#give people reasons to vote FOR YOUR candidate instead of just reasons to vote AGAINST THE OTHER candidate yknow?

[bubonickitten]

I truly, desperately need the Democratic party to focus at LEAST as much on the undecided progressive as on the undecided right-leaning moderate.

If you really want to earn the votes of undecided people, or--perhaps more importantly--inspire a young generation of first-time voters to vote for you, you HAVE to fucking talk to them and meet them where they are, and then prove to them that you've got their backs.

Like, yes, I'm voting for the Democratic candidate either way because the electoral college two-party system precludes viable alternatives. But forget the discourse about voting, not voting, voting third party, etc. for a minute and just acknowledge the fact that there are going to be people who are not going to change their minds if all you can give them is "not as bad as the other guy." Just, speaking purely in terms of pragmatism and sustainability, "not as bad as the other guy" is a dead end for a large percentage of voters, like it or not. Democrats have got to do better than that if they want to genuinely improve their chances of beating the other guy -- in this election and every other.

(ETA: I should probably clarify that I also don't like or trust the Democratic party, for the record, and this isn't me white knighting on their behalf. I'm just saying if they actually want to court progressive voters, they have to stop being... you know. Like this.)

[dreamteamemojis]

.

[curioscurio]

Genuine question, if you are voting for Biden why not just vote independent? Biden is not going to win regardless. Why not just skip the vote for genocide and vote for someone that actually cares about Palestinians

Because I live in Florida, which is a powerful swing state. Giving my vote to anyone other than the person who has the best chance at beating Trump is throwing it away. If Trump dies, I'll vote someone else. If Biden dies, I'll vote someone else. If it seems like everyone in the world has finally agreed on a unanimous third party vote by november, I'll vote someone else. Anything can happen before then, and my vote isn't set in stone.

Until then, the majority of undecided voters are going to vote Biden. There's a lot more people in Florida who are tired of the Trump train than you think. They're seeing his trials, his lies, and they're tired. There are a lot of students in Florida who are now eligible to vote. 4 years worth of 18 year olds who all have tik tok and are very much against all the bullshit in the world. And they all understand how the electoral college works. They know their votes could turn Florida blue.

America does not run on Popular vote, it runs on the electoral college. This means that every US state gets a certain number of votes out of 538 total. Some states, like Wyoming, get 3 votes. That means that my state, Florida, effectively gets 30 votes out of the 270 needed to win the presidency. But, here's the catch, ALL of those votes can only go to ONE candidate. (There are exceptions in 2 states, Nebraska and Maine.) If Trump gets more votes than any other single candidate in Florida, all 30 votes go to Trump.

It's called a swing state for a reason, because it can swing the race heavily in one candidates favor. Only Texas and Califorina get more votes at 40 and 54, respectively.

If all the Republicans in Florida vote for Trump, but all the Democrats and Independents are voting for people other than the person on the ballot, Trump will still get 30 votes. Even if some Republicans vote Biden, if everyone else is writing different candidates in, when everything is tallied, Trump could still win.

Imagine you have 270 red delicious apples, 200 Green apples, 38 yellow apples, and 30 macintosh apples. There are still more Red Delicious apples than any other kind, so Red Delicious gets the Presidency. Luckily, people in Florida who liked Red Delicious apples last year are getting tired and might pick Green apples instead this time. They are almost guaranteed to not pick a golden or macintosh apple, though.

This is what happened in 2016 that allowed Trump to win when he LOST to Hillary Clinton for the popular vote. More electoral college votes went to Trump than they did to any other person. From person to person, more Americans as a whole voted for Hillary. It's all about where you live physically.

This is the reason why I'm voting for Biden at the moment. If things change, I'll happily change too!

And Obviously I don't support Genocide. My point is that realistically speaking, Trump has flat out said to just "finish them" already, so it's not out there to assume he will push to accelerate this genocide using nuclear retaliation. I'm not trying to fear monger, I'm saying this system is broken, and they're lying to you about how it works in order to take advantage of your ignorance. Whoever gets the most votes win? Not exactly, but if you don't bother to look any closer, you'll never know you were playing a rigged game from the start.

Vote however you need to for your state. But understand where your vote is going. One vote is the difference between 30 and 3 electoral votes.

[hyenabeanz]

Can you dumb motherfuckers stop trying even now to SHAME people into voting how you want and instead talk about the good your candidate will do instead?

Fuck.

Democrats, liberals, and "leftists" can't read the room or strategize their way out of a wet paper bag.

Even now, with Biden out and Harris as a prospective new nom, I'm already seeing "yeah our guy sucks but <insert fear tactics here>"

That is not how you get people to the polls for your candidate.

That's why Trump is a threat. He is saying "this is what I'm gonna do." His followers and campaigners are going "this is what he's gonna do." THAT is what the average voter cares about. Is what he says he's gonna do lies or terrifying fascism? Yes. But when people are scared, insecure, full of despair or frustrated, they want hopeful things to cling on to, promises of change and action, what their candidate is gonna do for them, not "they suck but they suck less." And while wildly misplaced and sick, an action plan is what Trump promises, and his followers spplaud. So this shame shit isn't going to move them.

And as for those who are educated enough to see Trump as the horrific mess he is and will never vote for him, but not satisfied with the other option, shame STILL doesn't work. Because despair kills motivation. And "we suck slightly less" is just despair fuel. Why bother if everyone sucks? And no, a litany of horrors isn't motivation. We live in a litany of horrors, that ain't special. Again: Despair = hopelessness and helplessness = why bother?

Some of you may be too young to remember, but for those who aren't: Think of the Obama campaign. He wasn't some amazingly progressive angel with all the best policies (some were horrible.) But he was a hell of a speaker who promised hope. fucking learn from history. That promise, that fire for hope, got so many young people to the polls. It energized. And he won in a comparative landslide.

So Ok, you got rid of the guy who elitist donors and insufferable people on the Internet said they wouldn't vote for. K. Fresh start. Kamala ain't no Obama in terms of gifted speaker, but those of you talking about her NEED to treat this like the new opportunity it is, and start talking up the reason to be hopeful for Kamala Harris.

Here's a starter for you, for one of the big ones:

Harris has already been vocally more critical of Israel than Biden was, and did so much sooner. Has she said Free Palestine, abolish Israel? No. Of course not. No one in this election is going to. It's not gonna happen. So your options here is someone who has said they want to give Israel enough aid to turn Gaza to glass, or someone who at the very least acknowledged back in March that Israel's conduct is unacceptable. She doesn't have the personal connections to Israel that make her have a soft spot for people ordering war crimes.

I've already spent too long this evening writing this considering I mostly use Tumblr for fun stuff vs. my other social media, but that's how irritating some of y'all are being. I'd love to see and challenge others to reblog and tack on more of the reasons to vote FOR the presumptive nom here, vs. voting against the toupee'd terror.

[didmyownresearch]

"I've told you!", or, why the left lost the US elections

No, this gives me no pleasure. It is like futilely watching a car crash in slow motion. But you could see it coming if you paid attention and stuck your head above the echo chamber. 

It wasn't really Trump who won. It's the Democratic party that lost.  Trump got 74.2 million votes in 2020 and 74.8 million votes in 2024, so he didn't gain much since his defeat. The Democrats, however lost 10 million votes. That's quite a drastic decline. And it really has little to do with their candidates. Biden was not that much more attractive than Harris. There are more fundamental explanations. So, I'm going to present here what I believe to be the two main reasons for this collapse. One is more concrete, the other more innate.

I. The derailing of the left

During the last twenty years the left-wing agenda was hijacked by what I have chosen to call the post-left. It gradually replaced liberal and social values with identity politics, and moved from a pacifist strive for human rights to cheering a violent battle that aims to enforce the radical postcolonial dogma.

This transition has disastrous results, both in the US and worldwide.  The woke agenda alienated the lower middle class, whose insecurities were amplified by the attack on traditional values. Furthermore, by abandoning the struggle against capitalistic exploitation in the corporates-controlled economy the left lost its one and only offering that relates to the actual welfare of the common people.

It didn't matter that eventually the post-left fringe deserted the Democrat's camp as Harris was too right-leaning to their taste. The damage was already done. Their vociferous, belligerent tactic drowned all the other voices. In the eyes of the unsophisticated working-class public these became the faces of the left: some pompous intellectual snobs, perhaps blue haired with weird pronouns, rioting and waving the Palestinian flag.

II. Democracy in disrepair

It's a common misconception to view a democratic rule as a permanent structure, defined through a constitution or any other rigid legal code, and leaning on stable institutions that regulates and controls its routines. Not so. Unless there's some focused effort to fix the inherent flaws in the system it will deteriorate, as those who benefit from these flaws use their excessive power to preserve and deepen their control. The 250 years old American system is corroded. Public opinion is manipulated by a media cartel; politicians' career depends on the funding from tycoons and mega corporates; the judicial system is thoroughly politicized; and, a weird, twisted and anachronistic election method ensures that no more than two presidential candidates from the same two specific parties shall ever have a chance of winning.

Everything in this system drives it towards a zero-sum confrontation that stems from an acute ideological, social and cultural polarization. As a result, extremists thrive and the moderates shrivel. Instead of a rational and moral debate we have an emotional struggle, where the strongest motive is to humiliate the adversary. Donald Trump is just a figurehead, a tool to hurt the lefties. This is a horrible way to arrive at coherent political decisions, but here we are. It was a battle of egos, and those who cared more won.

[arabian-batboy]

you do realize that jill stein basically is in with the russians and is in putin’s back pocket? she’s practically a russian asset. it’s so obvious that she doesn’t truly understand or cares about how the us political system works and opts to speak political misinformation. if she truly wants to be a good candidate she needs to start at the local governments rather than jumping into the presidential ballot every four years to basically steal votes? she’s just appropriating the current movements that would potentially give her some votes without an actual plan for anything. she’s “anti war” but takes money from lockheed martin? be so fr rn now.

what’s her plan for a ceasefire? a two party state does she understand how the government would come to that? she’s antivax and spreads conspiracy theories - one of the reasons why we even lost in 2016 is bc of people like you voting for her.

it’s unfortunate, believe me, that we even have a two party system. i hate it but that’s simply how the government works and there’s nothing we could do to change that right now, but if you’re voting for hee then you’re voting against women and the lgbt and poc in the us as well. if trump does end of winning this election bc of voters who vote third party, like how he won in 2016, the us is going to be so much worse than what we could possibly ever imagine. there’s so much at stake this election cycle it’s mind boggling.

if she really wanted to be president, she’d start at local elections and work her way up rather than just jumping onto certain states ballots every four years for the presidential election tbh.

You got proof that she receives millions of dollars from Russian lobbies? Because there's proof that Kamala, Biden and Hilary all received millions of dollars from Israeli lobbies in the form of AIPAC publicly announcing that they use lobbying money for them without any shame, they literally don't try to hide it. Yet I don't see you rushing in to call them or any other AIPAC's recipients an 'Israel's asset" or accuse them of being in Bibi's back-pocket......even though they are.

Here's a video of Stein's fundraiser director debunking her receiving money from Lockheed Martin: X

Trump was the first person to become a US's president without any political or military history, people thought it was just a joke when the funny old man from Celebrity Apprentice ran for office yet he won and there's a chance he will win again, so I don't see why holding any local government should be obligatory for 3rd party before jumping straight into the presidential ballot.

I already said everything I wanted to say about voting for 3rd party here X, frankly I have no interests on putting Stein on a pedestal or convincing others that she's a morally good person, all I care about is that she does the bare minimum of "doesn't unconditionally support a genocide against my people" and is the only 3rd party candidate who has any chance of winning, so that's more than enough for me.

But back to you, everything you said is so fucking narcissistic, telling people that are dying that its "simply how the government works and there’s nothing we could do to change that right now" must be easy for you to say because you're not the direct victim of the US's imperialism, but its not our fault that you're such a spineless complicit who believes the US simply can not exist without genocidal war-criminals running the government at all time and everyone who suffers from it should shut up and stop being an inconvenience because things will not change for them and instead they should put your needs and wants before their very lives.

Through-out human history many empires that were considered the strongest in the world came and went, the US empire isn't an exception and if it can't change from within then eventually it will be forcibly changed from the outside and its mostly likely the latter, since asking you to grow a conscious is asking for too much.

Also I just don't understand why you people talk about women, people of color and gay people as if they only exist in the US or that them living in the US while Republicans are in office is somehow worse than living in a country that is currently being bombed by the US? Democrats' bombs kills women, Democrats' bombs kills people of color, Democrats' bombs kills LGBT community, matter of fact Democrats' bombs kills as many people as Republican bombs do, so explain to me how things will be worse for women/PoC/LGBT exactly if the Republican win? Because Republican were in office from 2017 to 2021 and I didn't see minorities in the US being indiscriminately killed by the thousands in day-light without any repercussions for their murder, but they are being killed overseas, both by Republican and Democrats while you are here busy making up cartoonishly-evil scenarios about how the things that are happening to them will happen to you if people vote 3rd party and the Republicans win because of that.

Spoiler Alert: No it will not, you will continue living a safe peaceful life in a developed nation without having to fear 60,000 tons of bombs being dropped on you while you're hiding in a tent in a refugee camp or searching for food among rubble regardless of who wins, whether its the red, blue or green party. So at the very least vote for a 3rd party so that other people from other countries will enjoy the same privilege as you instead of making up ridiculous stories about how all of your human rights will be stripped away if the blue war-criminal wasn't in office so therefore those annoying victims of war should be quiet and not dare suggest the heinous crime of voting for a 3rd part.

[mythica-ithaca]

im so sorry but i cant stand the 'vote blue no matter who' crowd like yall are the reason why we are in this mess in the first place. pushing unpopular centrist genocide supporting candidates and then acting shocked that they lose and blaming liberals not voting. when republicans would NEVER push a candidate as far left as biden and hillary are right and thats why they keep winning.

and acting like committing genocide being a red line to not vote for someone is a bad thing be so fucking serious. y'all would vote for someone who supported the holocaust in the 40s as long as they called themselves a democrat while doing it.

the fucking tactic of vote for our guy because the other guy is ~worse~ instead of giving people something to actually care about ISNT WORKING OU T SO WELL HUH who would have thought

genuinely that is why bernie made it so far in 2016. because he made people hope that things could even start to change. and unfortunately trump also did that for his base. and even more unfortunately. the dnc saw that and stomped it out. and then THEY lost.

fear mongering fascism to people watching protesters against genocide getting beaten by cops under the administration youre pushing isn't exactly that convincing. sorry

like yeah. we need the majority in the house and senate for sure. but president wise? you cant convince me there is a 'less' evil option. like how dare you even insinuate that after all that has been done in these past nine months.

tbh i think its the fucking sugar coating that really pisses me off more than anything like. you do not have to make biden out to be a good man in any way just to make trump seem like a bad one. thats already established. youre voting for evil. either way. just accept it. there is no 'less'. trying to absolve yourself from that is what pisses me off. and 'voting blue no matter who' is what got us all here in the first place. convincing ourselves that there is a less evil in every situation.

[stellanix]

thinking about how alienating and un-participatory american "democracy" is. like. it's honestly weird that it's even possible for so many people to say "i'm not really interested in politics". for many people, it's a reality show where they vote for the winner every few years, and that might affect gas prices or whatever, but is otherwise far removed from their daily experience

as a trans person i can say that americans voted against my rights, which is kinda true, but did all of them really know they were doing that? because it's totally possible that someone could just hear news stories about "men assaulting women in bathrooms" and "children being coereced into surgery", and without any other context, without ever meeting or listening to any trans people, they vote for an anti-trans candidate. because a thing they heard once on the news sounded bad, and they don't know anything else about the issue. they never had to think about it much, and they'll never have to think about it again, while unbeknownst to them, trans people suffer

cuz our political system just lets you vote someone's rights away without ever having to hear their perspective, without ever having to look them in the eye. you don't have to know anything to vote! but that vote will still have very real consequences. which means powerful people have a lot of incentive to spread misinformation to influence how people vote

this is why i'm not a fan of people saying that voters are stupid. sure, it often looks that way, but can you blame them? education is shit and jouranalism is shit. they have most likely never had to think about political issues critically or discuss politics with others constructively. and even if they wanted to, most people have more immediate concerns - jobs, family, and so on - and they won't have the time and energy for it. political consciousness is a skill that most americans are only over able to practice the most half-assed basics-of-basics of every couple years. of course they suck at it, they were never given any opportunity to get better at it

i don't know the solution to this. consensus based political systems are promising, because in order to function they require every perspective taken into account, and they require being open to change and compromise. they would also give people a reason to develop the skills to articulate their ideas and approach issues critically and constructively. plus it would frame politics as a collaborative, everyday process involving reaponsibility to others in your community, instead of just an occasional expression of your opinion regardless of the consequences. but idk how you'd go about implementing that in modern america without it being overrun by retired boomers given the aforementioned "nobody has time for this shit" issue (huh i wonder why politicians and rich people don't wanna shorten the workweek)

just some thoughts i guess

[robertreich]

The One Thing That Would Make Elections Better For Everyone 

Are you sick of the onslaught of negative political ads that air on your TV every election season?

The fear-mongering. The half-truths.

Believe it or not, there’s a simple reform we can enact to make elections more bearable for voters.

It’s called ranked choice voting, or RCV, and it could change our politics for the better.

When you head to the ballot box under ranked choice voting, instead of voting for just one candidate, you have the option to rank candidates in order of preference: first, second, third and so on.

So if you’re stuck between two preferred candidates for a position, you can spread your preferences out in hopes that one of them wins.

When ballots are counted, if none of the candidates gets an outright majority, the candidate with the fewest votes is eliminated, and their votes are redistributed to their supporters’ second choice candidate.

This process continues until a candidate receives over 50% of the vote, and is declared the winner.

It’s also good for a whole host of other reasons.

Implementing RCV could have the added benefit of making our elections… well… nicer.

In a ranked choice voting system, candidates are less likely to engage in the kind of mudslinging we see every election season, because they’re not just trying to be a voter's first choice — they also want to be the second choice of voters who are backing their opponents.

This can motivate anyone running for office to be more inclusive and appeal to a broader range of voters — helping to connect people who don’t always agree on every issue.

RCV also allows us to exercise our right to vote without feeling like we’re compromising our beliefs or simply voting for the “lesser of two evils.” We can vote FOR the candidates we like the most, rather than voting AGAINST the candidates we like the least. RCV could also open the door to voters casting their ballots for more third-party candidates.

Even if your favorite candidate from your preferred party is not favored to win, that person could still be your first-choice — without you feeling like you are giving up your vote entirely. If your candidate doesn’t make it to the final round, your second or third choice could still end up winning in the final tally.  

Ranked choice voting can even change the kinds of people who run for office — for the better. Potential candidates wouldn’t have to avoid running for fear of splitting the vote or “spoiling” a close election — allowing for a potentially more diverse pool of candidates to run.

Look at Alaska, where voters used RCV to elect Mary Peltola to Congress — making her the first Alaskan Native and first woman to represent the state in the U.S. House.

Lastly, ranked choice voting saves everyone — you, me, elections officials — time and money.

There would no longer be runoffs, which can be costly and often have lower turnout — which means election results that are less likely to reflect the will of the public.

There’s a reason why RCV is starting to sweep the nation — it’s currently being used by 13 million voters across the country.

Ranked choice voting makes elections less painful, less expensive, and can help make our government more inclusive and responsive to what people actually want.

Maybe you can organize to make ranked choice voting a reality where you live.

[ohara-n-brown]

The reason why a lot of people don't respect those Biden 2024 posts is because every single of one of them reduces the readers moral stance to 'virtue signaling' and 'appealing to morals'.

Me not wanting to vote for a Geriatric Genocidal Asshole isn't because I'm virtue signaling - Sorry, I just have those morals.

And if you want me to set those morals aside you're going to have to explain why setting those aside will prove to be good. As in tangibly beneficial - not just harm reduction.

Which - you can't. All you can say is 'It won't be as bad as Trump'.

Every single one of those posts is like 'We all know Biden isn't the best-'

'Biden hasn't done much'

'Biden isn't the most progressive-'

WHY WON'T YOU SAY PALESTINE?

You know that's why we're here. You know that's our problem. Say it with your fucking chest or get out of my face.

It's very clear that y'all can't make your point while also being candid. Because if you said

'I know you have these morals against aligning with those who fund genocide - and I know Biden has openly sent Billions to Israel through executive action - but I need you to vote for him even though he's directly responsible for over 20,000 deaths and the bombing of Yemen because it'll be better for us Americans.'

You know people would call you a horrible fucking person.

So instead you say 'I know you want to appeal to moral and virtue signaling and I know Biden isn't the best but I need you to vote for him because the republicans are worse.'

Then act like we're not supposed to laugh in your fucking face.

If you're trying to start the conversation but you leave Israel out of your whole post - delete it. It's useless. Because you're dancing around the topic and when people bring it up you lash out.

Just because you will vote for Blue regardless of if they're funding a literal genocide you've been watching live on your phone for four months, doesn't mean everyone else is comfortable with that.

Voting for someone in support of genocide will actively have an effect on my mental health.

It's called MORAL INJURY.

Moral injury is a REAL THING with real documented affects. Forcing someone to abandon their morals no matter how necessary has a marked effect on mental health.

I'm sorry but sometimes people just have stronger moral conviction. Some people genuinely loose sleep at night knowing their action gives power to a killer.

If you want people to vote for Biden you MUST be willing to engage the resulting moral injury. You can't ask someone to injure themselves then get pissed when they ask if you're gonna help after.

If you can sleep at night voting for Biden, good for you. But we can't.

If you want us to vote for Biden - you'll have to respect our morals, understand them, and then give us good reason to set them aside other than 'Trump bad', 'Republicans bad', 'things will get worse'.

If you want to make a Pro-Biden post you MUST address people's concerns about Palestine. You must engage with their morals properly and respectfully.

And if you can't - that's evidence that your standing is weak and most likely morally questionable.

First person to make a Pro-Biden 2024 post that ACTUALLY addresses people's concerns with him and Palestine instead of just saying 'I know you all hate Democrats' gets a cookie.

ALSO if you reply to this and you don't mention Israel or Palestine and their effect on the situation you're only proving my point. If you reply only talking about American politics with no reference to our foreign interference you are apart of the problem 💖

[flamedoesart]

since election is next week, i urge everyone to GO VOTE.

i am a lefty and i voted for harris last week. not because i like her but because a vote for her is primarily a vote Against trump. i refuse to vote third party.

don't get your moral elitism rolling now if you're also a leftist. now is not the time for that. yelling at moderates isn't gonna give us a better president. if you want more people on the lefty side of things, instead of owning the libs, actually fucking talk to them.

either harris or trump is gonna be the president, whether we like it or not and in order for a good number of us to not be fucked by both state and federal government alike for the next four years, we need to vote kamala harris. not because she's the best candidate ever, but because she's the only major running candidate who won't take a shit on our rights.

and the important thing to note here is that because she's the more progressive candidate, she can actually be reasoned with. her mind can be changed. can anyone really say the same for trump?

so yes, do vote blue. maybe not just for your sake, but for your friends, your family, the people who actually fucking matter.

[toxiccaves]

I think a lot needs to be said about the anti-voting movement and regular non-voters, both for this election and those to come. Obviously, the only fingers to point is at those who voted for trump. And I am by no means saying these things are solely why this happened. But he had LESS votes than he had in 2020. And in 2020, only 66% of eligible americans even voted, with less this time. If there's any good news to take out of that number, it's that every vote for trump was still only a smaller percentage of americans.

But while anti-voting movements had an understandable reason, these ONLY cause the person closest to you to lose. And this is outside of just the movement too; because people are clearly becoming disillusioned regardless (on both sides! Which may even be a benefit, come next election.)

A candidate for any election is never going to hit all your marks. They rarely ever will, especially in this two party system. The whole reason we still vote is because this is who we are going to push for the next 4 years. And frankly, I'd rather not even have to push at all on issues like abortion rights, improved healthcare, and boosting income for the poorest americans. These are all things we could have ignored to focus on the bigger issues like an ongoing genocide.

But instead, by opting out, thinking that "it can't get worse" or "it's no different" is just evident of a self righteous viewpoint that also ignores the reality of the system we have to work with. You want to protest genocide? Trump said he wants to deport demonstrators. He does not care about protesters on any issue. One party actually does, because there ARE people you could have voted for that are vocally pro-palestine, and care about issues important to the people.

More than just the president is on these ballots too. Look at all the people elected that are speaking out against trump, saying they will protect LGTB+ people and immigrants. That they'll protect women's rights. These are things worth voting for! There ARE good people on these ballots, and you should be voting for them.

We're now in the face of an autocracy, and experts on the subject have said that the best thing people can do is vote.

There are interviews with people who have casted protest votes in the past, and regretted it, even seeing so many similar issues today

Not to mention, a lot and I mean a LOT of people hopped on the anti-voting bandwagon as bots and trolls with propaganda merely hoping to aid trump. We need to be critical of where we gain information from, and ask ourselves who these views truly serve. And for anyone worried it is some moral failing on your part to participate in this system and vote, we even have clearly laid out funny internet guy™️ videos that help explain these things clearly.

I'm sure now people can hopefully see the array of new problems we are facing, and how much harder they will be to protest when the president does not plan to budge on these issues. I'm hoping they bring this to the ballot box in the midterms and next election, town elections too, and all those to come. Everyone should be voting in every election. It is literally your chance to choose the opponent you want to protest against for the coming years. I'd like to choose the easier one!

And I feel like I need to reflect too. Did we fight anti-voting enough? Should we have been more informative leading up to the election? There were significantly less posts, at least on my feeds, leading up to this election. It feels like 2016 again, where it felt like there's no way this dude can actually get enough votes. But here we are.

And we need to reach out more to people who are on the fence. No, not engage in internet arguements and giving people the angry reactions they want. But actually stop and educate someone. All these rights we are fighting for benefit them too! They don't know it because they're too forced to believe any rich person would ever benefit them. And it's truly upsetting to see so many people manipulated into thinking they're going to save any money here, when that kind of richness comes in the form of healthcare, or workers rights, and policies like that that they're told to be against. Yes, Trump voters are frustrating. But if people aren't grasping the issue, we need to start reaching out to others with kindness and education. If they seem they can't be budged, don't turn it into an argument and walk away.

There are a lot of things we have to consider and work on in the coming years. We have to figure out a solution to the hate in this country. We have to educate people on how the system works and who will actually benefit them, and why we vote.

[sistersgrimm13writes]

With a few hours of sleep between my last post and now, I want to talk about some of the trends that I'm seeing from some popular liberal talking heads and from the mainstream media as a whole regarding Kamala losing to Trump.

- While misogyny and racism certainly played a part in her loss because some people really do just suck, she did not lose primarily because she was a woman or a person of color. That is not the lesson that we should learn from this and should not be a reason to not run a woman/person of color in a future election. We should not give the Democrats this out to use when talking about this loss.

- Gen Z did not move en masse to vote this election cycle and those that did voted pretty predictably along gender/racial lines that we've seen in previous generations. The radicalization of young men in this country by the far right is an issue that isn't talked about too often and absolutely has to be addressed for there to be meaningful change. Keeping young men angry enough with the current institution that they would actively vote against their own best interests in order to dismantle that institution is useful for the right and the current ruling elite. The Dems have to learn to combat this through effective education and actual policy that benefits the younger generation. But they also have to figure out how to invigorate young people to vote as a whole and the best way to do that is to run on popular policies that actually address current issues that young people are facing. We know what those policies are (higher minimum wage, rent caps, ways to make homes obtainable, etc) and need to run on them instead of "vote blue no matter who" and licking the boots of moderates and the right.

- The Harris campaign was terrible. Worse than the Clinton campaign because Trump was an easier candidate to beat this election cycle. He is a shadow of his former self, in poor health physically and mentally, and a proven fucking loser. A large part of this was her blatant disregard and even contempt for Pro-Palestinian voices and the unwillingness of the party as a whole to give a singular inch regarding the genocide of the Palestinian people. Even without that in play, she refused to talk about the failures of the last four years of Biden, of which there were many, and instead said that she would change nothing after a very unpopular presidency. She backed many people, who were already disillusioned with the current administration, into a corner by promising to do fuck all about the systems in place that people overwhelmingly didn't like in the first place.

There is so much to learn for the Democratic Party following this election but if we let them say "oh it was because she was a person of color", "it's because she was a woman", and we refuse to acknowledge that this election was not only winnable, but more so than the previous two elections, we are fucking doomed.

There will be more to learn as exit polls continue to update and we hear from more people post election season, but for now...

Organize. Organize. Organize. If you can, unionize. Keep pushing local activism and bolster your local organizations. Don't let this break your resolve for change. There is a better America, there is hope for a brighter future for our young people and the queer community, but at this point we have to admit that nothing will change unless we can come together in a great enough number to force it. I know you're tired and disheartened and scared and angry. Be those things and fight anyways. Do it scared, do it angry, and remember that there are millions of people doing it with you.

[litheammunition]

As an actual good faith fellow traveller, it's important to nip this sort of thinking in the bud.

After every election, people like to convince themselves that their personal misgivings about the candidate they still supported (i.e. not quite partisan enough) were also the reason they lost swing votes, when it's almost always the opposite.

It's confirmation bias. Leftist members of defeated left-wing parties, having lost the middle ground, say they just weren't left enough. Labour in the UK had four electoral cycles of this, edging steadily leftward and losing more votes each time before shifting back to the centre and winning in a landslide.

In the same way, defeated right-wing parties have plenty of members wanting them to shift further right (as they always wanted beforehand), confusing ideology with pragmatism. That's been currently happening with the UK Conservatives, and the reason they lost in that landslide.

If you're in an echo chamber, it's easy to confuse the thing you personally want with the thing that would appeal to the whole country. The position that would work in practice is conveniently the position held by you, a non-marginal voter, specifically.

Harris was a perfectly good candidate, and Trump was an atrocious one. No rational voter would have chosen him. We've spent almost a decade learning he's a sexist, racist, ableist, mentally incompetent narcissistic sexual predator with no respect for democracy or the rule of law. His own previous cabinet and predecessors recommended against him. The electorate of many other countries would have rejected him outright.

The Democrats could have sent a blank slate to oppose him, but instead backed a candidate with experience and charisma. They didn't make a point about her being a woman (learning from 2016) and, if anything, it may have counted against her. That's how reactionary the US electorate seems to be. Her being a woman was not something 'going for her'. Her not 'growing a pair' might have held her back.

The only candidate to defeat Trump in three tries has been the old white man with a conservative reputation. We don't need to speculate about this. We've seen the way to beat Trump, and Biden was hardly the amazing candidate of your dreams, but that's what worked. The familiar, safe pair of hands the marginal voter (often old, white, male or conservative themselves) seems to need to vote blue.

This win is more telling than 2016, when Trump was seem as something of an unknown quantity. If a majority of your electorate are voting Trump, despite everything they now know about him, it's because they broadly agree with his policy objectives, or have a prejudice towards his demographics. A socialist is not going to sway them, only give Republican fear-mongers an easy line of attack to scare of that undecided middle.

[qqueenofhades]

Question from a foreigner: do you have any idea where the brainbug that so many US voters seem to have that they should vote for congressmembers of the opposite party of the person they voted for president to 'balance things out' (as if that's anything but a recipe for legislative paralysis) comes from? Is it, like, suggested in school civics classes for some reason? Does it come from a flawed understanding of what the famous (and based on an external and possibly misinformed view of the last decade or so, seemingly overhyped) 'checks and balances' that we hear about in every piece of US media that even touches politics are? Sorry if this is a stupid question, but as someone from a country with a parliamentary system I just don't understand, and it seems a common enough thought it has to be coming from somewhere

There are a few reasons for this. First, the US very (in)famously has only a two-party system: if you don't vote for one, you're essentially voting for the other, since third parties have no legislative relevance and essentially only exist for people to make frivolous protests and/or siphon votes from Democrats. This is because Republican voters always vote for Republicans, while the Democratic voter base, assuming they vote at all (which can be difficult), is often tempted by third-party candidates (i.e. Ralph Nader) who have a history of then fucking things up for the actual Democrats. In a parliamentary or multi-party system, you have less expectation that one party will act as a direct leverage or counterbalance on the other; it's more fluid and coalitional, and you have more leverage to vote for the party that broadly represents your interests. Because the US is a presidential system, you are voting for the leader directly, rather than just the majority party in power who then vote to select the prime minister/head of state in a different process.

As such, American politics are often tied directly to the figure of the president and how people personally feel about him, the two-party system means that the inevitable discontent with the party presently in power usually gets channeled into voting for their opponents at the next election, Democrats have much more trouble consistently mustering their voter pool than Republicans, and the news media is OBSESSED with the idea that "both sides are bad!" This is because a) it's profitable, and b) the corporations that own them don't want the general public to actually get too interested backing in large-scale financial, economic, or legal reform. So instead of prioritizing any kind of balanced or honest coverage, or trying to accurately convey to the public which policies and/or politicians will or won't help them, they focus on creating a distorted false equivalency where "both parties do bad things." This undermines trust in government, creates voter apathy, likewise works against the Democrats who might challenge the established mega-monopoly, and otherwise makes sure that the status quo never changes too much. This is why they are currently bending over backward to drum up some kind of scandal for Biden, or compare his classified documents situation to Trump's, or otherwise act as if they are essentially equivalent.

The American media ecosystem also relies on making you as angry about everything as possible, which feeds into the zero-sum idea wherein if you are dissatisfied with the current administration for whatever reason, you should "vote for the other ones!" to "balance it out!" or "fix it!" Even though this never, ever works, not least because one half of that equation has abdicated all interest in governing whatsoever. So if you're mad because The Democrats Haven't Lowered Gas Prices, and you vote for the Republicans because you somehow think that doing so will fix the specific problem you're mad about, you're gonna end up with a lot of pointless investigations of Hunter Biden, giving January 6 footage to Tucker Carlson, and other totally useless performative-grievance politics. This is because the Republicans don't actually care about gas prices, or anything else. But the average American voter is so ingrained to do this, as if they expect any kind of change or really think the other guys will fix it, that they just keep pulling Charlie Brown and the football anyway.

[thessalian]

Thess vs Israel

Wow. I'm getting some shit over my reblog at the moment. I'm not really sure why, given that all I was saying was that on this one issue, there is no Presidential candidate at this stage in the game who is not being an asshole about supporting Israel over Palestine. I am aware that the US vetoed Palestine joining the UN, and while Biden did say that UN membership for Palestine should be an eventual end goal, I figure that those words are just about worth the air used to speak them. I am aware that the US is still selling weapons to Israel and not condemning Israel for the Palestinian genocide.

Thing is? I don't live in the US. But I do live in a country that takes the same view on Israel as the US (and in fact has at least attempted to declare the waving of a Palestinian flag an antisemitic hate crime), and a country that entirely screwed itself over by voting on a single issue in very recent memory. In fact, I live in a country that supposedly doesn't have nearly the two-party system issues the US does but functionally does. I know first-hand the problems that come with throwing support at a third party in a two-party system, especially when voter suppression comes into play.

(Look, the government in this country literally admitted that their fucking voter ID laws were gerrymandering and only have issues with it because it didn't have the effect they wanted to, and then further admitted to setting more restrictions so that the gerrymandering will work they way they want it to. So you might say I'm a little sensitive to the issues surrounding what happens to one's vote.)

The thing I feel the need to underline is that you have to fix your own oxygen mask first. The US has its own struggles - the repeal of Roe vs Wade. The various "Don't Say Gay" laws. The gods-awful labour laws in ... it was Kentucky or Louisiana, possibly both. I couldn't tell you what's going on state-to-state, but it's a mess over there. And the reason I couldn't tell you is because we're having our own shit-show over here. The combination of Brexit and climate change-induced shitty weather is going to leave us with food shortages this year, and the increased rate of inflation and stagnant wages means most of us aren't going to be able to afford the food that is available. Frankly, that's been getting worse for years, as more and more of the Brexit-related policies have had to be enacted. The water companies are going bankrupt and deciding to ask for a 56% increase in water prices while diverting money to shareholders instead of ... oh, I don't know, building new reservoirs so we don't have a drought in one of the rainiest countries on the planet every single year. Our right to protest has been curtailed to ridiculous degrees - as in, we have the right to protest, but it's in name only and police will come shut us down if someone declares that our protest is "annoying" or "disruptive". They just passed a bill that, if enacted the way the government wants it to be, is going to get refugees shipped to fucking Rwanda, which the Supreme Court and damn near everyone else have declared unsafe. Not to mention that our universal healthcare system is all but entirely dismantled, the fitness to work of the disabled is going to be assessed by call centre staff with checklists instead of actual doctors, and the benefits of the disabled are apparently going to be scrapped in favour of "ways to help the disabled get back to work". And don't even get me started on the way the trans community is being treated in this country. Not just state-to-state; the entire country.

So, yes, I give a shit about Palestine. But what the fuck good am I going to be to the people of Palestine if I myself am starving, persecuted, and being pushed beyond my physical capabilities? I can care about Palestine without voting against my own interests, and that means tactical voting.

...Well, ordinarily it would, anyway. But the problem - which was the whole point of my comment on that reblog - is that both parties that stand a fucking chance of winning are on the same wavelength as regards Palestine. The Tories are perfectly happy to keep selling arms to Israel. And Labour? Starmer won't even admit that the very visible war crimes are actual war crimes - and he was a human rights lawyer. If I cannot guarantee that a party that will even attempt to stand up to Israel will take office, and I mean 100% guaranteed chance (which is not third parties, not in a two-party system)? Then I have to vote in my own interests.

I care very much about Palestine. However, I am not going to set myself on fire to keep Palestine warm, especially when I'm damn sure it wouldn't be keeping Palestine warm either way.