“I’m completely disenchanted from the political process at the moment,” said Grace Freeman, 34. "Right now, there’s just no way I’m going to vote for Joe Biden again. I don’t believe in his leadership as an American, especially as a Black American.
“And I’m absolutely not voting for Trump. He’s a terrible option,” Freeman said. “I might vote for a third-party candidate or not vote at all ‒ and I’m a voting rights advocate!”
i have recently gotten a harsh response from lemmy about this, but i am 100% with Ms Freeman on this. i WILL NOT vote for Biden and i would sooner die than vote for Trump.
i absolutely think this is a valid response to our current situation.
All this comes off as is petulant, ignorant, and unimaginative.
It’s unimaginative because nobody who spends even half a minute thinking about the consequences of the election could come away believing there would be no little to difference between the two outcomes.
It’s ignorant because it displays a lack of understanding about how the FPTP US election system works.
It’s petulant because it’s akin to demanding the system work for you, rather than you working within the system. You’re refusing to participate in a choice that will affect the lives of hundreds of millions of people just because a system that hundreds of millions of people work to produce doesn’t function the way you want it to.
So we have been saying this since I was a kid, a third party is a wasted vote. Next time around will be our chance! Well. When? We just going to always push off voting third party until democrats stop hiding and go full republican?
There has to be a point where we all actively decide to vote third party. These websites are the perfect place for that oppurtunity as well. Why have we not seen any individuals step up (reddit in the past) on lemmy? Why have we not actually started gofundme to support a non-affiliated candidate?
We have the power, and continuing to tell people “just wait! Or we are all fucked!” Will continue perpetually.
So we have been saying this since I was a kid, a third party is a wasted vote. Next time around will be our chance! Well. When? We just going to always push off voting third party until democrats stop hiding and go full republican?
This is why I included “ignorant” among the list of terms in my previous comment. I’m not using it as an insult; yours is a popular opinion, but it displays a fundamental lack of understanding about how the US election system works.
A third party is a wasted vote, because that’s literally how the system works. It’s not something people say to discourage you from voting or to keep the Big Two in power. It’s just a fact of the rules of the game. Voting third party in hopes that it will change the game is as useful as picking up the soccer ball with your hands in hopes that maybe this time the ref will allow it. The rules just don’t allow for that.
To be clear, I’m not saying this because I like the system. I’m not defending the system. I’m just highlighting the truth of it. The rules we have are crap, designed by people hundreds of years ago who didn’t know any better. It was the best they had at the time, and here we are 250 years later desperately in need of a rules update… But that still doesn’t change the rules!
In our FPTP system, one of the Big Two parties will win. Period. If you want that to change (I know I do), the time to do that is in between election cycles. You will never ever change the political system by miraculously voting in a 3rd party. Even if you could somehow get 100% of the country to unanimously vote for a 3rd party president, all you would have is a lame duck president. You would not change the makeup of the legislature, which is the part of our government responsible for making the rules. So if you want to change those rules, you do so through the legislature, not by electing an outsider president. You need to spend the period in between election cycles petitioning, writing, calling, and contacting your legislative representatives every way possible to convince them to support election reform measures. Then and only then will there be meaningful discussion about changing the rules into something better; something where you can actually vote your heart or for the person who best represents your views rather than just a person from party A or B. In other words, if you want to play a version of soccer where you can use your hands, the time to do that is before you play, not mid-game. The same goes for elections.
If you don’t believe me, just look into how US elections work. There are so many great explanations about the math and the game theory that makes them function the way they do. Third parties are a wasted vote, not because of any cynicism or pessimism or nihilism; they are because the math literally works out that way. Worse, any vote for a third party candidate actually aids the candidate you dislike. That is to day, if you’d rather Biden beat Trump, your vote for candidate C mathematically actually aids Trump. So yes, third party candidates really do spoil the election, and third party votes are actually shooting yourself in the foot.
So let’s change the system, and let’s do it the only way laws get changed in this country: by petitioning our representatives. Not by pinning our hopes on a zero-chance candidate and actually supporting the worse candidate by wasting our vote.
Yeah but that sounds like work /s
Shockingly, it takes more to revolutionize a country of 320 million people than casting a single protest vote for Jill Stein every 4 years.
The folks whining the most about Biden also seem to be the least civic-minded.
3rd Party baby! LET’S GO!!!
the closest a third party has ever gone was Ross Perot. 21% of the popular vote - 0 electoral college votes.
it is not possible until something else changes.
How about the exhausted voter as stated in the article?
Is there no alternative democrats this time around?
There’s multiple and independents, green party
Fuck that I am voting against republican 100% for the rest of my life, also not taking polls or talking to news people about politics.
why cant we just call it what it is; fascism vs democracy. names irrelevant
A 3rd party vote is wasted, and failure to participate means leaving the decision to others. Both are foolish choices.
It’s a primary…
I don’t want either of this redundant old farts running this country. I’m voting for Biden though because I’ll not a fucking moron.
This is my favorite way I have ever seen it said
Gotta love the apathy propaganda.
That’s what most of the political articles posted seem to be. It’s always one of three things:
- Biden way ahead in polls over Trump
- Trump way ahead in polls over Biden
- All president candidates suck, do t even bother voting
It feels like one big disinformation machine.
Or, read the article and see why so many don’t feel like voting for either and then push the Dems to CHANGE.
And push them to change by participating. Primaries is where change happens. Vote for the person that aligns with your values, campaign for them, run yourself, etc. Skipping the general or voting for conservatives only backslides us further.
If Democrats magically banded together and all agreed to the most progressive forward thinking agenda possible, not a single thing would happen because the GOP would block it. What happened the last time the Democrats had both chambers of Congress and the White House? They passed the largest healthcare overhaul in a generation that improved the lives of millions. We don’t just need the Democrats to change, we need to put them in a position where they can make changes as well.
Romneycare? The largest transfer of money to the health insurance industry?
. Primaries is where change happens. Vote for the person that aligns with your values, campaign for them, run yourself, etc. Skipping the general or voting for conservatives only backslides us further.
You mean like '16 primary where they were so threatened by an actual progressive that they intentionally and willfully took steps to ensure he could never compete with Hilary? That primary?
vote biden because other choice is bad and choosing an alternative is bad too and not voting biden would be fascism
confused how being forced to vote for one person and party is democracy but hey not allowed to vote would not know
