You’re on the train headed over the edge of a chasm with only two throttle settings: fast and slow. You need to set the throttle to the slowest position. That’s it. You are not a beautiful and unique snowflake, so don’t even try to think about stopping the train.
Look, the democratic system of the United States (and some other countries now) is kind of a historical novelty, and its political and economic power is not an axiom. It can, and will, be lost someday. If blithely shrugging our shoulders and picking the least-worst option election after election isn’t working, well, we can look forward to the plunge off the lip of the chasm, or we can try to change the system.
I understand that many people are satisfied with the “slow” option, or at least in denial, but please accept that many of us are not.
No, I think that the metaphor is very apt. I’ve heard the same argument that we must vote for the lesser evil to stop the greater evil for my entire adult life, yet here we are, on the brink of outright authoritarianism. That voting strategy has failed utterly.
How do I vote left? How do I support turning away from the chasm, when anything other than “fast” or “slow” is throwing my vote away?
I’ve heard the same argument that we must vote for the lesser evil to stop the greater evil for my entire adult life, yet here we are, on the brink of outright authoritarianism. That voting strategy has failed utterly.
This is quite reductive, there’s no causation in this statement. You could just as well suggest that we’ve been led to the brink of outright authoritarianism because of the “I’m not going to vote because both sides are just as bad” paradigm.
As I’ve commented elsewhere, if everyone votes for the dems, the gop will have to move their policies to the left trying to win enough votes to be elected. The dems would have to move to the left to differentiate themselves. That’s how a two party system works. Not surprisingly, if the country votes to the left politics moves to the left.
Another aspect you should consider is that your position is precisely that which the conservatives would have you adopt. You’ll never vote conservative so it’s better to convince you to simply not vote at all.
I understand that many people are satisfied with the “slow” option, or at least in denial, but please accept that many of us are not.
But you should still take a second to set the throttle to the slowest position, right? You don’t have to be satisfied with that as your final solution in order for it to make sense to choose “slow” instead of “off the cliff full speed” or “surprise me.”
I understand the feeling of “I’m fucked no matter what so I don’t care.” Plenty of people are going to take that route, and I’m not going to insult them for being in that position and/or mental state. But for all the debate and discussion on here, Election Day is just the single day where you are given access to that throttle lever on the train, and it only has a few distinct settings.
I personally am always going with the pragmatic choice, because I am stuck on that damn train with everybody else. And I do mean everybody else, not just my fellow Americans. The US potentially going rogue has got to be terrifying for people all around the world.
You’re on the train headed over the edge of a chasm with only two throttle settings: fast and slow. You need to set the throttle to the slowest position. That’s it. You are not a beautiful and unique snowflake, so don’t even try to think about stopping the train.
Look, the democratic system of the United States (and some other countries now) is kind of a historical novelty, and its political and economic power is not an axiom. It can, and will, be lost someday. If blithely shrugging our shoulders and picking the least-worst option election after election isn’t working, well, we can look forward to the plunge off the lip of the chasm, or we can try to change the system.
I understand that many people are satisfied with the “slow” option, or at least in denial, but please accept that many of us are not.
This metaphor is very broken.
It’s more like a car. Vote left and turn away from the chasm.
You’re not going to change the system by not voting- you’ll just end up with the party least compatible with democracy.
Sadly your ideals won’t be represented very well in a trump presidency.
When your car falls into the chasm you don’t suddenly respawn with a new car headed in the right direction - you just end up in the chasm.
No, I think that the metaphor is very apt. I’ve heard the same argument that we must vote for the lesser evil to stop the greater evil for my entire adult life, yet here we are, on the brink of outright authoritarianism. That voting strategy has failed utterly.
How do I vote left? How do I support turning away from the chasm, when anything other than “fast” or “slow” is throwing my vote away?
This is quite reductive, there’s no causation in this statement. You could just as well suggest that we’ve been led to the brink of outright authoritarianism because of the “I’m not going to vote because both sides are just as bad” paradigm.
As I’ve commented elsewhere, if everyone votes for the dems, the gop will have to move their policies to the left trying to win enough votes to be elected. The dems would have to move to the left to differentiate themselves. That’s how a two party system works. Not surprisingly, if the country votes to the left politics moves to the left.
Another aspect you should consider is that your position is precisely that which the conservatives would have you adopt. You’ll never vote conservative so it’s better to convince you to simply not vote at all.
But you should still take a second to set the throttle to the slowest position, right? You don’t have to be satisfied with that as your final solution in order for it to make sense to choose “slow” instead of “off the cliff full speed” or “surprise me.”
I understand the feeling of “I’m fucked no matter what so I don’t care.” Plenty of people are going to take that route, and I’m not going to insult them for being in that position and/or mental state. But for all the debate and discussion on here, Election Day is just the single day where you are given access to that throttle lever on the train, and it only has a few distinct settings.
I personally am always going with the pragmatic choice, because I am stuck on that damn train with everybody else. And I do mean everybody else, not just my fellow Americans. The US potentially going rogue has got to be terrifying for people all around the world.
Yes, I’m not telling people how to vote. I just want to make clear that a vote for Biden is far, far from the ultimate solution.