this post was submitted on 04 Apr 2024
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Oh yeah, we do. Our current government is made up of five parties, and then there's a half a dozen more in the opposition.
The political reality in the US, however, is such that giving your vote to a third party currently would help Trump, because there is no way a third party candidate gets elected.
Need I remind you the US utilises an indirect vote and the electoral college, and that Trump has already won once despite having lost the popular vote.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_United_States_presidential_elections_in_which_the_winner_lost_the_popular_vote
I'm an advocate for non-partisan politics, but that's an ideology I have and I understand that it sometimes collides with practical reality.
This self defeatist thought process is why it doesn't work. People don't vote for third parties, because they think they won't win anyway, and assume it's a wasted vote. I live in a blue state, that will always go blue. I vote for who I think is the best candidate, even if it's a third party. People claim they want to do better than the two party system, but take no steps to vote for anyone but the main 2 parties, which further drives the two party system they claim to hate. If you want to change the two party system, then change it, and stop just talking about it. I'm voting third party this year. Both candidates are bad, and I refuse to vote for the lesser of two evils.
Before you get ranked choice voting; tough titties, but you fucking have to play the system how it works. Your system sucks, but pretending everyone is magically just going to pivot to the same direction at the same time is quite frankly unrealistic.
"I refuse to vote for the lesser of two evils"
Great, so you really aren't afraid that Trump will win? You do realise the popular vote doesn't really matter, the electoral college does? Because those guys aren't going to vote for third party candidates. The closer the election is (if Trump gets to run in the first place), the harder it will be then to quell the trumpist fucks who won't accept he didn't win when the electors go with the popular vote when it's actually showing a clear winner. Every time that a president won but lost the popular vote, the margins have been close.
Have your ideology, no worries, even act on it. But do you really have to die on this specific hill, which if it happens might lead to Trump being the president. Do you seriously not think some fascist hellhole is possible here? Do you not see the actual risks if that happens?
With ranked choice voting, you wouldn't need to do that, you'd always get to vote for the best person, but you could put in your second preferred option in case your first one doesn't get enough votes. In a system like that, your zeal would be highly appreciated. Unfortunately you don't have one. So put on your activism boots and call your senator or whatever it is you do there to try to affect political change, and try to push through ranked choice voting and then exercise your ideology.
https://act.represent.us/sign/ranked-choice-voting
I live in a hard blue state. I, and half of the registered voters in the state could choose not to vote, and my state will always go blue in a presidential election. I will vote with my conscience. Until more people vote for who they actually want, instead of against the other person, nothing will change. We won't ever have ranked voting, because the Rs and Ds in charge will never put it in place because it could remove them from power. We need to change the way we vote before any meaningful changes can happen. If we keep voting for the 2 major parties, nothing will ever change in that regard.