Don’t vote for president if you don’t want to, I get it. It’s stupid we only have 2 options, especially when both are in mental decline and show little to no ambition to reduce needless deaths and suffering. Both want to move this country towards fascism, and both are creating a worse world they won’t have to live in for much longer.
To those who see this and think I’m saying both sides are the same, I’m not. I’ll probably vote for Biden in November because he’s driving towards the cliff at a slower speed and at least does the bare minimum for marginalized in this country. Also Trump said some pretty racist shit last night. Still, to those who don’t want to support either candidate for the reasons above, that’s valid.
The point I’m getting to is VOTE DOWN BALLOT. Vote for your congress person and your senator, both federal and state. Vote for your city council and your sheriff and whatever bills there are and everything else. That’s where the fight still matters. That’s where you can make the most difference. The social justice you want to see won’t get near the white house until it’s represented in the lower offices. It doesn’t matter who the president is if you get enough decent people in a position to stand in their way.
unnecessary addendum
That’s the important bit but here’s a some sort messages to a few blocks of voters. To Republicans and right wingers, you should reevaluate your positions because what you’re supporting is stupid and selfish and often inhumane. To Democrats, if you get enough control over the house and senate it doesn’t really matter if Trump is president, also recognize and correct the failures of your party please. To the leftists, please run for office and bring those ideas into the mainstream discussion, try to reach out to your community and to share rather than driving them away with self righteousness. Also, don’t be bigoted, that goes for everyone.
Edit: I even said I was voting for Biden and the libs are still mad I think he sucks. Again, the point of this post is to get people to pay attention to the other things on their ballot. The president isn’t as important or as powerful as we act like it is. And if you want better options, you have to support better options in races where they actually have a chance.
You’re wrong, but it’s not your fault.
First Past The Post is a terrible system. We have it in the UK and we’ve had governments formed by a party that got less than 40% of the votes (as in, people ago actually voted, not including eligible voters who did not cast a ballot).
By any objective measure, “60% of people did not want these clowns in charge” is not really what I’d describe as “democratic”.
So that needs to change. But until it does, that’s the game. And unlike Wargames, you can’t win by not playing.
Not voting for Biden (however bad he is, he is objectively the lesser of two evils), whether not voting or voting third party, is giving Trump’s votes more weight. Yes, that’s shit, no, that’s not fair. But that’s the way the system is right here right now. Deal with it. Vote Biden or you are implicitly saying you’re OK with Trump.
I think the amazing thing is how much improvement you get from going from “choose one” to “choose all you like.” (AKA approval voting). The ultimate goal is proportional representation, but approval is such an easy first step.
This doesn’t acknowledge the core of my argument. This doesn’t even contradict anything I’ve said.
You know what? That’s fair. You’re actually mostly right.
I disagree that the position of president isn’t as important as people think - as you you found out during the Trump presidency, a president can potentially pick several Supreme Court justices, and given some recent rulings, it may already be too late to fix that arm of government. Plus as the head of state, they are one of the biggest symbols of national identity.
And as such, telling people they don’t necessarily need to worry about voting for them is dangerous, and I think it undermines your argument that there are other roles to vote for on the same ballot. If low voter turnout is a problem, and they don’t want to vote for arguably the important role, why would they bother going out and queuing at all?
Only if they have support from the senate.
Maybe they shouldn’t be.
I’m arguing it’s not the most important role and trying to get people to go vote even if they skip the president part of their ballot.