this post was submitted on 14 Nov 2023
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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.

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[–] FoundTheVegan@kbin.social 63 points 1 year ago (11 children)

It's not a question of policy. Republicans literally killed people last election trying to overthrow democracy.

Not that I even like democrats, but anyone who votes red after Jan 6th is fundamentally an enemy of democracy.

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[–] TheImpressiveX@lemmy.ml 59 points 1 year ago (1 children)

It can be easy to feel like a drop of water in a large ocean when it comes to national elections. But you should also vote in your county and state elections; you can probably make more of a difference there.

I'm not saying "don't vote in the national election", but just know that there are other elections to vote in, and thry are just as important as the nationals.

[–] TheAlbatross@lemmy.blahaj.zone 24 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Yah I can vote for the red mayor who wants more cops or the blue mayor who wants more cops. Freedom rings!

[–] conditional_soup@lemm.ee 24 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (3 children)

Unless you're in a big big city, mayoral and council races can actually have a lot of diversity in terms of political outlooks. Never forget that a town elected a dog as mayor. Nobody that pure would ever make it to federal office.

[–] TheAlbatross@lemmy.blahaj.zone 9 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

There certainly are places like that. I'd vote for a dog over any of our candidates in the last local election. Or anyone running on banning the damn roadside signs. Alternatively, the candidates themselves have to pluck them out from along the highway on ramps and whatever other places they've been planted the night of the election and before the morning light.

Our local election was bupkis. The red one won because the blue one won last time and nothing changed and people are still unhappy. The mayoral race prior went about the same way, but the blue one won because the red one in the office did nothing differently and no one was happy.

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[–] redballooon@lemm.ee 10 points 1 year ago

One of them also wants to ban books.

[–] argo_yamato@lemm.ee 40 points 1 year ago (1 children)

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

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[–] arefx@lemmy.ml 37 points 1 year ago

Well I won't be voting for the fascist party.....

[–] SandbagTiara2816@lemmy.dbzer0.com 36 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

I like the Green Party’s eco-socialism, but their anti-vaccine lunacy and inability to do anything electorally beyond run a presidential candidate every four years doesn’t give me the warm fuzzies.

I like Cornel West, and I appreciate his long-standing commitment to left-wing and anti-racist values.

That said, I live in the real world, where Donald Trump is running as an open fascist promising to make America a dictatorship if elected, and Joe Biden is the only candidate running with a realistic chance of beating him.

So I’ll be voting for every Democrat I possibly can, while wishing they were better than they are, as always.

[–] snoopfrog@midwest.social 32 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I'm going to complain about not having a primary option for president, vote for the left-most person I can in the primary, and then vote down-ballot (D) in November. There's nothing I need to research with respect to these modern conservatives. Most democrats aren't really much better in most ways, but at least I can look my marginalized friends and colleagues in the eye after the election.

[–] ReplicantBatty@lemmy.one 8 points 1 year ago

Yeah pretty much this. Not much point to me following the political discourse and all that, all it'll do is just make me angry and depressed.

[–] GiddyGap@lemm.ee 27 points 1 year ago

In 2016, I was an Independent. Straight down the middle. Would consider reasonable Democrats, Republicans, and 3rd party candidates.

In 2020, I was an Independent leaning Democratic. Would not consider Trump. Biden was locked in. Would hesitantly consider reasonable Republicans or Independents on a split ticket.

In 2024, I'm a Democrat. Will only consider Democrats up and down the ballot. No 3rd parties.

[–] makeasnek@lemmy.ml 26 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

I see a lot of people here frustrated with our two party system. I too am frustrated. Donate to FairVote to get ranked choice on the ballot in more states. Ranked choice voting allows voters to express actual preferences between more than two parties and it is a win no matter who you normally vote for. Many states have a ballot measure system that can be used to pass legislation without requiring the agreement of the state legislature. Several US states have implemented ranked choice voting already. http://fairvote.org

[–] criitz@reddthat.com 25 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Blue no matter who. Nothing has changed about that.

[–] davefischer 13 points 1 year ago (3 children)

I think leftists ranting about not voting for Biden in the general election at the moment are just blowing off steam, and when election day comes, everyone on the left will remember 2016 and vote blue.

[–] DharmaCurious@startrek.website 15 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I absolutely will not. Vote blue no matter who is why we have the situation we have. 2016 did not give us trump. Generations of shitty corporate politicians on both sides of the aisle gave us Donald Trump. Populists win because they're popular, and trump got popular by pointing out the factual information that the house, the Senate, and the oval office are filled with corporate skills and corrupt puppets. Sadly, it was the fascist who got popular pointing it out, but it doesn't make that part of what he says untrue.

I live in a red state where my vote for federal office does not count. So I will cast my pointless protest vote for the green party in the hopes that one day they'll get their 5%, and maybe something can change. Down ballot I'll hold my nose and vote for the Democrat in most offices, and if I ever move to a competitive state, I'll do the same for federal, because I'm being held hostage by the corporate shills, and I'd rather my family not die in concentration camps that are inevitably coming if/when the fascists fully take power.

But no. Fuck blue no matter who. Who. Fucking. Matters. If it didn't, we wouldn't be in this mess. Have some standards.

[–] criitz@reddthat.com 8 points 1 year ago (1 children)

But what are we supposed to do? We can vote for Trump instead or no-one instead. How does that make anything better? We agree there needs to be change, but we still have no real option here.

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[–] phillaholic@lemm.ee 11 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Don’t care. I don’t want to hear their BS. Apathy is the enemy. Re-elect Biden, then go out and yell at him for whatever the hell you want. The alternative is never being able to vote again. Not hyperbole. Republicans are actively trying to change the rules to disregard your votes.

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[–] Joker@discuss.tchncs.de 24 points 1 year ago (2 children)

I’ve voted for both Democrats and Republicans in the past. Frankly, neither one of them deserves too much power.

If Trump is the nominee I’m voting for the other candidate no matter who that is. There is no circumstance in which I would vote for Trump. The devil himself could be running against Trump and I would either vote for the devil or abstain. If he is the nominee then the election is essentially a fight for democracy.

Although I generally like Biden’s administration, I am concerned about him and his age. If there was a normal candidate running against him I would consider voting for them, but it’s mostly a bunch of wackadoos on the Republican side.

Chris Christie and Nikki Haley were the only ones in the last Republican debate who had any common sense. Christie’s campaign isn’t going anywhere because he’s anti-Trump. Haley is too conservative for my liking. Ramaswamy and DeSantis are garbage humans. The Republicans need a reboot because they really suck.

In other words, I’m team blue - not because I’m thrilled with them but because I’m afraid of the alternative.

[–] Name-Not-Applicable@kbin.social 13 points 1 year ago (1 children)

The Republicans need a reboot

That sums it up. I’m conservative, but the GOP is such a train wreck now I just can’t support them.

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Spot on friend. Trumpers look at us and think we like Biden as much as they like Trump. Noooope. There were way better candidates. If anything the Dems are the party of the status quo and republicans are the party of "Fuck anyone who isn't rich, white, and male". I'd love an actual progressive party - I don't see anything that the democrats have done in the last 8 years that has actually been progressive.

[–] NutWrench@lemmy.ml 23 points 1 year ago

Right now, the choices are between boring corporatists and 100% concentrated evil. It's not that hard a choice.

[–] angstylittlecatboy@reddthat.com 17 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

I'll vote for a non-Zionist candidate in the primaries with no real expectation of them winning. But I will vote blue no matter who for national and state politics, and Working Families Party for local if any run.

Is "Genocide Joe" an accurate nickname? Yeah. But fuck that, it's not like Trump will be any less zionist and third parties/independents don't work in FPTP. I'm mixed race, I'm bisexual, I'm worried about worst case scenarios with a second Trump presidency (which is basically "what Trump is saying out loud" at this point,) and I am willing to vote in enlightened self-interest.

[–] dangblingus@lemmy.dbzer0.com 7 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Joe Biden is no more pro-Israel than any president before him. In fact, he's publicly asked Netanyahu for humanitarian pauses so they can actually get Palestinian people out of the line of fire. Small gesture yes, but no one else has even mentioned Palestinian survival before.

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[–] ME5SENGER_24@lemm.ee 16 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

Stuck between a rock and a hard place. It sucks.

I’m tired of the 2 party system. I don’t think I really have a party or political ideology that aligns with Democrats or Republicans and third party candidates are all over the place. I want to start voting on issues and not just politicians.

I don’t care what my politician’s feelings are. They represent a constituency and the only things they should be speaking about and for are exactly what they’re being asked for. Instead we have this political machine that takes every issues and gives it a red spin and a blue spin and then it’s force fed to the people.

Congress should not be creating our ideologies they should create the laws that structure the things the citizens want.

The Supreme Courr overturned Roe v Wade, put it on the ballet and let the people decide.

Gun control, put it on the ballet

Universal health care, put it on the ballet

Abandoning fossil fuels, put it on the ballet

Stop forcing your political and personal ideologies on us and start listing to the people. If we vote “Yes” on universal health care, the politicians must then go and figure out how to make it happen.

Let it truly be a government of the people, by the people, for the people.

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[–] Cowbee@lemm.ee 16 points 1 year ago

Same as usual. Vote for the least harmful candidates while advocating for actual grassroots improvements, because voting harder won't move America to the left, ever.

[–] ArmoredThirteen@lemmy.ml 15 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Well my choices are backslide slowly by voting dem, maybe buying enough time to get out of the country safely in the next few years, or risk being federally persecuted for being trans. So I'm going to dissociate through the whole thing and hopefully won't be able to remember voting for fucking Biden. Outside the election I do what I can to support actual leftist movements but until any of them have a chance to win against the fascists on ballots I'm team 'slightly better of two shitty choices'. I just want to be left alone to garden I hate all of this

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[–] shiveyarbles 14 points 1 year ago (29 children)

A lot of trolling about voting green party, not voting, not voting Biden. Any of these positions is pro Trump, and that's the simple truth.

So admit that at least, you WANT a dictatorship.

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[–] JokeDeity@lemm.ee 13 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Cry most likely. Voting doesn't seem very effective and it's less so when the choices are conservative extremist or conservative light.

[–] corsicanguppy@lemmy.ca 16 points 1 year ago (4 children)

Don't vote for a perfect choice; vote for the best choice, and keep doing it. You're not going to get 'perfect' right now, but excising actual cancer will improve the long-term health of the beast and enable even better choices in a few iterations.

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[–] TheAlbatross@lemmy.blahaj.zone 12 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

It's gonna be a shit show. Two shit choices again blowing hot air every which way with billion dollar advertising campaigns.

The area I live in is wildly deeply democrat so my vote is irrelevant anyway, so I'm just voting third party. And until then I'm gonna try to avoid the whole mess.

[–] lolcatnip@reddthat.com 11 points 1 year ago
[–] eksb@programming.dev 11 points 1 year ago (2 children)

It does not matter who I vote for for federal office. My state is never close to competitive and my house district is gerrymandered.

If fascists win my districts for state office, it will not affect the balance of power in the state assemblies.

So I told all of the Democrats running for state and local office that if there is not a primary for the presidential election, then I will not vote for any Democrats in the general elections in 2024, for any office. Maybe they can put pressure on the DNC.

This is the only way I can potentially have any input.

The only way this works is if Democrats would shift left if they started losing elections because people refused to vote for old white male conservative Democrats.

But I fear they would actually shift right. The Democratic Party is not a big tent that holds both the neoliberal corporate shills and the progressives. It is a hostage situation where the neoliberal corporate shills demand our support, otherwise the fascists will kill us.

[–] physcx@kbin.social 11 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I just want to say that your vote for the federal office does matter even if you live in a non-competitive state. Some states allocate a percentage of their electoral votes rather than all or nothing but even if yours does not, voting still adds a data point that says I support this person instead of that person. There have been several times where a candidate has won the presidency without winning the most votes but it was always very close to 50%. If everybody that had a preference voted and the outcome was 55% this guy / 45% the other guy and the other guy won... that could be a real driver for change to the electoral college system.

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[–] pohart@programming.dev 11 points 1 year ago

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.

[–] pineapplelover@lemm.ee 10 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Thinking Green party this year or whoever isn't trying to fuck us over

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[–] MiddledAgedGuy 9 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Vote for the least worst option. Cry because I live in a red state and it won't make any difference.

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[–] Pulptastic@midwest.social 9 points 1 year ago

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

[–] Kwakigra 9 points 1 year ago (9 children)

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.

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[–] meyotch@slrpnk.net 8 points 1 year ago

I have become a little active in my county party. Trying to learn the Democratic way of doing things (first impressions: no one is in charge). Hoping to be able to use my database and reporting skills to help improve the ground game for 2024.

[–] pr06lefs@lemmy.ml 8 points 1 year ago

Fucking democrat all the way. Primaries I'll vote for the less corporate candidates. The republican party is fascists and traitors.

[–] room_raccoon@kbin.social 8 points 1 year ago (7 children)

God, none of it matters. You'll always have one dickhead or another in office. Losing sleep over who is president is nuts to me. We're in dystopian times now. Just don't think about it

[–] PonyOfWar@pawb.social 14 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I'd argue it does matter. For me as a foreigner it matters, because it's not unlikely Trump will leave NATO. Without NATO, it's not unlikely that Putin decides to try and grab some Baltic states. The order of the world hangs in the balance and if it tips over, it will get much worse than many of us can even imagine. I'm not confident that Biden can fix anything, but I'm fairly sure the outcome for the Western world will be much worse under Trump.

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[–] PowerCrazy@lemmy.ml 8 points 1 year ago

Not voting for the capitalists. It's the least I can do.

[–] rusticus@lemm.ee 7 points 1 year ago (1 children)

A reelection of Trump will prompt seriously considering an exit strategy away from the US.

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[–] shiveyarbles 7 points 1 year ago (6 children)

You can have a choice, where one outcome is significantly better than the other. It's that simple.

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