cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/18991756
In a double boost for Donald Trump, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on Friday afternoon threw his backing behind the former president in the 2024 presidential election while Jill Stein unequivocally stated she will not drop out of the race.
It goes in the trash insofar as the net effect is the same as if you had stayed home. There will never be enough to make the third party president but enough people whose voting preference is Green -> Democrat - Trump may be tricked into voting green to Green resulting in a Trump victory. Essentially you are trading a tangible chance chance of electing Harris for a zero percent chance of electing Jill. A bad trade.
A third-party vote isn’t wasted; it’s a deliberate choice to support policies and candidates that align with my values, which is the essence of a functioning democracy.
The assumption that third-party voters would otherwise support a major party candidate oversimplifies the diverse reasons people vote the way they do.
Voting out of fear rather than conviction only perpetuates a system that fails to represent all voices; real change starts when people vote for what they truly believe in, not just what seems strategically safe.
It’s a deliberate misunderstanding of how our present system works. We are facing a party who may end democracy in America depriving your preferred party of relevance ever. If you take enough votes from Harris we get Trump. If you really want you party to have relevance you should vote Harris and promote 2 ideas.
Ranked choice voting at the state level so you can vote green without throwing your vote away.
National popular vote compact. It’s the idea of having the states pass state laws that give their electors to the person who gets the most votes. It’s already passed in the majority of states and it goes into effect when it has passed in enough states to represent a majority of electors. Achieving a majority would be very hard but it would be at least technically possible unlike getting the majority in the majority of states. As it stands a third party could get 58% of the individual voters and still lose.
Both these ideas are virtuous individually and support your ends.
It’s a deliberate misunderstanding of how our present system works. We are facing a party who may end democracy in America depriving your preferred party of relevance ever. If you take enough votes from Harris we get Trump. If you really want you party to have relevance you should vote Harris and promote 2 ideas.
Voting out of fear only perpetuates a broken system, while voting for a candidate who truly represents your values is a way to push for meaningful change. The real threat to democracy is a system that discourages diverse voices and forces voters into a false choice between the lesser of two evils.
I’m not voting for your candidate. And neither are many of my friends. That’s democracy.
I won’t vote for the Democratic Party until they commit to ending the Electoral College in favor of the popular vote AND stop filing lawsuits to keep third parties off the ballot. Until they make these changes, they won’t have my support.
