this post was submitted on 28 Jun 2024
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Political Memes

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[–] FinishingDutch 21 points 4 months ago (4 children)

As a European… we’re not really fond of this situation either. Both candidates would get laughed off stage here. I don’t mind a seasoned, older politician, but these two should stick to golf and not running a country. Get yourself some better candidates or better, vote for a third party.

[–] [email protected] 18 points 4 months ago (1 children)

Both candidates would get laughed off stage here

There's a reason there was no audience.

[–] FinishingDutch 7 points 4 months ago (1 children)

I honestly don't mind there not being an audience. At least this way you can focus on the question and answers, without people booing, clapping, shouting, etc. An audience is great for a political rally, but for debates like this... I'd rather focus on the actual content.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 4 months ago

If actual content were the goal, they would hav gotten more than 2 minutes per answer.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 4 months ago (2 children)

Third party isn't a real option unfortunately. It's the 2 biggest parties, nobody else has a chance in hell. In EU things are different.

[–] FinishingDutch 4 points 4 months ago (1 children)

You would think that US voters would've had enough of this system by now. The only reason third - or fourth, fifth, etc. - parties don't really work is because people keep voting for the same two... and expecting different results. The classic definition of insanity.

Now, it's not going to be easy to sway enough people, but doing nothing surely isn't going to fix things either. It clearly hasn't to date.

[–] ChillPenguin 1 points 4 months ago (1 children)

We have had enough of the system. But it's a big country. You can't just walk down the street to the White House to end up getting curb stomped by militarized police. While your family at home starves because you stopped working for a day.

Also with voting, one party is sending a fascist religious cult. If one person tries to do a third party vote, that takes away a vote from the other main party that has the highest odds of winning. It would have to be everyone is doing it all at the same time. But it would be much more likely that the fascist wins while everyone realigns. Do you really want to take that chance?

[–] [email protected] 3 points 4 months ago (1 children)

That means the powers aren't balanced enough. In USA I have the impression way too much power lies with 1 person from 1 party. In a democracy, absolute majorities should always be avoided in the most powerful places and policy should always remain the outcome (compromise) of talks between many different parties. The elections serve to point out how strongly represented every faction is, but no 1 faction should ever get near the amount of absolute control it has in the USA. Fact a 3rd party can't arise means the democracy is functionally paralysed, not functioning in democratic way.

[–] ChillPenguin 2 points 4 months ago

Oh you're definitely right about everything there. Our government is definitely fucked and the balance between powers have eroded.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 4 months ago

there's a reason two party system sucks and should be counted as autocracy, where two parties control the system for centuries, who knows if they have shaken hands in backdoors to loot the country and do nothing for people. Two party system is infact worse than autocracy.

[–] PunnyName 11 points 4 months ago (1 children)

Once we get rid of First Past the Post voting, 3rd parties can become viable. But not now.

[–] FinishingDutch 6 points 4 months ago

I'm a biiiiig fan or ranked-choice voting as a concept. It seems like such a nice way to get a more diverse political landscape which isn't set in stone like the US has right now. It'd certainly give other candidates an actual shot at the position. You simply don't even SEE third party candidates these days. They're not in any debate, they never get talked about... After all, why bother when they're never, ever going to win with the current setup?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ranked_voting

[–] noisefree 10 points 4 months ago

The Electoral College and most states arbitrarily deciding to award EC votes as a "winner takes all" proposition is fucking us.