I may be unenthusiastic about voting for Biden but I'm extremely enthusiastic about voting against Trump.
this post was submitted on 18 Aug 2023
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The enthusiasm to vote against rather than for a candidate reveals the deeper crisis of a political system that effectively marginalizes meaningful alternatives.
That's all well and good, but any kind of non-involvement only pushes us deeper into that system. One side sucks and cares about general human rights, the other side doesn't. One side attempted a coup, the other is largely pretty pissed about it. And unless something happens overnight that hasn't happened in the modern US, the winner is going to be D or R. One side will get us closer to bring able to get a better system, the other side would gladly make up election results and stay in power indefinitely a la Putin.
You can still act while complaining about the system. This constant bashing of anyone who expresses dissatisfaction at the current state of affairs is as likely to cause disenfranchisement as anything Republicans pull.
I don't think my previous comment would constitute bashing, but I may just be misreading it.
And I'd argue that a person on the internet leaving a comment is wayyyy less likely to lead to disenfranchisement than Republicans actively gerrymandering, taking away voting machine in minority heavy precincts, changing voter ID requirements, making the distribution of food and water in long election lines illegal, etc.
One is making likely voters less capable of voting, the other is making unlikely voters less likely to participate.
They're both bad, but one is done with malice and the other is just done out of complete lack of empathy for the feelings of your compatriots.
At no point in the comment you replied to said they didn't want to vote, just that the system as it is makes voting feel like a losing battle either way. Even if one way is technically better. You decided that someone complaining about the situation was simply refusing to participate in it. I'd say that would constitute bashing, as it's construing an opinion as an action you don't like.
Maybe try empathizing with their situation, and offering sympathy, rather than chastising them for feeling bad about an already awful situation.
I think there is maybe a misunderstanding of what was meant by "disenfranchisement".
I think most Democrats would agree with you, but we can get back to actual political discourse after we prevent a literal Russian asset from attempting to remove the right to have discourse at all.
Yet another issue that ranked choice voting would solve.
I strongly prefer STAR over ranked choice, for some significant issues that aren't talked about enough. (slide deck).
But yes, I agree that voting reform is critical to this change, and it's very telling that neither party are very interested in enacting it. They'll both warn us like an abusive relationship to not vote third party "or else" but when you ask why not just support voting reform they both fall silent.
You hold elections with the system you have, not the one you want.
... yes, but you can change the system you have if you put some effort into it instead of just assuming that things have to stay the way they are for some reason.
That was how I felt last election, but I think Biden has done a great job at the helm. He got shit done in an extremely hostile era.
I'm happy to vote for him again. My only reservation is his age. His actual performance has been stellar IMO.
The only major governmental bullshit that has happened in the last 3 years is the Supreme Court going fucking insane. And there's nothing he can do about it - by fundamental design.
The most important person in the country right now is not Joe Biden, it's his cardiologist. They need to make sure Joe's heart doesn't give out until at least Jan 20, 2025....
There could have been more progressive presidents sure, but I really think Biden’s achievements and stances are under appreciated. I believe he’s been the most progressive president we’ve ever had.
I certainly wouldn't call him more progressive than the likes of FDR, but hell man I'll take a boring, milquetoast, inoffensive, ineffective, status quo president over the likes of Trump, DeSantis, Cruz, etc.
And I'm sure not a single one of them will say something easy to make fun of on the internet.
This is the best summary I could come up with:
Republican presidential contenders are gathering in Milwaukee next Wednesday for their first debate of the 2024 campaign season, even though front-runner and former President Donald Trump says he will skip the Fox News (FOXA.O) broadcast.
Trump may be absent but Democrats will be watching closely, in Milwaukee and across the country, using it as "as a high-impact press and organizing opportunity," according to the campaign official, who declined to be identified.
Biden campaign co-chair Cedric Richmond and Democratic National Committee (DNC) chair Jaime Harrison will hold a press conference before the debate.
The campaign will ask hundreds of thousands of volunteers, particularly in swing states, to post online during the debate, contrasting Republican statements with Biden's record, after holding a massive training session this weekend.
A slow start to an incumbent's presidential re-election campaign is not unusual: Barack Obama held his first official rally for the 2012 election in May of that year.
Biden needs to woo unimpressed Black and Latino voters who made his 2020 election victory possible, energize Democrats' unenthusiastic about a second four-year term, and lift his approval ratings from their current 40% range, political strategists say.
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