It's a situation that I have been expecting for a while, but I wasn't fully ready to accept it. Specifically it's one of my LGBTQ friends who honestly believes in the democrats will protect them and their partner. I have tried to make the point that both parties are eroding any sort of civility towards all marginalized groups, but fear seems to drive them more than logical observations. They make the excuse that change doesn't happen over night and that the left continues to grow and will have meaningful affects down the road. I fundamentally just don't agree with that idea and vocalize it regularly. More and more it is ending up in a circular argument where I am painted as unrealistic and my rhetoric (leftist rhetoric) is doing more harm than good because it promotes distrust in the only system we have to work with. I try to tell them it's kind of the whole point. We gotta start somewhere if we want to see a better, more representative system, but they are so hung up on the immediate future while simultaneously saying that my idealistic feelings are shortsighted and I cant expect change in the immediate future... The double-talk is wild, I know.
I am trying my hardest to stop from engaging at this point because on the most basic level we agree on a lot of stuff, but they are just way to wrapped up in the fear mongering of the democratic party. They know that the two party system is broken, they know that something drastic needs to change, but they also think that they are powerless to do anything except choose the lesser evil. It pains me because I am watching them do the same shit past generations have done, where they give up on their ideals for the sake of preserving the current status quo that they benefit from. I am legitimately watching them imply "fuck you, got mine" under the guise of civic duty and I hate it. I want nothing more than to be able to finally say "I told you so" without being a smug asshole about it and ruining our friendship.
Thanks for reading my rant. It's probably a bit disjointed, but the frustration is boiling over and I needed to vent to the only group of people that seems to understand the hopelessness of being a disenfranchised leftist.
I’m just grateful for my friend who listens to my rants and admits I know way more about it than him.
Unfortunately he’s still just voting for Kamala
Every time we hang out is basically:
ok so I'm not deep enough into the hexbear rabbit hole but what do you propose voting then?
Some leftists will tell you that simply participating in American elections is an endorsement of our two party duopoly/oligarchy.
I’m writing in Claudia De la Cruz personally. Obviously she is not going to win, but I refuse to give Democrats my vote. They talk the talk, but do not stand for anything I agree with. In fact they are hardly bothering to pretend to be “progressive” anymore.
I don’t want tax credits for first time home buyers, I want the state to seize the assets of these corporations buying up all the homes in the country.
I don’t want legalized marijuana, I want the owners of private prisons shot and the justice system restructured from what is essentially slave labor to an actual rehabilitative system.
And so do I, but every vote that isn't for kamala is basically a vote for trump, and he's far worse
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/ng-interactive/2024/oct/17/trump-wins-elections-outcomes-stakes
My state hasn’t gone blue since 1964 so that argument doesn’t even begin to work on me.
In that case, if you're sure there's absolutely no chance for a blue win, might as well vote PSL. In hindsight I should have known it would vary by state.
Write in Hillary
We don't drink much these day but I do turn into this when I'm drunk. I remember back before we were married, my wife's best friend used to call me "your communist boyfriend."
Good thing we don't drink a lot now, in the current political climate I'd probably jump on the Hamas love train and death to (various evil entities) slogans too hard and get "your terrorist supporting husband" instead.
The struggle is super relatable. I've taken to letting my lib friends share complaints with us then when voting comes up mentioning PSL and Green parties. They don't live in a swing state but still are visibly shocked by the suggestion.
Yeah, I am the insufferable one like that! However, my lib friend is very well read on politics, they just have way more faith in the systems than I do. He also loves to take the "realist" stance as opposed to my idealistic one.