I thought that would be obvious. Again, this is a self-selecting group of lefty folks. If someone works in one of Russia’s troll farms, and their job today is to try to divide the left, then they’re gonna go to where the left hangs out.
If someone like that shows up shouting, “Trump 2024! MAGA!” then they’re not going to make any headway. Like I said, Republicans here tend to get downvoted into oblivion.
So instead, they show up and go, “I’m a lefty, too. Very left. In fact, I’m so leftilicious that I hate Harris. Don’t vote for Harris, she’s just like the Republicans! Instead, vote for [INSERT CANDIDATE WITH NO CHANCE OF WINNING]! Because believe me, [INSERT CANDIDATE WITH NO CHANCE OF WINNING] is much, much better! Be ideologically pure! And whatever you do, don’t worry about Donald Trump becoming president, because I’m sure that with enough of us voting for them, [INSERT CANDIDATE WITH NO CHANCE OF WINNING] will totes win!”
It’s true, they do. But not always. It depends on how many there are in any given post, spam-upvoting each other. And… it depends on how successful their divisive arguments are. As far as they’re concerned, it doesn’t matter if 99% of the time they fail to get traction. They’re going for that 1%, that one susceptible person who can be convinced to throw their vote away on a third-party candidate in a FPTP election where that vote has a 0% chance of electing that third-party candidate.
Personally, I don’t think you’re one of the Russian trolls. I think you’re one of their victims.
Personally, I don’t think you’re one of the Russian trolls. I think you’re one of their victims.
Friend, I’ve been voting since the 1988 election. Almost always third-party. Based on my social connections and third parties and groups I have met and protested with.
And before that–even when in grade school–I never liked the idea of two main political parties running things.
I’ve been doing this long before “Russian propaganda” was a thing. We didn’t even have internet when I started questioning things.
The truth is, it’s the system designed by those in power that ensures third parties never get a fair shot, not the fault of those of us trying to break free. Every vote for a third party is a step toward tearing down the walls built by the ruling class, and you’d better believe that’s a vote well spent.
Personally, I don’t think you’re a Duopoly worshipper. But I do think you’re one of their victims.
I want to ask you something. Don’t answer immediately, stop to really think about the answer and what it means.
How many politicians have you voted for that either won or got second place? In our FPTP system, those are the only outcomes that matter. Winning means you got into an elected position. Second place means you may still have a political future.
If you’ve been voting mostly third-party your entire adult life, there is a very good chance you have literally never had any effect on any election whatsoever. You and every single other voter who voted for your preferred candidates could have stayed home on election day and not only would the winner have remained the same, the person who came in second would have stayed the same.
I’m willing to bet that if you stop and add up every single time your preferred candidate won or got second place, and every single time that person was running as either a Democrat or a Republican, you’ll find that it’s the same number.
I thought that would be obvious. Again, this is a self-selecting group of lefty folks. If someone works in one of Russia’s troll farms, and their job today is to try to divide the left, then they’re gonna go to where the left hangs out.
If someone like that shows up shouting, “Trump 2024! MAGA!” then they’re not going to make any headway. Like I said, Republicans here tend to get downvoted into oblivion.
So instead, they show up and go, “I’m a lefty, too. Very left. In fact, I’m so leftilicious that I hate Harris. Don’t vote for Harris, she’s just like the Republicans! Instead, vote for [INSERT CANDIDATE WITH NO CHANCE OF WINNING]! Because believe me, [INSERT CANDIDATE WITH NO CHANCE OF WINNING] is much, much better! Be ideologically pure! And whatever you do, don’t worry about Donald Trump becoming president, because I’m sure that with enough of us voting for them, [INSERT CANDIDATE WITH NO CHANCE OF WINNING] will totes win!”
And they get downvoted to oblivion. And even stalked. It happened to me actually! lol
It’s true, they do. But not always. It depends on how many there are in any given post, spam-upvoting each other. And… it depends on how successful their divisive arguments are. As far as they’re concerned, it doesn’t matter if 99% of the time they fail to get traction. They’re going for that 1%, that one susceptible person who can be convinced to throw their vote away on a third-party candidate in a FPTP election where that vote has a 0% chance of electing that third-party candidate.
Personally, I don’t think you’re one of the Russian trolls. I think you’re one of their victims.
Friend, I’ve been voting since the 1988 election. Almost always third-party. Based on my social connections and third parties and groups I have met and protested with.
And before that–even when in grade school–I never liked the idea of two main political parties running things.
I’ve been doing this long before “Russian propaganda” was a thing. We didn’t even have internet when I started questioning things.
The truth is, it’s the system designed by those in power that ensures third parties never get a fair shot, not the fault of those of us trying to break free. Every vote for a third party is a step toward tearing down the walls built by the ruling class, and you’d better believe that’s a vote well spent.
Personally, I don’t think you’re a Duopoly worshipper. But I do think you’re one of their victims.
I want to ask you something. Don’t answer immediately, stop to really think about the answer and what it means.
How many politicians have you voted for that either won or got second place? In our FPTP system, those are the only outcomes that matter. Winning means you got into an elected position. Second place means you may still have a political future.
If you’ve been voting mostly third-party your entire adult life, there is a very good chance you have literally never had any effect on any election whatsoever. You and every single other voter who voted for your preferred candidates could have stayed home on election day and not only would the winner have remained the same, the person who came in second would have stayed the same.
I’m willing to bet that if you stop and add up every single time your preferred candidate won or got second place, and every single time that person was running as either a Democrat or a Republican, you’ll find that it’s the same number.