In every voting system, not voting is equivalent to a vote for the worst option.
That’s how democracy in general works. Even with ranked choice voting, if someone only puts candidate A as their choice because they disagree with everyone else, then their vote doesn’t count if candidate A is eliminated in the first round.
Not voting at all just lowers the threshold needed to win.
I’m sorry, but that’s not even close to how democracy in general works.
I’ve lived, worked and voted in The Netherlands where vote is proportional and there the “useful vote” (or as it should be better called “negative vote” as people vote against the other candidate rather than for a candidate) does not exist at all.
I’ve also lived and voted in other coutries of Europe with different systems and the Dutch one is one of the best and that certainly gets reflected in their politics (those of consensus, not partisanship) and outcomes and the only one which is as bad as the US is the British one (in fact, with a Monarch with real power and an unellected 2nd House, it’s probably less democractic than the US system, though at least their uninominal electoral circles aren’t as large as in the US)
(All those countries were EU countries at the time, hence why I could vote in all of them, though in some only in Local Elections and for the EU Parliament)
The US is a not a Democracy, it’s this wierd Power Duopoly system with a near-symbolic vote sitting between a Power Monopoly (i.e. Dictatorship) and real Democracy.
Do not confuse your ignorance when it comes to voting systems with what is maybe one of the most visible effects of anti-democratic voting systems being “how democracy in general works”. Not! Even! Close!
Your words: “In every voting system a non vote is a vote for the worst option”
So I just pointed you out voting systems were that’s not the case.
That emotional reaction at me pointing that out and that the American voting system (clearly all that you know) is particularly anti-democratic even amongst flawed voting systems is a pretty good indication of somebody either whose identity is entwided with a nation which they must believe is superior to see themselves as inherently superior or being one of those wankers who firmly believes he’s always right with no requirement for proof and whilst being incapable of taking in criticism to such a level it’s an actual diagnosable mental disease, hence my criticism of the nation and that proven wrong unsupported belief resulting in such emotional pain and rage.
Normal, healthy and non-brainwashed individuals don’t react like that.
That’s some seriously fucked up psychological shit ridding you that I wouldn’t wish on my worse enemy.
In systems which are parliamentary rather than presidential, there is no such thing as a single candidate (with real power) that’s chosen because there is no single president representing the whole land (or, as in Germany, whilst there is one, it’s purelly symbolic with no actual power).
If the parliamentary election uses proportional vote, once again there are no single candidates being selected: people vote for parties and then seats are allocated in a proportional way, so not voting is perfectly neutral and indirectly favours no party.
Even in systems with parliamentary elections using multiple candidate electoral circles, not voting only sometimes benefits a specific candidate (depending very much on the balance of the other votes).
It’s only when you have single candidate electoral circles or presidential elections (for a position with real power) that not voting for one of the main parties is almost the same as voting for the other one.
Not that I’m defending not voting: personally if and when I find no candidate to my liking I’ll still go and vote, only vote blank, since not voting can just be interpreted as lazy whilst going to the trouble of getting one’s sorry ass of one’s sofa to go and a stand in line and then vote, only to vote blank, most definitelly signals one’s dissatisfaction with all parties/candidates.
It’s extremelly easy for politicians to spin abstention as unimportant, but not so for blank votes.
I’ve actually been a member of political parties in 2 countries (and always small parties, so it’s not as if I’m going personally gain from it) and have even manned voting sections, so it’s not as if I’m not doing far more than average to try and improve the countries I live in.
Then again I can have this far more nouanced take on voting because I generally lived in countries were the voting system meant voting made at least some difference.
The youth thinks voting in a presidential election is all they need to do to make change. That is the bare minimum. You need to vote in every election, small ones that happen locally, every rep and Senate one. You also need to encourage other youths in strong conservative areas to move the needle to more liberal, progressive views. Then you need to get active and show the people running that there is a strong unified voice that demands these changes. But there is tic Tok and I’m pretty tired, cants someone else go and do it?
The people that care most about this were never going to vote in general. And with a significant majority of the population supporting Israel, there’s not really any option for candidates against it either.
And again, given that the majority of the population supports Israel, someone like Trump and Biden are going to be equivalent on the issue.
The people that care most about this were never going to vote in general.
Not necessarily. People aged 18-24 had a voter turnout of about 48% the last election.
And with a significant majority of the population supporting Israel, there’s not really any option for candidates against it either.
The population includes republicans who aren’t gonna vote for Biden anyway. According to the Guardian:
Gallup has been tracking the gradual downward shift in sympathy toward Israel among Democrats that started in about 2014. In February, for the first time, Democrats’ sympathies for the Palestinians were higher than for the Israelis, 49% to 38%.
Young people not voting is very, very bad for Biden though.
Young people not voting is explicitly voting for a christofascist though.
yay “democracy”
In every voting system, not voting is equivalent to a vote for the worst option.
That’s how democracy in general works. Even with ranked choice voting, if someone only puts candidate A as their choice because they disagree with everyone else, then their vote doesn’t count if candidate A is eliminated in the first round.
Not voting at all just lowers the threshold needed to win.
I’m sorry, but that’s not even close to how democracy in general works.
I’ve lived, worked and voted in The Netherlands where vote is proportional and there the “useful vote” (or as it should be better called “negative vote” as people vote against the other candidate rather than for a candidate) does not exist at all.
I’ve also lived and voted in other coutries of Europe with different systems and the Dutch one is one of the best and that certainly gets reflected in their politics (those of consensus, not partisanship) and outcomes and the only one which is as bad as the US is the British one (in fact, with a Monarch with real power and an unellected 2nd House, it’s probably less democractic than the US system, though at least their uninominal electoral circles aren’t as large as in the US)
(All those countries were EU countries at the time, hence why I could vote in all of them, though in some only in Local Elections and for the EU Parliament)
The US is a not a Democracy, it’s this wierd Power Duopoly system with a near-symbolic vote sitting between a Power Monopoly (i.e. Dictatorship) and real Democracy.
Do not confuse your ignorance when it comes to voting systems with what is maybe one of the most visible effects of anti-democratic voting systems being “how democracy in general works”. Not! Even! Close!
We’re talking about NOT voting, you illiterate fuck.
That’s quite the pure animalistic lashback.
Your words: “In every voting system a non vote is a vote for the worst option”
So I just pointed you out voting systems were that’s not the case.
That emotional reaction at me pointing that out and that the American voting system (clearly all that you know) is particularly anti-democratic even amongst flawed voting systems is a pretty good indication of somebody either whose identity is entwided with a nation which they must believe is superior to see themselves as inherently superior or being one of those wankers who firmly believes he’s always right with no requirement for proof and whilst being incapable of taking in criticism to such a level it’s an actual diagnosable mental disease, hence my criticism of the nation and that proven wrong unsupported belief resulting in such emotional pain and rage.
Normal, healthy and non-brainwashed individuals don’t react like that.
That’s some seriously fucked up psychological shit ridding you that I wouldn’t wish on my worse enemy.
Normal, healthy individuals don’t misread the original post so badly.
In systems which are parliamentary rather than presidential, there is no such thing as a single candidate (with real power) that’s chosen because there is no single president representing the whole land (or, as in Germany, whilst there is one, it’s purelly symbolic with no actual power).
If the parliamentary election uses proportional vote, once again there are no single candidates being selected: people vote for parties and then seats are allocated in a proportional way, so not voting is perfectly neutral and indirectly favours no party.
Even in systems with parliamentary elections using multiple candidate electoral circles, not voting only sometimes benefits a specific candidate (depending very much on the balance of the other votes).
It’s only when you have single candidate electoral circles or presidential elections (for a position with real power) that not voting for one of the main parties is almost the same as voting for the other one.
Not that I’m defending not voting: personally if and when I find no candidate to my liking I’ll still go and vote, only vote blank, since not voting can just be interpreted as lazy whilst going to the trouble of getting one’s sorry ass of one’s sofa to go and a stand in line and then vote, only to vote blank, most definitelly signals one’s dissatisfaction with all parties/candidates.
It’s extremelly easy for politicians to spin abstention as unimportant, but not so for blank votes.
I’ve actually been a member of political parties in 2 countries (and always small parties, so it’s not as if I’m going personally gain from it) and have even manned voting sections, so it’s not as if I’m not doing far more than average to try and improve the countries I live in.
Then again I can have this far more nouanced take on voting because I generally lived in countries were the voting system meant voting made at least some difference.
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because this system wont bring what people actually want/need.
motherfuckers will have to actually get up and fight for it to be changed for the better.
Yeah well we got him. The alternative wants to ban Muslims and queer people. It fucking sucks, vote anyway
It is what it is. If we care about climate change and LGBT people, there’s a clear action we have to take.
Exactly
Nah.
Young people don’t fucking vote. It doesn’t really matter what they want.
Biden wasn’t shoved down anyone’s throat. Everywhere that mattered in the primaries had single digit turnout for 18-29 year olds.
Every year that goes by more and more of them vote. Kids turning 18 today are fired up to vote.
I’d also like to see the voting age lowered to 16. Even 16 year olds know you don’t take babies from their mother’s arms and lock kids in cages.
Personally I actually think it should be tied to the working age, and for all schools (but especially highschools) to be made into voting centers.
The youth thinks voting in a presidential election is all they need to do to make change. That is the bare minimum. You need to vote in every election, small ones that happen locally, every rep and Senate one. You also need to encourage other youths in strong conservative areas to move the needle to more liberal, progressive views. Then you need to get active and show the people running that there is a strong unified voice that demands these changes. But there is tic Tok and I’m pretty tired, cants someone else go and do it?
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I’m not saying they shouldn’t vote. I’m saying that’s what will happen if Biden doesn’t intervene in Gaza, or at least stop supporting Israel.
The people that care most about this were never going to vote in general. And with a significant majority of the population supporting Israel, there’s not really any option for candidates against it either.
And again, given that the majority of the population supports Israel, someone like Trump and Biden are going to be equivalent on the issue.
https://www.npr.org/2023/10/13/1205627092/american-support-israel-biden-middle-east-hamas-poll
2/3 of Americans in that say the US should publicly support Israel.
https://www.cnn.com/2023/10/19/politics/polling-israel-hamas-biden/index.html
Only 13% say their sympathies lie with Palestinians in the war.
It’s really only Arab Americans that support Palestine over Israel. And more Arab Americans identify as Republican and would vote for Trump who is even more pro Israel and anti Palestinian. https://www.reuters.com/world/us/arab-american-support-biden-democrats-plummets-over-israel-poll-2023-10-31/
Not necessarily. People aged 18-24 had a voter turnout of about 48% the last election.
The population includes republicans who aren’t gonna vote for Biden anyway. According to the Guardian: