I am an unapologetic leftist, and, like most other leftists, I do not believe that engaging in the liberal democratic process will, or even can, bring about my ideal society. However, while I don't think voting is likely to make things meaningfully better, I do think it can prevent things from getting meaningfully worse. Maybe fascism can't be defeated with votes, but I can't see how anything is lost by trying. I mean, why make it easier on the fascists? I'm sure the fascists won't just give up because they lost an election, but that's not a reason to hold the door open for them. Again, I don't think voting for Biden (or whoever the Democratic candidate ends up being) is going to make things much better, but I do think not voting for him could make things much worse. So, we (leftists) should all vote for the Democrats this November. Not because it's going to get us nearer to our ideal, or our ultimate goals, but because it might help prevent the US from being taken over by fascists.
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Change requires sustained momentum. Bouncing back and forth between Republicans and protest voting against Democrats. Is a sure fire way to see no change. If we were to say, show solidarity and dedication to keep all Republicans from elected office. Republicans would lose relevance and slink away. They might try masquerading under a different name like economic liberals playing Libertarian that generally vote Republican. But they will lose influence.
Once that happens. Then we focus on the worst of the Democrats, primarying every single one and driving them out. That sustained momentum and push is what's needed. To keep the fascist and the wealthy scattered and disorganized like they've kept the left. Though the left has done a fair share of that to itself. The right will eat itself as well especially once they're not winning.
Yeah, basically if the Republicans can be crushed in an election or two - Not just defeated, but absolutely demolished - then it could lead to them dissolving, and lead to the Democrats splitting and pushing the Overton window back left
I'd still argue that's a bit too short-term. It would have to last years. Not just elections. Probably 3 to 4 presidential elections at minimum. A good decade absence from from National political relevance will get the message across.
Do you have your guns, beans, and gasoline ready in case the fascists do win in November?
I always like to point out that the people on the far right are always going to vote, and they are always going to vote for the Republican candidate no matter what. Even if you feel like there aren't any "good candidates" you should still vote because even getting a less than ideal president is better than just doing nothing and letting Trump become a dictator for life
The only real solve is for several people to devote their lives to seeming like milquetoast centre right Democrats, getting into a majority of high ranking committee positions, and then all turn left at once and effect sweeping reforms to the entire platforms
I would vote for the wrinkles on Biden's nutsack before voting for Trump.
Believe it or not, completely smooth. Yeah I don't know, just is.
Like eggs?
Old man nutsack gravity
I'm hoping Biden steps down and is replaced, but if he doesn't, as concerning as that is to our chances, I will still be voting for the Dem ticket against literal fucking fascism and encouraging everyone I know IRL to do likewise.
Man, I'd love some real ranked choice voting right about now, but in the meantime, it's Democrat down the line.
We live in the real world, and anything other than that might as well be saying "please stomp all over my civil liberties harder daddy"
It's not just having elections. It's having enough breathing room to enact fundamental change at all. We need to unionize every workplace, and start insisting that politicians of any party work for us. The path forward will be hard enough under Biden, but basically impossible under Trump. Voting is not sufficient by itself.
Something INCREDIBLY IMPORTANT that no one talks about is how when real pressure is laid on the table, Biden almost always bends. Having him stay in office, while not the best possible scenario, is also not the worst IF we all continue to pressure him. Granted, it would have to be done in different and more nuanced ways as he is then again the sitting President. However, I feel with the right people at the forefront and the correct pressure, we can enact change through him more significant than anything he has done these last four years.
And make no mistake my dear dissidents, he HAS done a lot of good.
I'll do my duty and vote for Biden, but we're going to lose with Biden.
- 37% approval-rating matching Jimmy Carter; no candidate in history won with those numbers.
- Biden has the most catastrophic debate performance in history, proving long-held fears by 75% of the electorate that Biden is too old 3 an immutable, worsening attribute.
- Biden was already hemorrhaging black and hispanic voters.
- Biden was already losing youth vote in part due to his position on Israel.
- Trump's polls hardly budge after a full-blown criminal conviction.
- Trump seizes the narrative for the first time positively with a VP pick and TIME-cover magazine shots of him pumping his fist, defiant with a flag in the background as he's covered in blood from an assassination attempt.
- Trump campaign has barely spent a nickle of their war chest money while Biden has been dumping their cash just to stay afloat in the polls as damage-control post-debate.
- Biden campaign team has ZERO strategy to change the trajectory of his terrible polls, including the 6 battleground states, all of which he trails in.
Ultimately it's not me you have to convince; it's the low-info battleground state swing-voter who now is either not voting or leaning Trump once again.
I will continue to advocate for Biden to step down until post-Convention; after that, well, I'll probably bet money against his victory. That way, at least it's win-win for me.
Biden does one thing wrong. And that is Gaza. There is a shit ton he has done right:
Supreme Court reform
Student loan debt relief
Healthcare reform
Renewable energy act
Banking reform
Agriculture subsidies to be ecological
Helping local farms
Weed restriction reclassification
Tech privacy restrictions
Making medicare more accessible
Veteran affairs
And quite a few more. Give credit where credit is due. He's worked hard for us.
Supreme Court reform? Did Clarence get the boot without anyone noticing? Are there more than 9 now?
I think it was yesterday he filed for term limits? As well as an ethics code? It's still early. But it's a step in the right direction.
Even if Trump is defeated. Trumpism isn't over and we ill be in a endless loop of corporatists Dems will leave us in this same situation. This is the fork in the road for Dems to actually change and voters to demand better. Time is ticking, they have to figure out the best path forward.
The choice is between boring corporatists and 100% concentrated evil. Undecided voters are the dumbest people on the face of the Earth.
What really annoys me about all these political meme/card posts is the lack of spell checking.
They’re right, but dammit, at least try to make your point look good. That would be the ideal.
Until the next one. The republicans are a looming existential threat that senior democrats do not take seriously, nor do they know how to fight.
I hope we all remember the senior democrat leadership closing ranks to keep meaningful change (sanders) out during the last primary.
Joe's got to go.
The person who wants Biden to be the nominee the most is Trump. Notice he's gone completely quiet on him, not blasting him for his age like some democrats are, because he knows he can win against an 81yo Biden. As soon as he's confirmed as the nominee, Team Trump will turn around and try to make him look as old as dirt
Here's the thing. Many of us on here agree with you, but there are many Americans who are not terminally online or politically charged as we are. Getting them to vote for an old man who is often incoherent will be difficult. We need a candidate who can get those people to actually vote, and I am not sure Biden is that guy in his current form. At the end of the day, I don't care if it's Biden or Harris or someone else, I just want to ensure that we put the best chance to win forward, and I am not convinced Biden is that person.
The real question we should be asking is, how do we motivate as many voters as possible, shit posting to people who have seen posts like this 700 times this week doesn't do that.
I agree. So we should all rally around a candidate who actually has a chance to beat Trump rather than blindly following some guy who's comfortable handing over the White House as long as he, "tried his best."
BUT ~~HER EMAILS~~ BIDEN OLD!
Just mark whoever has (D) on your ballot in November and stop paying attention to the presidential race. Your votes for your representatives and senators are FAR more impactful, and a United Democratic Congress is far more capable of stopping fascism than a Republican one
I am curious who this is directed at. I think most people on Lemmy (excepting the Tankie minority who I mostly avoid) agree that voting democrats is the best political strategy in this election.
However, there is a separate and more contentious question of who the person we’ll be voting for should be. I don’t think the answer to this is obvious at all and it’s very strange to me that some people react with so much hostility to asking that question.
If this is about the first topic, I don’t see the need for it, and if it’s about the second, then it needs to be clearer and better articulated to sway anyone or spark useful discussion.
It's not about that. It's about sleep walking into fascism. Before the debate it was metaphorical. If you keep voting for the lesser evil you still get evil. It just takes longer.
Now we're being asked to vote for someone who clearly cannot handle the duties of the office and is nothing more than a figurehead. Rubber stamping this does not protect democracy. It proves they can manufacture consent to put whoever they want in that office and you guys will keep pulling that lever thinking, "it could be worse".
and is nothing more than a figurehead
Fine by me.
Come November, I will not be voting for an old guy named Biden. I will be voting for the Biden administration, an administration that rejoined the Paris climate accords, has made progress wrt medical debt, has seen decreasing levels of uninsured Americans, and made progress on myriad other issues. Because the alternative is...well, you know.
I am not voting for my ideal candidate, or my ideal administration, but that's because 1) I'm not an accelerationist, and 2) I'm smart enough to know how this works given our deeply flawed voting system.
I'm not sure you can really have it both ways
the only alternatives for someone who doesn't want Trump but won't vote for Biden that I see are accelerationism, or complete and utter naivety...which is functionally equivalent to accelerationism.
Ok so let's have Trump instead?
No, thanks. Vote for Biden so that we don't have to repeat the fallout of 2016.
The risk of doing nothing becomes the greatest risk of all. It absolutely could be worse, we all lived through 4 years of Trump (and the aftermath re:Supreme Court appointments). We don't need hypotheticals here, there's a clear comparison between 4 years of Trump and 4 years of Biden, and not voting out of principal doesn't stop anything.
Yes, you can manufacture consent. That was obvious. What will you do about it? The question being asked isn't, "how do we rebuild america." It is what do we do in novemeber. Any thing else is purposeful obsfucation.
Ah yes a figure head of the party who did all this:
https://www.reddit.com/r/WhatBidenHasDone/comments/1abyvpa/the_complete_list_what_biden_has_done/
Is just as bad as the figure head of a fascist, xenophobic, racist, authoritarian, nationalist, religious zealot party because they are both figureheads. You're right.
You’re right, and I’m getting real sick of the “shut up and fall in line” demand from democrats.
In this current system, EVERY election now will always be “the most important one ever”, with fascism at the front door and our democracy being at stake.
When the options are between (insert every terrible adjective that accurately describes him here) Trump, and ‘guy with obvious mental decline’ Biden, the blame doesn’t lie with the voter. If Joe Biden can’t earn people’s votes, the responsibility lies with Joe Biden and the Democrat establishment.
There are millions of leftist voters in this country who are being ignored by the two parties, and the democrats are hostile toward them and don’t want to move left to gain their votes. The leftist voters then get villainized by dems for seeking out a third party that better aligns with their values. “How dare you not fall in line! A vote for a third party is a vote for Trump!” No, it’s not. It’s exercising what little democracy we have left. The only vote for trump is an actual vote for trump.
The Democrat establishment simply doesn’t offer enough to anyone left of them. I don’t want the status quo; the status quo sucks. It’s a deregulated capitalist hellscape full of cruelty, slavery, wealth inequality, and planetary disaster.
I wish the dems could step back and realize what they are advocating for. The best and only choice for president is currently an 81-year-old man dealing with cognitive decline?! No, that’s not okay! That is not acceptable!
Good news, turns out some of the polls, especially those coming out of Georgia are misleading as they are failing to account for the Overwhelmingly Pro-Biden black vote
I'm sorry, but this really isn't true. Almost everyone here, leftist or liberal, is going to vote, and the vast majority of them are going to vote for Biden. There will be some protest votes, especially in safe states, but if you care enough to post on a left-leaning political group, you care enough to try to block Trump.
The people that will cost Biden the election are the people who don't argue online. They support the Democrats (or at least oppose the Republicans), but they don't always vote. They probably live in a state without mail-in voting, they probably live paycheck to paycheck, and they really just don't have a lot of spare time. They'll go to the polls if they think it's really important or they're very enthusiastic about the candidate, but if not, they'd rather rest or get a load of laundry done before work tomorrow, because it's not that important anyway. The Democrats need to find a way to get those people out if they want to win.