’s.

Two hundred and ninety five days is a long time to wait for your friends to come home, and it is even longer when your political leaders who are supposed to protect you are not talking about it.

So please, end this limbo and let us know where you stand on bringing the hostages home.

Sincerely,

Theodore Goldstein, Founder of The Zionist Voice

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Spread Love, Spread Light,

Am Yisrael Chai