The absolutely horrifying and surreal thing right now is having no idea if in about 20 days I’ll be living a relatively similar life under an upcoming Harris presidency, or be working on the second stage process to move overseas, completely uproot my entire life, sell all my belongings and home, and leave my family, job, and friends before the US crumbles into an authoritarian and anti-LGBT & anti-women theocratic state. It makes it tough to like, anything. And somehow, despite all the scandals, evil, incompetence, and cruelty, that is currently almost a statistical coin flip.

@hacks4pancakes I cannot understand how it's still a coin toss. I don't understand how half the US look at the options and still vote for him?!

I'm sorry for how stressful it must be. I'm over the pond, and it worries me what might be coming, and what effect it might have.

@hazz223 it’s not half. It’s like a quarter, but only half of Americans care to vote, or vote for a plausible candidate. And our voting power is wildly skewed by where we live due to our Electoral College that favors rural states. A farmer in Georgia has a ton more power to impact the election than I do with our individual votes. Sadly, people who have to live around different people tend to be the more liberal ones…

@hacks4pancakes @hazz223

It's not just a matter of caring to vote, it's also about votes being actively suppressed. Hundreds of thousands of people have been struck from voter roles. Polling places have been closed. In some places, it's illegal to drive someone else to a polling place. Early voting shortened, mail in voting made more difficult. Election day is a work day for most people, and employers are only legally required to give 2 hours to vote.

We had an opportunity to correct some of this, and Joe Manchin decided that the filibusterer was more important. That man bears more blame for this than any one person who decides to stay home or vote for a third party.

@notNapoleon @hacks4pancakes @hazz223 We can still kick their asses if we all make a minimal effort to verify our registrations and find out where our polling place is and freaking show up. It isn't that hard.

@farbel @hacks4pancakes @hazz223

We can, and we should, and hopefully we will. But just like your dentist shaming you doesn't actually make you want to take better care of your teeth, blaming the victims of voter suppression isn't going to make them want to show up.

@notNapoleon @farbel @hacks4pancakes @hazz223

nobody is doing that though

nobody sane blames someone who is prevented from contributing

rather, you're changing the topic

you need to admit there are toxic idealists out there who do not vote or vote third party

that's privileged and entitled behavior by those people:

they act in a way there will be no consequences for them, while they throw others under the bus for their "morality"- ego masturbation

they don't know or they don't care

@benroyce @notNapoleon @farbel @hacks4pancakes @hazz223

> you need to admit there are toxic idealists out there who do not vote or vote third party

Okay. What makes you think they're the problem?

Your phrasing suggests that you're too angry/afraid to think strategically about this. If you act out of anger or fear without carefully considering what made you feel that way, it's easy to direct it at other people who are angry/afraid, instead of at the people who are causing the problem.

@darcher @benroyce @notNapoleon @farbel @hacks4pancakes @hazz223 The point he’s making is that in a close race, every sliver counts, and the sliver that purports to be for liberal causes choosing not to vote because they believe that makes them better moral actors than the ones that do have the ability to shift the race.

@WhiteCatTamer @benroyce @farbel

Duly noted. Are you all doing any GOTV or outreach right now?

@notNapoleon @hacks4pancakes @hazz223

@WhiteCatTamer Then I would encourage you to discuss this topic, and the vote-shaming approach in general, with whoever the most experienced members of your group are. Especially if you're working with a downballot local race.

@benroyce @farbel @notNapoleon @hacks4pancakes @hazz223

@darcher @WhiteCatTamer @farbel @notNapoleon @hacks4pancakes @hazz223

what is your approach other than "don't voter shame"

a serious question as to effectiveness

it seems to me that blame shifting away from those who do not vote doesn't achieve anything, just as much as you would say that "voter shaming" doesn't achieve anything

many lack the social responsibility to vote

but as with many toxic personal problems like that, you can't help someone if they don't admit they have a problem

@benroyce @darcher @WhiteCatTamer @notNapoleon @hacks4pancakes @hazz223 Someone made a comment about dentists shaming people about their teeth. Pretty sure they blocked me soon after, but I wanted to say that My dental hygiene definitely benefitted from a bit of shaming.