Please start your comments with the following question answered at the top:
"Will you vote for Biden in the 2024 election?" [Y/N]
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People often say that voting third party is throwing away your vote, but using your vote as a protest like you describe is perfectly valid. Politicians from the major parties do care about how they can appeal to swingable voters, and third parties getting more votes does makes them more influential for future policy. You give up having influence between the two people who actually have a chance in the current election, but realistically you didn't in the first place if you don't live in a battleground state.
It's your vote. Don't let other people chide you for not spending it on what they think you should. Just use it for a cause that's worthwhile to you. It's the people who don't vote at all that get ignored.
Fuck I needed to hear that, thanks. I just believe a lot of Biden voters are relentlessly optimistic and more than a little naive- there's a lot of propaganda afoot lately but I think it's important to talk about my choice too. Obviously we need things like ranked-choice voting for third party votes in this country to make a real difference ASAP but IIRC if a party's candidate gets even 5% of the vote in a election they qualify for some federal funding. I don't think it's impossible to fight for better representation and win in the long run that way.
If you live in a state that’s not contested, sure vote third party if that makes you feel better. But the reality is that not voting blue in any purple state does benefit the party you are less aligned with. So in the case of a leftist it would benefit republicans. I also would love an alternative to a two party system but in THIS election a vote that benefits republicans is a vote for a 1 party system.
It will continue to be that way in every election as long as people resign themselves to voting for either party that has no intention of ever giving you a "fix" to the two party system. Why would a Democrat or a Republican want to get a third party elected? Makes 0 sense. Let's say you vote for a Democrat... How does that then incentivize them to do anything differently than how they're already doing it? Your voting for them is tacit approval of their current agenda and party machinations. If they don't lose or get challenged by something further to the left, they will never move left. They will continue to pander towards centerist voters. Since our Overton window is already right of center with the Democrats basically being center-right and the Republicans being further right, they will only move rightwards with this strategy. They only pander towards centrists because the centrist vote isn't guaranteed. So in order for them to move leftward, they need to see that the left voter is not a guaranteed vote. The only way to do that at the ballot box is by voting for someone further to the left than the Democratic party. Yes that might mean that Democrats start to lose, but if they do it's their own damn fault for not appealing to the leftist voter.