My grandfather went through something similar. He faced relentless hate and pressure from both sides of the political spectrum, but he never caved and stayed true to his convictions.
Just like those old-school Communists, he knew the power of standing firm, even when the world seemed against him.
Choosing the "lesser of two evils" was never his style, and I’m the same way. I won’t be bullied into casting a vote I don’t believe in, and neither would he.
In my opinion, respecting someone’s decision to vote their conscience is a lot more powerful than forcing them to pick the so-called “realistic” choice.
I won't be voting Harris. I'm proud to vote third party.
I'm sure you think you sound like you have integrity, but it sounds like privilege to me.
Women have actually died because they couldn't get abortions.
I could point out a lot of other things that happened because of Trump, but let's just deal with this one issue.
And you totally misread the idea of the old school Communists standing firm.
Another thing they talked about was Ho Chi Minh working with the American OSS in WW2. Ho would have known all about America's history of racism and genocide, but that didn't matter because there was a bigger threat to his people.
And please name the 'Third Party' you're planning on voting for. There's proof that the GOP has helped both the Libertarians and the Greens get on the ballot to help split the Dem vote.
Because I am not voting Harris, I have privilege?! I promise you make more money than I do. So you have more privilege than me. So are you evil because of it?
I'm a socialist. I know the benefits and lack of benefits we have. I'm still not going to vote Harris. Do you understand? I. Am. NOT. Voting. Democrat.
I wasn’t bullied into casting a vote for Hilldog (she fucking sucks). I am going to vote against the orange bad because I’ve seen how awful his time in office was. I’m not a fan of Harris, but I’m very anti-him. Dems aren’t good enough, but he’s terrible enough that I must do what I can to prevent another term.
Third parties will never be viable if we keep dismissing them and refuse to vote for them, which only strengthens the duopoly's stranglehold on our political system.
So your goal is to make them viable by giving them a pittance of a vote during an incredibly polarized election? How many local seats has your third party won? I wonder if they do anything or have any success outside of ~2 months directly before an election? Why didn't I see shit like this year round from you losers?
There are people affected by your lack of empathy and harm reduction. You stomp your feet and blame the system, and then make a net-zero or negative dent in it and call that integrity. You're no better than the brainwashed right who would vote for a literal felon.
It's not bullying, it's simple math. Harris wins or Trump wins. Harris isn't perfect, but Trump is unacceptable. Voting for neither is a choice, but it's choice that says you don't care which one wins. You don't care if a fascist bigot who wants to abuse his power to control women and line his pockets wins the election. Anyone that's OK with that is either themselves a fascist bigot who wants Project 2025, or they're stupid.
So saying you don't care if Trump wins tells me you might be a fascist bigot, or you might be stupid. If you're just stupid, that's fine, vote your conscience. But if you're a fascist bigot pretending, you might as well admit it to the world and admit you're supporting Trump.
Either way, it's not a persuasive argument to make anyone think you have anything of value to say.
Voting is always an act of harm reduction. Choosing to vote for a non-viable option or not vote is a statement that neither you nor those you care about (in life or the abstract) are in minimal risk of harm or you don’t care about the harm they may undergo.
And honestly I suspect there is a lot of astroturf trying to make the argument. Far too many people on social media are using the same talking points, eg "I can't support a genocide enabler." Which is a valid issue, but it's disingenuous to think that Trump is going to be better for Palestine. Harris, being a human being with empathy, would certainly want the violence to end. Trump wants the genocide to finish. He's said that. A Jill Stein protest vote is nothing.
Every vote for Harris is stealing a vote from third-party candidates who represent real change. By sidelining those voices, you’re indirectly helping Trump win!
If you really want to avoid a Trump win, supporting a viable alternative outside the two-party system is the only way to push the conversation forward.
You trying to bully and pressure me is either privilege or sociopathy.
You trying to bully and pressure me is either privilege or sociopathy.
I did neither, in fact I don’t even respond to your comment where you might think I was responding directly to you.
Considering any third party is viable in the system as it exists today, make as much sense as playing Chess using the rules from Candy Land. It’s delusional and detached from reality.
It’s an unfortunate mathematical truth and no amount of wishing it otherwise will change that. That’s why for any non-primary election, it must be treated as harm reduction above all.
I’ll leave this here in hopes you’ll watch it. There is no way for what you’re hoping to actually succeed in the current environment. The only way out is through and the only way through is voting as harm reduction.
1, voting is not harm reduction, and 2, that video has given you a false conclusion. the lesson we should learn is that strategic voting leads to party consolidation, and the only way to keep third parties is to continue to vote for them.
This poster gets SOOO close to making an observation that would utterly destroy its half-baked, IMO inauthentic reasoning, if it'd only take a closer look at what it's saying. So, I'll close the gap here.
Suppose we could wave our magic wand and get everyone to agree with this poster, getting everyone who is voting Kamala Harris today to vote for ... Rachele Fruit. But the price of this vote is that everyone who WAS voting Rachele Fruit now has to vote Kamala Harris. Suddenly, it's Harris who is spoiling the vote for Fruit...and Jill Stein remains as much as spoiler for Fruit in this magic universe as she is for Harris in this real one. That's the problem with third parties. No matter how the votes line up, whether it be for the Social Workers Party in this parallel universe or the Democrats in this one, votes for Third Parties merely harm your political ideology by taking away votes from the major party on your side of the political aisle and empower the major party most opposite of your ideology. You'd have to go to another parallel where we made Ranked Choice voting work before you could risk a SWP vote in a Rep-Dem world or a Dem vote in a Rep-SWP world.
Mods have always removed my comments if they think I have broken the rules.
I get no favoritism from the mods, nor have I ever I asked for it.
Buuuuutttt you should probably check what comment was removed before ya celebrate too much. I don't think it's quite the "gotcha" you were hoping for. :)
Now this is a load of utter, complete, unmitigated bullshit. The mods are almost 100% behind this poster, no matter how much it claims it's not being showed favouritism. Sure, it's very careful to veil its personal insults and incivility, but coming in and blathering over and over and over and over again about how it's gonna do what it wants here, not just without a care about what the community here wants, but directly flaunting the fact that the community doesn't want any of this bullshit, expressesd as downvotes and a variety of debunking and disparaging comments is most definitely uncivil and should be removed by the mods under Rule 3. But it's allowed to spew its bullshit without any criticism by the mods, while we even hint as to what we think this poster is, and the Mods shut us down hard? If that's not Mods showing favouritism, I don't know what the fuck is.
The mods have never shown me favoritism. In fact, as you pointed out, some of my comments were removed recently. I have no idea what you are going on about.
tells me you might be a fascist bigot, or you might be stupid.
And you trying to bully and pressure me, tells me the same things about yourself that you just accused me of. Either way, it’s not a persuasive argument to make anyone think you have anything of value to say.
I'm still voting third party. And proudly. Thank you!
Bully you? No. Pressure you? Yes, of course. Politics is persuasion. And I can honestly say I don't really care how you vote. I'm not arguing with you. I'm pointing out what a horrible decision you're making, the flaws in your mindset (honest or otherwise) so that maybe others will make better decisions than you.
If that hurts your feelings, I'll point out that people have died because Trump was elected. Women have suffered. Children were separated from their families and lost. Our Covid response was abysmal in part because doctors felt the need to incude Trump's name in their briefing reports. This is more important than your feelings. Democracy is at stake, and that's not at all an exaggeration. Trump put three Christian Nationalists on the Supreme Court. My grandchildren will be cleaning up the mess Trump and his supports have caused. So, respectfully, get fucked.
And I can honestly say I don’t really care how you vote.
Good! Because nothing you have said has made me change my mind. :)
I’ll point out that people have died because Trump was elected.
Every administration, regardless of party, has implemented policies that have tragically resulted in loss of life—whether it's war, lack of healthcare reform, or economic policies that push people into poverty. Singling out one president as uniquely responsible ignores a long-standing pattern of decisions that harm the most vulnerable.
If we want real change, we need to focus on breaking the cycle, not just blaming one person.
I can vote however I want. For whoever I want. It's my right. I respect your rights to vote for whoever you want. You can respect mine. Thank you!
If you choose Harris over Trump, you are choosing the lesser of two evils. If you choose between Fruit and Stein, you are choosing the lessor of two weevils.
Third parties will never be viable if we keep dismissing them and refuse to vote for them, which only strengthens the duopoly's stranglehold on our political system.