And, whenever someone starts yelling at them about handgun guy who literally might want to murder them, they accuse that person of oh isn’t that convenient that now I have to support Biden-guy now, I guess now you’re ordering me around that somehow I have to or else handgun guy will come after me, I bet Biden and handgun guy set the whole thing up themselves.
This is what gets me. Some (most, if the news is accurate) Republicans are so cartoonishly evil that people’s first reaction is “that can’t be right, you’re just exaggerating” followed shortly by “oh isn’t it awfully convenient that you aren’t a part of that group?”
The fact that you think voting is an undying loyalty and not a simple strategic decision baffles me, and embodies the exact argument I keep seeing on here. You know how you wield the power of your vote? USE IT. Voting 3rd party is really dumb right now but in theory okay. Not voting simply means you don’t care.
It’a abstract because you aren’t considering the consequences of your vote. Here are your choices:
Genocide, unions, anti-monopoly actions, infrastructure, healthcare, loan forgiveness, an excellent cabinet, and some other things that I would consider generally good
Genocide, insurrection, corruption, hypocrisy, and literally so many negative things to list that I’m not capable of enumerating even a fraction of the total list
Either of the above is fine, pick whichever
Those are your ONLY three options. It does not matter why you choose one. It does not matter what you believe, what principles you hold, or what you personally would do as president. The future that we find ourselves in comes down to this choice and this choice only. I cannot understand how a good person who understands this would make the wrong choice, so my goal is to make it as easy to understand this as possible.
So you refuse to engage in the system and refuse to try to replace it? What the fuck are you doing here complaining? You have no right to complain, you’re literally doing nothing and watching the ship sink around you and shouting “hey! This sucks! I sure wish it was different!” How about you help fix it? Literally what are you doing like why would you do this you’re wasting everyone’s time
No, it’s really not. Either voting is seen as an endorsement, and any vote endorses genocide while not voting doesn’t; or a vote is a choice, and not voting or voting for Trump (or 3rd party) endorses genocide, while voting for Biden doesn’t. They can’t both be correct, you can’t do a tit-for-tat, either you’re supporting genocide or Pug is.
In an ideal world, we would vote for candidates that excite us, that share our views, or who we feel will simply do a good job. In an ideal world, you are afforded the luxury of voting like this. If you see voting as an endorsement then you’re more likely to vote like this, and you’re more likely to assign a moral reaponsibility to voting, such that you’re responsible for the actions of the person that you vote for.
But you’re also responsible for preventing the actions of the person that you didn’t vote for. In the real world, in the US with FPTP, voting is a choice. You can vote for one, or the other, or say you don’t care (not voting), or use your vote to try to take a moral stand (voting 3rd party). But barring a statistical miracle, there are only two options. The actions of the president WILL affect people. Palestinians will be killed. Queer people will be harrassed or protected. Workers will be beaten or supported. Students will be penniless or financially free. The environment will be abused or respected. Ukraine will be slaughtered or strengthened. The US could die or live.
When you choose not to vote, you think that you relieve yourself of the responsibility of killing Palestinian citizens. But how can you possibly say this if by not voting you have made their conditions materially worse? And along with that, caused the same for our own citizens and our planet? When you don’t vote, you aren’t escaping the system. You haven’t avoided making a choice. You’ve simply said that you don’t care what is chosen. So yes, not voting means that you don’t care if things are bad or worse. You don’t care if only some people die, or if the state is wiped out entirely. You don’t care if there is food aid, or if Israel will be allowed to starve Gazans. You don’t care if they die, as long as you get to feel like you wouldn’t have caused it. Well, you would. We all have a choice-- one (mostly) equal vote-- and IT IS YOUR DUTY to make the right choice.
If you think I won’t vote for a genocidaire to feel superior, you are totally misunderstanding me.
Well then what are you basing your vote on? It’s not the material conditions of the Palestinians in Gaza, because you aren’t picking the choice that aligns with that. You say it’s not for yourself. Is it just on principle? I sincerely don’t understand how you could hold the principle of Palestinian lives over the actual lives themselves.
Maybe it’s your own conscience? All of what you say about Gaza is being done right now, by the guy you are exhorting me to vote for. The state is being wiped out, food aid isn’t getting in, and Biden is allowing Israel to starve them.
I thought we built a whole supply pier to get food in more effectively? If you have more details, do tell, because I’m unsure of the details there, but I believe that was its purpose.
What if someone gives you the choice between them shooting one baby, or them shooting two? That’s more analogous to our situation. Would you simply refuse to participate, increasing the chance of both babies dying, or would you make the choice for only one and accept some responsibility? It’s basically the trolley problem.
I guess I just don’t understand why someone would do this. I mean if I had a gun I’d also just shoot the murderer, but assassination is “illegal” and “a federal crime” so unfortunately that’s not an option.
I mean, I think it’s cool and good, but it was still lame to downplay the importance of the choice of your vote by choosing it.
bribe
How
supporting genocide
Again, I’ve laid out in great detail why I think it’s the least genocide-supportive action possible for us to make at this time* and therefore why it is explicitly the opposite of supporting genocide.
voting + direct action would be better, but since that includes voting, it doesn’t matter for my point here
Also, be honest with yourself, out of all those things you listed do you genuinely think Biden would somehow deliver on any of them (except the genocide)?
I really don’t want to have to keep a list, because I think this stuff is obvious, but I feel like at this point I should.
Unions: Biden is the most pro-union president in history. Example:
“Nearly all the major labor unions have endorsed Mr. Biden. The board of the AFL-CIO, which represents 60 unions and has over 12 million members, was one of the first to endorse him in June last year, 17 months before the general election.
Over 30 organized national labor groups have endorsed Mr. Biden, including LiUNA, a construction workers union with many Latino and Black members, and the United Auto Workers (UAW). Many endorsed Mr. Biden in 2020, and exit polling shows he won 56% of union households nationwide, compared to 40% for Trump, nearly double 2016 Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton’s support.”
Anti-monopoly actions: Within about one week, the following anti-corporate actions occurred:
An excellent cabinet: idk literally just google them. I’m not explaining how what we have now is better than Betsy DeVos & Co. Biden picked a cabinet and he chose well.
And many other good things that aren’t exciting but are extremely important (here’s the most recent Biden article I’ve seen): lemmy.world/post/15676395
Biden administration canceling student loans for another 160,000 borrowers (apnews.com)
The Biden administration is canceling student loans for another 160,000 borrowers through a combination of existing programs....
Unless you've got a better plan in the next 6 months, grab a fucking bucket (lemmy.world)
Trump pitch to oil companies turns off two-thirds of likely voters, poll finds [Saul Elbein | 05/21/24 | The Hill] (thehill.com)
cross-posted from: lemmy.world/post/15647864...
America's largest LGBTQ rights group plans $15 million swing state blitz to re-elect Biden (www.nbcnews.com)
And after crunching the numbers, the organization sees warning signs in the form of soft support for Biden in the 2024 electorate....
U.S. student shortage, falling birth rates threaten school closures (www.axios.com)
Large U.S. cities are grappling with too many underpopulated schools, forcing school districts to make difficult decisions on closures....
Warp Drive Breakthrough Could Enable Constant-Velocity Subluminal Travel, Physics Team Says (thedebrief.org)