• Firebirdie713@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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    1 year ago

    As someone who voted third party in the 2016 election, take it from me that you will feel more guilty if you know your vote could have helped prevent the fascist party from gaining power. The presidency is not the office to try to vote on morals, save that for state and local elections that decide things like state benefits programs, distributions of funds, and public works. The federal government is where you will want to vote for the people who are protecting your right to vote in the first place, and that is done by ensuring that the fascist party can’t get a majority or otherwise control a branch of the government.

    If the Supreme Court were made up different, maybe, but ending up with an R president just gives them room to pack more courts and see a whole bunch more rights get removed.

    • Ensign_Crab@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      As someone who voted third party in the 2016 election, take it from me that you will feel more guilty if you know your vote could have helped prevent the fascist party from gaining power.

      As someone who voted for Clinton in 2016 but also supported Sanders in the primaries, take it from me that Clinton’s supporters blame you no matter who you voted for.

      • Firebirdie713@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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        1 year ago

        That is true, but I am also proof that their stance was at least partially valid. I voted Bernie in the primary and voted third party against Clinton, and I was definitely not alone.

        Again, whether actions are justified or understandable, to me, is not reason to excuse the real impacts that the election results had. It wasn’t helped by the results for Congress, but no one can deny that the US would be in a much better spot now if Clinton had been president, regardless of who was in charge in Congress. I will continue to support leftists in primaries, and especially in my local and state elections, and I continue to do activist and monetary support as much as I am able. But I hate being told that I am abandoning my values simply because I am voting for the highest chance for fewer people to be harmed.

        • Ensign_Crab@lemmy.world
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          1 year ago

          But I hate being told that I am abandoning my values simply because I am voting for the highest chance for fewer people to be harmed.

          And I hate being blamed for the loss Clinton worked so hard to earn, despite voting for her. Particularly from the wing of the party that was like “Party Unity My Ass” in 2008. But that’s not gonna make it quit happening.

    • goldenlocks@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      As someone who voted third party in the 2016 election, take it from me that you will feel more guilty if you know your vote could have helped prevent the fascist party from gaining power.

      Anyone who cared strongly enough on an issue to vote third party wouldn’t feel this way.

      • Firebirdie713@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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        1 year ago

        Really? Because that issue was a combo of actual universal healthcare and climate goals. I voted for the only candidate who had a commitment to those goals. This was before it was revealed that this particular candidate had accepted a whole bunch of money from the RNC to remain in the race.

        The result was enough people voted for that candidate that Trump won. The result of his win was that we saw even the half-measures that had been taken on these issues were stripped, setting us back potential decades because of new rules and packed courts who are now going against all precedent and decorum to prevent new leaders from enacting new policies. I voted for a few steps forward instead of half-steps, and got several steps back as a result.

        Keep in mind that one of those several steps back was a gutting of voting rights, which is being continued by Trump appointed judges to this day. If you need to be a one-issue voter, vote to keep your right to vote by voting in a way that is most likely to prevent a Trump win. They literally already have a plan on how to remove and bar even more people from voting.