Voting is changing the Oil to keep the engine running
Voting is changing the Oil to keep the engine running
While Education and Organizing is building the parts for a new engine the rest of the year.
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Reminder that someone online arguing that you shouldn't vote for Biden because of whatever pet grievance is either a Russian agent or an idiot playing into their hands
If people think an "evangelical" is going to handle the conflict in Gaza on the side of the Palestinians better than Joe Brandon they are sorely mistaken and/or misguided. 45 wanted a straight up Muslim ban ffs.
Yeah, I'd rather deal with someone who enables Israel's bad behavior instead of someone who not only cheers it on but offers to help make it worse. There's at least a snowball's chance of convincing the enabler to stop enabling.
Evangelicals want this conflict, because in order for Jesus to come back and rapture them, the mosque on the Temple Mount must be destroyed so the temple can be rebuilt, which is step one of their prophecy. That’s the real reason they pretend to care about the Jews.
They truly believe this is their end times, and worse, a few years ago their perfect red cow they’ve been waiting for these thousands of years was certified; if that cow dies before they get the chance to sacrifice it to rebuild their temple, they may have to wait another thousand years.
It’s a death cult and they’ll kill us all.
And how quick all these Hamas and Houthi cheerleaders forgot Ukraine too. A country that would not exist anymore if Trump had won 2020.
"Forgot"?
No, they think Ukraine is a fake Nazi state run by a Jewish drug addict puppeted by the globalhomo Western imperialists.
In other words, insanity.
And soon those farms are going to be powered by ChatGPT. When you hear that Russian line it's going to have ten replies all agreeing and giving supporting arguments.
I wonder if we'll be able to spot hallucinations in such a simple task.
bots congratulating each other on right thoughts.
Reminder that not everyone who disagrees with your guilt tripping self righteous nonsense is a Russian bot. Some of us actually use critical thinking and can see a pattern that must be broken.
I've been called a Trumper/Russian bot/Chinese bot since 2016 (on Reddit, same username) because I'm critical of ALL politicians. I got banned from /r/politics for listing reasons why Hillary would lose and what she needed to change in order to beat Trump. Welp...
Did you think people in the Hilary campaign would be trawling through r/politics, looking for your comment and changing their platform to what you wanted?
Or were you just encouraging voters not to participate in the election?
Correct The Record, David Brock...
https://www.latimes.com/politics/la-na-clinton-digital-trolling-20160506-snap-htmlstory.html
look, I can understand the argument that you must vote for the most effective way to contain an evil. It's a good solid argument.
However it starts taking damage almost immediately when:
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The plan to fight the evil is using the most disliked president in recent history to win a popularity contest.
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They pre-emptively destroy any and all opportunities to find a better candidate to win the popularity contest against the evil.
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They refuse to debate anybody just like the evil they want to defeat. Making it impossible to verify they're the one for the job.
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They forcibly re-schedule the primary schedule to delay any signs that this plan might be a terrible idea.
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Their age is seriously in question, their mental acuity is in question, and they also decide to dodge being in a completely unscripted environment for two hours while standing.
Certainly with all this you can at least understand why someone would rather vote third party, because this Biden option is not making me feel any safer.
At what point can we stop pointing the finger at the voters and start pointing at the guy they're "supposed to vote for"? Is there a point we can ever point that finger at Biden? Or is it like Trump,where we need to vote for him "even if he were to shoot someone in the street"?
It works better when you have an idea of what the President actually does and what direct action would mean.
Almost everything we would want to do is at the local or regional level. Want higher density housing? Your mayor and city council control that with no say from the President. Better public transportation? Same, though the President can try convincing Congress to pass grant funding for it. More and better bike lanes? Same thing. Get rid of anti-homeless architecture? All city level stuff.
School lunch programs? State government can stop it if the wrong people are there. Expand Medicare? Same. Better rail networks? Same. Ban gay conversion therapy? All state government.
Foreign policy is the one thing where the President does have a lot of control. That's actually the exception. I like Biden's approach on Ukraine--getting most of Europe to go along with sanctions at all, especially after Trump destroyed our soft diplomatic power, was amazing. His approach on the Gaza conflict is far less amazing, to put it mildly. Other than foreign policy, the position is mostly advocacy and horse trading around funding priorities with Congress. Soft power for the most part.
A bad President, especially combined with a bad Congress, sure as hell can stop the local agenda items, though. Pull the grants for cities to implement public transit. Pull Medicare expansion entirely. Don't provide school lunch program funding at all. Put judges in power who rule arbitrarily in favor of conservatives with no care for precedent.
What voting for Biden is for is to make sure the federal government doesn't overrule things built locally and regionally. That's it. The rest needs direct action on the part of all of us at different levels of government.
A bad President, especially combined with a bad Congress, sure as hell can stop the local agenda items, though. Pull the grants for cities to implement public transit. Pull Medicare expansion entirely. Don’t provide school lunch program funding at all. Put judges in power who rule arbitrarily in favor of conservatives with no care for precedent.
What voting for Biden is for is to make sure the federal government doesn’t overrule things built locally and regionally. That’s it. The rest needs direct action on the part of all of us at different levels of government.
finally somebody gets it dude hoo lee I feel like I've been wearing the nightmare vision goggles and taking the crazy pills or something
Is there a point we can ever point that finger at Biden?
Point fingers all you want as long as you vote to keep the rapist, insurrectionist, self-admitted wannabe dictator out of power.
Yeah Biden is only the first one so 1-3 = 2 so he's good candidate
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Yeah? Like our devotion to repeatedly voting in neolibs like Carter, Clinton, Obama, and Biden has had nothing to do with tilting the political spectrum to the far right?
I’ll probably pull the lever for Biden, but I don’t blame anyone who doesn’t. Based on the results of recent decades of leftists holding their noses to vote for the neolib, even if Biden wins something much worse than Trump will arrive just in time for the 2028 cycle.
You don't have to if you live in a state that will vote overwhelmingly democrat. Maryland, California, New York, Massachusetts, Hawaii, and DC Biden won by over 20% margin I have wiggle room to vote 3rd party.
How many other people are thinking that same thing?
There is NO wiggle room this election. Not even in blue af California.
Save your principles for the local elections if you want future elections.
Haha every election is THE MOST IMPORTANT ELECTION EVER NO WIGGLE ROOM.
This election is equally important, or equally unimportant as any other election.
Bruh. Before 2022 I had bodily autonomy and Trans people could receive their medications with a semblance of reliability. Immigrants weren't being bussed around the country against their will.
We have gone way more right, way faster, than I think anyone could have foreseen.
Bruh. Before 2022 I had bodily autonomy
If you're referring to the lack of roe v wade, that was the supreme court, not the president, and I'm not aware of any current justices planning to retiring in the next four years. It's now a states rights issue. Support the state level candidate who is inline with your views.
Trans people could receive their medications with a semblance of reliability.
With few exceptions, "trans" adults can do whatever they want. Assuming they're an American citizen, they have the exact same rights as you and I.
Immigrants weren't being bussed around the country against their will.
You're right. They were piling up in border states and no one gave a shit until they started getting bussed around.
We have gone way more right, way faster, than I think anyone could have foreseen.
These issues are far more complicated than you would pretend.
Who do you think stacked the Courts in the favor of Republicans? And if you think Trump won't press it further by expanding the Courts and putting more Conservatives in, you're high. Additionally, if you don't think a Republican will push for a nationwide abortion ban, you're even more high.
Well, you're worse than high. You're likely a Russian troll.
Yep, I'm high, and a Russian troll. Ya got me :/
Fucking online fear mongering. Honestly, I wouldn't have it any other way. Feels like home.
You didn't answer my questions about stacking the Courts or an attempted nationwide ban, you just replied with sarcasm.
Who do you think encouraged Greg Abbott, Ron DeSantis, and Mike Parson to push the fold on women's rights?
Also, I live in South Texas. Please tell me about the "immigration crisis piling up at our borders", before the bussing to different states. I'm listening.
I'm allowed to respond with sarcasm. Mostly because I don't take your fear mongering seriously. But as a courtesy:
There won't be any stacking the courts. Stop it. Just like Biden was suppose to stack the courts. It was bullshit then, it's bullshit now. But feel free to call gotcha on me if Trump wins and stacks.
What happens in a few states isn't relevant to a "nationwide" ban. Trump is barely a conservative (he was a Democrat for much of his life). Abortion is a losing issue for moderates and left leaning conservatives. Many are in favor of some type of abortion (12 weeks, 15 weeks, etc..). Any conservative would be a fool to campaign on a federal ban on abortion.
Honestly I don't care to argue immigration much. It's not a issue in my state.
Fine. And FWIW, if Trump wins, I really hope you're the correct one in this debate.
In Maryland there is like 33% wiggle room I am ok. If I was in Pennsylvania it would be a different story.
Hillary and Biden both beat Trump by huge numbers in Maryland I can vote for 3rd party no issues. People are just scared that people from Pennsylvania have the same idea which it would actually cause harm.
Maryland:
Hillary beat Trump 60 - 33%
Biden beat Trump 65 - 33%
I would argue that the folks who voted 3rd party in 2016 decided we needed to do more than just not vote for Trump in 2020. The folks who voted for Trump in 2016 and 2020 are gonna vote for him again in 2024.
I’d say equally this year it is worthwhile to do more than just “not vote for Trump” but vote for Biden (especially if you intended to vote 3rd party … but by all means vote your conscience first!) to further cement the statement that we did not choose Trump.
The stats show he lost no ground, the issue will be how much ground Biden has lost because of the attacks about their age and pushing folks to vote 3rd party or whatever as an act of protest.
Vote your conscience first, but don’t protest by a third party vote. If you have no good option CHOOSE HARM REDUCTION ALWAYS
I say this as a Bernie 2016 / 2020 voter. It still hurts. I’m choosing to reduce the harm regardless.
Hillary and Biden both beat Trump by huge numbers in Maryland I can vote for 3rd party no issues. People are just scared that people from Pennsylvania have the same idea which it would actually cause harm.
You can vote for whoever you please and should.
Vote your conscience every time.
I’m simply arguing that it is a good idea to not rest on your laurels and when we are faced with what feels like a crazy threat to democracy maybe then its especially good to vote in your best interests instead.
Only you can choose what your best interests are, but anyone who argues that you SHOULD protest vote probably has an agenda which is likely to get you to not vote for Biden or Trump.
voting is not harm reduction.
I’d love for you to tell me how it isn’t.
harm reduction is when you know a bad thing is going to happen, and you give the people it's happening to resources to mitigate the harm from it. needle exchanges are the best example: people are going to use drugs. that's bad enough with the stigma and risks of impurities etc. giving them clean needles eliminates one of the dangers, though.
voting doesn't give the effected people any resources to deal with the problems created by our government.
edit:
harm reduction would be sending medical supplies to gaza. setting up abortion care resources in the states. distributing HRT resources. voting is just that: voting.
Harm reduction, or harm minimization, refers to a range of intentional practices and public health policies designed to lessen the negative social and/or physical consequences associated with various human behaviors, both legal and illegal.
It is harm reduction.
no, it's not. harm reduction is the things you do regardless of whether democrats or republicans win.
I don’t want either candidate, they both suck to me. I’d prefer to not have to vote for either of them. I’d prefer to vote my conscience for policy.
Instead I am voting for the candidate who has not stated he intends to continue removing my wife’s bodily autonomy and push policies that will deliberately harm “the others” as they see them.
Voting for Biden, despite not wanting to and wishing I had a better option, is harm reduction for those I care about because if I didn’t act I was doing nothing.
and just to be clear, most people just do nothing
Instead I am voting for the candidate who has not stated he intends to continue removing my wife’s bodily autonomy and push policies that will deliberately harm “the others” as they see them.
same here. that's why i'm voting for cornel west (or maybe jill stein).
Voting for Biden, despite not wanting to and wishing I had a better option, is harm reduction
no, it's not.
What if I think people should still vote but they should be ready to be unhappy with the outcome either way and that it won't actually provide meaningful change?
I will be very different levels of unhappy with a too moderate democrat than a wannabe dictator.
So long as we have "too moderate democrats", the wannabe dictators are gonna look great for actually believing in something. Fuck Biden for appeasing and therefore empowering the right, shifting goalposts back decades- I hope he suffers excruiating back pain today and forever if not ruinous guilt. He makes the democrats look SO bad. Especially on a international scale.
Is abortion being nationally illegal "meaningful change"? Explain how that's not meaningful for us stupid people.
Under Biden it is still illegal put someone better in
Sorry, I should have been more specific. Meaningful positive change. Our government is great at fucking shit up.
[patriotic music swells]
Then I'd understand and mourn your cynicism, but not think of you as a bad citizen.
Damn. I don't particularly like being a citizen of anywhere, let alone a good one.
Citizenship is responsibility - participation in the civic life of a polity. That's what being a citizen, and not simply a subject, means - to have the right to a share in the direction of the polity. Like it or not, if you're active in exercising your influence to affect politics instead of abrogating that power to the elite, you're a good citizen of wherever you live.
There, there. It'll be alright...
Okay but what if I only vote as a joke?
In that case, you can be a bad citizen.
Good. I don't want people thinking I approve of nation-states or anything like that.
"Pet grievance" is one of my new favorite euphemisms for genocide.
Voting does nothing other than reform the capitalist regime. It doesn't matter whether this cycle's presidential figurehead is blue or red. Give it a few decades and you'll see how the US will still be sowing death and destruction across the world, as it always has. The presidential race that liberals get so rabid about is nothing more than kabuki theater.
Ah yes, the bearer of truth right here, fellas. So your plan is do nothing, but bitch about everything. Gotcha.
Read some Marx and you'll understand that political action doesn't start, and end, at the ballot box.
Marx? The guy that advocates for waiting until society collapses and then waiting for a better society to be built from its ashes?
Literally not what he says, though.
Yes Marx, the guy who made a system of government that totally works guys, it just hasn't been really truly tried yet ok
I already have toilet paper. Thanks though.
"progressive"
"thinks you should wipe your ass with the entire works of Karl Marx"
Pick a lane buddy
Lol way to show you know nothing about your own ideology, buddy.
Progressivism: Progressive liberalism is a response to marxism, (radical) socialism, and communism. It was a recognition that the problems marxists, (radical) socialists, and communists were bringing to the forefront were proper problems, but it contests that marxists, socialists, and communists have the correct solutions. For that matter, progressive liberalism is anti-marxist, anti-socialist, and anti-communist.
Progressive liberals hope to “save capitalism from itself” not abolish it unlike genuine marxists, socialists, and communists wish to do.
Sorry, what is my ideology?