I'd like it to be mayor Pete. Young, smart, well spoken, Rhodes scholar, veteran. Plus it would set him up for a serious run at the presidency in the future.
When I was in school the kids with the weird names were either picked on or they were super cool and popular. Their parents had no idea which one they were going to be when they chose the name.
Your friend has the benefit of knowing who she is already. If she knows she's going rock it, then go Mildred.
I have no idea if these numbers are correct. For me I don't need any history though. One party is standing behind a guy who has been charged with 91 felony counts in four different jurisdictions and convicted of 34 and counting, and that's just for stuff he did while in office or as a candidate. He attempted a coup. He fomented a terrorist attack on the Capitol. Still, the Republicans are like, "Yep, that's our guy!" all while the Democrats tear themselves apart over Biden being old and doing old person things. Yeah it would be nice to have a better option for president, but this is not a difficult decision.
So your solution is to give up and throw your vote away? I'm glad you didn't want my respect because you didn't get it.
A literal corpse being paraded around for four years like Weekend at Bernie's would still be a better choice than Trump. He attempted a coup to invalidate the will of the people and maintain power, sent a mob to attack the Capitol building, and has been charged with 91 felony counts in four jurisdictions just for stuff he did while in office and as a candidate (convicted of 34 and counting).
But democracy died when an old man showed signs of being old? Not all that other stuff? Yeah, I'm voting for Biden. Easiest decision of my life. You should too.
Most probably wouldn't have voted at all but that doesn't change the math. In a US presidential election, voting third party and not voting at all are equivalent in every practical sense.
It absolutely is righteous indignation. You aren't in the same situation as that guy and you aren't being brave. Palestinians in Gaza will not be thanking you if Trump becomes president.
They aren't both Hitler though. One is unquestionably worse than the other even if you only look at that single issue. One of them WILL be the next president whether you like it or not. You can have a say in who that will be, or you can go with righteous indignation and let the worse option win by default.
Are you sure we don't understand it correctly? Trump won in 2016 in part due to the righteous indignation of people that refused to vote for Clinton. Third party spoiler candidates are not a new phenomenon.
It's about having your desires counted on the public record.
Get your desires on the public record in local and state elections and primaries where it might actually matter. For a US presidential election it's an entirely empty gesture that makes you and only you feel better. No policies will change. No causes will be advanced. History will not remember you. It is very likely, however, that will make the lives of vulnerable people inside and outside of this country worse by giving trump a second term.
Do you understand why you are being demonized though? You're making a choice that is purely symbolic just so you feel better, but real and vulnerable people across the country have to deal with the fallout.
You want to make a difference? Great! There's a lot of ways to do that. Campaign and fundraise at the local and state level. Push for election reform, ranked choice voting, end to gerrymandering, term limits, electoral college reform, curtail lobbying... any number of things, and push for them more often than once every four years. Voting third party in a presidential election does NOT help.
If you want my respect, acknowledge the reality of the situation and vote for the best option (or the least bad option) among the viable candidates and then work for change within the system. It sucks that we are in this situation, but make a choice grounded in the real world, not a fake ideal world.
I agree with this. But also, this time is the closest to "end of the world" stakes we've had in recent memory. We have a literal criminal, rapist, and fraudster who already tried to overthrow the government once leading the polls.
It's crazy how this took off because of one joke tweet. It's the Richard Gere gerbil thing for a whole new generation.