I voted for the “harm reduction” vote in the 2016 Presidential election. Mar Roxas wasn’t great, but he was better than Duterte. Surprise, surprise, Duterte won. Hundreds of thousands died.
For the 2022 Presidential election, I voted for a principled vote for Leody de Guzman. Surprise, surprise, the Marcos dynasty returns to power.
Then people are treating Biden/Trump round 2 as top priority. Newsflash, if democracy was at stake in the election, then you don’t have democracy. I’ve been watching the Biden administration from afar. Biden, Trump, they’re the same. Same killer police. Same concentration camps at the border. Same prison industrial complex. Same trans genocide. Same abortion bans. No meaningful climate action. And now, a genocide in Gaza. Biden doesn’t care. Voting isn’t harm reduction.
This reeks of privilege. Voting takes an hour? I wish! Some people line up the whole day and forego a day of wages. It’s easy? Sure is, but people vote for political dynasties all the time, and the political dynasties have an interest in making sure their voters have an easy time voting and their opponents a hard time. Referendums? There’s literally a referendum going around funded by dark money and unknown patrons to open up the economy to international “investors” (really, crooks).
It is absolutly a privilege to be able to easily vote and be able to make a difference with it, but that makes it all the worse to throw it away instead of using it for good.