Solarpunk

I think of it as follows: Five of us in a car and we're sorting things out democratically. Two of us, including the driver, think the ride would be way more fun if the driver goy blackout drunk and wore a blindfold. Two of us want to go to Mcdonald's. You don't want to go to McDonalds and suggest a salad bar.

Well, the votes are tied and the driver and his buddy win by default and we all die in a car crash.

Yes, a salad was better than McDonalds OR a car crash but goddamn, reality is also a thing and doesn't care about what we want.

The time to push for significant change was the primaries and our fellow progressives didn't show up to vote. Voting a third party now just feels "if I don't get my way, I'm taking my ball and going home!"

I voted Green in 2012 because a) Barack Obama was given a 99% chance of winning my state very close to the election and b) I thought I could “send a message” to the Democratic Party that they should move further left.

I did so with full knowledge that not only was Jill Stein in no position to win a single elector and that in addition she was a horrible candidate who would be literally the worst president in the entire history of the United States (this was before Trump, but I’m still going to go with that for the purposes of this discussion). I did so knowing it was a protest vote while claiming it wasn’t a protest vote but a vote of conscience.

Jill Stein and GPUSA are a bunch of corrupt fucks who only run because they take in republicans money because they regularly scrape off a 3-4% of the otherwise democratic vote, which in some districts and state can swing the entire election.

So o cast my GP vote, the total GP vote was completely in line with historical trends, Obama won my state and the presidency (thankfully), and no signal was sent, except that the republicans could rely on that.

I’m sure the Dems do something similar with the libertarian vote. I’ve even been tempted to donate (now that I have some money to donate) to libertarian candidates in elections where scraping off a point or two could tip things towards the D (which I confess is something I favor, being part of Team Rainbow). I haven’t dug into it, but I wouldn’t be surprised if that racist son of a Bircher Ron Paul didn’t help hand the election to Clinton. If so, fucking yay. I don’t love Bill, but we sure as fuck didn’t need more Ronald Reaganing.

I think everyone should treat people advocating for a GPUSA or other protest vote as a Republican stalking horse, period. Whether they’re intentionally doing it or naively turning themselves into a broadcast node doesn’t matter - I’m not judging. I’m just saying that they’re effectively campaigning for a fascist, and should be treated as one.

You should write to one of the Green Party's Congresspeople about it. Even state congresspeople can do a lot to help with issues like this, they're the foundation a nation-wide party is built on after all.

One day you might realize that sleazy politicians, regardless of party affiliation, don't care about you or anything else but themselves.

Proud of you!

The US two-party system is such an aberration to me.

Let's see, an honest question posted about voting Green nets you a current score of -8. Yeah I'd say you're justified in feeling attacked.

I'm Canadian and don't know much about the US Greens, but I can tell you that any party that would run Joe Biden twice is not a party I'd ever vote for, especially now given his miserable response to literal genocide.

The Democrats can do this because they think they have your vote by default. It's not like you're going to vote Republican, right?

But here's the thing: you don't get progress that way. The Democrats are never going to run someone who doesn't support Israel unequivocally or isn't fixated on helping capitalism destroy the planet so long as they think they can count on you voting "not Republican" every time. Yes, the Republicans are worse, but contrary to appearances, they're on the same team, presenting the illusion of choice so long as that choice favours as little actual change for the rich as possible.

So yeah, fuck the Democrats, and definitely fuck Joe Biden and any other "let the world burn" candidate. Vote green if you want, or stay home if you like. Just make it clear to Democrats (and their apologists in this thread) that your vote isn't a given. That's how you drag them kicking and screaming toward progress.