Not voting for any candidate because none of them are progressive enough perpetuates the same system. How are you helping by not voting for the lesser evil?
No, I remember, and I’m fighting to remove evil from the next ballot. But I also know I’m not going to be successful, and I’m not naive enough to think that I can fix everything by myself. You can be mad about the choices and still choose.
Politics is a spectrum, and theoretically there is a candidate even for you that would still support genocide and also be progressive enough to earn your vote.
Edit: Yes, downvote me, but tell me who you voted for in the most recent election at any level, and I’ll point to the genocide they supported.
Edit 2: Lot of people telling me progressive candidates are on every ballot, but nobody has yet to name a single candidate. One person mentioned a party that fielded three total candidates nationwide in all races in the 2024 election, one of whom was a Presidential candidate that could not mathematically win because she wasn’t on enough ballots. Most Americans were unable to find her name on their ballot, and the overwhelming majority of Americans did not have any PSL representation on their ballots at any level.
Politics is a spectrum, and theoretically there is a candidate even for you that would still support genocide and also be progressive enough to earn your vote.
Theoretically there’s a progressive who supports genocide hard enough to get your vote.
I’m saying that I don’t believe your assertions that you’re a progressive because of all the simping for the genocidal you’re doing all over this thread.
There are some on some ballots, but you cannot fill out a ballot anywhere in America without casting a vote for a person who supports genocide. You can choose not to vote, but that’s not participating in the process.
To someone who isn’t American, I can understand how alarming and unfathomable this might seem, but I am telling you the truth. What you see on TV and social media is not representative of what most Americans experience at the ballot box.
So you didn’t vote in a majority of the most recent elections? Because in 2024, PSL fielded three candidates, De la Cruz for President, Kevin Martinez for State Assembly in California, and Eduardo Vargas for City Council in Los Angeles. No congressional candidates, none in statewide elections, and De la Cruz wasn’t even on the ballot in enough states to secure an electoral college victory with a clean sweep. PSL has never once won an election in America. Even if you lived in Los Angeles and voted for all three candidates, you would have left most of your ballot blank.
If you’re saying you only vote for PSL candidates, you aren’t really participating in elections. I applaud your conviction, and I hope someone more engaged than you can help the PSL party do better.
There’s always actual progressives on the ballot. It’s just too many have fallen for the “lesser evil” brainwashing that they fail to see it. It’s no different than the red scare crap we’re still trying to kill.
As a lifelong progressive who has voted in every election in the past 26 years, no there are not always actual progressives on the ballot. But your point that we should support them when there is one progressive, even when they cannot hope to win, is also fallacious. Sometimes they could win with our support, and sometimes they could not. Vote accordingly.
I believe you can make the case for either option (lesser evil or third party) and either is definitely better than not voting, but I’m of the view that voting is a negligible part of our political involvement that gets too much attention, organizing is a lot more necessary and effective, otherwise things will never improve
Absolutely this is a critical point. If you want better candidates, create them. Forge them and support them. Attend townhalls and demand answers from candidates. That’s the time to shape the race. Once you enter the voting booth, it’s far too late to try to fix everything with one choice.
I like the quote from Gandhi, “Whatever you do in life will be insignificant but it is very important that you do it…” I think that applies to voting. One vote may be insignificant, or it may be everything. You won’t know, and you may never know for sure. But if you don’t vote, it is definitely nothing.
there’s always a progressive candidate and you should always vote; just be aware that both the republican and democratic parties are actively perpetuating this system.
I’m not just searching for them, I’m canvassing and donating to them, but there simply aren’t progressive options in every race in every district. And even some nominally progressive candidates will support genocide if it is politically expedient. Politics is the slow boring of hard boards, and one of those boards right now is global human rights, and we’re not even halfway through it. You get through with constant pressure and effort. You can’t always get what you want.
Not voting for any candidate because none of them are progressive enough perpetuates the same system. How are you helping by not voting for the lesser evil?
“Those who choose the lesser evil are all too quick to forget that they chose evil”
No, I remember, and I’m fighting to remove evil from the next ballot. But I also know I’m not going to be successful, and I’m not naive enough to think that I can fix everything by myself. You can be mad about the choices and still choose.
Explicitly describing genocide as “not progressive enough”
Politics is a spectrum, and theoretically there is a candidate even for you that would still support genocide and also be progressive enough to earn your vote.
Edit: Yes, downvote me, but tell me who you voted for in the most recent election at any level, and I’ll point to the genocide they supported.
Edit 2: Lot of people telling me progressive candidates are on every ballot, but nobody has yet to name a single candidate. One person mentioned a party that fielded three total candidates nationwide in all races in the 2024 election, one of whom was a Presidential candidate that could not mathematically win because she wasn’t on enough ballots. Most Americans were unable to find her name on their ballot, and the overwhelming majority of Americans did not have any PSL representation on their ballots at any level.
Theoretically there’s a progressive who supports genocide hard enough to get your vote.
What the fuck are you talking about?
I’m saying that I don’t believe your assertions that you’re a progressive because of all the simping for the genocidal you’re doing all over this thread.
No, there isn’t. What a fucking horrific thing to say.
You’re telling me you’ve never voted for a candidate that supports the current Israeli genocide? Are you not an American?
Yes I’m telling you that
So you haven’t voted in a recent election? Or you just can’t remember their names?
Whenever someone starts there sentence with “so”, you know they’re about to say something that doesn’t remotely resemble anything you actually said.
Removed by mod
I’m not an American but even i know there were candidates there who did not supported genocide.
There are some on some ballots, but you cannot fill out a ballot anywhere in America without casting a vote for a person who supports genocide. You can choose not to vote, but that’s not participating in the process.
To someone who isn’t American, I can understand how alarming and unfathomable this might seem, but I am telling you the truth. What you see on TV and social media is not representative of what most Americans experience at the ballot box.
Gloat more.
What the fuck are you talking about?
That is a wild self-report
Scratch a liberal…
Seriously
Who did you vote for in the last election? Do you honestly believe you never voted for a candidate that has supported genocide?
PSL, baby😎
So you didn’t vote in a majority of the most recent elections? Because in 2024, PSL fielded three candidates, De la Cruz for President, Kevin Martinez for State Assembly in California, and Eduardo Vargas for City Council in Los Angeles. No congressional candidates, none in statewide elections, and De la Cruz wasn’t even on the ballot in enough states to secure an electoral college victory with a clean sweep. PSL has never once won an election in America. Even if you lived in Los Angeles and voted for all three candidates, you would have left most of your ballot blank.
If you’re saying you only vote for PSL candidates, you aren’t really participating in elections. I applaud your conviction, and I hope someone more engaged than you can help the PSL party do better.
“Uhh that’s doesn’t count you’re not really voting”
It counted for a maximum of three votes in three races. Did you not vote for anyone else? Why didn’t you vote in most of the elections?
There’s always actual progressives on the ballot. It’s just too many have fallen for the “lesser evil” brainwashing that they fail to see it. It’s no different than the red scare crap we’re still trying to kill.
As a lifelong progressive who has voted in every election in the past 26 years, no there are not always actual progressives on the ballot. But your point that we should support them when there is one progressive, even when they cannot hope to win, is also fallacious. Sometimes they could win with our support, and sometimes they could not. Vote accordingly.
I believe you can make the case for either option (lesser evil or third party) and either is definitely better than not voting, but I’m of the view that voting is a negligible part of our political involvement that gets too much attention, organizing is a lot more necessary and effective, otherwise things will never improve
Absolutely this is a critical point. If you want better candidates, create them. Forge them and support them. Attend townhalls and demand answers from candidates. That’s the time to shape the race. Once you enter the voting booth, it’s far too late to try to fix everything with one choice.
I like the quote from Gandhi, “Whatever you do in life will be insignificant but it is very important that you do it…” I think that applies to voting. One vote may be insignificant, or it may be everything. You won’t know, and you may never know for sure. But if you don’t vote, it is definitely nothing.
there’s always a progressive candidate and you should always vote; just be aware that both the republican and democratic parties are actively perpetuating this system.
There is not always a progressive candidate.
there always is; it’s just that you’re not made aware of the progressive candidate’s existence.
in cases where it doesn’t seem like there’s one, you have to search for him/her/them yourself.
I’m not just searching for them, I’m canvassing and donating to them, but there simply aren’t progressive options in every race in every district. And even some nominally progressive candidates will support genocide if it is politically expedient. Politics is the slow boring of hard boards, and one of those boards right now is global human rights, and we’re not even halfway through it. You get through with constant pressure and effort. You can’t always get what you want.