2020 was… truly unique. It was so hard to stay away from doom scrolling, and I (and many others) were pretty disillusioned by the sad fact that so much of our country legitimately supported the Orange Man. I didn’t get a wink of sleep the night of the election because I genuinely considered it to be a make or break decision for America.
My point is that looking back on it, in the end the only real difference I made was at the ballet box. This year I’m going for the Head-in-the-Sand approach. I’m done with the political memes. Done with the Twitter screenshots. It just riles me up and this year I’m gonna do my best to fight that.
Literally ranked choice voting will never ever happen. We will always have First Past the Post and it will never change. This country is a sham democracy and I refuse to participate.
That’s the great part, by not participating you help the worst of them!
Please explain to me what Biden and Trump would have done differently in the context of sending our tax money to turn Muslim people into hamburger.
Trump would’ve loved to have troops on the ground helping our very brave allies in the IDF. Just like he wants troops on the ground in the US when people protest.
I dunno if that holds up, though, either side needs votes to win.
If both the Biden camp can claim not voting helps Trump and the Trump camp claim not voting helps Biden, I don’t think not voting helps either.
Plus, your vote only matters in a swing state, otherwise it’s largely worthless.
Obviously the statement can apply to either party. But the guy I replied to was praising Rep. Tlaib. For them, the alternative to not voting (or voting third party) would presumably be voting Biden, never Trump. So by not voting they are helping Trump.
As far as non swing state voters having no power… Definitely true.
This is how they want you to feel. Republicans win by making people like you feel hopeless. The wins last week in OH, VA, and KY happened because young people turned out more than expected, and young voters skew more progressively. Like you, I’m frustrated too, but the Overton window will continue to shift right unless you put Democrats in at the general and vote progressive in primaries. That goes for the entire election all the way down to the lowest local elected office because that’s where people get their start. You’re right, we’re not getting ranked choice across the board within our lifetime, but some areas do use ranked choice and may help elect people who will push for it at the state level, and maybe one day federal. The same is true for enshrining abortion rights and legalizing marijuana, which pushed a little further last week. I know federal legalization won’t be here any time soon, but the first step is rescheduling from I to II or maybe even III, and that could be here within a year as a nice poll bump right before elections.
A society grows great when old men plant trees in whose shade they shall never sit. By not voting, you’re allowing poison ivy to take root instead of a peach tree because you’d rather have an apple tree.
If you really want to focus your time and energy into making a difference, check out Run For Something. If you don’t want to run yourself, you can support progressive candidates by donating or volunteering.
Ranked choice has literally been implemented in many (mostly blue) cities and states. Look at this map.
Cool, work against your own interests and blame everyone else for it. I’m sure that will work out well.
Oh, sure. Easy Peasy! Let’s just go ahead and be naive enough to expect Congress to pass A CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT THAT TAKES AWAY THEIR PROFIT MOTIVES.
I think, if we just ask super, duper, duper, duper, duper nicely, they’ll stop being corrupt and intentionally sabotage their own profits. /s
I just got finished with my letter to Santa Claus. This is going to be there year he finally listens to me. I just know it!
RCV can be implemented from the bottom up as well, it doesn’t need to be top-down in the form of a constitutional amendment. Where it gets implemented it immediately flips the incentives from candidates working against each other to candidates working with each other. In SF, rival candidates started campaigning together.
Then, we could stop voting against the greater evil and start voting for the kinds of candidates we want without consequence, because candidate viability doesn’t matter if your vote transfers to your next favorite when they are disqualified. That’s what you seem to want. You could vote Rashida Talib and anyone else and as long as you ranked Biden as a choice above Trump, you wouldn’t be in this dilemma.
I think you would be well served by playing the game even if it’s a game you don’t like. That’s the only way to change the rules. Popular vote is the only check the public has against the power of profit motives.
Thanks for your mature, nuanced reply. I’m dug in where I am but it’s a start, I guess.