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Comment by matwood | Hacker News Reader

People voted for this and now act surprised.

I'm guessing the people who voted for this are not surprised. They either expected it, want it, or don't care.

It shouldn't be surprising to anyone here with a functioning brain and is roughly aware of what is going on. Expect more of this.

The question is whether "don't care" will remain true.

I think what we're seeing in this moment is the overreach that precedes the backlash, like clockwork.

It's too late for backlash. If we survive the next four years, we'll be lucky.

No it isn't. Backlashes tend to be obvious two years after presidential elections when the midterm elections happen.

I don't think any backlash will dissuade Trump from anything.

He's not up for re-election for one, and I'm pretty sure he doesn't give 2F whether Vance gets elected after him or not.

The time for the backlash would have been to refuse to accept the election results and storm the Capitol since that's apparently totally cool to do now.

I agree with you that he won't care or be dissuaded, but that doesn't mean that backlash doesn't matter.

People voted for unrealistic pipe dreams. They often do, but happens in particular with reactionary and populist votes.

You mean the same way as with Brexit? We can only hope that the people who voted for him will have the same capacity for regret.

> the same way as with Brexit?

We haven't done anything quite that irreversible yet.

We voted for an authoritarian. We're really damn close to irreversible.

Probably not, but the effects of the next 4 years could last a very long time. Look at climate change alone - run the model of 4 more years of pumping as much as we can instead of scaling back as much as we can - and see where that gets us in 50 years.

Our children will pay the price for today's votes. But hey, at least we'll have cheap gas (maybe).

I'm mostly seeing people who voted against this continue to grumble.

How do you know this? The USA still has secret (Australian) ballots last time I checked.

You checked with what/who?

I examined my 2024 November general election ballot carefully. Ever since 2020's election denial, I've had a heightened awareness of election procedure, going so far as to read the Colorado Secretary of State's web pages on risk limiting audits, and making some attempt to understand the math behind them.

My Colorado general election ballot contained nothing I could see that would associate me as a registered voter to the ballot itself. Colorado ballots are hand marked, machine readable, and human readable as has been the best and obvious practice since 2000's "hanging chad" debacle. There are certainly "index marks" on the ballots so that the tallying machines can get squared up, but they don't appear different per ballot. I compared to my wife's ballot, just in case.

Why do you ask?

Because your comment does nothing against the original "I'm mostly seeing people who voted against this continue to grumble." comment.

People that vote are not always hush hush about who they voted for, and has nothing to do with can you pick their particular ballot out of the pile. If I tell you I voted for A but B won and now I'm grumbling about the things B is doing, there's no need for discussions about ballots at all.

Just like you don't need to find someone's secret ballot when they're wearing a red MAGA hat.

and, unfortunately, grumbling is all that they will do

I'm not sure it's the same people.

It is, though. The word "people" here refers in aggregate to the citizens who voted in November. It would be equally accurate for me to say "This is what we voted for" even though it's not what I voted for.

Not voting was the most popular choice among Americans eligible to vote in 2024, so "it's what we didn't vote for".

Not voting, practically, is empowering the status quo. Particularly in America, where almost every election features intense down-ballot competition.

Someone who didn’t vote is more in concordance with the current government than someone who voted against it. Actions speak louder than words, and not voting is an action.

I don't have a dog in this race - I am not even from the US.

But, by definition, not voting is an action rather than absence of one. What you are doing by not voting is giving out a tacit agreement that the people who went and vote get to decide who will be elected.

Following that line of thought, by not voting, you actively chose the current government, no matter what the current government is.

I agree, but there are many who say that not voting is the only way to show contempt for a system rigged against them. Voting would be a tacit endorsement and recognition of the legitimacy of that system.

> show contempt for a system rigged against them

Those that don't care to vote are doomed to be ruled by those who care.

You still have to pay taxes, and perhaps see a government you truly despise making all sorts of decisions that will get the system even more rigged against you.

Not voting out of spite is similar to stabbing your own head to show contempt for your brain when you have a migraine.

I just realized, this is how Trump will reform the 2028 elections. Every non-vote will count as a vote for the status quo.

"You won't have to vote again" – Trump 2024

I remembered you comment when I saw this:

https://ogles.house.gov/media/press-releases/rep-ogles-propo...

Voting blocks are just simplifications of reality. Following that line of thought too far leads to bad arguments. The full truth is that any individual voter has a negligible effect on the outcome of an election.

> The full truth is that any individual voter has a negligible effect on the outcome of an election.

A negligible effect is, mathematically speaking, incalculably higher than no effect.

We all have a dog in the race. Empires do not fall quietly.

how so? voter turnout was 64%, so voting was more popular than not voting

I think the math would be: ~32% Harris, ~32% Trump, ~36% didn't show up.

I see a big market for “Don’t blame me, I didn’t bother voting” bumper stickers.

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