• Olgratin_Magmatoe@lemmy.world
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    5 months ago

    Or vote third-party, and you’ll probably get a senile President, but maybe not.

    Vote third party and we are guaranteed to get a senile president. It’s a two party FPTP system.

    Edit: Or just keep on thinking you have to settle for the lesser of two evils. (How’s that working out for you?)

    Better than telling people to throw away their vote. How’s that working for you? How many 3rd party presidents have you gotten elected with your strategy? How many fascist policies has your strategy avoided us?

    • Hyphlosion@donphan.social
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      5 months ago

      I’ve long fantasized of people being so fed up with both parties, that along would come a third party at the right time and enough people would flock to them that and vote them into office.

      But it’s just that: A fantasy.

      And anyways, there’s always the chance that said third party would be way way worse and maybe there’s a good reason why they weren’t more prominent to begin with.

      • Olgratin_Magmatoe@lemmy.world
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        5 months ago

        I’d be lying if I said I didn’t have the same fantasy, but until we get election reform it will only ever be fantasy.

          • Olgratin_Magmatoe@lemmy.world
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            5 months ago

            Not necessarily. The MAGA crowd took over the GOP. The same could be done for the DNC, but with actual leftists and election reformists.

            • OBJECTION!@lemmy.ml
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              5 months ago

              There are several reasons why the MAGA crowd were allowed to take over the GOP. First, because they weren’t pushovers, if the party had tried shenanigans to stop them there was a real possibility of people defecting from the party en masse, and even of violence at the convention. Second, because the things they wanted weren’t really all that contrary to what the rich donors wanted.

              The Democratic base is much more weak willed and willing to go along with whatever to stop the right. We don’t have enough of that Karen energy, that “my way or the highway” attitude. And election reform is directly contrary to the interests of the establishment, and the aim of prioritizing ordinary people over the rich goes against the interests of the doners. They’ll crush any internal movement in that direction, and people will still vote for them because of “vote blue no matter who” and lesser evilist ideology.

              • Olgratin_Magmatoe@lemmy.world
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                5 months ago

                First, because they weren’t pushovers, if the party had tried shenanigans to stop them there was a real possibility of people defecting from the party en masse, and even of violence at the convention.

                I think this overstates where things were at when Trump first got nominated during the GOP primary in 2016. If Trump had lost that, they just as easily could have voted red anyways. Republicans have been doing it for decades, they use their geriatric & evangelical blocs to strong arm their nominee to the presidency regardless of who it is.

                Second, because the things they wanted weren’t really all that contrary to what the rich donors wanted.

                Sure, but a lot of the time DNC candidates do things that the rich donors hate. Biden’s cap on insulin prices is a good example of that. There will always be pushback on good policy. Complaining doesn’t get us anywhere.

                The Democratic base is much more weak willed and willing to go along with whatever to stop the right.

                This is only really relevant for the actual elections. This effect isn’t nearly as strong in the primaries where it counts and is needed.

                And election reform is directly contrary to the interests of the establishment, and the aim of prioritizing ordinary people over the rich goes against the interests of the doners. They’ll crush any internal movement in that direction

                Look, either we work within the system to make things better, or we have a violent revolution. There isn’t much of a middle option. And I can pretty much guarantee you that a violent revolution would be the worse option given that it is a militarized police state with citizen tracking out the ass.

                If every single leftist wins their DNC primary, the DNC doesn’t have much of a choice but to run with them. That’s how you get better candidates like AOC/Summer Lee/Jamaal Bowman, etc. They aren’t perfect by any means, but they are a hell of a lot more to the left than the DNC is. And I can tell you the DNC fuckin hates having said candidates within their party. But they suck it up and deal with it.

                It is very much possible to get more candidates like that, but it requires focus on the primaries, just like the MAGA crowd did.

                • OBJECTION!@lemmy.ml
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                  5 months ago

                  This is only really relevant for the actual elections. This effect isn’t nearly as strong in the primaries where it counts and is needed.

                  The DNC has literally testified in court that they don’t have to abide by the results of their primaries because they aren’t real elections. They don’t even have to hold primaries at all. The primary process is a joke and people who want genuine change won’t be allowed to win, it’s a dead end.

                  Look, either we work within the system to make things better, or we have a violent revolution. There isn’t much of a middle option.

                  There is, actually. Ditching the party and moving to a new one, for starters.

                  • Olgratin_Magmatoe@lemmy.world
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                    5 months ago

                    The DNC has literally testified in court that they don’t have to abide by the results of their primaries because they aren’t real elections. They don’t even have to hold primaries at all. The primary process is a joke and people who want genuine change won’t be allowed to win, it’s a dead end.

                    Yet the candidates I named won their congressional seats.

                    There is, actually. Ditching the party and moving to a new one, for starters.

                    And that’s how you get the spoiler effect, and another round of fascist SCOTUS appointments for the next few decades, a fascist president, project 2025, etc.