Vote for the Democratic nominee against the GOP in the general election.
If you live somewhere the Dems tend to win elections, vote in the Democratic primaries to change the party little by little.
If you live somewhere the GOP tends to win, vote in the GOP primaries to try and at least get rid of the MAGA Republicans and THEN vote for the Democratic candidate in the general election.
Gradual incrementalism is precisely what got us into this mess, so it isn’t that simple. So long as the Dems are controlled by their donors, they will never willingly let an actual leftist in. See Mamdani. Ratchet effect then ensures both parties grow ever rightward.
We need meaningful leftist opposition in power if the US is going to survive. I think transforming the DNC into that is a much more difficult task than anyone cares to admit, and the delusion that we can do it without forming a new party entirely is just bringing us closer to inevitable collapse once the capital owners have stolen everything from us.
As soon as elections stop being just one vote per individual we can actually vote our conscience. New York City has Ranked Choice voting, so does Alaska and Maine. Ideally having STAR, Ranked Robin, or Score voting would be best as the first two are better versions of Ranked Choice voting.
This is called letting the perfect be the enemy of the good. We can push for better electoral systems while also refusing to vote for Democrats who support genocide or support throwing minority groups onto the pyre.
I agree that we should be doing multiple things at the same time here.
I’m in favor of championing leftists and progressives and pushing back against Dems that are acting in their own self interest. For sure the corporate owned Dems and Republicans that are propping up arms for Israel need to go and for those wanting to throw minorities under the bus.
Those in power do not want the electoral system to change, because they know of it changes they will lose their power which was only given to them because of how fucked up the system is. They rely on the system being fucked up.
Change will not come from within the system while those in power over the system benefit from its structure.
People are gonna need to find alternative means to take power back in order to affect change.
How has voting for the centrist Democratic nominee been going so far?
Maybe people aren’t voting because all they see are two Republicans. I’ve been voting since 1996 and every time I feel I’ve been voting for the lesser of two evils.
Maybe people want candidates that are worth voting for.
What we were doing certainly isn’t working, it’s how we got in this mess in the first place. We need to change or we’ll lose again.
Please educate me how not voting, thereby allowing the fascists to take control (we’re already there so it’s not theoretical) helps improve things. You didn’t vote for the Bad Centrist Democrats so instead now we have the one party fascist rule that those tewwibwe centwists cwied about.You’ re so righteous and we all feel inferior to your non-voting prowess.
On voting day, you have a choice. Vote for the evil empire or vote for the opposition. I’m not sure what you think voting for Uncle Earl waving a happy face flag off to the side is going to accomplish. Moral victories are only victories if the morals actually have victories. We all knew what the choices were in 2024. Any anyone who didn’t vote for Harris in the general election voted for what we got. End of story.
You know how you get a government that reflects your morals? You start by electing a government that actually gives a shit about you in the first place, not by writing in someone who will never be your government.
You start by electing a government that actually gives a shit about you in the first place, not by writing in someone who will never be your government.
You’re not getting it… That’s exactly what I’m trying to do.
If you haven’t noticed, the current centrist Dem party isn’t doing much. Yet you want me to keep voting for the people that aren’t doing much.
I’m not going to vote for them anymore. Get as mad as you want, but if the Dems want my vote then they better fucking earn it.
People like you keep saying how important this election is yet want us to keep doing the same shit over and over. Get a fucking clue already, the Dem platform is unpopular and a losing one. It needs to change.
The single most successful third party presidential candidate since 1900 was Teddy Roosevelt, who had already been president twice, when he ran under the Bull Moose Party ticket. He got 29% of the popular vote, spilt the Republican vote, and handed the presidency to Democrat Woodrow Wilson.
The second most successful third party presidential candidate since 1900 was Ross Perot in 1992. He got 18.6% of the popular vote, drew conservative voters away from George H. W. Bush, and handed the presidency to Bill Clinton.
Third party candidates by all means should run for local and down-ballot offices, but above a certain level, if you haven’t got a realistic plan for how to win beyond wishful thinking, then the responsible move is to run as hard as you can in the primary, try to drag the primary electorate in the direction you want it to move, and endorse the major party candidate that most closely aligns with your views. If you aren’t even hitting twenty percent in the polls leading up to the general, then you’re acting as a spoiler and helping your most-hated opponent win.
Gradual incrementalism is precisely what got us into this mess
What got us into this mess was the resounding success of gradual incrementalism in the hands of the right. We didn’t get where we are spontaneously, it’s the result of decades of preparation by the Federalist Society and Heritage Foundation.
Incrementalism is what sorta helps to get us out as well. By that I mean changing the voting systems like New York City did which helps make it easier to get more leftist candidates in office.
Changing the DNC requires the majority of new voters to continue being left/progressive on issues and could take another decade.
Changing the voting system in our cities and states is the best chance to pull politics left and to actually allow third parties to take root. The last thing we want really is for the spoiler effect to happen, where our preferred candidate(s) and safe candidate lose to the least preferred candidate.
They can’t actually stop you from registering with the other party. It’s not a crime to vote in their primaries and then vote for the other party in the general.
in most states, you have to register with one party or the other for primaries, so you can only vote in one primary. But in the general election, you aren’t required to cast a ballot for the party for which you’re registered.
Depends on where you live. Here in Missouri, you just tell them which primary ballot you want when you go to vote. I’ve voted for both sides (Democrat primary in 2016 and Conservative primary in 2020 since Missouri will never go blue so might as well attempt to get the least dogshit option for the Dems to weakly fight against).
It’s simple.
Vote for the Democratic nominee against the GOP in the general election.
If you live somewhere the Dems tend to win elections, vote in the Democratic primaries to change the party little by little.
If you live somewhere the GOP tends to win, vote in the GOP primaries to try and at least get rid of the MAGA Republicans and THEN vote for the Democratic candidate in the general election.
Gradual incrementalism is precisely what got us into this mess, so it isn’t that simple. So long as the Dems are controlled by their donors, they will never willingly let an actual leftist in. See Mamdani. Ratchet effect then ensures both parties grow ever rightward.
We need meaningful leftist opposition in power if the US is going to survive. I think transforming the DNC into that is a much more difficult task than anyone cares to admit, and the delusion that we can do it without forming a new party entirely is just bringing us closer to inevitable collapse once the capital owners have stolen everything from us.
Libs/Blue MAGA are gonna hate you for speaking the truth.
Hey look, Blue MAGA replied to you because we spoke the truth!
Keep telling everyone who you are, it makes it easy to know who to ignore.
You explained this well. You should copy and paste it into every post about Dems vs lefts vs liberals.
No what got us here is no one voting. Literally go look at participation between elections.
Why is no one voting? Could it be that making people choose between 2 shit candidates doesn’t work?
The voting system needs to change.
As soon as elections stop being just one vote per individual we can actually vote our conscience. New York City has Ranked Choice voting, so does Alaska and Maine. Ideally having STAR, Ranked Robin, or Score voting would be best as the first two are better versions of Ranked Choice voting.
This is called letting the perfect be the enemy of the good. We can push for better electoral systems while also refusing to vote for Democrats who support genocide or support throwing minority groups onto the pyre.
I agree that we should be doing multiple things at the same time here.
I’m in favor of championing leftists and progressives and pushing back against Dems that are acting in their own self interest. For sure the corporate owned Dems and Republicans that are propping up arms for Israel need to go and for those wanting to throw minorities under the bus.
It’s actually the only way it will change.
Those in power do not want the electoral system to change, because they know of it changes they will lose their power which was only given to them because of how fucked up the system is. They rely on the system being fucked up.
Change will not come from within the system while those in power over the system benefit from its structure.
People are gonna need to find alternative means to take power back in order to affect change.
Please, inform us plebs on how not voting for the Democratic nominee will help improve things.
How has voting for the centrist Democratic nominee been going so far?
Maybe people aren’t voting because all they see are two Republicans. I’ve been voting since 1996 and every time I feel I’ve been voting for the lesser of two evils.
Maybe people want candidates that are worth voting for.
What we were doing certainly isn’t working, it’s how we got in this mess in the first place. We need to change or we’ll lose again.
Please educate me how not voting, thereby allowing the fascists to take control (we’re already there so it’s not theoretical) helps improve things. You didn’t vote for the Bad Centrist Democrats so instead now we have the one party fascist rule that those tewwibwe centwists cwied about.You’ re so righteous and we all feel inferior to your non-voting prowess.
I did vote for the “bad centrist Democrat” and where did that get us? Right here, where we are now.
How about you, instead of voting for the centrist Republican in Democrat clothes, actually vote for a Democrat.
Stop blaming people that want to vote for better candidates and blame the party that refuses to give us better candidates.
On voting day, you have a choice. Vote for the evil empire or vote for the opposition. I’m not sure what you think voting for Uncle Earl waving a happy face flag off to the side is going to accomplish. Moral victories are only victories if the morals actually have victories. We all knew what the choices were in 2024. Any anyone who didn’t vote for Harris in the general election voted for what we got. End of story.
You know how you get a government that reflects your morals? You start by electing a government that actually gives a shit about you in the first place, not by writing in someone who will never be your government.
You’re not getting it… That’s exactly what I’m trying to do.
If you haven’t noticed, the current centrist Dem party isn’t doing much. Yet you want me to keep voting for the people that aren’t doing much.
I’m not going to vote for them anymore. Get as mad as you want, but if the Dems want my vote then they better fucking earn it.
People like you keep saying how important this election is yet want us to keep doing the same shit over and over. Get a fucking clue already, the Dem platform is unpopular and a losing one. It needs to change.
The single most successful third party presidential candidate since 1900 was Teddy Roosevelt, who had already been president twice, when he ran under the Bull Moose Party ticket. He got 29% of the popular vote, spilt the Republican vote, and handed the presidency to Democrat Woodrow Wilson.
The second most successful third party presidential candidate since 1900 was Ross Perot in 1992. He got 18.6% of the popular vote, drew conservative voters away from George H. W. Bush, and handed the presidency to Bill Clinton.
Third party candidates by all means should run for local and down-ballot offices, but above a certain level, if you haven’t got a realistic plan for how to win beyond wishful thinking, then the responsible move is to run as hard as you can in the primary, try to drag the primary electorate in the direction you want it to move, and endorse the major party candidate that most closely aligns with your views. If you aren’t even hitting twenty percent in the polls leading up to the general, then you’re acting as a spoiler and helping your most-hated opponent win.
What got us into this mess was the resounding success of gradual incrementalism in the hands of the right. We didn’t get where we are spontaneously, it’s the result of decades of preparation by the Federalist Society and Heritage Foundation.
It works, you just have to commit to it.
Incrementalism is what sorta helps to get us out as well. By that I mean changing the voting systems like New York City did which helps make it easier to get more leftist candidates in office.
Changing the DNC requires the majority of new voters to continue being left/progressive on issues and could take another decade.
Changing the voting system in our cities and states is the best chance to pull politics left and to actually allow third parties to take root. The last thing we want really is for the spoiler effect to happen, where our preferred candidate(s) and safe candidate lose to the least preferred candidate.
Aren’t you locked in to the party you’re registered with, specifically to avoid this scenario?
They can’t actually stop you from registering with the other party. It’s not a crime to vote in their primaries and then vote for the other party in the general.
in most states, you have to register with one party or the other for primaries, so you can only vote in one primary. But in the general election, you aren’t required to cast a ballot for the party for which you’re registered.
Interesting, thank you!
Depends on where you live. Here in Missouri, you just tell them which primary ballot you want when you go to vote. I’ve voted for both sides (Democrat primary in 2016 and Conservative primary in 2020 since Missouri will never go blue so might as well attempt to get the least dogshit option for the Dems to weakly fight against).
Right, but that’s two different election cycles, I meant in the same election cycle.