Still new here and trying to figure things out. Regarding voting, I'd like to get some feedback on some thoughts I've had.

I get that voting D/R is pointless since Ds just seatwarm for Rs at best, and actively implement R policies at worst. They have no incentive to work for left policies, and R policies will ultimately benefit them personally.

That being said, we're "punished" for not voting D by getting an actual insane R in office. If Rs are in control its way worse, right? or, maybe it has to get worse to get better?

So what is the dominant strategy here for National elections? My personal vote is extremely minor and unimportant so keeping that in mind, I can:

  1. not vote - Lower participation rate shows I don't endorse the system, and if enough people don't vote, does it mean anything?

  2. vote third party - I like this idea since, although super unlikely, it gives more pressure to D and R to moderate (lol) as neither want to lose power. Write in votes aren't going to turn in to anything big without some serious organizing, but I don't know if there's ever been a serious attempt to organize a mass write in campaign? Or if there will even be a viable third party candidate in 2024?

  3. vote D - 🤮

  4. Something else?

I haven't seen this discussed much in the short time I've been here so maybe I'm missing something obvious or misunderstanding something above, so would appreciate any help. Maybe the real answer is it really doesn't matter, but would like to make the best limited choice I can

  • Tomboys_are_Cute [he/him, comrade/them]
    ·
    1 year ago

    I'm going to challenge you on the assertion that Dems are better than Republicans. How is a Dem better than a republican? There is a long list of things that the Dems have continued since Trump (and before!) that maybe they didn't implement themselves but they could have stopped and they have chosen not to. How is a Dem better?

    • DistractedDev@lemm.ee
      ·
      1 year ago

      At least Dems aren't spewing as much hate for minorities. Also, the infrastructure bill Biden implemented was actually pretty good. Republicans want to actively dismantle things like the Environmental Protection Agency. If there was another option that had a chance of winning I would vote for them. We need to figure out a way to build that. Until then, we need to at least delay the worst of it.

      • Tomboys_are_Cute [he/him, comrade/them]
        ·
        1 year ago

        At least dems aren't spewing so much hate for minorities

        "As much" is doing a lot of work there.

        infrastructure bill

        This bill? The one where they didn't make it adjust for inflation or actually force states to comply? As cool as that bill may be it isn't enough. Most of the projects haven't even started and there is no guarantee that they will. Especially if they lose the house. That funding over the same time (ten years) is barely more than the military budget and that is only true if the budget stays where it was which it didn't and won't. Some of that funding may also be going to sodium cyanide landmines which was something I only heard about recently but has been going on since 2014, thanks Obama.

        Republicans want to dismantle the EPA

        They aren't even in power and they're doing it anyways.

        As it stands right now the Dems (barely, but still in hand) have congress and the executive. They have the senate by enough to ram judges through to get whatever they want from the courts but they won't for petty reasons like decorum. Petty especially in the light of losing the right to an abortion, losing right to equal treatment for members of the LGBTQ+ community, and curbing capacities of federal agencies. You're going to need to try harder to convince me that the Dems are better and we haven't even gotten started on foreign policy.

        Edit: excuse my passive voice, the Dems could have passed laws to ensure that a right to an abortion or protections for the LGBTQ+ community were in place but did not. Saying they lost it is too passive, I should have said they, by conscious failure to act, stripped those rights

        • DistractedDev@lemm.ee
          ·
          1 year ago

          What do we actually do about this though? I want to make things better, but how? Not voting at all doesn't feel like sending a message. It feels like apathy. I also think it needs to happen with as little violence as possible. It needs to be someone that is voted in. We can't let violence decide because that always seems to end with some kind of authoritarian government.

          • Tomboys_are_Cute [he/him, comrade/them]
            ·
            1 year ago

            You could always spoil your ballot. I think it might be time to remind you where you are though because violence can and has been used to get better governments, the American civil war for one but also Cuba, Vietnam, Zimbabwe off the top of my head were all improved by violent revolution against their oppressors. The Soviet Union too for that matter among others I'd hazard you are more willing to disagree with.

              • Tomboys_are_Cute [he/him, comrade/them]
                ·
                1 year ago

                You either mark your ballot in a way that ruins it (ie writing FUCK YOU across the whole page and not actually marking a vote), physically damage your ballot, or the most fun way which is write-in a 0% viable person that is funny. I know some guys who voted for Snoop Dog in the last election to spoil their ballot. It is a way to make it known you don't like any of the options but still made time to vote.

          • BurgerPunk [he/him, comrade/them]
            ·
            1 year ago

            We can't let violence decide because that always seems to end with some kind of authoritarian government? What about literally every communist revolution? Cuba, China, Vietnam, Burkina Faso, the DPRK, the USSR.

            I don't think the US at this time is ready for a revolution, violent or otherwise. But, revolutionary socialism results in better material conditions for people, and all of the above are examples

              • Vncredleader
                ·
                1 year ago

                And all of them accomplished more good than you are even suggesting in a naïve hope. You are tethered to some of the biggest war criminals in the world while being miserable about it and holding no cards, they use their authority to actually carry out their political will.