Pity US voters their choice of leaders. Surely democracy is better than this? | Simon Tisdall
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/article/2024/jul/20/us-voters-democracy-donald-trump-joe-biden-kamala-harris-jd-vanceOpen linkView original on lemmy.world
16 replies
FPTP is not.
Ranked choice voting is overwhelmingly overdue here.
It would end the GOP overnight.
If one is so generous as to call the US a democracy still. It’s more like an oligarchy, if not a kleptocracy.
Corporatocracy.
Articles like this are just trying to amp up the idiotic "but muh both sides" argument.
One of the candidates wants to turn America into a dictatorshop, the other one doesn't.
It's already a fascist dictatorship, it has been. We have a dictatorship of capital where both right wing parties answer to the same bankers, CEOs, and the donor class. They are the ones directing policy, not us.
There is no democracy until we have ranked choice. Right now it's two sides having to place a god damn bet every election cycle instead of finding common ground which definitely exists.
This is the best summary I could come up with:
With less than four months to go, America’s presidential race, global democracy’s showpiece event, has boiled down to a choice between a crook, a codger, a cheerleader and a charlatan.
The word, by definition, denotes a personality characterised by impaired empathy and remorse, narcissism, superficial charm, manipulativeness, dishonesty and an outward appearance of normality.
Yet now, unbelievably, this sleazy liar, convicted felon and wannabe dictator, this serial sexual abuser, faux-Christian and closet racist reckons he holds the moral high ground.
Names like California’s Gavin Newsom, Michigan’s Gretchen Whitmer and former transport secretary Pete Buttigieg are tossed around like racecourse betting tickets.
Intriguingly, the same fate could befall Trump one day, given his telling choice of the unpleasantly hard-right, white nationalist-populist senator JD Vance as running mate.
Vance’s extremist, intolerant views on abortion, immigration, isolationism and protectionism, plus his inflammatory, divisive rhetoric, typify America’s hugely self-destructive 2024 election.
The original article contains 951 words, the summary contains 143 words. Saved 85%. I'm a bot and I'm open source!
this animated cartoon "The Simpsons" is sometimes quite prophetic. Here, with this episode where they have to choose between two bad extraterrestrial candidates ...
And when somebody suggests voting third-party, they're told: "Go ahead. Throw your vote away!"
As a result, the humans all end up enslaved because they didn't want to vote third-party.
Voting third party being a waste isn't someone's opinion. It's actual math. 3rd party candidates stand 0 chance in this system. I'd love them to. I believe the last (and possibly only) 3rd party to stand a chance was Teddy Rosevelt with the Bull Moose/ Progressive Party. That was 112 years ago. They merged with the Republicans in less than a decade.
Basically, voting 3rd party in this system is, in fact, throwing away your vote.
If you really want to try and change things, I'd focus on boosting up people in the Democratic Party that are pushing for election reforms, because theres no other way that a 3rd party will ever win
If my preferred party gets more votes this year than they did four years ago, that is a good outcome. Gradually increasing the third-party turnout year over year is how we will chip away at the two-party system.
And if my vote helps my preferred party increase their vote, that is a good use of my vote.
I understand completely, believe me. I've done plenty of work for my local Socialist Party branch. I play board games with the local candidate on a regular basis.
I'm still not voting for him for anything. He isn't voting for himself either. We both know he has 0 chance of winning, partly because he has socialist next to his name, but primarily because he's a 3rd party that struggles to even get on the local ballots. We still raise awareness and spread our causes, but we live in a state that's outlawed anything other than first past the post, and we're both smart enough to know that, mathematically, he stands zero chance.
Well, that's up to you. But keep organizing. Maybe your local Socialist Party branch will one day have enough members that you feel comfortable voting for them.
I hope so, but I doubt it'll happen in my life time. This is a deeply conservative area. It'll take a culture shift like the world has never seen before
And Homer gloats "Don't blame me, I voted for Kodos", not realizing that voting for Kodos instead of Kang makes no difference.
Season 8, Episode 1 - "Treehouse of Horror VII"