Americans of Lemmy, what is your approach to next year's election?

2020 was… truly unique. It was so hard to stay away from doom scrolling, and I (and many others) were pretty disillusioned by the sad fact that so much of our country legitimately supported the Orange Man. I didn’t get a wink of sleep the night of the election because I genuinely considered it to be a make or break decision for America.

My point is that looking back on it, in the end the only real difference I made was at the ballet box. This year I’m going for the Head-in-the-Sand approach. I’m done with the political memes. Done with the Twitter screenshots. It just riles me up and this year I’m gonna do my best to fight that.

Coskii,
@Coskii@lemmy.blahaj.zone avatar

I just need to go viral on some platform as ‘the people’s choice’ president who will put most major national decisions that aren’t classified up to polls on said social media platform. It’s the perfect solution to rake in those who don’t want to vote for 80 something geriatrics. I have about a year to implant myself into the world of politics.

I also considered legally changing my name to ‘No Vote’ for a bit.

charlie,
@charlie@hexbear.net avatar

football-lucy football-charlie-brown

vote

Kodemystic,
@Kodemystic@lemmy.kodemystic.dev avatar

People sure do get agressive when talking politics. No room for discussion.

SatanicNotMessianic,

We can disagree and still love each other unless your disagreement is rooted in my oppression and denial of my humanity and right to exist.

-James Baldwin

PowerCrazy,

Agreed, don’t’ vote Capitalists.

Kodemystic,
@Kodemystic@lemmy.kodemystic.dev avatar

Amen

dangblingus,

Depending on your situation, politics can actually be life and death. Someone who is chronically ill and needs medication may not do well under a Republican federal gov. If you’re a woman, voting Republican is a vote against women’s healthcare. If you’re a muslim, voting Republican is a vote against you personally. If you’re a student, voting Republican is a vote for higher student debt. If you’re black, voting Republican is a vote for less police accountability. If you’re working class, voting Republican is a vote for your boss to get a raise while you get a paycut.

Kodemystic,
@Kodemystic@lemmy.kodemystic.dev avatar

Thinking dems are any different from republicans is dreaming. Its all the same shit. You wanna better life you got to think outside this left/right box and stop fighting eachother and start talking.

frauddogg,
@frauddogg@lemmygrad.ml avatar

If you’re black, voting Republican is a vote for less police accountability

And voting for the Democrats is a vote for even more military surplus to get funneled to PDs for further use in slabbing us out in morgues every two weeks through the 1033 program, do y’all even research the things you say sometimes

brutallyhonestcritic, (edited )

Fuck everyone in the US Government except Rashida Motherfucking Tlaib.

I’m going to write in Rashida Tlaib. It’s all bullshit. What is happening right now proves it. Even fucking Bernie Sanders sounds like a Warhawk right now.

Ps. You’re all a bunch of lesser evil voting shitlibs. Doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results is the definition of insanity.

What did your harm reduction get us when we put Biden in office:

  • genocide with our tax money
  • cop city
  • stoking the Cold War and enthusiastically sending our tax money to interfere in another country’s business BECAUSE IT’S WHITE PEOPLE to enrich the Military Industrial Complex rather than helping US citizens
  • overturned Roe vs. Wade
  • no marijuana legalization (mark my words: until the primaries or GE next year when it will help Biden in the election)
  • Medicare for those who can afford it
  • austerity
  • austerity
  • more austerity
Yondoza,

I understand your frustration, but unless the voting system is modified to approval or ranked choice you are probably not acting in your best interest voting for a third party. I hate that fact as much as you and I want to see it changed, but that’s the reality of the system we’re in.

brutallyhonestcritic,

Literally ranked choice voting will never ever happen. We will always have First Past the Post and it will never change. This country is a sham democracy and I refuse to participate.

criitz,

That’s the great part, by not participating you help the worst of them!

brutallyhonestcritic,

Please explain to me what Biden and Trump would have done differently in the context of sending our tax money to turn Muslim people into hamburger.

Bitrot,
@Bitrot@lemmy.sdf.org avatar

Trump would’ve loved to have troops on the ground helping our very brave allies in the IDF. Just like he wants troops on the ground in the US when people protest.

TheAlbatross,

I dunno if that holds up, though, either side needs votes to win.

If both the Biden camp can claim not voting helps Trump and the Trump camp claim not voting helps Biden, I don’t think not voting helps either.

Plus, your vote only matters in a swing state, otherwise it’s largely worthless.

criitz,

Obviously the statement can apply to either party. But the guy I replied to was praising Rep. Tlaib. For them, the alternative to not voting (or voting third party) would presumably be voting Biden, never Trump. So by not voting they are helping Trump.

As far as non swing state voters having no power… Definitely true.

MrVilliam,

This country is a sham democracy and I refuse to participate.

This is how they want you to feel. Republicans win by making people like you feel hopeless. The wins last week in OH, VA, and KY happened because young people turned out more than expected, and young voters skew more progressively. Like you, I’m frustrated too, but the Overton window will continue to shift right unless you put Democrats in at the general and vote progressive in primaries. That goes for the entire election all the way down to the lowest local elected office because that’s where people get their start. You’re right, we’re not getting ranked choice across the board within our lifetime, but some areas do use ranked choice and may help elect people who will push for it at the state level, and maybe one day federal. The same is true for enshrining abortion rights and legalizing marijuana, which pushed a little further last week. I know federal legalization won’t be here any time soon, but the first step is rescheduling from I to II or maybe even III, and that could be here within a year as a nice poll bump right before elections.

A society grows great when old men plant trees in whose shade they shall never sit. By not voting, you’re allowing poison ivy to take root instead of a peach tree because you’d rather have an apple tree.

If you really want to focus your time and energy into making a difference, check out Run For Something. If you don’t want to run yourself, you can support progressive candidates by donating or volunteering.

PosadistPotatofish,

This is the right answer. I’ll write her in too

frauddogg,
@frauddogg@lemmygrad.ml avatar

I dunno. She’s still a dem at the end of the day. I need to see her shuck the label and start something new before I’d hitch my wagon to her horses.

gravitas_deficiency,

I’m voting for the most progressive candidate possible in the primary, and then whoever’s not the Republican in the general, and I fully intend to do that for the rest of my life.

The Republican Party has some plans they’re putting together, and between that and the rhetoric that most major Republican politicians and candidates spout these days (very specifically including Trump), it’s abundantly clear they’ve more or less completely given up on democracy, and are planning on dismantling a significant proportion of the core institutions of our country and government, which will effectively usher in the American Empire (as in: a possibly theocratic, but definitely authoritarian and likely outright fascist dictatorship). To be clear: that would be a Very Bad Thing. You think Russia is troublesome now? Wait until Trump or someone similar starts treating them like an ally, emulating as much of Putin’s power structure as possible just because they think it’s cool and would make them look powerful, and potentially teaming up to do shitty things to the rest of the world because we have something like 95% of the nuclear weapons ever produced, and while Russian ones are in a questionable state, ours definitely work.

If Republicans win this next election - and especially if they are able to secure the presidency and both houses of Congress - I genuinely don’t think things will recover without significant domestic political violence, which may ultimately result in a civil war. I’m doing my best to prepare for some “GTFO” contingencies that could be executed in the next few years, but it’s not an easy thing to do, and there’s still a huge number of unknowns in a ton of dimensions.

If you think I’m being hyperbolic, you’re not paying attention.

agamemnonymous,

Oh hey look, it’s the only rational voting strategy in a FPTP elective structure! Anyone who thinks different is just more evidence we need Civics back in our schools.

TauZero,

more evidence we need Civics back in our schools

Maybe we need more math as well - have you heard of the Ultimatum Game? Sometimes the rational strategy is to reject unfair split offers, even if that makes it a guarantee that you both get nothing.

SatanicNotMessianic,

I’ve taught game theory. Voting isn’t the Ultimatum game, because the most a third party is going to do is shave off a few percentage points, resulting in the main party losing, resulting in the main party generally becoming more conservative. Look who ran after Reagan - the entire Democratic Party shifted right with the third way. Look who we ran after Trump.

In voting the way it’s currently configured, there are two elements from game theory that apply. The first is minimax strategy - minimize the maximum damage your enemy can do. Above all that means keeping republicans out of office if you care about minimizing harm to women, minorities and immigrants, the poor, and the LGBT community.

The second concept that applies is the BATNA - the best alternative to a negotiated agreement. If the negotiated agreement fails (we get a left democrat on the ballot) our next best alternative is to get a Democrat elected.

We came within a hair’s breadth of not having another election, and at the very least we will be looking at a roll back of LGBT rights, a nationwide abortion ban, and a massive crackdown that will make sure they don’t lose any more elections.

PowerCrazy,

Not having another sham election sounds like a great outcome to me.

agamemnonymous,

Sounds great, but then the genie grants it and you don’t get any more elections, sham or otherwise. I’ll take the illusion of democracy over blatant mask-off fascism, personally.

PowerCrazy,

If you live in the “illusion of democracy” then the elections don’t matter in the first place, so we may as well forego the mask so taht even blind people like you can see it. And polite fascism is actually worse because then liberals like you will support it and chastise others for pointing out the emperor has no clothes.

For example, do you know who started using drones to bomb civilians? Do you know who first started putting kids in cages? Because liberals like you think he was the greatest president to ever president, and you gleefully supported him since he was polite with his fascism.

agamemnonymous,

Lotta unsubstantiated assumptions about me there. Maybe reassess your own biases before offering analysis.

PowerCrazy,

I’m just making assumptions based on your own words.

I’ll take the illusion of democracy over blatant mask-off fascism, personally.

This is what liberals believe.

agamemnonymous,

It is what pragmatists believe. Some pragmatists are liberals, other pragmatists have other ideals. The coincidence of pragmatic results is not indicative of a coincidence of pre-pragmatic ideals. Your framework is too simplistic to be interesting or useful.

PowerCrazy,

Lol I’m sure pragmatcists(?) have a cohesive framework they all draw from, and I’m sure it is definitely different from the current Neo-liberal zeitgeist.

agamemnonymous,

Some people believe that stringent adherence to idealism is paramount, despite the material suffering of others implementation of that ideal causes. Other people have empathy, and are willing to analyze the actual consequences of political action independent of idealism, prioritizing actions which do tangible good over performative platitudes. Pragmatists fall in to the second camp, you certainly appear to fall into the first. The first are boring and impotent everywhere but their own minds.

PowerCrazy,

If you would rather support the illusion of democracy despite the material suffering it is currently causing, you just value the status-quo over all other concerns. People who value the status-quo over all other considerations have innately conservative and reactionary outlooks. Those people could also be described as polite fascists, i.e. liberals.

agamemnonymous,

And if you would rather support the dissolution of the democratic process despite the material suffering it will certainly cause, you just value your ideals over all other concerns. People who value ideals over all other considerations have innately Ineffective outlooks. They are useful tools that allow fascists to accumulate power.

PowerCrazy,

You said it yourself, you want the illusion of democracy, you don’t actually care that we do not live in a democracy. The Liberal must maintain the illusions or the cognitive dissonance makes them go mask off. Keep Calm and Carry on, and all that.

And that is why events like this happen. truthout.org/…/schumer-slammed-for-speaking-at-pr…

You aren’t upset that Schumer and Jeffries are supporting genocide, you are upset that they aren’t hiding it better, they aren’t maintaining the illusion. Well your comfort is leading to fascism while you criticize anyone who dares point it out.

agamemnonymous,

Sure, but your alternative is blatant support of genocide. It’s well and fine to say who ought to be in charge, but mathematically it’s one of two people. I agree that the options suck, but I will use the powers that I have in their proper places. Vote for the lesser evil, and advocate against evil entirely elsewhere. You act like liberal is worse than fascist.

PowerCrazy,

In a way it is. If someone is an out and out fascist, it’s easy to point at them and get people to stop supporting them, i.e. Trump. If someone is a polite fascist, i.e. liberal, then you will have thousands of people hand-wringing about lesser evils, and strategic voting, being a pragmatist, etc etc, meanwhile kids are still in cages. Guantanamo is still open, and torturing people. Unlimited funding for additional death and destruction around the world occurs, and all the polite liberal does is shrugs their shoulders. Because that stuff isn’t happening to them.

The liberal is comfortable enough to attempt to stop that shit from happening to anyone, but they’d rather defend the status quo and criticize those who speak out.

Stop voting for genocide, it’s literally the least you can do and it cost you nothing.

agamemnonymous,

Agree to disagree. I’m not content to let the bodies pile up to revolution levels, those lives are more than just metrics to spur on dissidence. People are still voting for Trump, obviously that strategy doesn’t even work even if it weren’t ghoulish. The logistics of keeping the evil hush-hush results in fewer bodies than out and out ethnic cleaning. I’m on the side of fewer bodies.

TauZero,

the most a third party is going to do is shave off a few percentage points, resulting in the main party losing

If the third party can force the main party to lose, then it holds ultimatum power and game theory rules apply. The main party irrationally keeps rejecting the ultimatum and as a result keeps losing. To execute the threat of the ultimatum even after the unfair split has already been offered is the paradox of game theory. You have to appear credible enough to carry out such a threat, but the only reliable way to appear credible is to actually follow through on such threats every time.

The Democratic party keeps losing and shifting right because it acts irrationally and fails to execute optimal game theory strategy. It could have offered the left a fair split and we could have all had guaranteed single-payer medical care, food, and housing, but instead none of us will have women’s rights, and the immigrants and gays among us will be herded into cages.

SatanicNotMessianic,

That is literally not how it works. That’s how people think it should work, but when you see that it doesn’t, you have to turn back and review your premises and your model. I know the way you think it should work and how you want it to work, but when it doesn’t work you need to revise.

The problem is this - the feedback loop is insufficient and the correlation is unclear. If you are directly negotiating with someone, then you can play Ultimatum. If you are one of a hundred million people casting a vote for one person or another, you cannot. Perot cost Bush I the election, and Nader cost Kerry the election. Neither party decided that they needed to move in the direction of the spoiler candidate. They’re especially not going to do so for 3p candidates who pull in the low single digits, even if they lose by low single digits, because they’ll think they can get more by moving towards the center.

You can vote however you want, but don’t base it on a theoretical foundation that has less than zero application to the scenario you’re modeling. It really, honestly is a minimax choice, and if you are truly an ally for those of us in marginalized communities, you have to recognize it.

I’m not being a right winger here - I’m a member of the DSA and this is in line with what they (and people like Chomsky) advise. But I’m not talking about even that angle. I’m just talking minimax and BATNA. If negotiations fail (ie we didn’t get Bernie), the best alternative is Hillary. At least Roe wouldn’t have been overturned and we wouldn’t have states suing to make ten year olds give birth to their rapist’s babies.

TauZero,

So I am proposing that the Democratic party is acting irrationally and suboptimally, but you claim that the Democrats are acting most optimally, and it is the fringe left that is acting irrationally instead by refusing to accept a unfair split against all game theory guidance, causing all of us to eat shit (despite them making up only low single digits). Yet if the Democrats are so rational, how come they keep losing? Shouldn’t they have found an optimal strategy to get around the irrational ultimatum of the left? Yet here we are.

SatanicNotMessianic,

I do not mean this to come off as blunt as it sounds, but I’m trying to be both clear and concise.

What you’re talking about is not how game theory works. What you’re doing is taking the most basic, highly abstracted representation of a generic idea and expecting it to correlate with reality. It’s the same thing people do when they ascribe some kind of wish fulfillment to the free market or to evolutionary dynamics. It’s not even a platonic ideal - it’s drawing a supply/demand curve and thinking you understand how prices work in a market economy. Here’s the main issues you’re running into when you try to play Ultimatum with something the size of the Democratic Party:

  1. Noise. There is a permanent base of 3-5% of the electorate that’s going to vote Green, or whatever. The protest voters almost never rise above that noise floor. Focus on a single (potentially complex) issue would help. Green rallies (and others) often have everything from antivax to prison reform to the environment to voting rights to BDS and BLM. All of those things (except the antivax) might be important, but there needs to be a central focus. IMO it’s voting rights - I’d love DSA to drop everything to just start suing states and protesting for voting rights, because everything else is lost without that. We can even both/and, as long as there’s a vision and a focus on a main first objective. Right now we’re coming off like a bunch of verses from We Didn’t Start the Fire. Ultimatum with multiplayer and a noise function is a completely different game.
  2. Feedback loop. The consequences for actions needs to be tightened up, and they need a wide base. There needs to be visible and constant representation out in front of both cameras and politicians. This can be people like the Squad or figures like Robert Reich, but there needs to be a uniform voice that doesn’t wait for the election cycle. Groups like Moms for Liberty have this kind of thing on lock. They have a brand and spokespersons and will host and endorse, or else attack on Fox News within hours of a political decision. They’re shit in every way, but they can work the machine. Ultimatum with a delayed feedback loop is a completely different game because the failure of the deal is less attributable.
  3. Solidarity and messaging. The majority of Americans want universal health care. The majority of Americans want green energy. The majority of Americans want a cease fire in Gaza. By spreading opinions across multiple realizations of this top level policy objectives, we dilute the message. Ultimatum requires identifiable players with identifiable agendas.

We as voters aren’t playing Ultimatum. Instead, we are playing minimax as an emergent strategy to defend the rights of marginalized populations.

TauZero,

Thank you for your detailed input!

It’s not even a platonic ideal - it’s drawing a supply/demand curve and thinking you understand how prices work in a market economy.

You got me 😁. I love drawing supply-and-demand curves. Seems pretty hopeless then if to even begin to understand how to vote “correctly” you need 5 years of game theory PhD. Hearing someone say “just trust me bro, the optimal strategy is that one” is not good enough. Voting was supposed to be for the masses…

drop everything to just start suing states and protesting for voting rights

I could get onboard with ranked-choice voting. My city used IRV for our latest mayoral primary election, and even though none of my ranked candidates won, I felt extremely satisfied that at least my voice was finally being heard. When a literal police-mayor got elected (winning primary by only 7000 votes), I had the comfort of full knowledge that this was not due to any spoiler effect on my part, but solely simply due to more people voting for him. If we’d campaign for ranked-choice voting in federal elections - presidential primaries and general - we can eliminate all the above hand-wringing. The Democratic party should be totally on board with this since they could finally get the Green protest vote.

frauddogg,
@frauddogg@lemmygrad.ml avatar

Sometimes the rational strategy is to reject unfair split offers, even if that makes it a guarantee that you both get nothing.

Yup. Mutually assured destruction: either the malfeasant and murderous can get right and start fixing what they’ve ruined, or I don’t have a single issue becoming a lead weight around the country’s neck. Ain’t like this country hasn’t tried to kill me by cop more than once anyway, I have no reason to want to see this awful joke of an empire perpetuate.

6daemonbag,

Is there a neutral review of project 2025 that you can point to? That site is ass and either points to a book you can buy or a thousand links to PDFs.

gravitas_deficiency,

Please define “neutral review” in this context.

The whole thing is unrepentantly and deeply biased, and it’s intentional.

I don’t know if this matches your definition of “neutral”, but it must be said that “neutral” is not synonymous with “unbiased”.

6daemonbag,

Yes I meant unbiased, but I was unsure if even using that word would be taken the wrong way. I don’t want to be taken as a centrist or anything like that, because I’m not even close.

I just want a flat clinical review of what it says versus what it actually means without clickbait sensationalism. It is plainly bad, that much is obvious. But what are the real-life, bureaucratic implications of its potential execution?

Thanks for the link, I’ll definitely check it out.

PowerCrazy,

The Constitution needs to be rewritten anyway and we are overdue, preserving the status quo is enabling American fascism.

micnd90,

tell boss I’m gonna vote, take day off

don’t vote, chill and eat ice cream at Coldstone

blatantly lie to coworkers the next day, pretend that I voted

gigachad

pohart,

Definitely voting for someone who doesn’t support genocide for president. Down ballot I’ll likely vote 3rd party as well, but I haven’t decided for sure.

Captainvaqina,

Congrats on helping to ensure you’ll never again have the right to vote during traitor trump’s fascist dictatorship that you’ll be enabling.

Detectorist,

deleted_by_author

    •
    frauddogg,
    @frauddogg@lemmygrad.ml avatar

    One hand washes the other.

    pohart, (edited )

    If Trump is one vote from winning NY then he swept the board. There’s no way NY goes red in any election that has NY as the tipping point state.

    TheAlbatross,

    Hey I’m voting third party in a deep blue state also, you wanna be wicked condescending to me too? Take that energy to the phone banks, I bet the democrats never tried making a total ass of themselves before.

    TheEgoBot,

    Congrats on saying “genocide is an acceptable price” out loud

    phillaholic,

    You act like Republicans don’t have stronger ties to Israel and haven’t discriminated against Muslims. Either you’re naive or acting in bad faith.

    TheEgoBot,

    OR I simply refuse to endorse any singular candidate who has funded genocide. You can call me whatever you want for having convictions while your lesser evil funds a holocaust

    phillaholic,

    Naive. Got it.

    Unattended consequences of your actions. Learn it before it’s too late.

    Take care.

    TheEgoBot,

    So are you going to take responsibility for the 11,500 people dead (since October 7th) as the unintended consequences of your actions? You told everyone we needed to vote Biden to protect people in 2020, did he protect them? And I don’t want to hear anything about trans people and gay people because there are trans people and gay people in Palestine, or do they not count because they weren’t fortunate enough to be born here or born White? I’m naive but you sleep like a baby with your hands covered in blood.

    PowerCrazy,

    The largest benefactors of AIPAC and Israel in the house and senate are fucking democrats you dunce.

    arabiclearner,

    Don’t vote, and whoever tries to shame me can go climb a tree

    argo_yamato,

    Voting straight Democrat. The republican party is the biggest threat to the US right now.

    BennyHill500,

    maybe-later-kiddo

    Captainvaqina,

    deleted_by_author

    •
    PosadistPotatofish,

    That commenter is from Hexbear. There’s no way they support Trump.

    CarbonScored,

    This is the argument every single election. Every time, for decades, and yet things get continually worse.

    I’d argue the belief that voting for an establishment party is any kind of a long-term solution is the biggest threat. By all means do it if it’ll help a little in the short term, but the ship’s still sinking.

    Semi-Hemi-Demigod,
    @Semi-Hemi-Demigod@kbin.social avatar

    Short term is all anyone cares about, from government to corporations to individuals. Which is why I only give this country another 50 years, tops.

    furrious09,

    While I agree in my dislike for the current Republican Party, the attitude of blindly voting for your team because the other is evil is exactly what my (late) fox-addicted grandfather used to uphold. I loved the man, but I think we ought to do better and do the hard work of researching every candidate and choosing the best, be it democrat, republican, or independent.

    RecursiveParadox,
    @RecursiveParadox@lemmy.world avatar

    Gave you and upvote to get you back off zero and agree with your general sentiment.

    But - the elections since Trump took the ROC convention have all been different - we must get rid of all the R’s we can no matter what at the local, state and national level as soon as possible now that the have proven to be an existential threat to democracy itself.

    PowerCrazy,

    American Democracy is fucked. It needs to go away.

    CohortCzort,

    Ill do what I always do, vote third party. Not that i think itll do litterally anything, i just hope one day enough people do it so we can atleast get some funding for a third party.

    Voting is pretty pointless though, I’m going to try and pay as little attention as possible to the contest of warcriminal ghouls as I can. Maybe we’ll luck out and have some of those octogenarian creeps die. Atleast then I can have some brief feeling of satisfaction before the world kicks my shit back in.

    Feels bad ( if not alittle freeing ) to know you dont actually have a choice in this clown show, and would be just as well off using your political capital shit posting on the internet, or better yet do some irl praxis.

    Olgratin_Magmatoe,

    Our electoral system is inherently biased against 3rd party candidates due to the spoiler effect of first past the post voting. The only solution is election reform that regulates election finances, a switch to approval/STAR voting, and regulation on political ads.

    frauddogg,
    @frauddogg@lemmygrad.ml avatar

    Still not pencil-whipping the genociders, Jan

    IHadTwoCows,

    deleted_by_author

    •
    BURN,

    Unfortunately that is the reality of American elections. First past the post means a 3rd party can effectively never win

    RenownedBalloonThief,

    Won’t stop me from voting PSL.

    votesocialist2024.com

    IHadTwoCows,

    deleted_by_author

    •
    Bonskreeskreeskree,

    So everyone should keep voting for the 2 parties. They’ll eventually end it!

    s_i_m_s,

    Voting by mail as usual.

    Trying to avoid customers that can’t shut up about how wonderful trump is.

    “I think he’s the antichrist but he’s doing a good job”

    You know, bat shit insane things republicans say.

    Kwakigra,
    @Kwakigra@beehaw.org avatar

    Not in a state where my vote counts so it doesn’t matter much. My political plans are trying to avoid getting thrown in jail per the popular bipartisan SB 686 for being too outspoken about opposing the genocide of Palestinians.

    Since the 2010 Citizens United decision when the supreme court legalized bribery, the best I’ve been able to hope for is a managed and slow as possible decline into a feudal-like state with a heritable and defined noble and peasant class. Hopefully nuclear war will prevent the worst possible consequences of climate change so I can have a little hope while I’m being vaporized.

    Thisfox,

    Being from an “every vote counts” country with compulsory voting, this seems like such an alien response to me.

    Kwakigra,
    @Kwakigra@beehaw.org avatar

    Let this be a warning to you, then. We are part of the same species and we have the same vulnerabilities in our socially constructed systems give or take. Without constant vigilance this could happen to your country. Do not trust anyone who has power over you. Ever.

    SatanicNotMessianic,

    The US would benefit from being a compulsory voting country. There’s a couple of ways of conducting polls - two of them are “likely voters” and “eligible voters.” The LV model can vary from poll to poll but usually has some criterion like “voted in the last election.”

    The LV polls are usually to the right of the EV polls, and the conventional wisdom is that the greater the turnout, the better the democrats do. Republicans on the other hand are generally trying to make it harder to vote.

    So compulsory voting with vote by mail would pull things a bit to the left, at least for a few years.

    dangblingus,

    Does your country use First Past The Post elections? Because that’s how we do things in North America, and all it does is boil all of politics down to 2 parties.

    Thisfox,

    I don’t even have a clue what it means. Sounds like a horse race or a running race, except yank elections never have any politicians fit enough to swim in a race, let alone run in it.

    No, we all vote (unless we are rich enough to pay the non-voting fine, many well-off people choose not to vote and pay the fine) and the votes are all counted. I assume you mean they only count USian votes until one team has “enough”? Seems very corrupt, but it doesn’t mean your vote isn’t important.

    North America has a lot of countries in it, you don’t seem to realise that?

    OprahsedCreature,

    Found the Aussie 🦘

    OprahsedCreature,

    Princess Chelsea invites you for an audience

    Kwakigra,
    @Kwakigra@beehaw.org avatar

    Only if I can wear the motley and say what I want. Otherwise, you can send your headsman for me.

    OprahsedCreature,

    Huzzah!

    Pulptastic,

    I remember 2016 going to bed with Hillary in a strong lead and waking up to a conman in office.

    captain_aggravated,
    @captain_aggravated@sh.itjust.works avatar

    I was in a brewpub in Greensboro that night. They sold a lot of beer that night.

    s_i_m_s,

    Well she did win the popular by several million but it’s not like anyone actually cared what the people wanted.

    The miles and miles of empty dirt’s vote was way more important for some reason.

    OhmsLawn,

    I’m not party affiliated, but I will vote for the Democratic Party candidate. It wouldn’t make any difference in my state, but I do it anyway. My state doesn’t swing, so I will probably send some money to Democratic candidates in closest out-of-state Senate races (I don’t waste money on sure winners or losers).

    It’s a hold-my-nose thing, since I’m really only about 50% in agreement with them. I tend to swing farther left on certain issues and near-libertarian-right on others. My primary concern at this point is averting a slide further into fascism. I’ve spent quite a bit of time in formerly-fascist countries and it’s a messy thing to untangle. The scars last for generations.

  • All
  • Subscribed
  • Moderated
  • Favorites
  • •
  • random
  • uselessserver093
  • Food
  • [email protected]
  • aaaaaaacccccccce
  • test
  • CafeMeta
  • testmag
  • MUD
  • RhythmGameZone
  • RSS
  • dabs
  • oklahoma
  • Socialism
  • KbinCafe
  • TheResearchGuardian
  • Ask_kbincafe
  • SuperSentai
  • feritale
  • KamenRider
  • All magazines
    •