You joke but they legit just are republicans who insist they're leftists because they're wearing a coat of red paint over that shit.
Like 9/10 times they're some bougie white kid who never experiences the difference between republican and democratic governance first hand because they're privileged and insulated from it, and also they're tied to people who do nothing but complain about how awful democrats are and they refuse to do any unlearning beyond just saying they aren't bigots anymore.
Politicians will always disappoint you. There will always be things left undone, done poorly, or done in a way you disagree with. Everybody needs to get used to this and learn we vote for the least bad, not the most good.
Politicians will always disappoint you. There will always be things left undone, done poorly, or done in a way you disagree with. Everybody needs to get used to this
Why?
Why does everyone have to get used to and just blindly accept that the system is shit and doesn't serve them or make their lives any better?
Why are you so comfortable settling for so little?
Why don't you want better for yourself, and worse, think you get to demand the same of others?
(I don't need your answers, these are all for you and those who agree with you to ask yourselves)
Democracy is necessarily the function of creating coalitions of compromise between literal millions of people, all with different interests and concerns.
Politicians, as a career, self-select for ambition and ego, and that comes with certain implications in even the best of them.
Jesus fucking Christ, is it really so little to not want to die or see my friends and family horribly oppressed?
In what world will a politician never disappoint you?
I'm generally in full control of myself and even I disappoint myself - fringe third party candidates are not the political messiah some people think they are.
Cuz it's democracy. If you wanted someone to be in office who would get everything done with no obstacles no roadblocks and no delays then you wouldn't be looking at democracy you'd want a dictator. You can want that if you want but just be honest about it.
Because people in office are individuals and morality is relatively subjective. The only politician who will do everything you want and believe everything you believe is yourself. Run for office.
Voters will always disappoint you. There will always be things left undone, done poorly, or done in a way you disagree with. Everybody needs to get used to this and learn we vote for the least bad, not the most good.
The difference is campaigns spend over a billion dollars these days and don't even try to convince voters.
They do anything for donations to spend on fundraisers for more donations, and they just go round and round. Every revolution everyone involved skims a little.
If it costs over a billion dollars to beat trump in an election, maybe we should worry less about donations and more about votes.
A more nuanced version of this is, if you live in a state that has 0% chance of swinging, feel free to do a protest vote. Voting for Jill Stein or write in Bernie Sanders in California or Wyoming will not change anything, on the other hand if you do funny votes in Pennsylvania or Georgia you are worse than MAGA people.
Yes, with electoral college that strategy is acceptable... buuuuuut...
DON'T sleep for a second on the downballot races, for House Rep., Senator, Governor, state positions, ballot measures (including on a woman's right to an abortion), and everything else applicable to you on Election Day. DON'T stay home even if you don't like your choice of President/VP or that your state won't affect who will reside in the Oval Office.
Any of these other races can be close. Each has a piece of a government that has big effects on many of the issues you care about.
Pretty typical of left leaning voters. Lots of issues, lots of arguing, very little in the way of coming together. Give the Right one thing: They will come together to fuck you over.
I'm still going to tick the Kamala box, but I'm ashamed of how little she's trying to be a good candidate. After Nov4, I'll get going with direct action.
The group that most closely resembles what you want
AND
The group that most likely will listen to your requests during the administration
If there are things you want changed, Nov 5 is not the last day but the beginning. The next president will make decisions for 4 years, and every decision is influenced by people and our voices.
Ask yourself, between Harris and Trump, which administration is most likely to want the things I want, and which is most likely to listen and be influenced by my side of political views and the people I support?
For me, the answer is a hard NO on Trump, and a pretty solid Yes on Harris.
Like the other thread abut guns. Sure, the Dems talk about wanting gun reform and it never gets done because they don't have a super majority in Congress. But the GOP is 100% against it and will never contribute. Which side is more likely to do anything to help the reform I want to see? 4 years of Dems is a good amount of time to press for issues and seek some improvements. If I let the GOP have 4 more years, we are not even going to talk about change until the next election.
Those that are willing to sit out an election because the Dems are not perfect, are inflicting the worst candidate on all of us and themselves. Don't you dare later complain about school shootings, wealth inequality, tax cuts for the rich, abuse of queer folks, women's rights, international inhumane policy. Don't inflict Trump on us and then pretend to care about our issues or be on our side. If you sit out, you've picked a side.
I'd just like to clarify that presidential elections are not the only time to vote if you want to see any actual change. There are elections every year. Keep up to date on what's going on in your state, in your county, in your city or town, and actually put the work in.
Most of the people in power got there by being elected to other positions years ago.
No American here. I ask myself, does a third candidate have any real chance of getting enough votes to gain visibility in the media and elsewhere? Even if it is for future elections?
I don't know the answer, but if it's no and you know it and still decide to vote for a third candidate, you're an idiot. Work to make this a reality within four years, for the next four years, if you don't do it and just complain you're an asshole.
The trouble with never voting for a 3rd party is that you enable the 2 party system, which fundamentally promotes tribalism, division, and corruption.
Whats worse is that it snowballs and is completely out of control. There was a time when I would say that it's worth voting for a candidate that will never get elected to sway future policy, but although it's always felt like the other guy I'd going to ruin everything, it's truer now than it has ever been. And it won't stop at Trump. Trump could be dead, some equally craven ghoul would take his place. That ship will never turn, it will only pull away from the Democrats. Nothing can ever progress. There is only the fight.
America is a cautionary tale.
If your country is lucky enough to have 3 or more major political forces, keep that alive.
There is an option if you really care enough about this. It works to promote a third party during the four years between presidential elections. local, state and federal elections in the middle of the electoral cycle are much more influential than is often believed and if enough people work on it, it would not be so unimaginable for a third candidate to have the proper impact. Watch the tea party and follow their example in the opposite direction.
If you don't care enough to work on it for four years, well, maybe you don't care enough
Many of them are perfectly capable, but simply don't care if Trump wins, despite their claims. They're fine with fascism, as long as they don't have to feel bad.
I once heard politics likened to public transit. No, it's not a door to door service that gets you exactly where you want to go. However, it can get you in the general direction you're headed, and it's obviously better to get closer to your destination than going opposite damn direction.
We're moving a bunch of people around, not everyone can have a perfect route.
Until she is elected, I will be a solid supporter. As soon as she's elected, I'll go back to being a critic. But lordy, I'd vote for a literal clown before a Trump.
No, she isn't. What needs to be said is that she presents far less danger for our country than Trump does. It really sucks having two candidates you don't like, but for the sake of integrity, you have to always choose what you believe is the lesser of two evils.
Douche and Turd Sandwich, every last time. Does get a little old.
Hoping to be pleasantly surprised by Harris once she doesn't have to pander to the "center" - and I say "center" because anyone considering voting for Trump in the first place is not in the "center" and if they are, we're worse off than I realized.
Hoping to be pleasantly surprised by Harris once she doesn’t have to pander to the “center”
Nothing I've seen while she's been in office suggests she's going to be anything but a Mitt Romney tier corporate hack.
She's got a rich and eager pool of progressive voters to court - voters she was happy to pander to back in 2020 - who she has spurned since she became VP. She's taken an outright reactionary stance on immigration. She's abandoned any support of a public health insurance option. She's all in on genocide in Gaza. She's taking enormous amounts of money from Crypto banks and gig economy CEOs. She got an endorsement from Dick fucking Cheney, so you can guess where she stands on fossil fuels.
It fucking mystifies me that people will condemn the dems for never voting for progressives in primaries, and then just never turn out to the primaries themselves.
Primary turnout is consistently pathetic and an abject condemnation of the wannabe revolutionaries who speak with fire then act with all the likewise energy of cosmic background radiation.
I'm 40yrs old. I voted for Hillary.
I HATE the democrats, I HATE the republicans.
Not once in 40yrs have they successfully reduced the budget, the closest was Clinton and we see how that turned out "erry budy gets a chek instead of healthy deflation", both parties have ruled during severe drops in quality of living standards, both parties have to destroyed peoples lives with the failed war on drugs.
Both parties are the finger puppets for the 1%.
I refuse to play their game, we lose no matter what.
Vote for your drug war baron that got famous for arresting people for marijuana possession.
Vote for your conman that ruins small businesses by refusing to pay for their services.
Both think you're an idiot, and they can't wait until your turn to be vulnerable to them.
But sure, by not voting for the douche you are supporting the turd sandwich, in the same way by not getting a diesel gas car your supporting electric vehicles.
voting now has a decent chance of changing the historical precedence here, kamala and tim walz are two unusual candidates in this cycle. Neither really have the classic dem history of the political ruling class, like biden and the clintons.
I understand why you and many other people are extremely reluctant to vote/against voting in this election. But I feel your analogy is incorrect.
By not voting for the douche bloodthirsty democrat you are supporting the turd sandwichfascistand(more) bloodthirsty republican, in the same way that not pulling the lever is supporting the death of more people on the train tracks.
Not buying diesel/gas car =/= inherent passive support for electric in any way, but in a two party system, in an election like this one, not voting, or not voting democrat directly increases pedestrian train deaths the odds of america falling to a fascist party with a plan. You can vote * and still protest, petition, and riot against the policies you dont like.
It's funny, because Republicans are running the exact same propaganda on the reverse.
There's a Ben Garrison cartoon floating around that insinuates not voting for Trump is the same as murdering babies.
These candidates seem to stand for nothing. At least Obama and Biden lied to us about DC Statehood and closing Gitmo and student debt relief. Bush pretended to care about pro-business immigration reform and privatizing social security. Even Trump had "The Wall that Mexico will pay for".
I've got no idea what Trump or Harris are actually campaigning on this year other than to say they aren't the other person on the ballot. Even RFK is in on the act, having folded his campaign because he doesn't want to upset MAGA voters.
Yeah there's never been a better time to vote for a third party. I think we can move past this duopoly superstructure as long as we keep resisting. I don't think the millenials or zoomers are as gullible as the boomers. But maybe I am being irrationally optimistic.
You could make this meme replacing Harris with Trump in the text and replacing Trump with Harris in the pictures and it would be exactly as true, which is to say, not.
It's the GOP that increases their chance of winning the fewer voters vote. They actively try to suppress voters. The more people that vote the higher chance the democrats win