knightly

Do it.

I've seen people debate this endlessly, but I've never seen anyone on the side of not voting explain anything beyond "I don't want to support genocide" as if the republicans aren't just as gung ho about killing children. What is the utility in not participating in the election? What do you think not voting will achieve?

I'm already planning not to vote for Republicans.

I pay careful attention to local races and evaluate every candidate because I believe voting to be a civic rssponsibility.

But my fundamental principle when choosing who to vote for is not tactical, but moral. I will not vote in support of people that I believe will perpetuate injustice in the world.

You aren't sending a signal and you certainly aren't making the democrats commit less genocide.

Voting downballot but making no choice for president sends a very clear signal. The DNC just decided they didn't need the uncommitted vote and they're probably right.

Voting democrat is the lesser evil and will have actual positive results for people living in the US, and it isn't mutually exclusive with other ways of enacting change.

I disagree on principle. Voting for a lesser evil is still voting to perpetuate evil. At best, it maintains an intolerable status quo, and it comes from a fear of the radical change that we know is sorely needed. "Lesser evilism" is conservatism.

The issue is much, much larger than what Israel is doing to Gaza.

Agreed.

If you fail to vote for Harris, you allow Trump to win.

Since my vote is now the deciding factor, I have some demands that the Democrats will finally have to listen to if they don't want Trump to win.

1. Stop financing genocide.

Did I say "some demands"? I meant "just do the bare minimum", Jesus..

To be clear here, if Harris does not win, Trump will. Those are your two choices. You can choose to vote for Harris or you court disaster. There is no viable 3rd choice.

Precisely. Democrats know they're the only game in town so they have no incentive to offer better policy. All demands for them to show some basic humanity can be deflected with cries of "But Trump!!1!".

"We've gotta vote blue to save Democracy! No dissent will be tolerated!"

You're unbelievable.

I'm autistic.

Do whatever stupid political moves you think work, just do it silently so you don't drag others down with you.

The liberal mask slips, revealing the fascism that was there all along.

I'm not wasting any more time with your callousness.

Says the person who literally just told me to sit down and shut up.

Anyone reading, ignore this armchair anarchist. This election is important, both sides are not the same. Use your vote, use your voice, ignore the shills.

"Just politics"?

This is a matter of life and death, and you're on the side that's teaming up with Republicans to make sure the bombs keep flowing:

If Democrats want trans folks like me to vote for them then maybe they should stop helping Israel blow up children.

Seems like a really, really low bar but this is America so my expectations were already below sea level.

So you’re saying that if we have a phd in this we would be expected to know better?

Nah, I'm saying that Americans aren't taught about politics, they're lucky if they can make it through high school with a basic understanding of how the state is arranged.

A real education system would make American politics much less predictable, because it would empower Americans to shape their own future rather than merely being subject to corporate whims.

This isn't just Internet arguments. Innocent people are dying. Stop this.

That's what I keep begging for, but instead I keep getting shouted at by Democrat sycophants who want me to vote now and fix the party never.

Of poll respondents. There's a large overlap between people who don't care, and people who don't answer polls.

"Of voters. There's a large overlap between people who don't care and people who don't vote."

If you're going to argue that polling isn't an effective means of determining public sentiment then you probably shouldn't pretend to care about voting.

And oh yeah, Harris has been calling for a ceasefire

Wake me up when there's some action behind those words.

And disregarding AIPAC is stupid. Picking up the single issue voters by overtly pissing off AIPAC during the election will unleash a multimillion dollar ad campaign. Look at what happened to the squad

Indeed, look at what this foreign influence campaign did to our precious American democracy. But hey, we're not ready to talk about it because the parties want to have their cake and eat it too.

There's no good reason to do that now. A smart candidate would stay relatively quiet until the election, and then go full bore on the offensive.

You said "smart" but you appear to have meant "complicit".

Especially since, y'know, the vice president doesn't even have authority here so it's stupid to blame it on her.

Since when did they abolish the bully pulpit? A lack of authority only means she couldn't change national policy unilaterally, it doesn't mean she can't actively work against arms deals and for an embargo.

Especially when the other candidate is actively sabotaging ceasefire negotiations.

Thus, the obvious move is to make the ceasefire negotiations a fait accompli by refusing to reload the aggressor's weapons. Even Trump can't sabotage a ceasefire if there's no fire left to be ceased.

I disagree on #1, it only seemed like a reasonable stance because you were not exposed to information that would contradict it and were never trained to analyze political bias so you wouldn't realize that the avoidance of the topic was significant.

I double-minored in Futures Studies and Political Science during postgrad, and predicted that the Democrat incumbent would have to drop out of the race to give their party a chance all the way back in 2016 when the DNC conspired against Bernie's campaign. For those of us who know how to read between a propagandist's lines, this has been an inevitability for a long time.

now that there's no disagreement, bringing up the time where there was, just to feel better about yourself is silly and pointless.

Hard disagree.

This is a teachable moment that should be treated as an opportunity for growth.

Everyone who was wrong about the need for Biden to drop out of the race needs to do some introspection so that they don't repeat the flawed political analyses that led them to support the wrong primary candidate.