this post was submitted on 11 Jul 2023
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Politics
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Even after all the bull shit, my parent still refuses to fucking vote. This weekend she tried to start a conversation about how the ice caps are melting. Yeah, no shit! Not like you have done ANYTHING to prevent it either. Mine and my young niece's futures are totally bleak because of the older generation being proudly ignorant and selfish. It's infuriating!
That sucks, sorry to hear it. My mom, of all people, who I don’t think has ever voted, asked me the other day if I was going to vote no on issue 1 in the upcoming special election in Ohio, in which a yes vote would prevent a ballot issue protecting women’s reproductive rights from being up for the vote in November. It’s gotten bad enough here that she is going to vote. There’s a red line for everyone, maybe you need to help yours find it.
Hope you will, really from the bottom of my heart. I am writing from the EU, a region where no matter what we vote we're double tied with what you on the other side of the Atlantic decide. So please be wise next year and think of all the lives that depend on your freedom of choice.
We have a very shitty two party system here in the US. 3rd party candidates don't receive screen time and anyone who gains momentum on their own that isn't sanctioned by either of the two parties are pressured into backing out of the race while simultaneously endorsing one of the "chosen" candidates.
When you can have a president sit for 4 years and the country has only gotten worse, there should be no question about them running again. They do though. It's not what the people want, it's which of the two candidates is going to be less shitty. It's far more important that we keep up the illusion of choice than actually give power to the people.
Even "less sh*tty" is a valid criterion, though! I totally agree with your idea about the "illusion of choice", but it doesn't depend on the number of parties. With many smaller parties it would be even worse, since after the elections nobody has the majority and they have to create (to say as much politely as possible) "original" coalitions to rule a government which in the end is useless because most decisions are supranational.
Yeah! Let’s vote even harder this time. We need to make sure the guy who got $250,000 from MBNA after he wrote the legislation that made student loans inescapable defeats a literal Nazi! That’ll teach em!
We saw what happened when people didn't give enough of a shit to vote - you get Nazis in government and a supreme court fucked for generations.
People need to stop acting like electoral politics has no place, because not playing the game means all the rules are set against you going forward and they tell you to get fucked even harder than they would normally.
Voting doesn't preclude direct action, and one of those options is still way worse than the other.
Just make sure to show up for the primaries too, and do more than voting.
We've got a couple options change what we can, give up and revolution... two of those options are viable for me. ATM the best thing I can really do is talk with coworkers/acquaintances about their concerns in the world and how we can address them. The more I talk with maga folk about their concerns the more common ground I find with them... we all want a better life for our children/community we just get caught up in how to get there. Listen to concerns, find the common ground and come prepared with receipts... I cant say I've changed anyones mind but I will say the die hard liberal/left wing hating coworkers no longer have the direct hate and can see what folk like me are getting at... All this to say don't give up friend we can still do a lot at the community level, the institutional level will come with time.
Well-said, friend. ✊🏼