this post was submitted on 13 May 2025
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Then you get what we got last time: the fascists gain power and make things worse for the masses, the Dem politicians continue being rich and are shielded from the consequences. You only benefit the fascists and hurt yourself if you don't vote for the lesser of two evils.
I think people who are informed but specifically stay home because of Democratic policy positions or vote third party is a relatively small number of people.
It seems to me like far more people just sit out because the Dems are useless. When Harris said the economy was good, people wrote her off as out of touch.
We can argue about whether people should vote for harm reduction all day everyday (like we have been doing). But the fact remains that if Dems don't present a vision for the future that excites people to come out for them, fascists gain power.
You're correct. But if someone doesn't support the fascists and says they're not voting for harm reduction, they should be called out for it. Don't help the fascists and then complain when they win.
Let's say Gavin Newsome runs in 2028 and he supports a Federal law banning trans people from playing sports. That's "better than the Republicans", right? So you'd still vote for him? So what reason does he have to support trans people if they won't lose any votes for not doing so?
How about instead of Gavin Newsome, why not run Mitt Romney? All the pundits are talking about appealing to "moderates". When you pledge to vote Blue no matter who, that tells the Democrats to go as far right as they can, which means the Republicans can move even further right.
You say people who didn't vote are helping fascists, but I'd rather call out the powerful people who are doing nothing (or worse).
Yes, I'd still vote for him because it's better than the Republicans. Harm reduction. Once you have these shitty-but-not-fascist people in power, you do exactly what you said and call them out on their bullshit, call your Congressperson to apply political pressure, primary them, protest, whatever you can. Because now that the fascists are in power, they can and will do whatever they want and you have even less agency to do anything about it than when they're not controlling the government.
And when you don't vote against Republicans, they can completely take over the government and do whatever the fuck they want. What is that accomplishing?
I have been voting Blue No Matter Who for 20 years, and that has brought us to Trump.
I can't help but note that you didn't actually respond to any of my concerns. I understand what you're saying. Do you understand the counter argument?
No, it didn't. People NOT voting Blue No Matter Who did. That's why he won.
My understanding is that the counter argument is that Democrats should be the kinds of people that people want to vote for, not just the lesser evil. That would be ideal, but it's not the reality we live in. Similarly, the reality is that people of all political leanings will usually not vote for the most practical outcome that benefits them, but with emotion. For conservatives, that means their team regardless of anything else - "Red No Matter Who." For people who are farther left than center-right, that means becoming disillusioned with how poorly Democrats represent them and not voting, even if they are still better than their opponents. Hence, the fascists win.