this post was submitted on 15 Jan 2024
722 points (88.7% liked)

Mildly Interesting

17468 readers
391 users here now

This is for strictly mildly interesting material. If it's too interesting, it doesn't belong. If it's not interesting, it doesn't belong.

This is obviously an objective criteria, so the mods are always right. Or maybe mildly right? Ahh.. what do we know?

Just post some stuff and don't spam.

founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] TheWoozy@lemmy.world 7 points 10 months ago (3 children)

So stop whining and vote! Remember: You will ALWAYS be voting for the lesser of two evils.

[–] Rivalarrival@lemmy.today 1 points 10 months ago

Why settle for a lesser evil?

CthulhuForAmerica.com

[–] PlainSimpleGarak@lemm.ee -1 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Or write in someone you believe would actually be good at the job. Then you don't have to vote for someone you believe to be unqualified.

[–] Zink@programming.dev 1 points 10 months ago (2 children)

…as long as choice #3 isn’t apocalyptically bad, right?

Right?

[–] PlainSimpleGarak@lemm.ee 1 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Well if you write in someone who is "apocalyptically bad" that one is definitely on you.

[–] Zink@programming.dev 1 points 10 months ago

Choice 1: third party you prefer Choice 2: mainstream party you prefer Choice 3: mainstream party you don’t prefer that gives off apocalyptic vibes

This is what I was trying to describe. It’s the same old US third party voting trap as always.

[–] CosmicCleric@lemmy.world 0 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (1 children)

…as long as choice #3 isn’t apocalyptically bad, right?

Right?

That's only true if everyone believes that, a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Would really be fantastic to see just once, one time, everyone interconnects on social media and agrees to vote on a third party, as an experiment if nothing else, to finally prove/disprove that theory.

Funny enough these newer generations have this communicative interconnectivity of the Internet available to them, that previous generations didn't have, but they don't seem to use it, instead they just share mene pics/vids, etc.

Could you imagine the political earthquake though if a third party actually won? Would be glorious to see.

[–] Zink@programming.dev 3 points 10 months ago (1 children)

The problem there isn’t that we (assuming the US) don’t want third parties, it’s that our voting system encourages party consolidation rather than cooperation. That only gets more true the higher in the government you go.

[–] CosmicCleric@lemmy.world 0 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (1 children)

The problem there isn’t that we (assuming the US) don’t want third parties,

That's not true. People don't vote for third party because of the self-fulfilling prophecy, but it doesn't mean they don't want it. They also want ranked-choice voting.

I would advocate to put that self-fulfilling prophecy to the test, even if just as an experiment one time.

[–] Zink@programming.dev 2 points 10 months ago (1 children)

I think you’re agreeing with me there. People want other choices, but they get ignored because they have no chance of winning.

It would be great if we couple coordinate and just try it one year, but change needs to be able to happen gradually too. Our system in practice actively punishes third party voting by your vote benefiting the major party you DON’T want.

I bet people would want ranked choice or similar if given the option. I think the establishment really doesn’t like that idea and actively works against it, though.

[–] CosmicCleric@lemmy.world 1 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago)

I think you’re agreeing with me there

Fair enough, yep, sorry for the confusion.

I just wanted to be explicit and generally push back against the notion that Americans don't want other choices to vote for, especially in this election cycle.

[–] CosmicCleric@lemmy.world -1 points 10 months ago (1 children)

You will ALWAYS be voting for the lesser of two evils.

Unless you run for office yourself.

[–] Zoboomafoo@slrpnk.net 2 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (1 children)

Then you'll be the one getting called the lesser of two evils

[–] CosmicCleric@lemmy.world 1 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago)

Then you’ll be the one getting called the leader of two evils

It's the violence inherited in the system. (And yes, that's a Gen-X timeframe related quote (in a deep meta ironic sort of way)).

AKA, what goes around, comes around.

But still, it's worth doing. Better to solve your own problems, versus waiting for somebody else to solve them for you.