r/wholesomememes • u/decentmotto • 6h ago
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u/duffstoic 6h ago
If voting didn’t work, they wouldn’t be trying to take away our votes.
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u/The-Real-Number-One 4h ago
...and Elon Musk would not be spending a quarter bil to get what he wants.
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u/DrQuantum 4h ago
Some votes, in some elections matter. It’s simply a fact. They want to try and take away the vote because despite this fact the numbers are still in American’s favor. They are called battleground states for a reason.
If you live in a red state that has never voted blue in your entire life our first past the post system eliminates the likely value of your vote for the presidency. Again, this is just a fact. Things can change but it’s obvious when they do.
That creates a complicated system where local elections still matter, and you want to encourage people to get out and try to make change in other ways but acknowledging certain realities is harmful and can feel dismissive. People get used to feeling like voting doesn’t matter, and sometimes it doesn’t. Even local elections can sometimes be moot. Not every senate seat is truly possible to take every election. And sometimes even when they win they don’t even vote the way they say they did.
This is not an excuse not to vote or convincing others not to vote but it is a call that you can acknowledge some votes don’t matter without undermining the point.
It is totally appropriate and possible to acknowledge that certain individual votes for the presidential election are valueless, acknowledge the disenfranchisement of voters, and still encourage voting in the next election. The democrats own a major responsibility for getting people to the polls. They own a major responsibility to excite their base. I’m still seeing a sluggish democratic party and so that probably means it will come down to the will of the voters.
But let’s be honest, as an example, that it would be way more effective right here and now to go help a campaign in critical races in battleground states than asking my neighbors to vote. Thats not true everywhere but acknowledging people’s experience is a big part of bringing them into the fold.
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u/Angrybskt 5h ago
Unless you aren’t a citizen, nothing is stopping you.
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u/empireweekend 5h ago
There’s this thing called work that most Americans have to do all day on Tuesday when they are expected to vote. Not to mention long lines and restrictions on mail in voting.
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u/Zavender 4h ago
Also, cutting hours at government offices, or just straight up closing a bulk of them in certain areas to make registering a hassle. Or the closing voting stations that lead to the long lines. Or the 'glitches' going on in particular areas that unregister people.
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u/NO_TOUCHING__lol 4h ago
I'm pretty sure surprise voter roll purges and poll location closures are explicitly trying to stop you, but go off
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u/Eat--The--Rich-- 5h ago
What vote? I don't live in a swing state, my vote literally does not count.
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u/Klinicalyill 5h ago
Local elections and senate races aren’t beholden to electoral college BS. Your vote may actually matter in your senate race. It could be the thing that turns your state into a purple/swing state for future presidential elections
If you want to change the world around you start with local politics. They aren’t as “sexy” as the presidential election, they don’t get the same coverage but they’re much more immediately beneficial to the public. That’s likely exactly why they don’t get as much coverage.
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u/Eat--The--Rich-- 4h ago
And in my local elections my options are right wing liberals and further right wing Republicans. No thanks.
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u/bluemew1234 5h ago
What kinda place are you living in that only has that one single thing on the ballot?!
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u/Eat--The--Rich-- 5h ago
Oh I can vote on ballot measures, but there are very few that are even worth filling out and even then the left has to outvote republicans and liberals so there's not much point.
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u/HPenguinB 5h ago
Your town council matters. Your school board matters. Your state congress matter. The whole thing from the bottom up matters.
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u/DrQuantum 4h ago
You can’t convince someone to do something different by just saying you’re wrong and that goes double when you’re one who is actually mistaken.
Are you telling me those races always matter everywhere? Because what most American’s see is how voting blue is not radical change.
What we should be discussing is opportunity cost. Voting is free, in some cases it takes little time. If you vote on the day it’s a little harder but the fact is that even if 9/10 a vote doesn’t matter for the reasons I mentioned it will matter eventually. And more than that, we won’t know what happens until after people are elected.
The opportunity cost of voting is simply inconceivably smaller than the risk of not voting. But we don’t have to be dishonest to try and take a moral high ground. Sometimes democrats are bad at their jobs too but Republicans are almost always bad at their jobs. And now we’re at the literal brink of extinction as a nation.
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u/HPenguinB 4h ago
Lolwut?
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u/DrQuantum 4h ago
Thanks for proving my point. If your only ability is regurgitating talking points you’re not valuable to the movement. Just keep your mouth shut and head to the polls on election day.
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u/ambivalentarrow 4h ago
Yeah man, why bother voting when you can just name your reddit account 'eat the rich' and whine about how pointless everything is?
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u/lyngen 5h ago
Local elections matter and this time things seem like they are swinging left. I am in a red state like really red.
In the governor race, a poll came out with the dem candidate up two points. I can't express how that just doesn't happen here. It is still a long shot but like Woah!
Keep voting. If you can, be active and involved. Republicans have money but democrats have people.
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u/OneUseHero 5h ago
So help with campaigns in your area and try change people's views with conversations.
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u/bcleveland3 5h ago
Making you think your votes matter is the best way to keep you from making an actual impact
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u/OneUseHero 5h ago
It's fully possible to both vote and be politically active between election cycles. Nothing changes if you make no effort to do even the minimum. There are multiple groups for political affiliations outside of the major parties that are active and looking for help with planning to get more people interested in local areas.
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u/bcleveland3 5h ago
No no, vote and you’re good. that’s what the point here is obviously. That’s what I’m against
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u/ofWildPlaces 4h ago
Nobody in this thread even said that. You're making up things to be upset about.
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u/bcleveland3 4h ago
I have enough to be upset about. Arguing with random ignorants online isn’t it. Keep doing what you think is right, that’s your given right. Don’t assume to be correct
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u/OneUseHero 4h ago
If you don't want to argue with people online maybe don't get involved in comment threads trying to argue, especially in a wholesome memes sub of all places.
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u/ofWildPlaces 5h ago
Our votes absolutely do matter.
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u/bcleveland3 5h ago
Yea the fact I’m getting downvoted proves how dumb the average voter is. Voting will not hurt but not change anything in its own right. Making you think voting is all you have to do is exactly what they want
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u/Cloudhiddentao 4h ago
How many democrats have given you free healthcare so far?
Voting doesn’t work because it presents the false notion of choice. Spoilers: You don’t have any. Enjoy rich people fucking you, forever.
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u/drunkcowofdeath 4h ago
Well I am in my late 30s. So hundreds of them. I was able to be on my parents plan for a few extra years because of democrats.
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u/MurkMistress 5h ago edited 5h ago
As a leftist: I vote against facism. We need ranked choice to break the two party oligarchy that prevents any actual change, but I'm sure as shit not letting authoritarianism win.
A good quote is "Vote for who you want to invite to the table for discussion."
If the other party isnt even shy about being apathetic to human life, they are obviously the worse choice.
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u/Korlac11 4h ago
I’ve heard people complain that they don’t want to choose between the lesser of two evils. That’s a fair complaint, but not a good enough reason to skip voting. If someone truly believes that one party is more evil than the other, why wouldn’t they want to do the bare minimum to keep the more evil party out of power?
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u/atreeismissing 4h ago
In every election, be there 2 or 20 people on the ballot, one of those people is closer to your preferred political beliefs and policies than the other(s), that's the person you vote for. Any excuses to not vote for one of those people is just someone who already lives in such immense privilege that they don't care about the impact of local or state or federal govt on their lives or the lives of the people in their community, it's pure selfishness, nothing else.
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u/_jump_yossarian 4h ago
I wasn't a huge fan of Clinton in 2016 but knew she was infinitely more capable than trump but the single reason I voted for her was I'd prefer her nominating SCOTUS Justices over trump. Now we're stuck with an ultra conservative 6-3 court for maybe decades! And Jill Stein had the balls to blame Biden when SCOTUS overturned Roe!
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u/HostileReplies 4h ago
Because "voting for the lesser of two evils" just empowers evil. And no I don't think both sides are the same, but the power hungry seek power, politicians have power, and politicians seek votes. If they can get votes while having a shitty platform then it allows them to limit test to lower the level of the platform. We entered a race to the bottom decades ago because of the mentality of "lesser of two evils" allowed people to turn our futures into sports teams. We are where we currently are because people keep voting for the "lesser of two evils".
Our current political situation is because nobody did the bare minimum of holding our representatives responsible for not actually representing us, and that bare minimum is... not voting for them and voting for someone else. But they pretty much perfected the grift of tricking people into not voting third party. If they win then they obviously have a decent platform and nothing really needs to change and if they lose it's because you wanted the other guy to win. It can never be a bad candidate or a bad platform, it's always someone else's fault.
Like even as a kid I thought maybe there was something I wasn't getting or missing. The entire concept of the lesser of two evils is that it's a desperation move, not something you should be doing constantly. It is literally not a sustainable concept.
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u/nuke034 4h ago
Yeah, someone once phrased voting as "Voting is probably one of the least effective ways to accomplish significant change, but it's also damn near the easiest."
It may not do much, but it takes maybe an hour or two of time every couple years. We gotta use all the tools at our disposal, no sense ignoring one this easy to use.
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u/_jump_yossarian 4h ago
We need ranked choice to break the two party oligarchy that prevents any actual change,
Ranked choice will just solidify the two party system but at least it removes spoiler candidates from the equation.
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u/YoursTrulyKindly 4h ago
So you need a revolution.
You also need better news and social media and education to learn that voting for democrats is still voting for fascists. They just export their fascism to foreign policy.
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u/Eat--The--Rich-- 5h ago
The problem is, I wouldn't invite kamala Harris for a discussion, and as a person who opposes fascism, I would never vote for the prosecutor whos administration ran the DOJ for four years and didn't prosecute a single person with it.
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u/jamart 5h ago
Congrats, you made an active choice to not use your vote to help stop Trump, the rise of American Fascism, the destabilisation of the global order as we know it in favour of nations like Russia and the cancellation of the US overseas aid program that has already seen the best part of a million unnecessary deaths.
Enjoy your 'moral high ground'.
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u/ofWildPlaces 5h ago
You are entitled to your choices, but choosing not to participate in democracy only leads to authoritarianism.
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u/Korlac11 4h ago
There’s no doubt that the Biden DOJ dropped the ball. However, if you want to oppose fascism, you can’t just sit by and not vote. Choosing not to vote against fascism means accepting fascism. Not choosing is a choice
Don’t let the desire for a perfect candidate get in the way of voting against a clearly worse candidate
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u/mrbobcyndaquil 6h ago
If voting doesn't work then why does the billionaire class murder people for voting?
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u/shortmumof2 5h ago
Vote against the worst candidate by voting for the one who will likely beat them, that’s my approach in these shitshow times. Voting against the grifters
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u/HPenguinB 5h ago
Voting is the bare minimum. It takes me 10 minutes. If you can't to push change, then also work on campaigns of progressive candidates and watch things change, like in NYC.
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u/SkeleTonOFun 5h ago
I recognize very clearly that we're looking at a two evils situation, but you should always vote for who it's most easy to organize under. Even if hardly anything changes, the less oppressive of two oppressors will always be easier to fight back against.
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u/AlertedCoyote 5h ago
I saw someone saying that the lefts inability to distinguish an imperfect ally from an enemy is going to be the doom of humanity and that is so true, but it's also the inability to choose a lesser evil. People will say "I shouldn't have to choose any evil". I'd love to live in that world, but I don't and neither do any of us. You can't unwind centuries of political corruption in one election.
To be clear, I'm ardently left wing, but mfs are acting like they were saints for not voting for Kamala because she supports Israel. No shit she supports Israel, she was running to be American president. People want the perfect thing and they want it now, but that's not the sort of timescale on which systems change, unless violence is involved. Now instead they've got Trump running roughshod over democracy, kidnapping and murdering dissidents. America isn't going to become a liberal haven in one election cycle, and I'm sorry if this is news to anyone, but it's almost certainly gonna be Gavin Newsom on the dem ticket in 2028 (assuming you get a free and fair election in 2028) and you're gonna have to vote for him, because your other option is gonna be Vance (aka Peter Thiels body double).
If you wanna push America left, you vote in Congress primaries for liberal and progressive candidates, so they can push the system forward, and if you can't get one, YOU STILL HAVE TO VOTE FOR THE LESSER EVIL, and eventually, MAYBE, 30 years from now you get a true progressive president.
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u/dayumbrah 5h ago
Ive read a theory somewhere that this idea of purity testing comes from the christian roots of some these folks. They have good and evil so ingrained in them and american culture, that even after turning from religion they still struggle to move past the moral duality.
Much like everything else, its a spectrum and any progress for basic human rights is a win
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u/Eat--The--Rich-- 5h ago
Why is it the lefts responsibility to choose evil and not democrats responsibility to not be evil? Why is it their responsibility to vote against their own interests and not democrats responsibility to earn their votes if they want them? That arrogance is half the reason people stay independent. Nobody owes democrats shit.
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u/Invisifly2 4h ago edited 4h ago
Because the world is shitty and if you want to meaningfully participate in it that means getting some shit on you.
No one’s owes them shit, yes, but throwing the baby out with the bath water isn’t exactly helpful either.
As things currently stand, 2 parties (at least, 2 that actually mean something), are a mathematical inevitability in our system. That is responsible for a great deal of the “hold your nose” aspect of voting we currently suffer from.
If you want to help resolve the 2 party problem, an imperfect first step is voting for the party that isn’t trying to take away people’s ability to vote.
They are still shitty, very much so, but it’s easier to build progress on a foundation of dirt than of mud. I would prefer bedrock, but unfortunately that is not available.
Perfection is unobtainable. It is something that we should strive towards, but not something we should sacrifice progress in the name of.
I don’t want to vote for them either. But if you ask me if I’d rather be stuck in a cactus patch, or stuck in a cactus patch but also on fire, I’m going to choose no fire instead of refusing to choose.
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u/Redeem123 5h ago
What’s a better step that a leftist can take during this election than voting for democrats? Give concrete answers please.
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u/SkeleTonOFun 5h ago
I agree with your general point, but the Democrats are not going to get better. There is no possible option where you don't choose evil. Whether you choose to vote or not, you are acting, and your action will have consequences. It's best to have the least horrible consequences, especially because we could better organize and act with a smaller boot on our necks.
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u/Dr_Sigmund_Fried 4h ago
Because most politicians red or blue are career politicians(socio political science grads) , and they on both sides no not to bite the hands(lobbyists and corporate donors) that feed. Only when we have candidates that aren't dependent on surviving off the backs of the tax payers and handouts from rich corporate sugar daddies will we have an administration that works for and alongside its constituents and not off and above them.
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u/GayMamaLuigi 4h ago
Because we have a two-party system and progressives aren't a monolith with a consensus on all the things you support. There will always be some amount of compromise if millions of people are to agree on something. In the short term, you have to pick what's closest to your ideal, and in the long term, you have to do whatever small things you can to move society's ideals closer to what you think is right.
We all have a responsibility to make the world better instead of worse, even if we can never make it perfect. The fact that the Democratic Party is neglecting that responsibility shouldn't be an excuse you use to neglect your own, unless you want to be just as immoral.
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u/Redeem123 5h ago
We need to stop framing it as “two evils.” The Dem party has plenty of problems but framing them as evil is just muddying the waters and driving people into this “both sides” bullshit.
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u/she_makes_things 5h ago
Democrats: An aging establishment problem and too much special interest money
Republicans: Livestream the execution by firing squad of a man in a wheelchair
Leftists: Both sides are the same 🤷♀️2
u/Kindly-Ad-5071 4h ago
Letting Republicans win doesn't teach Dems that they're not left enough. It teaches them that by not being Republicans, they lose.
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u/SkeleTonOFun 5h ago
I flat out disagree. There is no world that will ever be fair under either the Democrats or Republicans. They are both very vocally and provably pro-bigotry, pro-police state, and pro-genocide. They are one of two parties belonging to the horrid regime that is the U.S., even if they are less horrible than the alternative.
At the very best the Democratic party will continue to serve the status quo no matter how much deeper into shit that becomes under Republicans. They're incompetent at their best, and dangerous at their worst.
Even when we finally got a couple of vaguely competent Dems in the form of "Democratic Socialists", the rest of the party cast them out as "extremists" and refuses to work with them.
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u/ofWildPlaces 5h ago
You're exactly the problem the other comment was talking about.
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u/SkeleTonOFun 5h ago
The problem being? That I recognize the Dems are awful? I still understand who is worse and will choose based on that knowledge, just because y'all are complacent in everything staying shit doesn't mean we all have to be.
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u/ofWildPlaces 5h ago
Voting out the authoritarian GOP isn't being "complacent"
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u/SkeleTonOFun 4h ago
No, but I also think voting is the right thing to do, as I said in my original reply. Complacency comes from what comes after. Being complacent under the Democratic party is still complacency and still gets nothing done. We should vote for the weaker party to hold power so we can organize and act.
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u/Redeem123 5h ago
Neat - still no proposed solutions.
Also just some straight up lies. AOC is not only the face of the DSA, she’s fully embraced within the Democratic Party.
It’s totally fine to not like them, but you’re actively refusing to accept reality. You’d rather sit on the sidelines and moan about not getting your way than actually try to help do something that might affect change. You sit and complain about progress not happening but refuse to do even one little thing to push things in that direction.
You are the embodiment of OP’s meme, and it’s embarrassing that you can’t see it.
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u/SkeleTonOFun 4h ago
You didn't read what I said. I know very well to vote for the lesser of two evils. But they are both evil.
A face is a face, not action. Do not confuse me recognizing competence as worship either, the DSA are not socialists in any form, but the second some degree of socialist policy started pushing through by the actions of Mamdani and the words of Hasan, the Dems actively and vocally opposed them.
I don't like them, I despise them, I am still intelligent enough to evaluate a situation and act accordingly.
Edit in case you still choose not to read what I stated initially: I did propose a solution. To organize and act together to end the two party system, and preferably end the U.S. as the settler state it is. Which is much more easily done under Dems than Reps.
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u/Kindly-Ad-5071 4h ago
"But I don't want to vote for ANY evils, and there's no chance that if we vote for the lesser evil we will get someone we actually want so might we well let megahitler win"
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u/SkeleTonOFun 4h ago
They could both be megahitler, as long as one is easier to organize under than that's who we choose. If we don't want megahitler then we need to fight back, not sit on our hands.
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u/ciarannihill 5h ago
Even if we both agree that the conflict with fascism can't be overcome exclusively with voting, why would you voluntarily concede a battlefield you can win on? In what WORLD would that ever make sense?
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u/bluemew1234 5h ago
"But I wanna fight facism on Extra Hard mode!"
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u/Kindly-Ad-5071 4h ago
I want YOU to fight fascism for me (I can't do it, I'm too suburban) while I fantasize about viva la violent resistance ⚒️
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u/AdObvious2882 4h ago
Voted red down ballot same with my entire family. I refuse to vote for mentally ill people that constantly scream about imaginary fascism.
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u/ThrustyMcStab 4h ago
Obvious ragebait aside, even if it wasn't fascism it's still a disaster. Voting for that party and that guy after what they did the first time is more mentally ill than anything.
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u/ciarannihill 4h ago
"Imaginary" when ICE has publicly murdered two US citizens over whom they have 0 jurisdiction. What a delusional troll you are.
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u/Jadey4455 4h ago
There is no conflict of fascism. And this is why you guys will keep losing if you keep trying to push that and scare people. Nobody believes you, because it’s not true.
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u/kick_nazis_more 4h ago
I'm a huge critic of the electoral system, including that it presents an illusion of democracy.
I still vote!! Always!!!!
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u/Maxathron 4h ago
If all the 18-30s actually voted, you’d see real change and the world would be such a different place.
All voting data all the way back to the beginning of data collection in the 1970s state they don’t even bother. Voting data looks normal the second people hit the mid thirties area, though.
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u/MyFeetTasteWeird 5h ago
If it doesn't change anything, I guess there's nothing wrong with doing it then.
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u/metalguy91 5h ago
I literately got downvoted and mocked because I said I was voting to have policies change and hope for a better country. Those same people are what allowed this country to become the shit show it currently is.
Always vote, don’t let people say your vote doesn’t matter. As another commenter said, if your vote didn’t matter they wouldn’t be trying so hard to keep you from doing it.
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u/Fancy_Elk565 5h ago
How do I talk to a friend with this mentality? I’d love to be able to change his mind but at the least I’d like him to accept that regardless of how much he think it matters, voting is the right thing to do. He’s part of the problem he’s complaining about and doesn’t even realize
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u/Kindly-Ad-5071 4h ago
Okay, I can believe a person not wanting to vote. People lose hope and don't want to waste their time. I disagree strongly but I can believe people think that.
Someone wanting YOU to stop voting because there's no hope? No way. That person is 100% astroturfing trying to make you quit so they can go vote for the opposition later.
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u/Mediocre-Solution 4h ago
As someone who votes, but doesn’t believe his vote really makes a different. I do it for right to complain because it’s literally the bare minimum, if things change i can only hope for the better. But it stays the same then I can complain that nothing changed. I believe that if you don’t vote you have no right to complain. If your state has vote by mail you have no excuse either.
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u/OzzyStealz 4h ago
Agreed. Same reason I won’t ever let a cop search my car even though I don’t do drugs. Gotta exercise the rights that others have died for
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u/bigtheo408 5h ago
Didnt we do this literally 8 years ago? And we ended up quickly in the same but also somehow worse situation.
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u/FblthpLives 4h ago
Not to be melodramatic, but the Nazis came to power in 1933 and were defeated in 1945. Maybe a more apt comparison is Viktor Orbán, who came to power in 2010 (after an initial term as Hungary's Prime Minister 1998 to 2002) and was not defeated until April of this year. These things can take time. We have to persevere.
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u/Disastrous-Metal-183 4h ago
The Nazis were voted in.
They were not voted out.
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u/ElliotNess 4h ago
Hitler was never voted in. He lost elections. He was appointed by Paul von Hindenburg.
He was in fact, not voted out, but defeated by the red army.
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u/Redeem123 5h ago
This might shock you, but problems don’t get fixed because of just one election. You have to keep voting.
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u/shoto9000 4h ago
What happens when the enemy win then? The plan can't be to vote and win the vote forever. That's a completely unreasonable and unrealistic (anti-democratic, even) expectation.
At some point the Democrats will fuck up - as they have done many times now - and the Republicans will win, and we're back to this current mess. Back to risking the entire democratic system to them. What is the plan for actually stopping that for more than 4 years at a time?
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u/worldsfastestsloth 4h ago
Yes that’s exactly the plan. You keep voting for the option that improves our society.
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u/Conscious_Echo_6817 4h ago
If your vote didn't matter, Elon Musk wouldn't be spending $350 Million this year just to stop you from doing it.
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u/worldsfastestsloth 4h ago
Yes… and things got much better under Biden lmao. It’s only worse now because people decided a wannabe dictator that rapes kids isn’t a bad choice to lead our country.
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u/Kindly-Ad-5071 4h ago
The first term after a Republican has to be spent undoing all the former guys mess. We lost the chance to build anything on that because people can't commit to anything that doesn't have immediate results.
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u/Puzzleheaded_Low7773 4h ago
Voting doesn't work, it's all a facade. And yet I vote every year, hoping that I'm doing something good for our country. I guess when the system is just broken, it's hard to believe anything good is coming from a corrupt government. Regardless of which side is in office.
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u/Neat_Breakfast_6659 6h ago
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u/Sevencer 5h ago
Considering the leader of their party just came out publicly against major healthcare reform, they would not listen no matter what you told them.
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u/TheHalfChubPrince 4h ago
Only 30% of Democrat senators cosponsor the Medicare for All Act. We’re not getting healthcare reform either way.
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u/QuesoPantera 5h ago
Why are you waiting if you're in an early voting state?
The number of people that already voted is making them poop their pants
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u/FblthpLives 4h ago edited 4h ago
My daughter, who is dual citizen, has voted twice this year: Once in the Swedish elections in September and voted by mail in the U.S. elections earlier this month. In Sweden, the voting participation was 84.9% this year, which is actually below the long term average of 87%. The turnout in the U.S. Presidential election in 2024 was 64.3%. Another major contrast is that in the Swedish election she could choose between eight viable parties.
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u/not_from_this_world 4h ago
Voting is like the Sorites paradox but for addition.
One vote doesn't change the system. Well, if you keep adding one by one, not changing anything, at some point you'll have enough votes to be the majority and change the system.
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u/Capthulu 4h ago
You can vote and also engage in community organizing and direct action. Both is good.
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u/samv_1230 4h ago
Anyone that says this isn't a real person or is taking advice from people that aren't real and should not be taken seriously. Vote.
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u/rotas_sator 5h ago
Just called my parents to remind them to vote. they will vote republican but i think its important everyone vote no matter what
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u/COMOJoeSchmo 4h ago
Truly voting for healthcare reform means voting to keep the government AWAY from healthcare.
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u/FaceMcShootie 5h ago
Who is telling you to not vote??
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u/BigDadNads420 4h ago
Its basically two groups of people. They won't really explicitly say don't vote, but its implied with how much they downplay electoral participation.
- A huge number of apathetic centrists who don't pay attention to anything but usually want to appear above it all or whatever
- An overall pretty marginal amount of the most stereotypical online leftists who larp about revolutions on social media
Its really hard to overstate how big that first group of centrists actually is. Those people consistently voting would single-handedly create dem sweeps in most competitive areas.
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u/Chesterology 4h ago
I've been voting down the line Democrat for 28 years, despite them being utterly feckless when they do briefly win power, and for what? After decades of failing to deliver on core promises one starts to wonder what handing them a vote has achieved.
Their current vision for the country is "undo the damage Trump has done!" That's not an exaggeration, that's literally their stated plan. Absolutely no vision for the future outside of the same promises they've been making for my entire lifetime. A few years ago it was "SaVe DeMoCrAcY!" We lost big, because that's not a platform -- and have they acted like democracy was under attack the past two years? Aside from their scowls and strongly worded letters. Again, feckless.
Alas, just dropped yet another ballot for them in LA. Here's hoping I get to see how utterly toothless they'll be next year. Can't wait for the absolute mildest of "healthcare reforms" (ie everything stays exactly the same but you get a 5% off coupon).
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u/Arcadian-Stag 4h ago
If you think voting or protesting accomplishes literally anything other than containing you by wasting your time and energy you aren't gonna make it.
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u/Flintstones_VRV_Fan 4h ago
Nobody is telling you not to vote. They’re telling you that it isn’t enough.
America has become what it is because the citizens have allowed the power of their votes to be diminished, and they have done nothing to stop it.
Vote. It’s your duty. But it is the very, very least you could be doing to protect your “democracy”.
You need to fight.
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u/Officer_Hotpants 4h ago
Listen, I've never missed a vote, but be honest here: we're not voting for positive change. We're just voting for things to get shittier at a slightly slower pace.
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u/ElliotNess 4h ago
Remember when Obama had three branches of government and he totally fixed the healthcare system?
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u/GuiltyRedditUser 5h ago
I can't wait to vote either. In person because I don't trust mail in this year.
I'd love to vote many times too, but I'm not a Republican and respect the rules and laws.
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u/Eat--The--Rich-- 5h ago
The people who say that stuff always turn around and vote for liberals tho lol
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u/axiosjackson 5h ago
And I'll fuckin do it again
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u/Eat--The--Rich-- 5h ago
And are you gonna cry about it when they vote against the bills that you claim are your ideals, again?
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u/trucorsair 5h ago
Groucho Marx once said you should never vote for anyone that wants to be elected, because seeking the job implies they have ulterior motives. Better to elect someone that does NOT want the job and will get in office and push thru to get done with the job.
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u/Mobile_South_9117 5h ago
If the system is fucked and voting perpetuates it, then voting is dumb. It's like asking someone if they wanna be kicked in the balls or punched in the eyeball. You're not clever for answering the question.
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u/MrHerns 5h ago
Voting does not work they rig elections yet they have us vote so we think we are doing something. The entire system works against us, it is up to us to stop abiding by it and make our own system because everything is made up and some people got to make up a society that slaves away for them. The country is in the hands of the people, and we may think that we have time to make changes but with how the elite treat our planet, our home in an endless void of nothing, they shouldn’t get to call the shots. NONE OF THEM should. We have so many drastic changes to make for the longevity of our species and this wonderful world. No more sides, we don’t have to be divided like this, we should share the common goal of supporting one another rather than subjugating.
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u/IMian91 5h ago
We should do that AND still vote in the elections in a couple weeks. Voting doesn't mean we can't do everything you just suggested too
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u/ciarannihill 5h ago
Yes! Why concede a front of the battle voluntarily? Its just so asinine, it consumes minimal resources to just go out and vote, why would we ever just...not? Oh, that'll show "them."
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u/bluemew1234 5h ago
That all sounds great, but have you made any major strides towards this, or are you the nicer version of the whole "burning down a Walmart" thing?
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u/MrHerns 5h ago
I have things in the work. Im a musician so I am working on an album discussing the elite class and what we as the people can do to rise up. And I work very closely with my campus food bank to provide food for our community (because we need more community farming and resource accumulation because industrialization and trade dependency as well as the addiction to material wealth limits us
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u/gb3k 5h ago
So uh, your community food bank... you sure the people organizing that don't have any opinions on voting for folks who might be able to help with funding and the like?
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u/MrHerns 4h ago
They can have their opinions on if they want to vote that’s fine sure it’s a step in the right direction.
I just know the system as it stands wont sustain us for much longer and we need to dismantle it as soon as possible. Capitalistic ideals are pressing so hard for ai when we dont have the infrastructure yet, we should be laying a lot of groundwork but they want their “super intelligent” now.
They literally kill people who make radical changes to the system, they killed Martin Luther King jr.
People disappear when they have an innovative way to create energy.2
u/gb3k 4h ago
So you'd rather gamble on the idea that the fascists won't kill you and yours to continue to grease their capitalist machine or that it won't crush you when they let it all fall down on top of us while they escape with their ill-gotten goods?
Your community food bank can't support a societal collapse, nor is your music guaranteed reach the hearts and minds of the desperate and the furious... things need to change, on that we both agree, but you don't let the machine fall apart while you're still sheltering inside it.
There are people stuck in the machine worth saving, friend, regardless of whether or not you think they're worth saving.
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u/MrHerns 4h ago
I would die for this yes. At least at that point maybe I was close to doing something big for us.
My own community food bank can’t that’s true, which is why we change the system so that food is way more accessible on a local community level, backyard gardens for instance. A whole neighborhood on backyard gardens makes for a more reliable food source on local levels.Also, many a times throughout history the people have risen up and simply taken their system back, true another oppressor steps in, butttt I really want to try and stop that this go around.
Everyone deserves saving, except for those who chose to consume the blood of children to preserve their own youth and power, those people will get what is coming for them
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u/bluemew1234 4h ago
I appreciate you actually doing something towards your goals; too many people I've posed that kind of question to admit they wont lift a finger and expect others to sacrifice time, energy, and family members towards the glorious revolution
I completely disagree with the idea that voting does nothing though. Even if we feel that we wont affect anything on a national level, working towards improving things on a local level or keeping things stable until we're able to try and change things is always better than purposefully allowing things to get worse
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u/Redeem123 5h ago
That’s a cool way to say you have no interest in changing things. “Make our own system” is an empty platitude that means nothing because you offer no actual workable solutions.
If voting didn’t work, Obama wouldn’t have been president. The Dems wouldn’t have flipped the Senate and White House in 2020. AOC wouldn’t be in the House. The list goes on and on.
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u/ofWildPlaces 5h ago
You are wildly incorrect.
If voting didn't matter, conservatives wouldn't be working so hard to deny you that right.
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u/wholesomememes-ModTeam 3h ago
Thank you to the people that reported this post. We don’t allow politics here for a reason. While the act of voting could be considered wholesome, most of the comments here are not. You’ll notice that there are NO comments from OP. This is not the first time u/decentmotto has posted political content here, but it will be the last.
Please also be aware that r/WholesomeMemes has had an influx of spam and reposts over the past few weeks after a long time without it. Now we are seeing almost no posts again after clearing out the bots. It’s unfortunate that this is the most visible post on the sub in a while. So we are leaving it up and locked with this message for visibility and will remove it soon.