Image Transcription:

A tweet from the George Takei Twitter account which states:

"A Democrat was in the White House when my family was sent to the internment camps in 1941. It was an egregious violation of our human and civil rights.

It would have been understandable if people like me said they’d never vote for a Democrat again, given what had been done to us.

But being a liberal, being a progressive, means being able to look past my own grievances and concerns and think of the greater good. It means working from within the Democratic party to make it better, even when it has betrayed its values.

I went on to campaign for Adlai Stevenson when I became an adult. I marched for civil rights and had the honor of meeting Dr. Martin Luther King. I fought for redress for my community and have spent my life ensuring that America understood that we could not betray our Constitution in such a way ever again.

Bill Clinton broke my heart when he signed DOMA into law. It was a slap in the face to the LGBTQ community. And I knew that we still had much work to do. But I voted for him again in 1996 despite my misgivings, because the alternative was far worse. And my obligation as a citizen was to help choose the best leader for it, not to check out by not voting out of anger or protest.

There is no leader who will make the decision you want her or him to make 100 percent of the time. Your vote is a tool of hope for a better world. Use it wisely, for it is precious. Use it for others, for they are in need of your support, too."

End Transcription.

The last paragraph I find particularly powerful and something more people really should take into account.

    • Gormadt@lemmy.blahaj.zoneOP
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      11 months ago

      Unfortunately here in the US with our current voting system, voting for the lesser of 2 evils is the best strategy once it’s election day.

      Primaries are for voting with your heart, election day is for strategic voting.

        • darq@kbin.social
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          11 months ago

          The system doesn’t actually require any collaboration to eventually become a two-party race. It’s pretty much statistically assured if voters behave rationally, but with limited information.

        • CoggyMcFee@lemmy.world
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          11 months ago

          You’re starting out with the wrong assumption in your question. The question should be “why is it that there are only two choices?” And the answer is: because the voting system laid out in the constitution makes it an inevitability.

          It’s not a coincidence that the countries in Europe with many parties have a different type of system. Statistical models demonstrate that their many parties and our two parties are a natural consequence of how our voting system works.

          It’s bad enough being stuck in the situation we are, but wrongly attributing the cause to a vast conspiracy, involving both parties working together, just leads to the wrong conclusions about what to do about it.

          In reality, voting third party instead of the party you most align with just helps the party you least align with. The GOP backs third party candidates that might attract liberal voters for a reason.

          • Maalus@lemmy.world
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            11 months ago

            Or maybe, just maybe, there is a third way? When it comes to politics, americans are as defeatist as russians are.

      • JimboDHimbo@lemmy.ca
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        11 months ago

        Live and served here. I’m aware of the song and dance. Just saying George isn’t providing some sort of revelation. It’s the same bullshit every 4 years

        Edit: not sure why my original comment was removed, even after scrolling through this community’s rules. But it’s cool, the other 196 is better anyway.

      • onkyo@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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        11 months ago

        You could also organize outside the electoral system. In fact it’s the only way to keep politicians accountable

        • Gormadt@lemmy.blahaj.zoneOP
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          11 months ago

          Who says you can’t organize if you vote?

          Organize and get people to loudly push for some things you want in our country AND vote

          Doing both is important

          Edit: I accidentally a word

    • Justin@lemmy.jlh.name
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      11 months ago

      Welcome to politics. Strategic voting is the name of the game, especially with FPTP voting systems.

    • Kusimulkku@lemm.ee
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      11 months ago

      “suck it up and vote for the lesser of two evils”

      But that’s the smartest thing to do in a two party system