this post was submitted on 28 May 2024
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I'm sorry that you think actually-murdered Gazans versus hypothetical future murders aren't "realities" to be considered, just principles, or that you think choosing between 2 people who both profess backing policies that will result in said murders, is a normal choice to be making as an electorate.
Trump should already be in prison, for any number of crimes. So should Biden. That neither are, is an indicator of how "well" our system is working.
There is a fine line between "working from within a system to change it" and "validating and reifying the system, by being a willing participant". If you are finding that your participation is not having the impact you intend, perhaps you should consider what side of that line you're actually on?
Also I guess losing the majority on SCOTUS and losing abortion rights was just a "hypothetical scenario" when people like you refused to vote for Hillary in 2016?
When will you people learn that, yes, elections have consequences.
Trying to pretend like they might not and Trump might somehow not be worse is being deliberately obtuse and sticking your head in the sand. Wake up and smell the reality.
Please tell me about your hypothetical future where you don't vote for Biden. Please explain to me what your best case scenario and outcome look like in that situation? Please tell me, what are you working towards?
Best case, a third party wins and starts to dismantle an empire. Realistic case is Biden or Trump win and my vote had nothing to do with it. Biden and Trump are both bad leaders. Deporting or silencing dissenters is bad leadership. I'm still not voting for Biden. Nice try though.
I've lost track how many times I've had to share this link, at this specific timestamp
TL;DR: I'm not voting for Biden. I will be a spoiler if that's what you call it. The police response to protests is an example of policies Biden wants to keep funding. Biden and Trump can both be bad leaders.
Aside: Voting is entertaining, but work on your cardio. Build some communities. Life is going to get harder for working folk.
I understand the spoiler effect in first-past-the-post voting. Avoiding a voting system subject to the spoiler effect requires a rated voting system. Major reform is required to remove the spoiler effect from the voting system in the USA.
There are other logical problems with the spoiler effect in the USA however.
First, the popular vote is divorced from the Electoral College vote. Thereby, even if Tiger gets 15% of the vote the Electoral College representatives for that portion of the population may vote for Leopard.
Second, there is an assumption Tiger voters would vote for Leopard or Gorilla if Tiger was not an option. Voter turnout in 2020 was 66.8%. That means roughly a third of people chose not to vote. There is an argument to be made that this is also a spoiler, but combined that block could shift the outcome in Tiger's favor.
Third, "I'm not the other guy" is not a political platform. Biden pays lip service to protecting American Democracy which seems to be a conservative stance to maintain a voting system favoring the wealthy. Codifying Roe v. Wade is great, but could have been done at any time in the past. Separation of powers requires a Legislative branch that would work on such issues. Funding the police does not solve policing which leads to responses to protest like the George Floyd marches or recent campus violence.
I am sure there are other reasons to vote for Biden. The FTC fighting corruption under Lina Khan is one. Corporate bailouts opposing the neoliberal order, like CHIPS and Infrastructure, could be another.
I am unable to vote for mass murder. I am unable to vote for corporate bailouts. I am voting for Tiger.
I'm sorry, but this reply reeks of privilege. My reproductive freedom is on the ballot this year after already losing so much after SCOTUS was able to be stacked with conservative judges. If Trump wins, SCOTUS will forever be this way in my lifetime and my rights will erode even more as a woman. After the overturning of Roe, a 10 year old rape victim from Ohio and those who assisted her were harassed all due to providing her an abortion. States are disbanding maternal mortality boards or putting extremists over them. For the love of God, we are headed into a Handmaid's Tale if Trump is elected!
"Well the democrats should have encoded it." I literally don't care. That was then, this is now. Women are suffering now and the alternative will make it worse. When the Republican party wants to codify Christian sharia level law, that's an immediate danger to me and other women. We can't continue to protest the atrocities of Israel if we are forced into reproductive servitude. There are way to many Republicans advocating against anti child marriage laws in an age where they can be raped without a means to terminate.
I am equally frustrated about Biden's handling of Palestine, but setting my own rights on fire removes all energy and possibility to advocate for them! This attempt to accelerate us into punishing the democrats for giving us bad choices is only going to hurt those who lack the funds and privilege to easily escape a Fascist takeover.
These people care more about their "principles" and lack of fundamental understanding of the realities of a first past the post system, than the very real reality of people like us losing our rights.
Everyone who thinks voting 3rd party or staying home is an option is rooted in privilege.
I currently live in a very red state with an anti abortion law that took affect the moment Roe was overturned. There are no exceptions and we even had our own case of a young girl being forced to give birth from a rape because her mother could not afford the hours long trip to the next closest abortion clinic. That young girl's life is forever hindered by giving birth too young; now multiply that by 1000s should a nation wide ban be placed. Or the radicals who want to remove no-fault divorce and keep abused women in dangerous relationships. I have the means to escape, but that's a very much a "fuck you, I got mine" mindset when I recognize the abject poverty that exists for the majority here.
We've already been through this 8 years ago after Hillary lost the election. Democrats didn't "wakeup" and over a million people died in the US from a botched pandemic response. Accelerationism is a privileged view when you have nothing to lose, but those less fortunate are hurt by its repercussions.
Our current system is broken and no means perfect, but burning it all down isn't how we change it. It is far more likely that an authoritarian takeover will occur instead of the rose-tinted glasses utopia that these non-voters think will happen. All the death, pain, and destruction won't magically shock people into changing it because they'll be too focused on just trying to survive the hellscape wrought on them.