• trafficnab@lemmy.ca
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    15
    arrow-down
    4
    ·
    5 months ago

    In a two party first past the post system, not voting (or throwing away your vote on a candidate who will not win) benefits the candidate you least want because it effectively gives half your vote to each side

    In the general elections, voting blue no matter who is harm reduction, the time for activism was back in the primaries

    • queermunist she/her@lemmy.ml
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      9
      arrow-down
      14
      ·
      edit-2
      5 months ago

      Okay? The point I’m making, which you have totally ignored, is that votes are the only leverage that we have. By throwing my vote away the Democrats can’t have it, and if enough people do that they lose. Supposedly they want to win, so they need to convince me to note vote for Aaron Bushnell this November. By deciding to enslave yourself to the Democrats and slavishly give them your support no matter what they have no reason to not get even worse. By next year they’ll have moved even farther to the right and it will be your fault because you refused to use the only leverage you have to move them to the left.

      Every election cycle the Democrats just become the Republicans from the last election cycle. Biden is doing genocide, violating international law by limiting asylum seekers, and marching us towards WW3. How much worse will they get if they aren’t stopped?

      • abbotsbury@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        8
        arrow-down
        1
        ·
        5 months ago

        and if enough people do that they lose

        and then things get even worse for everyone, including Palestinians

          • abbotsbury@lemmy.world
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            1
            ·
            5 months ago

            And not voting for a major party will fix that how?

            Even if a significant portion of the population goes third party (and assuming they all agree on the same party), splitting the vote has only ever helped the opposition.

            And if Democrats are just Republicans from the last election cycle, which is an absolutely unhinged notion but I’ll humor you anyway, voting for Democrats is still in my best interest since Republicans are even further right

            You’ve legitimately lost your mind in a purity test if you can’t see that.

            • queermunist she/her@lemmy.ml
              link
              fedilink
              arrow-up
              1
              arrow-down
              2
              ·
              5 months ago

              Refusing to vote for genocide isn’t a purity test.

              Imagine if it was your family under the rubble. Would you vote for that just because the other guy might be worse?

              • abbotsbury@lemmy.world
                link
                fedilink
                arrow-up
                1
                ·
                5 months ago

                Would you vote for that just because the other guy might be worse?

                Yes, are you retarded? Like you’ve gotta be actually fucking stupid to be queer and think letting republicans win to punish dems is better for you, or Palestine. American politics is harm reduction, and the choice for less harm is clear.

                • queermunist she/her@lemmy.ml
                  link
                  fedilink
                  arrow-up
                  1
                  arrow-down
                  2
                  ·
                  5 months ago

                  I’m voting Dem downticket. Just not for Biden.

                  It’s not like Biden has done fucking anything about Republicans attacking our rights in the State legislatures. When my red state decides to make it illegal to use the bathroom he won’t do anything about it.

                  I’d still vote for him if he’d stop doing genocide, of course, but until then 🤷‍♀️

          • trafficnab@lemmy.ca
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            6
            arrow-down
            1
            ·
            5 months ago

            There’s primaries for federal elections every 2 years in the US, if you want to change the makeup of the party, vote for different candidates in them

            • queermunist she/her@lemmy.ml
              link
              fedilink
              arrow-up
              5
              arrow-down
              8
              ·
              edit-2
              5 months ago

              Y’all attacked the uncommitted movement too and circled the wagons, ensuring it would fail to accomplish anything.

              Thanks to you Biden knows he can do as much genocide as he wants and not lose any of your votes. You are to blame.

              • trafficnab@lemmy.ca
                link
                fedilink
                arrow-up
                6
                ·
                5 months ago

                I never did, that’s the least destructive way to let your displeasure be known, as long as you still vote for, and encourage others to vote for, the least bad candidates in the general elections (spoilers, the least bad candidates will pretty much universally be blue)

                • queermunist she/her@lemmy.ml
                  link
                  fedilink
                  arrow-up
                  4
                  arrow-down
                  7
                  ·
                  edit-2
                  5 months ago

                  All this that does is ensure this election’s Democrat is the same as last election’s Republican, they constantly move as far to the right as you let them because they know they can count on your vote no matter what. You are making things worse. Maybe you, specifically, didn’t speak out against uncommitted. The whole .world instance definitely did, though. We remember.

                  • trafficnab@lemmy.ca
                    link
                    fedilink
                    arrow-up
                    6
                    ·
                    5 months ago

                    All this that does is ensure this election’s Democrat is the same as last election’s Republican

                    Even if this is true and we’re in a metaphorical political nosedive, that’s still harm reduction, it’s 4 more years to be politically active in a functioning democracy, vote in every primary and general you can from your local school board up to the presidential election, and hopefully pull up hard enough that we don’t actually smash into the ground

                    If you think our democracy is already too far gone and completely unsalvageable, you shouldn’t be advocating for other people not to vote, you should instead be advocating for people to join/form a local militia and start training to defend it because clearly it’s already time to break out the 4th box

      • Fidel_Cashflow@lemmy.ml
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        5
        arrow-down
        6
        ·
        5 months ago

        Don’t forget that he’s also made more progress on building the southern border wall and killing the asylum process than trump did in his 4 years. But he wears a blue tie (Good Guys) and that’s all that really matters.