Given the current state of partisan polarization, it’s unlikely Biden can get majority job approval next year even with the most fortunate set of circumstances. But the good news for him is that he probably doesn’t have to. Job-approval ratings are crucial indicators in a normal presidential reelection cycle that is...
“Now specifically”? This has been my political messaging strategy since I reached voting age. Feel free to continue lambasting folks for wanting the party to suck less, that seems really effective too. XD
I’m am trans, moved out of Texas and started hormone therapy last year.
People like me are right up there in “first they came for…”, so don’t imagine that I don’t know what’s at stake.
That’s precisely why it’s so important for the Democrats to reform and stop playing carrot to the Republican stick. They are complicit quislings who gladly work with fascists, even voting with them to censure the only Palestinian-American in congress for her objection to the arms deals that are enabling one of our proxy states to perpetuate genocide.
I’m still hopeful that it isn’t too late for the party to seek redemption, but I’m not so naive as to think they’ll do it on their own. Nothing short of an existential threat to the party would convince it to change, and the only threat we can offer as voters is to withhold support en masse.
Waste as much time as you want trying to shame me into voting, I live in a blue state now so your efforts would be almost meaningless even if they were successful. The people who actually need convincing are the party bosses, and good luck with that if they think they already have your vote.
Yeah, that’s the thing. If we had that option I would instantly vote against the fascist. But our choice is whether we want our fascism with a kindly face or an angry one, and that’s not a decision worth dignifying by consideration.
If you want me to vote for Dems, tell them to do the bare minimum and form a Truth and Reconciliation Commission.
Then let me be the first to apologize for whatever evils the American State has done to you and your compatriots in my name.
That said, elections are fundamentally not a process for selecting leaders. That’s merely the method by which they accomplish their purpose, to legitimize the State’s claim to power.
There’s no option in the “democratic process” that represents those of us who see a State as illegitimate. It’s most obvious when you consider the elections in North Korea or Russia, but “democracy” as implemented cannot be “democracy” as we are taught to understand the term. Without a “none of the above” box that no government ever provides (because it would defeat their purpose for holding elections), our only choice is whether or not to participate in our own disenfranchisement.
Refuse to vote because the right-wing bias of the electoral college would give that hypothetical election to Trump either way, just like it did in 2016.
For the sake of argument let us ignore the electoral college, in which case I would still refuse to vote since a tie must be broken by Congress in an undemocratic process that harms the government’s claim to legitimacy just like when the supreme court gave the 2000 election to Bush.
Remember when the Democrats voted with Republicans to censure the only Palestinian-American in Congress for objecting to the arms deals that are currently enabling one of our proxy states to perpetuate a genocide against her ethnic group?
Voting for the “lesser evil” is still voting for evil. Worse, it provides the lesser evil with no incentive to seek redemption, since they know you’ll vote for them anyway out of fear.
Lol, thanks for continuing to legitimize the Empire I guess. You’re really sticking it to those fascists by adding your voice to the implied consent of the governed. 🙄
“Letting” the greater evil take power is what happens when you choose to acquiesce to the carrot and stick. Regardless of the outcome, your participation legitimizes the false choice, gives the the lesser evil no incentive to reform, and the greater evil all incentive to push further in the future. No matter who wins, “Worse outcomes” are inevitable.
The one making a “selfish moral point” is you, who argues in defense of evil because you fear the consequences of even the mildest rebellion against the Empire more than the cost of living under it.
If you want me to vote for Democrats, then you’re talking to the wrong person. Call your reps amd convince them to form a Truth and Reconciliation Commission as a bare-minimum first step towards reform and they’ll have my support.
“Pushing for more progressive people in the primaries” is what I’ve been begging people to do instead of wasting time trying to persuade me to hold my nose and vote blue no matter who, lol.
As a trans person myself, I dont want to be a martyr but I cannot abide by a false choice between bad and worse. That isn’t Democracy, it’s a Faustian Bargain that can only temporarily delay the inevitable crisis of legitimacy that marks the end of the American Empire.
Justice delayed is justice denied, and waiting for a more convenient hour will only preserve a status quo where people like me are frequently murdered without consequence.
In full consideration of the risk, I must continue to insist that Democrats aren’t worthy of my time and energy. Instead, I focus on building robust networks of mutual aid and community support that we might minimize loss of life during the transition to a new form of government.
The sooner we can begin the transition away from Empire and towards a more equitable form of government, the more lives can be preserved.
Electoralism can only delay the inevitable, and that time and energy is better spent on building networks of mutual aid so we can support each other and minimize loss of life during the Second American Revolution.
You claim that participation legitimized the false choice, giving the lesser evil no incentive to reform, yet this is just wrong!
Please explain.
Voting for nobody means the status quo sticks. Voter participation can drop insanely low, and still nothing will happen. You’re just giving more power to those who do vote. The lesser evil has no need to change their ways, because you are irrelevant to them.
Lower voter participation is a threat to “moderate” parties, forcing them to appeal to radicals they’d previously written off as irrelevant if they wish to remain relevant themselves. Rather than preserving it, this disrupts the status quo.
You are not part of the equation for them. You are, quite simply, nothing. You may as well not exist. Your voice isn’t being heard, because the only time your voice matters in the US is when you vote. If you don’t vote you have no voice.
This is a wonderful condemnation of our electoral process, detailing exactly why I’m being so openly performative with my refusal to vote for Democrats. A political party that is neither beholden to their constituency nor interested in appealing outside of it is not a viable party and must change to avoid a spiral into obscurity.
But if you vote for the lesser evil, you are now a threat to the greater evil.
If only it were that simple. In truth, the existence of opposition emboldens reactionary parties who rely on actual or perceived external threats to supress internal conflict. Dem victories drive Republican voters and vice versa. If the Republicans vanished overnight, factions within the Dems would split tomorrow. The structure of our first-past-the-post electoral system guarantees it mathematically and allows them to be manipulated by Capitalists playing both sides.
The greater evil must now start leaning towards policies held by the lesser evil party in an attempt to take votes from the lesser evil party.
This is the opposite of what we see in reality. Spite and fear drives the Republicans to further extremes to appeal to the most vocal and dedicated members of their base, and Democrats follow the Overton Window to the right in search of the new middle. This is called the “Political Ratchet Effect”.
Voting for the lesser evil has a chance of improving the country. Not participating guarantees the opposite.
I wish I could have such hope in the power of a single vote, but for that to actually be the case, we would need a Democrat party that’s willing to throw off it’s financiers and lobbyists to work for us instead. Until then, we’ll get (less) bread, (more) circuses, and maybe the occasional token gesture to rile up Reps and demotivate Dems to maintain the appearance of competition between them.
Likening the American election system to a prisoner’s choice of dinner is probably a lot more apt than you intended.
But to follow along with your metaphor, a prisoner does effectively fight the system by refusing to submit to prison slavery. Instead of providing extremely cheap labor and driving down non-slave wages, they become a drain on the finances of the prison system that is still obligated to provide them with kitchen floor slop.
Participation in prison slavery, on the other hand, renders them complicit in their own imprisonment. Sure, they might be paid pennies on the dollar for their labor, but the vast majority of the value they create goes to offsetting the cost of keeping them locked up and fattening the profit margins of companies that rent convicts, providing financial incentives to further perpetuate the prison slavery system.
Why can’t you do that while being under a democratic presidency?
There’s a Democrat in office now.
Why not vote for Biden, prevent deaths and pain and human suffering, but also work towards that goal?
Whether or not I actually vote is nobody’s business but my own. My public threats to withhold my vote are a sentiment manipulation strategy for pushing the party to suck less.
Under fascism, good luck doing that. It’s going to be impossible to build robust networks of mutual aid.
They managed to do it in Chile while Republicans and Democrats were sponsoring the Pinochet regime. We’ll do it too, because we’ll have to.
And who needs to give Dems time or energy? Fuck them. I barely think about them. I vote blue
And by admitting it, you reveal yourself as a “safe” voter whom the party can ignore rather than a potentially reachable voter that the party must actively pander to.
To me, it sounds like you’re waiting for that convenient hour. That right candidate. I rather do that while alive and have my freedoms.
I don’t discuss the details of my political activities in public, but you can trust that I’m not waiting around for some hero to swoop in and save the day. I’ve been disappointed too many times before.
It gives the Democrats one vote’s worth of incentive to stop the war machine right now, as opposed to waiting a year and hoping there will be a candidate on my ballot more beholden to BDS than AIPAC.
That’s the thing, I love arguing politics. It just gets frustrating when people come into it in bad faith rather than openly considering new perspectives and talking through the logic.
And anyway, I’m only threatening not to vote. Whether or not I actually do is separate from the effect of my ultimatum to the party.
If the Democrats believe that they need to shape up to earn the votes of people like me, then in a year’s time we might be lucky enough to have Democrats worth voting for on the ballot.
It’s pretty much the best move I could come up with given that I’m not rich enough to buy influence.
I’m not asking to be persuaded, folks are just mad that I refuse to commit to “vote blue no matter who”. The people who need persuading are those 188 who aren’t demanding resignations from the other 12.
I’m not going to give up the only leverage I have on the party by promising it my vote a year in advance. If you want to describe that as “handing you to the fascists”, then you’ve clearly misunderstood me.
That’s why I’m doing everything I can to push the Democrats to reform now, rather than promising to “vote blue no matter who” and sitting on my ass 'til voting day.
Its astounding to me that so many folks in these comments have such little faith in the party that they skip straight to the assumption that I won’t be voting and waste time trying to change my mind rather than calling their representatives and demanding they shape up.
Do the Democrats have a candidate whose worst feature is a single incidence of baby-robbing, or are they just going to run war criminals for office again?
The Democrats have a year to sort themselves out, but so many people in these comments seem to assume that they won’t even try. Its weird that all these supposed Democrat voters have such little faith in the party that they’d rather try and persuade me to vote blue no matter who than call their reps and demand they do better.
How Popular Does Biden Need to Be to Beat Trump? Not Very. (nymag.com)
Given the current state of partisan polarization, it’s unlikely Biden can get majority job approval next year even with the most fortunate set of circumstances. But the good news for him is that he probably doesn’t have to. Job-approval ratings are crucial indicators in a normal presidential reelection cycle that is...
George Takei's Based Voting Take [Rule} (files.catbox.moe)
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