this post was submitted on 02 Mar 2024
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[–] [email protected] 172 points 5 months ago (9 children)

every time i see a "leftist" talk about not voting for biden, and thus supporting trump...

[–] [email protected] 83 points 5 months ago (1 children)

Agreed in the general election.

Strong disagree for primaries.

[–] [email protected] 80 points 5 months ago (1 children)

Primaries are for voting with your heart, the general is for voting strategically

[–] [email protected] 62 points 5 months ago (1 children)

Primaries are for pretending we’re a functioning democracy. The general is for acceptance.

[–] [email protected] 64 points 5 months ago

My local district flipped blue for the first time in decades, local elections and primaries are very important

[–] [email protected] 73 points 5 months ago (8 children)

I'm sorry, it's probably considered some sort of a smug European truism by now, but I have to say it. There is no left in the US two-party system. It's right or center-right, that's the choices you have, a giant douche or a turd sandwich.

[–] [email protected] 46 points 5 months ago (1 children)

used to be... now it's fascism vs. center-right

[–] [email protected] 20 points 5 months ago

More like right wing fascism vs neoliberal fascism.

[–] [email protected] 27 points 5 months ago

Is it really center-right? I think it is more far right and facist extreme right. Atleast when observed from scandinavia

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[–] [email protected] 30 points 5 months ago (9 children)

If Biden wanted my vote he could simply stop supporting genocide. Really quite a low bar for him to clear.

There's "holding your nose" and there's voting for someone actively aiding a genocide.

[–] [email protected] 123 points 5 months ago (8 children)

there's "administration aiding a genocide, but also doing so because they're being lied to by israel, who also has a massive propaganda campaign to manipulate americans into supporting them..."

versus

Project 2025 and their plans of a fascist dictatorship right here, complete with a genocide of trans people and hispanics... and muslims... AND a continuation of supporting israel...
oh and aiding russians commiting genocide in ukraine.

bruh

voting trump in won't save palestine, and it'll make it soo so much worse

[–] [email protected] 21 points 5 months ago (2 children)

no one is proposing voting for trump here

[–] [email protected] 64 points 5 months ago (57 children)

Not voting is letting trump have an easier time at victory

I'd prefer he had the hardest time imaginable

[–] [email protected] 23 points 5 months ago

Not voting is letting trump have an easier time at victory

The core of the GOP's strategy for holding on to power is the disenfranchisement of voters who are opposed to them. Not voting (or voting third party) is self-disenfranchisement and doing the GOP's work for them.

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[–] [email protected] 18 points 5 months ago (7 children)

What happens in a FPTP system with only 2 viable parties when everyone doesn't vote for the least maniacal of the two?

Who do you think wins that bout?

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[–] [email protected] 64 points 5 months ago (44 children)

Do you really believe not voting for Biden deceases the likelihood of genocide in Gaza? Because the alternative seems so much worse in every way, both for Gaza and so many other massively important issues

[–] [email protected] 15 points 5 months ago

You are on a different and better level. You are a Chad consequentialist. Managing probabilities, shooting for the best outcomes, minimizing losses. Setting up the group of ideologically aligned leaders for future success. Fighting off fascism for four more years against all odds.

They are a weak feelings voter. Hopes Biden senpai will notice them and throwing a temper tantrum when he doesn't. Talks about genocide, but doesn't actually care if Trump will handle the genocide any differently than Biden. Wants everyone else to suffer because they are suffering. Hoping if Trump gets elected that someone else will do the hard work and fighting to fix everything. Is burned out on politics, but instead of not voting quietly, makes big posts about how not voting is actually a good and very smart idea because they can't handle the fact that they need to rest.

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[–] [email protected] 44 points 5 months ago (2 children)

And I'm sure letting trump have an easier time getting elected will make things so much better.

I would recommend talking to your local representatives about the current situation and how important it is to you and expressing how you may support other people running against them if they don't support a ceasefire.

Local elections are really important.

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[–] [email protected] 16 points 5 months ago

Our voting system sucks

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[–] [email protected] 52 points 5 months ago (2 children)

Accelerationism is literally foreign propaganda, and has its roots in a few European leftists that had their views hijacked as a way of pushing radicalisation to status quo liberals.

[–] [email protected] 34 points 5 months ago

It's literally nonsense, and the equivalent of Christian Zionism / eschatology in that it's a set of incredibly harmful, baseless beliefs that advocate for mass misery in the name of vague hope of an accelerated magical delivery of human kind to a new era of happiness and joy.

[–] [email protected] 18 points 5 months ago

The US is well past the point where radicalization is an unreasonable response. It's radicalization paired with stupidity that's a problem, and that's what we have with the accelerationists and MAGA.

[–] [email protected] 49 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago) (5 children)

I used to know a poli-sci researcher who was trying to take a big-data look at the success and failure of revolutions, taking in variables like "how many demonstrators rallied against the government?" "How many dissidents were disappeared by internal security forces?" and even things like "how many bullet holes are there on the buildings around the main protest venue in the capital?"

I asked him once if he'd discovered the secret to a successful revolution, and he just grimaced at me.

[–] [email protected] 30 points 5 months ago

I love how people take the Soviet revolution as some sort of example of success, when what actually happened was that the original government collapsed because it was getting the shit kicked out of it by Germany, then a new government took over and got the shit kicked out it of by Germany before also collapsing, then the Bolsheviks strolled into literally empty government buildings and took over - against the judgement of most of the Bolsheviks who still thought the time wasn't right to take over. Hardly a replicable or generalizable sequence of events.

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[–] [email protected] 20 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago) (5 children)

North Korea 2024

People don't seem to realize, as it becomes easier to automate and maintain oppressive systems, the more scarce that democracy will be. Ask Russians.

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[–] [email protected] 17 points 5 months ago (1 children)

You're trying to read too much into this.

When the state doesn't work for enough people anymore, it collapses into fascism. It always does. Unless it collapses to foreign forces of course.

Accelerationism at this point is merely an argument for liberals to convince people who are not fascists to support their liberalism as a lesser danger.

It won't work. Liberalism will have to do something, not the people who don't believe the bullshit anymore. And interestingly, throughout history, liberals always choose fascism over anything else that would remove them some power.

So don't pretend it's up to the leftists to choose. You, the liberals, did this to the world. Time to open your eyes.

Liberalism is responsible for this fascist doom, not the left. That's not only true for the US. That's also true for all of Europe. Liberals vanquished the left. Now is the time to fight fascism. That's what you earned. The left will fight. Will the liberals do it?

[–] [email protected] 22 points 5 months ago (28 children)

Accelerationism at this point is merely an argument for liberals to convince people who are not fascists to support their liberalism as a lesser danger.

You make me mad. You make me mad because you've deluded yourself into believing fatalistic death cult BS, willing to drag other people down with you. Liberals might be deluded and wrong, but you're honestly worse. Liberals are more open minded than you, more hopeful than you, and believe in building a popular coalition. I don't care if you recognize capitalism is bad, you're not helping anyone do anything about it.

"Eat shit and die" is what I'm hearing from your empty justifications for inaction. I've barely started living my life, and you're saying "it just needs to end. Sorry. Nothing to be done." I like my life, unlike you apparently, so I'm going to reject your ideas emphatically.

Fuck your opinion. Just like fascist dribble, it deserves no respect.

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[–] [email protected] 15 points 5 months ago

It's necessary to hold two truths: liberalism always leads to fascism and accelerationism does not prevent fascism. So one should both delay the inevitability of fascism by participating in liberal democracy and do everything possible to make liberal democracy unnecessary as quickly as possible before the collapse.

The thing that can be especially hard for some people to understand is that not everyone experiences fascism at the same time. It's not a switch. It's a decline. Some people have been expecting fascism for decades or generations now. So people will be at different places in terms of interacting with the system. We are all trying to survive. We need as much time as possible to build a resistence movement, but, at the same time, no matter what compromises we get via electoralism those can be destroyed instantly if we only rely on the state to protect them.

[–] [email protected] 13 points 5 months ago (5 children)

Since when is accelerationism associated with the left? This is righty race war rapture shit.

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[–] [email protected] 13 points 5 months ago (16 children)

If you ask me, the point isn’t to not vote for Biden, but rather to show him that’s vote for him isn’t automatic just because the opponent is Trump. Maybe if Biden listened when a lot of people said he was too old and lot people said don’t give Israel weapons used to kill women and children he wouldn’t be in this predicament. It’s funny how the leftists in do the same thing they always do that only works for millionaires work and then get mad at the working class when they don’t vote for them.

[–] [email protected] 18 points 5 months ago (4 children)

The Democrats chose Biden in 2019, 2020. The thing is, the Democratic party is, itself, right wing. Neoliberalism is pretty far right, it's just not crazypants far right than the Republican party.

If you're EU centrist, you don't have a voice in Washington. Heck, the Democratic party is looking for ways to oust Occasio-Cortez and Sanders, no matter how popular their positions might be.

Don't vote for Biden, rather vote against the GOP. Any vote for a Republican is a vote to end democracy and let them rule as autocrats. Any vote against the Republican party (specifically your one vote for the next popular guy -- that is, the Democrat) is a vote to hold onto the US' meager democratic features.

If you're wanting to make a statement, your vote for officials is not where to make it, no matter how fervent your feelings about it. Elections are where you get to choose between King Log and King Heron. (And Heron will eat all the frogs.) Make your grievances known through other activism.

Engage in mutual aid now, so that you don't have to engage in sabotage and resistance against an overwhelming foe later.

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[–] [email protected] 13 points 5 months ago (13 children)

At what point would you not vote for Biden in order to stop Trump?

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