• Cowbee [he/him]
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    04 hours ago

    How is she a spoiler? She’s the only major leftist candidate, who is she pulling from?

    • @[email protected]
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      152 minutes ago

      The Democrats. In a 2 party system, voting for a 3rd party makes it more likely that the guy you REALLY don’t want to be elected, gets elected.

      • Cowbee [he/him]
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        443 minutes ago

        Leftists REALLY don’t want Democrats either. If you are in a room where the water is rising to 10 feet above you, and the Republicans build a 2 foot platform from the bottom and the Dems build a 3 foot platform, you still die either way.

        • @undergroundoverground
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          231 minutes ago

          You gotta love the old “why vote for better oppression” argument, used despite their admission that one is in fact, considerably better. In this instance, we can literally quantify it as being 33% better.

        • @[email protected]
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          123 minutes ago

          Bad faith framing of the issue. Donald Trump literally wants to turn America into Gilead and Harris wants to enrich herself while also marginally improving living conditions for working class Americans. If you want to have the revolution today, all the power to you, but until then, voting for the lesser of two evils is the only ethical choice.

          • Cowbee [he/him]
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            111 minutes ago

            It isn’t “bad-faith,” I am entirely serious when I say that the lesser evil is to delegitimize the electoral system and push for leftists to abandon the Democrats, who have proven their unshakeable interests. Revolution may be 99.9% more likely than reform, but that .1% chance is worth taking. Even if that .1% chance fails, it aids in deligitimizing the electoral system and prevents Democrats from being able to get away with literal genocide.

      • Dessalines
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        12 hours ago

        Alternative voting systems haven’t proven to be even the slightest obstacle to capitalist rule. Japan and Australia have alternative voting systems, and they’re still on the same far right path, still evict indigenous peoples, and still act as US military bases.

        • @[email protected]
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          51 minutes ago

          It’s not supposed to counter capitalism or any one political ideology. It’s supposed to create more proportional representation. If everyone in a city is a conservative, then ranked voting will still skew conservative.

          • Dessalines
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            12 minutes ago

            Its impossible to have a government that represents the people, if capital stands above the political system.

        • @[email protected]
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          250 minutes ago

          But then you would be more likely to have counties voting for other parties. The electoral college would actually make more sense with ranked voting.

        • Dragon "Rider"(drag)
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          -11 hour ago

          That’s because Australia is using the seat system, which is like a supercharged electoral college. Australia needs proportional representation.

      • Cowbee [he/him]
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        -33 hours ago

        Can’t get ranked choice voting with either establishment party, and I don’t consider the only major leftist candidate to be a spoiler for 2 right parties.

        • @[email protected]
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          3 hours ago

          Hilarious. Let me think about who I’d vote for if I was US-American. The Fascist or the at least slightly socially progressive neoliberals? It’s anyone’s guess really. NO. Of course the Dems, fucking obviously.

          So if I was US-American and also hit in the head enough to consider voting for third party in a country with a first-past-the-post voting system, I’d not vote for the Dems as a result.

          This is called the spoiler effect. This makes her a spoiler candidate, no matter her intention.

          • @TheLameSauce
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            41 hour ago

            I fucking hate this rhetoric.

            Voting for a third party is not “taking a vote away” from anyone.

            You’re arguing with someone who would in all likelihood JUST NOT VOTE if not for an alternative option. If you want assurances that fascism doesn’t get voted in, how about you direct that passion towards getting people to vote for someone, anyone, instead of staying at home? That is the only certain way of getting not-the-GOP-candidate elected time and time again. Republicans always come out to vote in about the same numbers every election. Just get more people voting, and not only do the Dem numbers go up, but the viability of a third party goes up astronomically as well.

            Just VOTE. For anyone!

            • @[email protected]
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              49 minutes ago

              You can hate it all you want. It isn’t rhetoric. It’s basically math. Every registered vote that votes 3rd party is a wasted vote. There isn’t enough support in the US for any 3rd party thanks to the First Past The Post electoral system.

              • @[email protected]
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                226 minutes ago

                Since it’s so basic, then surely we can stop giving candidates the benefit of the doubt when they refuse to support its reform.

            • Dragon "Rider"(drag)
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              -21 hour ago

              You’re arguing with someone who would in all likelihood JUST NOT VOTE if not for an alternative option

              Just because the big silly in this conversation is a big silly, doesn’t mean all the sillies are. There’s lots of sillies who are silly enough to vote third party but not silly enough to abstain.

          • Cowbee [he/him]
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            53 hours ago

            The Fascist or the at least slightly socially progressive neoliberals

            Neither are acceptable, both are genocidal regimes that are working towards WW3, Climate Collapse, and genocide. The only peaceful solution is voting third party, otherwise revolution is necessary. Taking the miniscule chance of a peaceful solution is morally correct, especially if we believe revolution to be necessary.

            • @[email protected]
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              43 hours ago

              Meanwhile you “peacefully” increase the probability that the guy who destroyed women’s reproductive rights gets voted in again.

              I say you should help punish the Republicans for MAGA and once they try a moderate candidate again you can vote third party. But don’t ignore the consequences of your actions.

              • Cowbee [he/him]
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                -23 hours ago

                Meanwhile you “peacefully” increase the probability that the guy who destroyed women’s reproductive rights gets voted in again.

                Meanwhile you “peacefully” increase the probability that genocide continues, climate change continues to be ignored, and World War 3 kills us all.

                I say you should help punish the Republicans for MAGA and once they try a moderate candidate again you can vote third party. But don’t ignore the consequences of your actions.

                What do you think fascism is? Why do you think MAGA is just a random event and not a systemic problem? Fascism is Capitalism in decline, there will be no “moderate” candidates because Capitalism is still in decline. The conditions for fascism persist, so fascism persists, and the Dems get closer to fascism.

                • @[email protected]
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                  22 hours ago

                  I’m not doing anything like that, the will never be public support for a socialist candidate in the US without first changing the voting system.

                  I wish it wasn’t like that but I’m convinced it is.

                  • Cowbee [he/him]
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                    -12 hours ago
                    1. Why do you believe there will never be public support for a Socialist candidate in the US? Where do you believe people draw their ideas from? Is the US a static, unchanging system? We know this to be false, wealth disparity is rising, the climate is changing, it’s anything but static!

                    2. The mainstream parties will never risk losing power intentionally, ergo there will be no change to the voting system.

            • Dragon "Rider"(drag)
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              -359 minutes ago

              Drag is happy that you get to feel like you’re being peaceful, but sad that you’ve convinced yourself the way to do so is through apathy and inaction. Drag wonders if you’d feel the same way if you understood that choosing not to do a good thing is still choosing to do a bad thing.

              • Cowbee [he/him]
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                440 minutes ago

                Drag should not assume I am saying electoralism is the end all, be all of political action. I am advocating for organizing outside the electoral system as the primary role of leftists, and refusing to give the electoral system legitimacy. Voting Dem is not a “good thing,” because the Dems are unacceptable and will lead to genocide, world war 3, and failed climate action.

            • @[email protected]
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              2 hours ago

              So I don’t have a hat in this race because I can not vote. I think you have a fundamental misunderstanding about how a government is formed in the United States. The odds of stopping a Democrat or Republican from not winning the 2024 presidential election are futile. If I could vote, but I can’t, if I voted third party I would be putting my effort into what I know is a futile effort. That seems morally the same as ignoring it because I know the results would be identical. The only moral option I would then have is to choose the least bad option. The most moral option would be off the table for me.

              Actually the president used to be less important than they seemed. The United States Supreme Court decision that president’s are practically kings changes a lot. The other side of this is that the president doesn’t really matter. The president really only executes the will of Congress. It seems to me that if you really wanted to do the moral thing, it would be changing the roots of the problem. Not a single branch. It’s the hearts and minds of grass roots organizationa you want to change long before anyone walks up to a polling booth.

              Just saying, as someone who can’t vote.

              • Cowbee [he/him]
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                21 hour ago

                First off, I understand how the electoral system works. The odds are incredibly slim that a third party will win. I disagree that a Democrat victory is acceptable, because the Democrats will only push for more genocide, failed climate action, and world war 3. It isn’t a matter of being “better or worse,” both result in the doom of humanity. Either we push to end that electorally, or via revolution.

                Organizing is also good, Claudia De La Crúz represents PSL, a party that does that more than try to win the presidency. They serve to highlight the sham of the election and gain recognition.

                • @[email protected]
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                  131 minutes ago

                  I wish I could tell you more because my area did that, we’ve done what we both agree is what needs to happen. We elected a third party candidate as our representative. Not as our president, that’s insane lol. Also I don’t know how what we did would apply to the United States other than just saying grass roots organizing. Saying even that much reveals more about me than I’m comfortable with online.