Noam Chomsky's argument for voting is the best one, and doesn't really have a good counterargument: you only have to do it once every couple of years; it takes little time (relative to other types of political organizing); and for all their failures, Democrats are demonstrably better on a lot of issues than Republicans.

"Don't vote" is a useless, contrarian take. If you really think voting doesn't matter, then what's the purpose of starting struggle sessions over something that doesn't matter? It's just trying to show that you're smarter than other people -- it's not organizing, it doesn't convince anyone to move left, and it doesn't move us closer to any sort of material improvements. It's a pointless fight with someone you should want to listen to you. That gives them less of a reason to listen to you, not more.

Instead of derailing conversations into a discussion of something you don't even think matters, say yes (regardless of what you actually think about voting) and then move to a more productive topic.

"Joe Manchin is good for the Democrats, actually. Without a conservative voice to keep the left grounded in reality, the Democrats would lose every competitive seat in the House. The fact that the Democrats have internal division is the sign of a healthy, functioning party. The most dangerous thing about the Republicans isn't their willing disbelief in climate science, anti-masking tendencies, or policies restricting women's bodies. No, it's their ability to unify behind a single message with an totalitarian-like discipline that makes the GoP which makes them a threat to democracy. Donald Trump and Mitch McConnel's party line is eerily reminiscent of popular strongmen of 3rd world countries that plunge their countries into chaos after taking power; Fidel Castro and Xi Jinping envy their Republican counterparts' ability to turn truth into reality they wish they could achieve. Bernie Sanders and his acolytes failed to bring their brand of brand of "woke" authoritarianism to the party in 2016 and 2020. To bring this back home, if you want to your democratic party to avoid flirting with fascism that became popular in the Trump-era (if you can call his measely four years as an era, but for the sake of argument let's do so) you need Joe Manchin. And Kristen Sinema, and Joe Biden. It's either that or fascism."

The less the Democrats do, the more you have to vote for them because the more desperate the situation will be if they lose. That seems to be the basic strategy. It'll be the same arguments as last time. Only you have to vote extra hard because all the issues you listed above are now worse. The Dems just need a bigger majority because if they get it they'll definitely do something, we promise

"The Democrats may not be as much as a speedbump in the path of the the Republican steamroller, but they are the bloated corpses that pop when the steamroller runs over them, and in the long run, that's eventually going to cause the steamroller to rust."

You are forgetting covid.

Because the dems need to hold the presidency for the next fifty years to retake the supreme court and finally overturn Roe v Wade in the name of bipartisanship

naked admission that dems need to just barely lose to maintain the legitimacy needed for record fundraising and they can't do that without votes, sweaty

I've got a feeling this winter will bring some exponential disintegration of masquerade

Not voting for Candace Owens shows the left is racist/misogynist and judging candidates by their actions instead of platitudes gives them no incentive to change so actually you're the terrible person