Slightly OT, but this is also why we absolutely need ranked voting ASAP. How much better would a candidate like Sanders do if people knew that voting for him as first choice and Biden as second was possible?
Well he lost the primaries, which is when you vote for the candidate you really want. But he lost the primaries because the DNC aired a never ending stream of bullshit telling the people it was impossible for Sanders to win, and then pointing to the current super delegate polls as evidence. Idk why people are terrified of voting for a losing candidate in the primaries though. Who gives a fuck if your vote loses in the primaries? You should vote for the candidate you want, not the one you think is going to win. It's not a casino bet.
The closed primary system is just so fucked in general, these are private organizations that can do whatever they want, the DNC and the RNC.
I still don't like Debbie Wasserman Schultz. She was literally marched out of the DNC office because of the bias she showed towards Hillary Clinton in leaked emails. Then she gets hired by the Clinton campaign!
Shit was so crazy.
The thing is, because the final vote for president isn't ranked choice, the spoiler effect is also spoiling the primary. People will vote for the candidate they think can will at the national level, else Trump might win.
If you had ranked choice voting at the actual election, only then would the spoiler effect be fixed.
Now no offence to the US political system but the primaries are a symptom of a two party system.
Without them and with ranked choice voting, y'all would have had Sanders (edit: in 2016) and we wouldn't be having this discussion.
Much love. I mean it.
This is posted in political humor, but unfortunately, it's not a joke.
As a Canadian looking from the outside in, it really does seem to be trending in that direction… any further Republican wins will mean the end of democracy, with America sliding into a ChristoFascist Autocracy.
I fear for my American neighbours, but we have similar problems up here; we just happen to be a decade or so behind you folk.
This was the same promise in 2020. And yet here we are. Democrats should have done better than beg to save democracy one more time.
Preserving democracy was never going to be a single-step solution process. It takes consistent, persistent work to not only expand, but to just maintain our liberty for all. It's a tower defense strategy game.
At the close of the Constitutional Convention of 1787, a lady asked Benjamin Franklin “Well Doctor what have we got, a republic or a monarchy.” Franklin replied, “A republic . . . if you can keep it.” This existential threat has always been there and it's something to always be wary of. It's exhausting, but it's worth it. Freedom ain't free.
“You ever notice whenever the republicans do something terrible or prevent something good from happening, it’s always the democrats fault?” -Fucking idiots everywhere.
I don't know much about US politics, but is Biden the only choice you have besides voting for Trump? There's zero alternatives? I've seen in the comments that people prefer Biden to other democrat candidates, because he already beat Trump already, so it has better chances to beat him again. But realistically, it seems like everyone hates Trump with a burning passion, so any Democrat that is not batshit insane and totally incompetent would beat him, right? Seems like an easy win.
It's a first past the post system with only two major political parties. That means the choice is either the selected Democrat or the selected Republican, who are elected via a complex primary process that differs from state to state.
Voting third party in the U.S. achieves absolutely nothing. Especially when there are almost never third party choices for lower office, aside from the libertarians and they're nuts. If you are determined to not vote for any Democrats or Republicans, your vote has the same effect as staying home and not voting.
I would love this to change, but I don't foresee that happening anytime soon.
So what you're talking about is a primary contender from the democratic party, but generally the incumbent party doesn't have a primary for the president. Your only real options are the Democrat (Biden, unless he dies), or the Republican (looking like Trump, but they will have a primary). You can vote for other people, but it doesn't do anything. You might as well try to get the better option than choosing not to vote out of spite, and getting whatever happens regardless.
I look at this fom a far and i wonder: Why do the democrats not just get a younger more capable person to vote for?
Because they're part of the system run by the wealthy and powerful, and younger peeps not only have to claw their way into that microcosm, but are often then bought out / corrupted by that very system.
Because they're internally struggling against them.
Democrats are a party of capital, which resist the young for two reasons:
They do not hold capital in any capacity that can be compared to older generations
As a result, they are overwhelmingly more anti-capital than previous generations.
Joe Biden has the authority to resign. Joe Biden can choose to not run in 2024. If he cared about preserving democracy, he would let someone more electible take his place.
If things go wrong, it's the fault of the people in power.
Joe Biden has already beat Donald Trump in an election. More electable makes no sense in this context.
The only way Biden could lose is if some of the people who voted for him last time, after everything that's happened since Trump lost the election, decide 'ehh, that Trump guy wasn't so bad, let's give him another shot' and decide not to vote against Trump.
The incumbent president has only lost 10 times in US history (and one of those was Trump). Biden already beat Trump once. Who has a better resume than that?
Seriously. Tell us a name.
Weird, I was sold almost the exact same line in 2020.
It’s almost like the same totalitarian is running on the GOP ticket.
As we all know, politics only happens when you vote for president every 4 years.
This is the same tired line we have to hear every 4 years. It's been a substitute for concrete policy and it's gotten all of us nowhere.
Maybe the democrats should pull their heads up from their asses and realize that "vote for us or else" doesn't have the rallying power they think it does, especially when they're repeating it every election cycle.
Just some thoughts from someone outside the US.
It's like they don't actually care and are actively courting fascism to use it as a boogy man rather than helping change things for the better.
We literally do not live in a democracy according to a bunch of empirical studies, and also according to basic material analysis.
The opinion of the masses is never reflected in our government.
Does your politics begin and end at participating in sham elections? Why aren't you encouraging people to take meaningful political action?
Imagine being Russian and the extent of your political activism is encouraging people to vote Putin out.
That's how ridiculous you are.
It's sad how the US spends trillions on defense, when all it takes to seize control over the nation is some bottom tier Dollar Store propaganda that any third world nation could afford.
Most lib shit ever. "Every election is the most important one". When are people going to realize you are always voting for rich fuckers who don't care about you
Man the Democratic Party this election cycle has just been working overtime to invite the conversational wedge between 'saving american democracy from fascism' and 'voting against Trump.'
I guess that's what the donor class wants this time: "Do nothing but vote."
Post politically charged comedy here, but be respectful!
