• NateNate60@lemmy.world
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    7 months ago

    The right doesn’t have a problem with people refusing to vote for right-wing politicians because they want to punish them for not being right-wing enough.

    Meanwhile the far-left goes on and on about how voting is pointless and you’re a lib if you think voting can effect change, and then expect you to be insulted by that term

    • paddirn@lemmy.world
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      7 months ago

      I think the far left is too perfectionist. They want some sort of mythical candidate that will check all the boxes and somehow still be electable in a general election, but that person isn’t coming. Meanwhile, the Right usually rallies the wagon around whichever sad sack-of-shit they’ve found. You’re not going to get who you want every time and you’re not going to get the change you want everytime. It’s about setting the conditions for that change to come that’s important, otherwise you’re just handing the initiative to the Right to make the change that they want.

      • NateNate60@lemmy.world
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        7 months ago

        Exactly. It’s a matter of complaining that the train is not moving fast enough so why bother putting more coal into the engine.

          • NateNate60@lemmy.world
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            7 months ago

            This is not something you watch to “get informed”. It is a video opinion essay, and if your primary source of information is opinion videos, that’s deeply concerning. Do not tell people to “get informed” and then link a video where someone just talks about their opinion.

            Nonetheless, I’ve watched this video and I agree with most of what it says. What I don’t agree with is that participating in the current electoral system is fruitless. There are such things as primary elections. Right-wing voters have no problem exercising their political will in primary elections, pushing their party further right.

            I do not profess that voting Democratic is the ultimate solution to our problems. In fact, my views are very similar to those professed in that video. But what I am saying is that people who tell others that “liberalism won’t solve anything” or that merely voting in the general election isn’t the solution without in the same breath describing what should be done instead are far more damaging than someone who does just vote in a general election and does nothing else.

            In my home state of Oregon, the way that individual citizens can improve our political system is by circulating, signing, and promoting ballot measures, including a measure to replace first-past-the-post voting with ranked-choice voting, which will appear on this year’s ballot as a referendum. Is this not a valuable activity?

      • Ensign_Crab@lemmy.world
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        7 months ago

        I think centrists consider any criticism to be perfectionism and expect perfect lockstep behind the candidates that centrists consider perfect already.

      • Semi-Hemi-Lemmygod@lemmy.world
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        7 months ago

        One thing that helped me is realizing that Americans are mostly stupid, and they have more votes than me, so they’re gonna make stupid decisions and there’s nothing I can do about it.

        Accepting the reality of America’s shithole nature helped me stop thinking we could be better or, as you say, a “perfectionist.”

      • gastationsushi@lemmy.world
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        7 months ago

        Not wanting your candidate to arm a genocide is perfectionist?

        It’s not productive to label everyone who thinks the masses should be empowered as “far left”. Unless you believe only the betters of humanity can make decisions and anyone getting the shaft should only grin and bare it.

          • gastationsushi@lemmy.world
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            7 months ago

            Joe Biden can’t claim to care about American Democracy while ignoring a majority of his voters on core issues.

              • gastationsushi@lemmy.world
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                7 months ago

                If you have all the information, educate me. I have a hard time understanding people who don’t dispute their is a genocide in Gaza, yet they still vote shame anti genocide voters.

                Do you believe Biden and Israel is committing a full on genocide in Gaza but trump will start genocides in other places so it’s better to vote Biden?

                Or do you believe what Biden and Israel are doing is relatively minor and would be much worse under a trump presidency?

                  • gastationsushi@lemmy.world
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                    7 months ago

                    OK, just to clarify, you believe Biden has no leavage to stop Israel and they aren’t reliant on the tens of billions in weapons aid or the diplomatic help we gift them?

        • forrgott@lemm.ee
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          7 months ago

          Yup, you’re far left perfectionist. I don’t make the rules…

          • gastationsushi@lemmy.world
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            7 months ago

            I vote in every election, often over 6 in a year. I live in a red state so that means I’m voting for a candidate that barely agrees with me. How does that qualify for far left perfectionist?