• Hiplobbe@lemmy.world
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    1 day ago

    “Both sides are bad” is correct, but perpetuate the notion that you only can vote on the two different parties. There are other parties you can vote on.

    “Literally the only way to stay in power”, do I need to remind OP that they WON the elections? Democracy goes both ways, your “side” doesn’t always win.

    • DarkFuture@lemmy.world
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      16 hours ago

      There are other parties you can vote on.

      Not in a presidential election. Not if you want your vote to matter at all.

      • Ravell@lemmy.ml
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        15 hours ago

        Dems/Repubs will happily play hot potato together forever, which they will if there is no third option, which there won’t be if we maintain this perspective, and it will all continue dragging itself and all of us further and further right.

        Solution is to abolish first-past-the-post first. Not to ignore mathematics and pretend reality does not exist.

        Which neither a Dem or Repub will ever allow, and since you are convinced those are currently the only two options, it means they will remain the only two options indefinitely.

        • 8oow3291d@feddit.dk
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          15 hours ago

          Dems/Repubs will happily play hot potato together forever,

          Well, yes, there is a perverse incentive here. It sucks.

          Basic math and game theory still means that voting third party is self-destructive, in the current US climate.

          But I have actually been surprised by how fluid the UK system is right now. They have third parties, in a FPTP system. But the slavish Republicans voters seems to make that not viable in the US.

      • Hiplobbe@lemmy.world
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        23 hours ago

        A democracy should be about voting for what you believe is the best course of action, and not to meta game the system. The system breaks when people think like this “if I don’t vote for the other option my vote doesn’t count”.

        • 8oow3291d@feddit.dk
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          22 hours ago

          Solution is to abolish first-past-the-post first. Not to ignore mathematics and pretend reality does not exist.

        • DarkFuture@lemmy.world
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          16 hours ago

          A democracy should be about voting for what you believe is the best course of action

          Sup? I’m here to remind you that you don’t live in a perfect reality and never will.

          It doesn’t matter what SHOULD be. It matters what IS.

          If you want to vote 3rd party in local/state elections to try to help build their influence and get more than ZERO of their members in Congress, that’s great. But if you vote 3rd party in a presidential election when a 3rd party stands exactly NO chance of winning, then you are a fool who is throwing your vote away and acknowledging that you’re fine with the worst case scenario happening.

          To be clear, the 3rd party candidate with the most votes in the 2024 presidential election only got 0.5% of the total votes cast. Proving that there is no reality in which a 3rd party candidate wins the presidency.

          I could have voted for Jeff Goldblum for president, cuz I think he’s a cool guy. But that would have been pretty stupid, wouldn’t it?

          • Hiplobbe@lemmy.world
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            5 hours ago

            Exactly, that mentality is where democracy fails. You no longer vote for what you believe, you instead vote for what you think will win.