I don’t like Biden either, but anyone with half a brain knows there are two choices in the 2020 election. If we had a sane voting system, voting third party might be worth it, but as it stands, no one but you knows your favorite candidate exists and unless you want to become their campaign manager that will still be true in November. Even if you did, and even if you convinced two thirds of the people who would otherwise have voted for Biden to vote for your chosen candidate instead, Trump would still win because half the country voted for him and your guy only got a third. If you vote third party you might as well stay home.

Not voting isn’t going to stop the genocide in Gaza. The US will continue to funnel them arms no matter which candidate wins this November. Trump practically campaigns on how much he hates the Jews and he’s publicly told Israel to “finish up their war”. He’ll also make life a living hell for anyone who isn’t a straight cisgender male back here at home.

A vote for a candidate is not an endorsement of them or their policies, it’s a statement that you like their policies more than the other guy’s, and “sticking it to liberals” and “refusing to support genocide” (that’s not what voting for Biden is doing, by the way – a vote for either candidate is a vote for genocide and a vote for neither is an endorsement of both) is not more important than keeping the furthest right politician America has ever seen out of office.

How incredibly privileged do you have to be to see an entire national election as what will happen in the Middle East and ignore Trump’s campaign promises to wipe transgender Americans off the map, and further, to not realize that the same thing will happen in the Middle East regardless of which candidate wins?

I hate Biden as much as every other leftist here. But I’ll still vote for him because Trump is worse. If there’s a single bone in your body that cares about the lives of your trans friends you will too.

  • VinnyDaCat@lemmy.world
    21·
    8 months ago

    Let’s be real, this isn’t about people not voting anymore.

    Those of us who have resolved to vote Biden despite much of our displeasure towards the handling of Israel/Gaze were going to do so anyways. You won’t convince those who have decided not to vote this way either.

    Screaming at people to vote will not make them want to vote. Worst case scenario you piss them off enough that the spite vote against you. People aren’t puppets for you to control by telling them what’s in their bests interests and demanding they follow through. You have to work with them in a pleasant manner if you genuinely want to convince them.

    But again, I don’t think this is about people not voting anymore. Some people are genuinely unhappy that others are unhappy with their options for candidates. So many people on the moderate left can’t be satisfied with the fact that they have such a firm grip on intelligent voters who understand the status quo. It’s not enough for them to know that our options are bleak and that we have to vote for someone supporting genocide, versus letting someone who would openly participate in genocide get in office. You genuinely want us to shut up and stop complaining and to stop criticizing the current administration.

    Also, the amount of people I’ve seen discuss implementing mandatory voting as if it wasn’t a trait of an authoritarian government is insane. Maybe if our voting process had more options it wouldn’t be authoritarian, but as it stands now making voting mandatory would be little more than coercion.

    • megopie@lemmy.blahaj.zoneEnglish
      12·
      8 months ago

      Mandatory voting usually just amounts to requiring people show up at the polls, they can spoil ballots or write in joke candidates.

      It’s not exactly authoritarian, but it wouldn’t really change the situation like some think it would.

      Really, the moderate left needs to get it through their fucking heads that the left aren’t their fucking rebound date when the moderate right shits the bed.

      If they want the left’s vote, if they fucking want to keep trump from winning, they need to appeal to voters not just patronizingly talk down to them.

      The onus is as much on the moderates as it is on the left.

      • VinnyDaCat@lemmy.world
        9·
        8 months ago

        I consider it more so authoritarian in this context due to the expectations of those demanding it.

        Joke candidates/blank ballots would not stand with them. Part of voting is being able to withhold your vote, to utilize your vote as leverage to ensure your representatives work for you, and that’s a big freedom that’s would be stripped away here. You’re right that it probably wouldn’t change much though. You’d potentially do more damage by having uninformed voters who wouldn’t otherwise show up submitting ballots.

        You summed up most of my feelings rather nicely though.

        Personally, I don’t believe the moderates truly hate Trump as much as they say they do. In fact, they appreciate him. He is the perfect looming threat that they can use to coerce us into voting for them without them having to compensate or do any meaningful work towards addressing voter’s concerns.

        Either that, or they are genuinely tone-deaf and out of touch. Take your pick I suppose.

        • AWistfulNihilist@lemmy.world
          7·
          8 months ago

          The DNC loves running against Trump. He’s the most effective propoganda tool since communism. The fact that I’ve seen this stupid fucking meme on every possibly meme channel in like 4 to 8 hour increments is legit demented.

        • megopie@lemmy.blahaj.zoneEnglish
          7·
          8 months ago

          Actions speak louder than words, and the actions of moderates and the democratic establishment don’t seem like those who genuinely want to prevent trump from winning again if it requires them to make concessions or go against lobbyists.

    • Pan_Ziemniak@midwest.social
      10·
      8 months ago

      If we (leftists) want ranked choice voting, we should probably vote against the guy who doesnt want any more elections after this.

      The democratic base is aging just as the gop is. The base they will have to cater towards to survive, is going to be more progressive. We need to survive til then to take that situation and use it to our ends to shift the overton window as far left as she goes.

      • juicy@lemmy.today
        2·
        8 months ago

        Stop pretending to be a leftist. You support the genocide.

        https://midwest.social/comment/8554707:

        “Support genocide” in this case means not abandoning a 70 year ally when our other allies are already worried we are fickle and support or dont support them based on whos in charge every 4 years.

        • Pan_Ziemniak@midwest.social
          5·
          8 months ago

          Since u ignored it when i first wrote it to spam ur bs like the bad faith troll u are, here it is for everyone else,

          Lol. Someone doesnt understand geopolitics.

          We have an open trade agreement with israel. They want to buy, we say how much. I never said i supported it, but if ur curious ive been railing against the apartheid state for 15 years now simce back before i was a leftist. Doesnt change that there is no candidate thatd be capable of ending that policy on a whim.

    • Highlybaked@lemmy.zip
      2·
      8 months ago

      Completely agree, I also think it’s baffling people equate the whole gaza thing to Biden, good luck finding any American president who doesn’t grab his ankles for israel

    • Masterblaster420@lemmy.world
      2·
      8 months ago

      Screaming at people to vote will not make them want to vote. Worst case scenario you piss them off enough that the spite vote against you.

      if people are that petty and childish, then fuck it. let them live in their spite world alongside the sociopathic, conservative right. i’m so sick of the lack of humanity in america.