PupBiru

change has nothing to do with people until it does… change is just change. change when it comes to people and social systems is effective only when it effects the majority of people that are touched by an issue. voting 3rd party after not for some time is change of a kind, but i wouldn’t call it social change

social change comes when a large number of people decide something should be different, and the mathematics and sociology behind first past the post means that it’d take something so close to impossible that it’s not worth classing in the realms of possibility for a 3rd party to have any effect on the political system

the reality of the system is that the US is a 2 party system… the statistics of FPTP, and the game theory that leads to defensive voting, spoiler effect, and any number of other bad outcomes ensures that

within such a system, you just can’t hope to have an outcome other than 1 of the 2 parties having any real impact, thus you have to change 1 of the parties to be the way you want it to be, or you must change the system

you could argue that voting 3rd party forces the parties to change their positions, but historically that hasn’t really happened so i personally wouldn’t hold my breath

vote defensively, and work to change the system… because changing the system is incremental, achievable, and less subject to the whims of a few

both sides support israel, 1 side is on the record as having said that israel’s reaction is overboard… no action still, but both sides are not the same

i’m absolutely not pink washing… republicans are horrific to queers… given that you’ve even suggested that, you’re pretty much beyond reason, but i will say: just look at the don’t say gay bullshit in florida… culture wars cause huge increases in suicide rates amongst the queer community

im not got blue no matter who; im vote in the way that’s most likely to produce a positive outcome in things you want to change… on every metric and category, right now, that’s getting as many people as possible to vote democrat… id suggest people look at republicans if they had policies that weren’t detestable around:

• equal opportunity (queer, women, race, wealth, etc)
• environment
• social services

… but they don’t

the only other candidate that’s reasonable possible to be in his place is far worse

so there’s that

well, as far as the EC goes the democrats have a vested interested in removing it… the republicans would fight tooth and nail to keep it because there’s no way they’d win honestly, but that’d be the single biggest help the democrats could hope for

and as far as voting systems go, that’s why yoh start locally… afaik there are some places that use alternative voting systems to vote in the federal election… a big change is, you’re right, basically impossible… but small changes? who knows!

i’m not talking about doing nothing, but point your effort where it can make change… voting 3rd party is a hopelessly ineffective way of making change… it’s a dream, and that’s it. it makes you feel good, and that’s it, but it’ll never EVER change anything… that is just the mathematics and sociology of how the voting system works

work towards changing from first past the post and removing the electoral college (there are effects to do both of these things that ARE making progress! some of them are even close!)

only THEN can you vote 3rd party and not have it a complete waste

but in the meantime, i beg you, vote for the party that isn’t actively campaigning to persecute minorities, who gave you at least a half way form of socialised healthcare, who’s at least trying with green energy, whose policies and positions are at least internally consistent for the most part

and most importantly, vote for the party that isn’t trying to make it harder to vote for anyone else, because you can be sure that gerrymandering, fucking with the supreme court, playing bullshit political games with voter ID all makes it harder to vote in a 3rd party candidate too

okay, well if the republicans had their way i’d be tortured forever in conversion therapy, there’d be no movement at all on green energy, the solution to homelessness would probably boil down to if you’re going through a rough patch it’s execution time, christianity would be mandatory

both sides are NOT the same… 1 side is mostly inept, and the other side is actively trying to persecute people, to which i’d say

First they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a socialist.

Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a trade unionist.

Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a Jew.

Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me.

Throughout history, it has been the inaction of those who could have acted; the indifference of those who should have known better; the silence of the voice of justice when it mattered most; that has made it possible for evil to triumph.

… your vote has power… inaction allows, or using your vote in a way that will never change an outcome is complicity

okay, but now you’re fighting game theory and maths

that’s just not going to work out well

it’s irrelevant what you want at the end of the day… voting for some “best” option is only useful if it’s even remotely likely to happen… don’t get me wrong, if it’s a slim chance of a great outcome that’s one thing but the odds of everyone deciding to do the same thing at the same time are basically 0

sure, vote how you like, but you’re more likely to win the lottery than to have a 3rd party candidate elected and i think we can all agree you don’t buy lottery tickets because you think you might win

the way to change the system isn’t through the system… you’re not going to get a 3rd party in a US federal election the way it’s structured right now!

the way you get a 3rd party is to change the game: participate locally to change to ranked choice voting (etc), try and get the NPVIC passed (although that might be a pipe dream for now)

in the meantime, vote for the lesser of 2 evils because real important things are at stake

i, and i’m sure they, appreciate the heck out of that sentiment

okay but a vote doesn’t actually benefit anyone, and neither does being able to say you “acted like a person”

a vote is worthless on its own. a vote is only worthwhile when it has a chance of producing an outcome, and a vote for 3rd party has no chance of producing any outcome

you get to take some moral high ground, which is great that you can do that and risk very little… meanwhile, people’s lives are actually at risk

its a shit situation: nobody is denying that at all (well i’m sure some people are, but i sure ain’t!)… but realistically, the only way to make any difference is (as someone further up thread put it) to tug the tug of war rope on the direction you prefer, while working to change the game

okay but that’s just screaming into the void… they gain nothing from your vote, you gain nothing from your vote… it doesn’t matter how worthy they are, it’s exactly the same in literally every way as not voting

also afaik (i’m not american but yknow; can’t escape the intricacies of US politics) changes at the state/local level can often effect federal elections directly… aren’t there some places that do ranked choice voting federally?

well now you’re just describing ansible

who hurt you?

not that i’m into it, but the headspace of little/age play is escapism: kids don’t have work to do, kids don’t worry about rent, etc… kids just kinda do what they want and are able to be a bit bratty and get away with it

the headspace for puppy play (which i am very into) is similar: dogs don’t worry, dogs just play, dogs get pats, dogs love unconditionally. its all about existing in the moment and focusing on what’s happening rather than worrying about human things

well, i’m not about to go back now that i have an ad-free experience… it was apathy and laziness that kept me there, and now invidious is a much better way to consume the content

i don’t use sponsorblock, so creators can monetise me (ie i can “pay” for the content) that way and google won’t see a cent or be able to farm my data (well, i’m sure they can but probably not as well)

i never really ad blocked on youtube (as annoying as they were), so nothing would have really changed for me… however, i do use umatrix to block all JS and other content by default and selectively allow only minimal parts of a site required for its operation

since the introduction of the “ad block detection” bs, youtube has been complaining at me and not letting me watch videos

i then searched for alternatives, found invidious, and now i dont see youtube ads

fuck you google

yeah stupid people like most tech workers who just need their tech to work as expected rather than be “customisable”

there’s value in the “just works” when not working costs you hundreds of $ per hour that it doesn’t work

$2000 for a phone is nothing when it’s a professional device

i’m sure they learned plenty of things about the old game engine they built

and now they have a new one… which was the whole point