Look, I understand the absolute frustration — see my comment above — but I can’t get past this
There should be a self-evident difference between those two things, even if you (in the broad sense) believe these 1.5 sentences to be true. Which frankly I don’t, at least with respect to climate change, healthcare, or a host of other policies. One of the two options here leaves open an opportunity for change however slight, while the other effectively guarantees, at a minimum, that we make the Earth inhospitable to human life in the next few decades.
After watching the last few months unfold, four more years of this administration is game over, because it should be pretty clear at this point that, if they were to win, there would not be another election in 2024. Bush-era Republican policies — in hindsight — did actually leave an opening at the end for something better (which was of course fumbled, but I don’t feel like that matters to this argument). Fascism doesn’t. It’s an end-state. There is nothing that comes after it.
But really I guess I just don’t understand moral arguments around voting. Voting one way doesn’t bind you to any form of action or ideology. It’s a way of exercising power, sure, but an individually meaningless one. The only point at which it translates into real power is when collectivized beyond a certain point, and there are two options where that’s the case. I can vote for a candidate I don’t believe in but whose presence — when combined with a party that has still quite clearly shifted left since 2016 — allows for the possibility of change, and then do whatever I think will actually be effective in bringing that about outside of that shred of electoral power I hold.
Edit, because we clicked post at the exact same time:
There was a recent wave of primaries in which leftist candidates wiped out several conservative Democratic incumbents. Jamaal Bowman in NY. Cori Bush in Missouri. There were several more that aren’t immediately coming to mind by name in Illinois, VA, etc. The party /is/ moving left — ten years ago the idea of people with these policies sitting in Congress would have been absolutely laughable. But it’s happening on a local level, which just isn’t as visible as Sanders’ campaign.
I’d argue it hasn’t been memory holed more than anything else in this nightmare world we live in. I can barely remember what day it is, important dates seem to both crawl up slowly and fly by at warp speed, and never moving beyond the walls of my house has made time compression a gruff reality of everyday life. That said, we have some very popular, prominent, young leftist politicians and movements like BLM and others are not only more visible but more accepted in general. We’ve had what, literal months of ongoing protests now? That’s not something I expected to see and didn’t see the last time these things happened. Leftist policies are becoming more popular, and even with shitty moderate centrists in charge they at least have a chance in the upcoming upheaval that’s coming one way or another. I’d rather have an administration that’s opposed to it on paper but maybe capable of being dragged towards the goal than four more years of Trump who wouldn’t even consider the idea despite the fact that thousands are dying daily.
M4A became a majority favored position within the last few years. Favorability ratings of BLM went through the roof. There is ground support for leftist policies, and on a local level those results have definitely started manifesting. There is room for optimism, although I can’t blame anyone for being very upset by the current state of things.
I’m a distant observer and appreciate I mainly just see the headline news so to speak so I can easily accept that not seeing these leftist currents reflected in the top of the party’s ticket doesn’t necessarily mean it’s not happening.
still tho as a trans person I’m considerably less likely to die or get rounded up into a Penceco Pray-the-Trans-Away camp under a Biden administration sooooo id really really prefer not doing anything to allow Trump to keep staying in power
I can see the lesser of two evils argument if you live in a swing state, but since my vote goes to New York, I can’t really justify voting for an alleged sex pest. I don’t blame people for hoping it will help, but it weighs on me to offer even that meagre support to such a ghoul.
Regardless, though, I hope people spend more of their time continuing the Black Lives Matter fight or joining protests for local issues than actually campaigning for this mediocre ticket.
As an outside observer, it seems like party is moving both right and left at the same time. While progressives are gaining traction at the grassroots, the Democratic party at the establishment level supports candidates and policies to try and capture right of American-center territory abandoned by the Republican party. That kind of move tends to dilute any potential enthusiasm, even if it might be strategic in terms of actually winning elections.
The party establishment is (ostensibly) interested in winning three flavors of election: Senate races, House races, and the presidency. Despite the ongoing popularity of the Squad relative to the rest of the Democrats in the House, many of the seats won by Democrats in 2018 were in purple/red districts by folks like Conor Lamb: a straight white dude former prosecutor who likes sensible gun reform and Obamacare (and unions, though, which is nice). Democrats have a playbook for winning those districts (and purple/red states) written in 2006 by Rahm Emmanuel (not my favorite dude): former law enforcement/military, moderate, can convincingly hold a gun and say “freedom” a bunch.
Since 2016, a lot more potential swing state territory has opened up because Trump is so terrible, which means that the Democrats have been making a land-grab for a lot of these areas. The thing is, they also feel obligated to keep these seats for a potential Biden administration, which means that centrists like Josh Gottheimer of New Jersey can hold their votes hostage because they don’t want to take votes on things that their opponents could use against them to make them look too “left” or “ideological” (their ads feature phrases like “I’m sick of the gridlock in Washington and the partisan bickering” as though legal accountability and oversight is somehow partisan). And so the Democratic establishment is compelled to resist the leftward push of the Squad et. al. because they want to maintain their majority. The problem is, they keep coming back to that excuse, as though political power is the One Ring or something.
At the presidential level, the Electoral College makes it so that our next president is decided by the whims of about 10-15 states in the Midwest and a few outliers from around the country (hello Florida). And since these states also tend to be purple (i.e. they could go either Democrat or Republican), you run into the same problem as the districts at a larger scale: someone on the left like Sanders is seen as “unelectable” because he would have to win in purple states, and the Democrats have a playbook for how to win those kinds of areas.
Well this one’s on Mitch McConnell in particular, but Democrats keep punting on things and compromising on things as though they don’t have the power to just pass whatever it is they want and tell Republicans to take it or leave it.
I really don’t want to be this person but I am legitimately so terrified of more Trump time I’m taking the L. This country won’t last another year with him in office.
I really hate my life and hate this country, but I gotta vote Biden… There’s been no credible third-party option, not even somebody to feel good about. (I live in NJ so my vote is basically symbolic anyway…)
I feel legitimately sick today. I am SOOO fucking tired.
I keep trying to tune into DNC stuff to see if any worthwhile conversations are going on, if there’s at least some good on the platform, but genuinely every time I check in on the streams, there’s something completely insufferable happening. I couldn’t sit through the Kasich nonsense.
I’ve been thinking about leaving. I dunno where, but my partner and I have talked about it.
Not sure if my job would be cool with me moving to another country, even if I can do all my work remotely. Seems like I’d probably have to look for something new.
Markey's been a party man for 40 years, doing what progressives are "supposed" to do -- work within the system. here's the thanks he gets https://t.co/CXDE7bYNjA
