people whose politics is premised on empathy

You must not have read this part. Republican politics don’t rely on empathy, but democratic policy supposedly does, thus less turnout for a less empathetic democratic candidate.

But you clearly used a slur that was removed

Choosing current republicans and current democrats is choosing the weapon to be used against you and especially against minorities. Both parties choose to uphold a system that relies on “winners” and “losers” to exist, which makes both of them willing to use minorities as a cost of maintaining profits and systemic power. Why is it acceptable to think it is better to choose the less lethal weapon instead of doing literally anything else to try to prevent all this systemic violence?