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Just a reminder (thelemmy.club)
submitted 1 month ago by to c/politicalmemes@lemmy.world
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cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/16451158

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[–] 3 points 1 month ago (2 children)

Just so we're clear, you're saying that the absolute best we can do is vote for people who will deport 3 million people, many to active war zones that we created, and create the policy structures required for other leaders to deploy unaccountable paramilitary forces to terrorize the domestic population and the alternative is voting for people who will use those policies to deploy unaccountable paramilitary forces to terrorize the domestic population? That's the choice? And you think that's proof that voting works?

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  • [–] 1 point 1 month ago (1 child)

    the absolute best

    Not the absolute best you can do in general - just the absolute best you can do with your right to vote.

    The Two Party System means that either the Democrats' candidate becomes the president or the Republicans' candidate becomes the president - it's effectively impossible for a third party candidate to win, and the presidential power of the elected candidate does not get diminished just because less people voted in total. This means that if one candidate is more evil than the other - then the less evil candidate winning is the best possible outcome (out of only two possible outcomes) of the elections.

    This does not mean that you can't do better in general. Just that whatever you do better is orthogonal to voting. If you are working on a mini black hole that you plan to unleash in Washington to erase the entire government thus eliminating all its evil, then on voting day you go and vote for the lesser evil and then go back to your garage and continue working on your singularity bomb. After voting. Because voting does impact - even if it can't magically fix anything - and voting does not hinder your ability to influence in more impactful ways.

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  • [–] 3 points 1 month ago

    Just that whatever you do better is orthogonal to voting

    That's what I'm saying.

    then on voting day you go and vote for the lesser evil

    But we already established that the choice is:

    vote for people who will deport 3 million people, many to active war zones that we created, and create the policy structures required for other leaders to deploy unaccountable paramilitary forces to terrorize the domestic population and the alternative is voting for people who will use those policies to deploy unaccountable paramilitary forces to terrorize the domestic population

    So exactly what does lesser evil voting impact? Tom Homan remains the deportation czar regardless. Deportations go up. Bombings go up. Genocides are maintained. Cultural erasure is maintained. White supremacy is maintained. Police become more militarized and more unhindered by policy. Corporate profits continue to grow and concentrate wealth. Cops continue to kill black people with impunity. Ecocide continues unabated. The military budget continues to grow. Police budgets continue to grow. The carceral system continues to be the largest in the world by a factor of 3 and heavily racially biased. Pedophiles continue to thrive in public life. Military and state propaganda continue to stream 24/7. Monopolies continue to run the economy. Bailouts continue to protect the elite.

    What exactly does voting impact?

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