UPDATE: Still valid. Voting is not personal expression. Lesser evil is still less evil in the world.
A podcaster I listen to recently expressed the following thoughts: 1) at this point the Democratic primary is essentially a two candidate race and he hopes he doesn’t have to vote for Biden in the general, and 2) that voting in the primary is when you get to vote for your favorite candidate so he’s going to do that despite said candidate not being close to viable in his state.
This is bullshit.
For some reason a large chunk of our country has decided that voting is a form of personal expression. It’s not, and that’s a childish way to think of things. If you want to express yourself, learn to paint or take up ranting on the internet.
Voting is an exercise of power.
It’s the only direct way most of us have to influence how our society is run. Electing to use that power in a way that will not accomplish a goal is throwing away what little power you have in the name of a temper tantrum. It’s the participation trophy of politics; it might make you feel good about yourself, but it signifies nothing beyond that.
Not every vote needs to be about winning. Ralph Nader had a legitimate goal of getting a large enough vote share to get federal funding. I don’t agree with that strategy, and think he helped get Bush elected, but at least there was a concrete positive outcome to work towards.
Jill Stein on the other hand was just out there siphoning votes from the only candidate who could possibly beat Trump. And I’m sure that the folks we betrayed in Rojava understand that the candidates who could win were exactly the same. The kids in cages probably sleep better knowing that you didn’t compromise your values. The planet gets what you were going for as it continues to heat up.
If you wish we had better candidates or that your favorite was doing better, the time to fix that is next cycle. Run a better campaign. Seize power and build organizations. But know that the only message you send by voting for someone who can’t win is that you don’t think your vote matters.
I’m not saying you need to base your vote on some higher knowledge of electability or that you should only support a frontrunner. And I’m not going to tell you which candidates are or are not viable (except Tulsi, she’s not viable). But if you think the candidate you want to vote for can’t win, ditch them and vote for the best candidate who can. If that means Bernie/Biden instead of Warren/Klobuchar then that’s what you should do. If it’s Bloomberg instead of Trump, it sucks but voting for Vermine Supreme isn’t going to make things better. You can even bitch about having to do it.
Don’t vote for someone you know can’t accomplish anything. Bring mouth wash in case you need to go throw up afterwards if you need to. But remember: if the lesser evil wins, that’s still less evil in the world.
Vote Responsibly.
It’s quite amazing how good a job America has done to convince Americans that voting is pointless. No amount of “hey dipshit, your vote actually matters and you should use it responsibly before you get the assholes in charge ample reason to ignore what you want” seems to work.
I feel like we’re barreling towards a contested convention, wherein whatever the result, a bunch of people will make excuses about how they got screwed and we just repeat 2016 ad nauseum, forever and fuckin’ ever until the oceans finally swallow us in the next decade.
My real fear is that a contested convention where Bernie goes in with the most delegates and isn’t the nominee will teach a million potential Democrats that their vote really doesn’t matter, and will doom the country for a generation.
I’ve spent a long time telling people that if you don’t like your current Democratic party, instead of splitting off they need to take it over. I’m not sure how I can make that argument if the best candidate for it gets “screwed” at the convention.
Yeah, unless you’re going to lose your job for going out to vote (and nobody should be, that would be illegal and should be reported) you have nothing to lose by doing it. People who refuse to vote are so stupid.
WA state goes on the 10th and I was going to fill out my ballot this weekend but after SoCar decided to wait for tomorrow and see who else bows out.
I don’t think any of the D’s primaries/caucus are winner take all so the podcaster’s fav might pick up a delegate or 2 with their vote.
The convention was looking to be a shit show but with Pete out I’m starting to think the Ds will go to it with only 1 person standing and show a united front but let’s see what tomorrow brings.
My issues isn’t with the podcaster looking to get his fave a few delegates. It’s that he openly admits said fave can’t win but he’s voting for them anyway. I don’t even agree that the candidate is question is completely out of it, but he seems to think so. And if you think your candidate is out of it there’s literally no reason to vote for them, other than personal expression and emotional investment.
The podcaster in question has also spent the last 3 years shitting on people for voting Stein. Which is a reasonable thing to shit on people for, but there’s no functional difference between their vote and what he’s planning on doing in this primary.
…I’m not sure I entirely agree that those are the only reasons to vote for a candidate that may not win at the primary stage – if everyone ignores a candidate campaigning for a platform that would be a more accurate description of what they’d like the campaign in the general election to be about in favor of their best guess as to which of the two lead horses they’d least like to see win the thing that’s inevitably going to be read by campaign strategist types as being a non-starter platform
…I’m not saying you’re wrong, per se…but upon consideration it seems (if only to me) that the fa t that’s true is evidence that either the system is based on perverse incentives that reach perverse conclusions (logically/mechanically speaking not ‘your opinion is perverse’) or essentially no electoral system is approached in practice as it was ostensibly designed to function?
…or it could just be that it’s Monday…what do I know?
We’re 4 states in, and the current delegate leader only has 60 delegates so far. Approximately 1/3 will be assigned tomorrow. That is the point I will be looking at who has a path based on math.
I still feel like it’s too early for this take. The more I see it, the more I feel like it’s coming from camps of weak candidates. It’s pretty outrageous for there to be such a push to get anyone with delegates, or meeting double digit polling to drop out, or their voters to jump ship, when such a tiny fraction of this country has been able to vote.
I’m not saying people need to give up. Just that if you think your candidate can’t win, find one who can.
I think that’s getting into the self perpetuating cycle of how the concept of “electability” keeps getting in the way of people getting the candidate that they want. As was referenced in the DOT a couple of days ago. We’re not yet at a point that any of the top 4-5 in the race can’t pull off a win, unless we put undo weight into pundits arguments and polling with relatively small samples, since the majority of delegates are up for grabs.
So until there is a large chunk, say at least 1/3 assigned; voting for who you “think” can win vs who you want, is actually ceding your power based on the narrative of pundits.
Which is arguably irresponsible.
Yeah, this right here. There’s so much noise — and it’s all just noise — about “electability” from the media that it starts to become a self-fulfilling prophecy if that’s the only reason you vote. Yeah, it appears right now that it’s Biden vs. Sanders, but we’re still in the top of the first inning when it comes to the actual vote. It feels a little early to dump my starting pitcher now just because I’m not sure they’re gonna be around in the fifth inning.
That being said, I also roll my eyes at people who are waiting on the “perfect” candidate to sweep them off their feet because that person doesn’t exist (and if you think they do, you should take a deep breath and a long walk and think real hard about it, because you’re getting played for a sucker). That voting block also kinda drives me nuts.
Klobuchar is dropping out too, will be endorsing Biden and appearing with him in Dallas.
Voting is a form of expression. I’d hope people make informed and intelligent votes, sure we all do, but people are going to vote however they fucking want and that’s fucking democracy baby! I’m voting for whoever is still in when I get to primary that I want to vote for. The general election is months away yet, but I already know who I’m definitely not voting for.
Oh and to be clear: if your pony is already dropped out then find another one. Gotta keep it moving.
I’m not saying you need to base your vote on some higher knowledge of electability or that you should only support a frontrunner.
sounds good
…But if you think the candidate you want to vote for can’t win, ditch them and vote for the best candidate who can.
what the? didn’t you said you won’t do that?
If that means Bernie/Biden instead of Warren/Klobuchar then that’s what you should do. If it’s Bloomberg instead of Trump, it sucks but voting for Vermine Supreme isn’t going to make things better. You can even bitch about having to do it.
Don’t vote for someone you know can’t accomplish anything. Bring mouth wash in case you need to go throw up afterwards if you need to. But remember: if the lesser evil wins, that’s still less evil in the world.
sounds too much dnc/3rd way. I have a different philosophy. I think, unfortunately, there are only 2 parties; the Ds and the Rs. and they won’t let any other in. by voting for Vermine Light, and say he wins, the damage you do the D brand is much bigger than avoiding the bigger evil; you’re putting down the welcome mat for Wolf Supreme. what do think brought us don fatty? R-light policies by stupid Ds.
you may save 10 lives by voting for Vermine Light, but after Vermine Light we’ll get Wolf Supreme who’ll take 1000 lives. and then we get Bear Supreme. american taliban in the white house! good thing obama kept the nukes working. bye now. it was a nice ride…
“Jill Stein on the other hand was just out there siphoning votes from the only candidate who could possibly beat Trump.”
Once again, I call your attention to the Other Swing Voter–the voter who either votes D, or votes 3rd party or not at all. Jill Stein didn’t give us Trump, so please stop blaming her and/or voters who either couldn’t bring themselves to vote for Clinton or simply stayed home because their disgust with Clinton could not overcome the very real barriers facing black voters in this country:
https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2020/01/other-swing-voter/604474/
Here’s the money section:
“The impact of the black swing voter is shown most clearly in three states Clinton lost by a combined 80,000 votes: Wisconsin, Michigan, and Pennsylvania. In Michigan, more than 75,000 Obama voters in Detroit alone did not vote in 2016. In Wisconsin, Clinton received 230,000 fewer votes than Obama did in 2012. Much of the difference came from Milwaukee, which had the lowest voting rate in 16 years. In Philadelphia, one post-election study found that the greater the percentage of black people at a precinct, the lower its voting rate, leading to Clinton losing an estimated 35,000 votes.
The surge of white voters without college degrees for Trump was seen by some as the deciding factor in Trump’s election. Why can’t the white swing voter and the other swing voter both be deciding factors? For example, the support of white non-college-educated voters for Democrats declined 5 percent between Obama and Clinton. What was the percentage decline in support between Obama and Clinton among black voters? Five percent. Whereas 12 percent of white Obama voters supported Trump, 11 percent of black Obama voters didn’t vote.”
Update: primaries are primaries for a reason. Demanding that people not vote for their preferred candidate in a primary because they must vote for the “electable” candidate is bullshit, autocratic, paternalism.
Just wanted to add, that–at least in WI–the GOP had *also* changed the voting laws, so that you needed an up-to-date, state-issued ID to be able to vote–which meant uncounted (provisional) votes, in addition to tons of voters being purged from the rolls:
That disproportionately impacted non-white voters, *especially* voters who were born outside the state, and who didn’t have a copy of their birth certificate:
https://www.thenation.com/article/archive/wisconsin-is-systematically-failing-to-provide-the-photo-ids-required-to-vote-in-november/