• yata@sh.itjust.works
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    1 year ago

    And if someone votes anything else than blue or red, they’re throwing away their vote right?

    As long as the US election system is the way that it is, then yes it is an undisputed fact that voting for third party is the same as throwing your vote away. It is a shitty system and it is in desperate need for a change, but it doesn’t make it less true.

    • Baron Von J@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      It’s worse than throwing your vote away. It’s a shadow vote for the most popular candidate who is most diametrically opposite from your views, in that it is taking a potential vote away from the most popular candidate who is closer than them. It’s letting perfect get in the way of better.

    • SupraMario@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      And I’ll continue to vote 3rd party. My conscious is clear. The system is broken but I’m not feeding into it. Red and blue teams are burning the US to the ground. Hell the tribalism for the blue team just in this post is insane.

      • kescusay@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        You’re absolutely feeding into it, by depriving yourself entirely of a voice in elections. If you’re consistently voting 3rd party, that has exactly the same impact on who gets elected as dropping your ballots in the trash can instead of the ballot box.

        In your quest for ideological purity, you’ve achieved irrelevancy.

        • SupraMario@lemmy.world
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          1 year ago

          Which is fine by me. I’d rather know I didn’t contribute to the mess everyone else is making.

          • kescusay@lemmy.world
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            1 year ago

            That’s…

            Okay, I’m not going to beat around the bush. That’s stupid, selfish, and morally repugnant. You’re hurting the most vulnerable among us so you can pretend to meet some lofty ideal of political purity.

            I don’t have that luxury. You see, I have kids, and they have to grow up in whatever world we leave them. On top of that, my son is trans and my daughter is gay, so I have to vote pragmatically to protect their rights.

            Realistically, you know the next president is going to be a Democrat or a Republican. Other party candidates have a 0% chance of winning. Out of those party choices, which ones are currently pushing horrifying lies about people like my kids? I can pick the party that would literally murder them if they could get away with it… Or I can pick the party that wouldn’t.

            If I go your route, I’m silencing my ability to use my voice in the interests of my own children. Why would I do that?

            And why would you?

            • SupraMario@lemmy.world
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              1 year ago

              This is why I stated you vote in local elections. They mean way more than on the presidential scale. And until the electoral college is removed. You’re vote means fuck all as well. It’s why Trump was elected in the first place.

              • kescusay@lemmy.world
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                1 year ago

                Of course I vote in local elections. But you’re absolutely wrong that voting in presidential elections means “fuck all.” It’s in fact literally the only way we have any say in who is president. Every single state in the country delivers its electoral votes based on the votes of the people in that state. If you vote 3rd-party, enough people in your state have to also vote 3rd party for your vote to mean anything at all. But as long as they’re the dominant parties, if you vote for the Democrat or Republican, then your vote counts.

                • SupraMario@lemmy.world
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                  1 year ago

                  Hillary won the popular vote, but trump took the electoral college votes… your vote means fuck all.

                  • kescusay@lemmy.world
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                    1 year ago

                    Missed my point. No one’s disputing the fact that the electoral college sucks. But not voting for the Democrat 100% guarantees the Republican wins.

                    Each state apportions its electors using that state’s popular vote. It’s stupid, and gives backwards, rural voters more electoral power than they should have, but that doesn’t mean you have none at all.