" #Democrats deliver ‘stunning’ flip in New Hampshire special election, latest in series of 28 upsets"
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@miss_rodent @benroyce
You’re so good at luring an old guy into a party that’s not a party yet. Thanks so much for your help. Mamdani is a lighthouse beacon that I will easily follow. There are many sparks of candidates I like. But currently there is one party that can defeat MAGA, especially with the Trump administration imploding. And it’s not the Mamdani Party.@bBuck @benroyce NY elections have rules that allow a candidate to run for multiple parties at once, without splitting the vote and having a spoiler effect. National elections do not have this.
So, on the federal level, and in most states, yes, the dems are the only ones that can meaningfully challenge the republicans right noww.
But at the local level, things can be more complicated, and a lot of people register for parties based on local concerns rather than national ones. -
@benroyce @miss_rodent
Sure. Blame it on the old guy. Maybe the Odd nonbinary lunatic squirrel thing wants to take a different approach in trying to get all of us onboard.COMMENT EDITED DUE TO ME BEING A PUNCH DRUNK IDIOT
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COMMENT EDITED DUE TO ME BEING A PUNCH DRUNK IDIOT
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@benroyce @fathermcgruder Agree completely with Ben. Leftists didn’t like Hubert Humphrey in 1968 because he was too connected to Johnson’s escalation of the Vietnam War, so we got 8 years of Nixon, more escalation, more body bags, Cointelpro, murdered Black Panthers etc. Leftists didn’t like Al Gore in 2000, so we got 8 years of GWB, two devastating wars, a broken economy, John Roberts and Sam Alito, inaction on climate change…1/
@benroyce @fathermcgruder Leftists didn’t like Hillary in 2016 or Kamala in 2024…see the pattern? These were all close elections. If we had won even 1 of them, everyone’s lives would have been better, and leftists would have had more space to push for change. Now we are fighting to survive. And millions of people all over the globe are dead who would still be alive.
Voting is harm reduction at worst, transformative at best. There’s nothing evil about reducing harm.2/
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@miss_rodent @bBuck ok cool
Sorry
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There *is* something entitled to your vote:
Your society
You're not trans or an immigrant etc so Trump's malice doesn't threaten you
So you are privileged to play silly games like "teach dems a lesson" and allow your society to go to shit. Because it doesn't affect you (or you're too stupid to realize it affects you)
Centrist dems aren't listening to your "lesson." Not voting means you don't care
You have to show up and *replace* centrist dems in the primaries
@benroyce Dude you don't know anything about me or how or why I vote. That you assume I see voting or not-voting as a means stick it to someone or something reveals your own faulty understanding or disregard of material reality. If Democrats want leftists to vote for them, they just have to run candidates that clear some very low bars. These votes are much easier to get than those from conservatives.
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@benroyce Dude you don't know anything about me or how or why I vote. That you assume I see voting or not-voting as a means stick it to someone or something reveals your own faulty understanding or disregard of material reality. If Democrats want leftists to vote for them, they just have to run candidates that clear some very low bars. These votes are much easier to get than those from conservatives.
@benroyce Of course, losing campaigns still pay very well, as demonstrated by Kamala's. It's questionable that they really want to win sometimes.
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@miss_rodent @bBuck ok cool
Sorry
@benroyce @miss_rodent
No worries. My dad was a civics teacher in high school. I know very well how messy politics can be. It was also very difficult to skip school. -
@benroyce @miss_rodent
No worries. My dad was a civics teacher in high school. I know very well how messy politics can be. It was also very difficult to skip school.@bBuck @miss_rodent i apologize. I'm punch drunk. I deal with too many trolls
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@benroyce Dude you don't know anything about me or how or why I vote. That you assume I see voting or not-voting as a means stick it to someone or something reveals your own faulty understanding or disregard of material reality. If Democrats want leftists to vote for them, they just have to run candidates that clear some very low bars. These votes are much easier to get than those from conservatives.
you get left candidates by showing up in the primaries and voting then in
centrist dems will learn nothing from low turnout. they represent the people who show up to vote. who are centrist dems
this idea that not voting convinces anyone of anything is a troll psyop from right wingers or geopolitical forces
the idea not voting does anything except tweak an entitled selfish perfectionist's ego- and help MAGA win, is a form of stupidity or insanity i find hard to understand
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@benroyce @fathermcgruder Leftists didn’t like Hillary in 2016 or Kamala in 2024…see the pattern? These were all close elections. If we had won even 1 of them, everyone’s lives would have been better, and leftists would have had more space to push for change. Now we are fighting to survive. And millions of people all over the globe are dead who would still be alive.
Voting is harm reduction at worst, transformative at best. There’s nothing evil about reducing harm.2/
@benroyce @fathermcgruder After 50 years of activism and all of these disappointments, I have stopped looking to electoral politics as the main focus for transformative change. That comes from organizing in communities. Forcing elected officials to do the right thing. If you vote for the right people, they’re more likely to give in to the demands of communities, or do the least to block them. So I vote for the best possible available candidate and keep organizing. 3/
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@bBuck @miss_rodent i apologize. I'm punch drunk. I deal with too many trolls
@benroyce @miss_rodent
Zero problems. I’m pretty sure we’re voting in the same direction even though that direction isn’t completely clear at this time. -
@benroyce Of course, losing campaigns still pay very well, as demonstrated by Kamala's. It's questionable that they really want to win sometimes.
so we show up in the primaries and replace them
"i'm going to show i don't care very hard by not voting and thus magically turn a centrist into a leftist" is moronic beyond belief
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@benroyce @miss_rodent
Zero problems. I’m pretty sure we’re voting in the same direction even though that direction isn’t completely clear at this time. -
@benroyce @miss_rodent
Zero problems. I’m pretty sure we’re voting in the same direction even though that direction isn’t completely clear at this time.@bBuck @benroyce Ultimately, I am voting for the party not trying to kill me/people like me. Which for national elections means a democrat, even if they're a democrat I absolutely despise otherwise. There's not much choice in the matter.
For the primaries... depends on who actually runs, too early to say at this point. My local midterm election is not very complicated, my local congress rep is already better-than-average by dem standards. -
@bBuck @benroyce Ultimately, I am voting for the party not trying to kill me/people like me. Which for national elections means a democrat, even if they're a democrat I absolutely despise otherwise. There's not much choice in the matter.
For the primaries... depends on who actually runs, too early to say at this point. My local midterm election is not very complicated, my local congress rep is already better-than-average by dem standards. -
you get left candidates by showing up in the primaries and voting then in
centrist dems will learn nothing from low turnout. they represent the people who show up to vote. who are centrist dems
this idea that not voting convinces anyone of anything is a troll psyop from right wingers or geopolitical forces
the idea not voting does anything except tweak an entitled selfish perfectionist's ego- and help MAGA win, is a form of stupidity or insanity i find hard to understand
"you get left candidates by showing up in the primaries and voting
centrist dems will learn nothing from low turnout."
Mind-boggling that these truths need to be said.
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@bBuck @benroyce Ultimately, I am voting for the party not trying to kill me/people like me. Which for national elections means a democrat, even if they're a democrat I absolutely despise otherwise. There's not much choice in the matter.
For the primaries... depends on who actually runs, too early to say at this point. My local midterm election is not very complicated, my local congress rep is already better-than-average by dem standards.@miss_rodent @benroyce
You, me and my partner have a lot in common, then. -
@benroyce Dude you don't know anything about me or how or why I vote. That you assume I see voting or not-voting as a means stick it to someone or something reveals your own faulty understanding or disregard of material reality. If Democrats want leftists to vote for them, they just have to run candidates that clear some very low bars. These votes are much easier to get than those from conservatives.
so run more left candidates & win the Dem primary, like Mamdani did
i'm thrilled Mamdani won. but he could only win in a few places in the country
but Kamala is a decent person we can work with & move. the same way we moved Obama on gay marriage
but if the Dem nominee isn't perfectly aligned w/ you, you take your ball and go home.
now that's faulty logic -
so we show up in the primaries and replace them
"i'm going to show i don't care very hard by not voting and thus magically turn a centrist into a leftist" is moronic beyond belief
@benroyce No argument from me about voting in primary elections. However, counting on left leaning people to vote blue no matter who in general elections is a moronic mistake. It simply does matter who.
