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Comment by drawkward | Hacker News Reader

No. I demand better of the Democrats than what has been offered.

I'll go farther. To a degree, Democrats caused this by offering such terrible options.

(I mean, no, they are not the Single Root Cause - clearly not. They're a part of the causal chain, though. If they had run a solid candidate in any of the last three elections, we wouldn't be here.)

"The democratic candidate isn't perfect, so I'll let the fascists win, and it's the democrats fault"

The democrats have the responsibility for picking electable candidates. Thats the party's main job.

Democratic party supporters need to move away from this dumb groupthink. It is embarrassing, as they like to think they are the better alternative. A better alternative doesn't tell people how to vote; a better alternative earns the vote with vote-worthy candidates.

And if they don’t give someone better, in your opinion, then what next? Inaction?

vote for a different party that aligns with your views?

The USA is the opposite of pluralistic. No third party has managed to build any serious political infrastructure at the local level and expand it regionally or nationally. That's why there are so many frivolous third party candidates for president; they're desperate to get a percentage of votes that will generate some federal funding to sustain organizational growth, and running for President is one of the few ways to get sufficient attention for that nationally.

with the voting system present in the US, it is essentially impossible for a 3rd party to come into existence that has any hope of significant federal or even state level power.

Yes that is normal thing to do in pluralist democracies. Unfortunately not an option in two-party system.

The third party in the US is an amalgamation of the leftover scraps of losers that couldn't make it in the other parties. Because that's exactly what the Greens and to a lesser extent Libertarians are. To be fair it is wonderful that Howie Hawkins has managed to get the Greens on the ballot in 36 or so states. Its crazy that you can't even vote for this party in all states.

But the vote count is horrendous. The best this country has ever done in recent memory was Ralph Nader and he was a someone famous that could move the needle....he still only got 2.74% of the vote.

Certainly not vote for someone I think is unfit to be president!

That didn’t really answer my question. Let me make it more clear: let’s say two things are true: 1. Your vote for president does matter, so you’re not in a state where it’s almost certainly decided before the vote happens; and, 2. You agree that there are really two parties you can vote for. If you think Party A is really bad or dangerous, would you vote for Party B even if they don’t give a decent candidate, or would you just not vote?

I would vote for a third party. I am not going to vote for a person who is not a decent candidate. That's how you continue to get shit shoved down your throat.

Every election in the US is a choice. One of the two choices will run the country no matter what happens on November 5th.

Show up and express literally any opinion about which direction you want your country to develop in, or everyone else will make your choice for you.

Or don't do anything, and stand back smug as people are shipped off to Gitmo for being brown. That's cool too I guess.

Do you think Trump is better? Because that is what you're getting from a policy of holding out for a good enough opponent

You're free to be a Trump supporter of course, but if you're not and you're still enabling Trump to win because you don't like the Democrats "enough", your actions aren't aligning with your best interests

My best interests are a party that represents my best interests, which the Democrats are not, and the Republicans are even less.

Enabling trump to win, got it

No, it was the party who failed to put up a candidate whos is worth of supporting thay enabled Trump to win. I am not required to vote for shit candidates, and if you believe otherwise, then you dont believe in democracy.

Of course you're not required to. It's just what you would have done if you'd been rational and would have liked trump to not be in charge.

Sitting it out and letting Trump win (or directly voting for Trump) was your right. You opted to pick "let Trump win". Congrats, he did.

The lesser of 2 evils argument will always get you to the point you're in now where you're like "I can't believe you let bad guy win, you should voted slightly less bad guy".

If you want to break the cycle, you vote your interests and not fall for this crap.

And no, Trump is not the end of the world. It wasn't last time around the US Democrat leaning desperately pretended it was, nor is it now.

For people who see through the partisan bullshit, change is usually good and it's always interesting to separate those people who have consistent views no matter who is in power and those who change to fit the new partisan narrative, no matter their past positions.

In essence, world and murrica... take a fucking chill pill. The TDS wore off the second time around and bipartisan war machine is red and blue, no matter who.

You're either not paying attention or actively a supporter

If you keep demeaning people who dont vote the way you decided they should vote, not only are you a bad person, you are a bad person who will continue to lose elections.

1. I am paying far more attention throughout than you and have always been instead of just when it's politically convenient.

2. Oh no! Pray god I'm not an active supporter! Imagine if there was someone with "republican/commie/<insert political blacklist> leanings". The horror!

I don't think you guys are getting it.

All you can do is accuse people of "being the enemy" and you just lost a democratic election and keep doubling down.

How about some reflection? How about internal analysis around consistency of political views instead of pure partisanship?

> Imagine if there was someone with "republican/commie/<insert political blacklist> leanings". The horror!

oh, active supporter it is I guess

Feel free to also call me Russian/terrorist/conspiracy theorist/commie/fascist and whatever other ad hom you're told because you have absolutely no arguments to make.

I dont agree with your conclusion, but I do agree that lesser of two evils is just a race to the bottom.

The democrats offered him the chair. I still think Jill and Joe may have actually voted for Trump.

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