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submitted 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago) by moss to c/196

I've been seeing a lot of anti-voting sentiment going around. Can't believe I have to say this, but you need to vote. Not only is there more to the election than just the president. (State policy, Senate, house), but not voting is not an act of protest. C'mon guys

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[-] julianh@lemm.ee 147 points 8 months ago

Seriously. I get feeling like you don't have much of a choice, but not voting is just giving up. Like, you're actively removing the little choice you have and handing democracy over to an overt fascist.

[-] moss 64 points 8 months ago
[-] Taser@lemmy.dbzer0.com 24 points 8 months ago

Literally, indeed. (An up vote wasn't enough)

[-] Binzy_Boi@supermeter.social 26 points 8 months ago

Third party candidates still exist and are legitimate options to vote for despite what everyone wants you to believe.

[-] FenrirIII@lemmy.world 47 points 8 months ago

3rd party is a lost vote. Parties need to start small and build. Everyone knows this.

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[-] julianh@lemm.ee 41 points 8 months ago

Maybe for some local elections. But you really need heavy support, otherwise you're dividing the vote which can lead to more harm. Some places have rank based voting now though which makes it possible to vote for 3rd parties without dividing the vote. Hopefully that becomes more common.

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[-] jumjummy@lemmy.world 19 points 8 months ago

In the realities of the US electoral system, a vote for a third party is akin to a vote for Trump. Twist and spin all you want, but that’s reality.

Anyone who argues this is either naive, or a disinformation Russian asset.

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[-] FakeGreekGirl 103 points 8 months ago

100% agree with this. All of it.

I'm deeply dissatisfied with Biden. I'm angry with him for not pressuring Israel, and I was already angry at him even before that. And I will likely end up voting against him in the primary because of it. But realistically:

(1) He will be the Democratic nominee for President

(2) He is an infinitely better choice than the fascist who already attempted a coup once

(3) Either he or Trump will be the next president

There really is only one way to go in the general. Especially if you're here on Blahaj, which means you're either LGBTQ+ or at least friendly to us.

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[-] gravitas_deficiency@sh.itjust.works 96 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago)

Americans: do what you want in the primaries. Vote for Biden in the general, because he will be the nominee. I am not stoked about that, but that’s the choice our system gives us.

Non-Americans: please, please do a bit of research on how weird and fucked up and fractious our electoral system is before going off on someone for voting “undecided” in the primaries, which is how I voted myself. Compared to the nationally-organized stuff you guys seem to mostly rely on, ours could charitably be described as “intentionally byzantine”.

[-] match@pawb.social 52 points 8 months ago

it's almost like the US is running a software written in the 1700s and that stopped receiving regular updates around the 1960s

[-] gravitas_deficiency@sh.itjust.works 36 points 8 months ago

That’s… actually not a bad way to describe it.

Also note that we stopped updating our BIOS in 1929, which is the direct cause of this.

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[-] GomJabbar@lemmy.myserv.one 73 points 8 months ago

Doing anything other than voting for Biden is essentially a vote for Trump.

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[-] mindbleach@sh.itjust.works 66 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago)

And don't act like voting is a blood oath. You're not pledging undying loyalty to a candidate - you're saying you'd prefer them over the other plausible options. Nobody gives a shit if they're your special favorite. You think we love these people? No. They're just the best we could do, arguing with thousands of other assholes.

If that's "the lesser evil," sure, why the fuck would you want more evil? It's not like staying home means nobody gets to be president.

[-] juergen@lemmy.sdf.org 26 points 8 months ago

Even Geralt of Rivia eventually had to admit the the path of 'choosing none of the evils' Just Does Not Work.

[-] mindbleach@sh.itjust.works 31 points 8 months ago

Yeah, a moral dilemma doesn't just go away if you ignore it. An outcome will happen. You are invited to influence it. Have an opinion, dammit.

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[-] tills13@lemmy.world 59 points 8 months ago

And I don't think I should have to remind y'all that while neither candidate has a good outlook on Palestine... at least one won't end democracy in the US.

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[-] moss 40 points 8 months ago

On the other hand, not voting or voting uncommitted in the presidential primary is completely fine. Literally no issue with that

[-] spujb@lemmy.cafe 36 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago)

unexpected commentary to come from a mod.

based tho. https://www.vote.org/

[-] moss 40 points 8 months ago

With some of the rhetoric I was seeing I felt like it was my responsibility to say something.

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[-] survivalmachine@beehaw.org 27 points 8 months ago

I stand with Palestine, and I'll be voting in the US. Yes, I'm voting for Biden as the lesser of two evils, but I'm also voting for a whole lot of other really good people who are going up against some truly evil people. I've got people attacking my schools and libraries at the local level. Not voting to spite Biden will hurt my town a whole lot more than it would hurt Biden.

[-] averyminya@beehaw.org 14 points 8 months ago

That's what I don't understand from the don't vote crowd.

Okay, nobody left leaning voted. Now what?

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[-] Cowbee@lemmy.ml 25 points 8 months ago

First of all, I will absolutely be voting in the general, for whoever has the backing of the Democrat party, whether that be Biden or someone else if something unforseen happens. However, I think it's important to recognize a few key key matters.

  1. Not voting is an act of protest, but it is a largely ineffective form of protest. Protesting is the way the people voice their concerns, and deliberately not voting is in fact a way of voicing concern. However, this is an emotional, unobjective form.

  2. Biden, and the overall US war machine, is complicit in genocide. This fact should not be denied for the sake of an election. Simply voting third party is unobjective, this results in the outward fascists taking power, but at the same time, toeing the line results in further entrenchment of liberalism.

How can we resolve the former 2 statements? Simple. Protest loud, as much as you can, during the primaries. Force Biden's hand.

Just as we can hold people responsible if they vote third party during the general, or not voting, we can also hold Biden accountable. This isn't simply a matter like Single Payer Healthcare, which would take tremendous effort with the support of congress to pass, this is something in his hands.

I'll reiterate: if your goal is to help the Palestinian people, there is only one correct path: protest as much as you can, as early as you can, until Biden caves and ceases the genocide. If you do not protest Biden now, while we still have the chance to change his course, then we risk protests lasting even longer and hurting his chances during the General, backfiring.

The Condition for Victory is a swift, loud, uncontestable wake-up call for Biden, followed by rallied support once genuine, positive change is shown to happen. Biden has already started to feel the pressure, and has begun sending some petty aid. Biden cannot risk losing the general, and we cannot risk Biden losing the general either, nor can we stand by and watch Biden support genocide.

Vote in the Primary against Biden, and vote in the General for Biden.

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[-] Landsharkgun@midwest.social 23 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago)

Oh, I'll be voting.

For Claudia De La Cruz.

EDIT: People hard mad about this lmao

[-] mindbleach@sh.itjust.works 27 points 8 months ago

So basically you won't be voting.

You will make no measurable impact on the outcome of the election. The election where one of two specific people will take power. And one of them already tried to end American democracy.

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[-] moss 23 points 8 months ago

Okay I mean this is marginally better, at least you're voting, but still until some sort of change happens a vote third party is a vote thrown away

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[-] Beer_Raccoon@lemmy.world 23 points 8 months ago

This is objectively correct and based.

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[-] SuddenDownpour@sh.itjust.works 20 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago)

I'll proceed to describe in this post the gigantic amount of political change and sweeping reforms we will achieve when we valiantly protest against the system by not voting up until we get the turnout to 10%:

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[-] FreudianCafe@lemmy.ml 19 points 8 months ago

Whats the point? To chose between disney fascist and a consevative fascist?

[-] yessikg 38 points 8 months ago
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[-] fidodo@lemmy.world 24 points 8 months ago

Tell that to women and trans people. If Trump wasn't elected we'd still have roe v Wade and federal judges that would strike down a lot of the anti trans laws being put out, plus those states wouldn't have been empowered to do so in the first place.

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[-] JesterIzDead@lemm.ee 18 points 8 months ago

Yes! It has and always will be about voting for the person you dislike the least. You need to grow up if you think otherwise

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[-] guriinii@lemmy.world 15 points 8 months ago

In the UK you can spoil your ballot if you're unhappy with the options and is a recorded vote. Perhaps there's something like that.

[-] AnyOldName3@lemmy.world 28 points 8 months ago

It's not a good tool if one party is likely, but not guaranteed, to win without your vote, but is much worse than the other. You should only spoil your ballot if your constituency is has a large enough majority that your vote won't matter at all, or none of the parties are less bad than the others.

If you're voting on the single issue of Palestine in the US presidential elections (not the primaries), then no state has a large enough majority to justify as spoiled ballots, and one party wants to support a genocide while the other wants to discourage it (even if they're doing a crap job of it), so there is a least bad option to vote for.

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this post was submitted on 09 Mar 2024
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