The following is mostly a reply I gave in someone else's thread. I wanted to share it without risking the other threadfolk getting backlash.
Concerning whether or not US-Americans know and/or care that yesterday could easily have been the start of WWIII/a global nuclear event:
A lot of us care and are aware. Enough that we were checking the news every few mins yesterday & dreading the approach of 8pm EST.
Please don't paint all US-Americans with the same brush of dismissive judgment....
1/2
....An uncounted but large number of us have been fighting this as hard as we know how for more than 10 years. We are scared, exhausted, and despairing, and there aren't enough words for us to say how deeply sorry we are that our government is menacing the whole world.
2/2
with the caveat that if, as an american, you do not vote, because you value punishing the democrats for being spineless (and they are), over preventing {gestures broadly}, you are a piece of shit
you want better than the milquetoast bullshit the democrats offer
i do too
but we are only going to get there by showing up, especially in the primaries, and iterating to better over time
"i want perfect now or i'm not participating!" is not a moral position
it's being an immature child
@WeirdWriter @benroyce @courtcan Good article. The same sense, writ smaller, happens in so many spaces. Pill testing and legalising drugs, for example:: "But it will send the wrong message" they say. And I just feel like screaming at them... "what part of 'people are dying' do you not understand?" And it's very hard not to feel, at the same time, that they know people are dying but they don't care, not about *those* people.
Their stupid insistence on some kind of logical consistency stands in the way of them actually doing something good.
They are about themselves. The nonvoter doesn't want to improve the world, they want to feel good about themselves. Their self-regard is more important than us suffering under fascism, and so, they will let the world rot. As long as their mind palace of their holy purity is spotless
It is, essentially, arrogant preening entitlement
Indeed. Centrist Republicans are spineless. Centrist Democrats are spineless. Meanwhile MAGA is turbocharged and the American left is despondent and dissipated. Some of this is due to plutocracy: they pump money into MAGA and they control traditional media and social media. One response to this is cynical defeatism. But I say the left should take over the Democrats. Job #1 for that is shut down these pathetic voices on the left that are useless whiny entitled cynics
@stalbaum @Oldfartrant @courtcan
no
i want 3rd parties but to get 3rd parties we need ranked choice voting
rcv is creeping in, but until then we have to focus on taking over the democrats
in an FPTP voting system, we only have a choice between 2 parties
it's not corruption, it's just math
the left splintering into different parties is as fatal for us as leftists not voting
"you want us to support spineless democrats!"
no, i want us to show up in the fucking primaries and replace them
@suzannealdrich @stalbaum @Oldfartrant @courtcan
we can also remember ralph nader, who did not hand bushii a win in florida, but nader voters in florida did hand the results for florida to the supreme court, which pulled a nasty trick and voila: the stupid iraq war
the case with hillary in 2016 is less clear, but certainly green voters who went for a pro putin troll who just shows up every 4 years to divide the left vote is also a case of people who mean well, but don't understand FPTP
@baronvonj @suzannealdrich @stalbaum @Oldfartrant @courtcan
thus, all 3rd party voices in the USA are working for Putin or MAGA. or are embarrassingly uneducated about how our stupid FPTP system works. deeply cringe because it's not hard to understand
i want 3rd parties
to get 3rd parties we need ranked choice voting
until we get rcv, which makes 3rd parties viable, anyone voting 3rd party now in the USA on the left is helping MAGA win by dividing the left vote
that's the cold hard truth
@stalbaum @baronvonj @suzannealdrich @Oldfartrant @courtcan
tell myself what?
reality?
reality is merely a whine you say?
i despise centrist democrats
i am articulating how leftists can take over the dems
it's the only feasible way forward
you meanwhile have... feelings
your brain is AWOL
when you vote 3rd party, in our stupid FPTP system, you divide the left vote and hand MAGA a win
you are a MAGA supporter
not in thought, but in action, you are
stop being immature and fucking think
@stalbaum @baronvonj @suzannealdrich @Oldfartrant @courtcan
ok, i'll check in on reality for you:
the democrats were bad on the environment at one point, so you're fine with ignoring the reality of an FPTP voting system and voting green and handing our country to fascists
because of your precious fee fees
you prioritize your feelings over the USA becoming fascist
you're a selfish, MAGA supporting piece of shit
you don't support MAGA in words, but you do in action
how'd i do?
@stalbaum @baronvonj @suzannealdrich @Oldfartrant @courtcan
Trump is in power partly because of nonvoters and 3rd party voters
I don't like that, but that's the cold hard reality of our stupid voting system
You won't accept reality, because you value your feelings and ignorance over what we must do to fight fascism. You're selfish, you're entitled, and you work hard for MAGA. You don't understand how, because you're ignorant. Or you don't care, because you're fine with fascism
@stalbaum @baronvonj @suzannealdrich @Oldfartrant @courtcan
when you write that pile of incoherent middle school kid vibing, do you feel that it protects you from the reality that your actions support trump and fascism?
what other aspects of reality do you think you successfully block out with middle school edgelord word salad?
@stalbaum @baronvonj @suzannealdrich @Oldfartrant @courtcan
why would i demand loyalty to corporatist democrats i despise?
i am a leftist. i want the left to win in the usa
we do that by taking over the democratic party
but we can't do that
why?
because of losers who don't vote
and losers who vote 3rd party
do you understand me now?
or do you want to continue immature vibing with lies and ignorance denying the reality of a 3rd party vote in an FPTP voting system:
you help MAGA win
@stalbaum @baronvonj @suzannealdrich @Oldfartrant @courtcan
you're not my ally
you're an ally of MAGA
please listen carefully:
in an FPTP voting system the existence of a 3rd party can only act as a spoiler. which means when you steal leftists away from the democrats, the democrats get less votes
thus, you ensure MAGA wins
do you understand?
it's not my feelings
it's hard cold math
the greens in ranked choice are wonderful
*i want that*
but now, in FPTP?
the greens are rat poison
@stalbaum @baronvonj @suzannealdrich @Oldfartrant @courtcan
please watch. the title is just edgy, it's democracy positive
it described FPTP
why ranked choice is better
it describes better systems
i go with ranked choice because it has a head of steam in the usa
i want you to vote your conscience free and clear
to say "fuck that" to dreary strategy and the sucky dems
but you can't as long as we are FPTP
PLEASE:
educate yourself
stop helping MAGA with 3rd party
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@stalbaum @Oldfartrant @courtcan
it's great you understand energy independence but politically you're a moron because you're helping MAGA
do you understand the idea of someone who means well but by their actions only makes things worse?
so when MAGA makes your solar install illegal because you have to guzzle gasoline to satisfy the oil plutocrats, remember how your political choices helped pave the way for that, simply because you don't understand how our stupid FPTP voting system works
@benroyce @stalbaum @Oldfartrant @courtcan Hm. An alternative voting system is not pragmatic -- though we should keep that vision -- and work within the system we have, and change or work against the system when it makes sense.
However, the Uncommitted movement showed us that Democratic Party leadership are incapable of listening to the constituents they pretend to represent when they are in power. Instead, they demanded our votes, and prioritized inviting in anti-Trump Republicans. That gave Trump what he wanted: A competing party that is right of center. We tried working within the party and it didn't work. And the party denied us from an electoral process that would have allowed us to have hard conversations resulting in a rallying base.
Federation through fragmentation is the path forward. We both need to find our people AND get out of our bubbles. But it will ultimately be the conservative Democrats who struggle to retain power that mess it up.
@chrispomeroyhale @stalbaum @Oldfartrant @courtcan
that's not the way it works
"i'm not voting until centrist assholes turn into real leftists" is insane
what works is us mobbing the primaries and replacing centrists in the democratic party with real leftists
thus, choosing not to vote until centrists magically change is moronic beyond belief
*centrists will not change*
the only way for change is for leftists to show the fuck up
especially in the primaries
and vote
and *replace* them
@benroyce
We really need to get rank choice voting implemented more widely (I'm in Oakland which uses rcv for mayor and some other elections). I'm going to vote in the primary, but as things currently stand, the governor race could end up with two GOP on the main ballot because of too many Dems on the ballot.
And the people who claim the rank choice voting is complicated are just lying to you. It's not hard to explain or to do.
@courtcan
@encthenet @[email protected] @courtcan unfortunately the establishment is dead-set on eliminating it, claiming it's "too complicated for the olds."
"too complicated, too confusing" is a GOP lie. The GOP took a nationwide stand against RCV in 2024 because they only win with voter suppression
Court Cantrell does not comply
ᴮᵉⁿ ᴿᵒʸᶜᵉVOTE IN THE PRIMARIES
Robert Kingett
kauer
Doug 🌈🇨🇦 
1337 $#!+ I did that
Suzanne Aldrich (she/her)
Baron Von J
Mrinappropriate
Chris Hale
Mïkê 💚 👑🐉🗡️🏳️⚧️
George Liquor, American
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Weird Socks
Emma needs ☕️ and paying work
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