As the title states I am confused on this matter. The way I see it, the USA has a two party system and in the next few weeks they’re either going to have Trump or Harris as president, come inauguration day. With this in mind doesn’t it make sense to vote for the person least likely to escalate the situation even more.

Giving your vote to an independent or worse not voting at all, just gives more of a chance for Trump to win the election and then who knows what crazy stuff he will allow, or encourage, Israel to get away with.

I really don’t get the logic. As sure nobody wants to vote for a party allowing these heinous crimes to be committed, but given you’re getting one of them shouldn’t you be voting for the one that will be the least horrible of the two.

Please don’t come at me with pro-Israeli rhetoric as this isn’t the post for that, I’m asking about why people would make such choices and I’m not up for debate on the Middle East, on this post, you can DM me for that.

Edit: Bedtime here now so will respond to incoming comments in the morning, love starting the day with an inbox full 😊.

Edit 2: This blew up, it’s a little overwhelming right now but I do intent on replying to everybody that took the time to comment. Just need to get in the right headspace.

  • rocci@lemmy.ml
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    11 months ago

    In my situation, I’m in a solid blue state so I’m voting for a third party to push the country to the left.

        • Pacattack57@lemmy.world
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          11 months ago

          Yes and your vote does absolutely nothing in “pushing” the country left. Who taught you that? Please do better research as the future of your country depends on it.

          • TheOubliette@lemmy.ml
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            11 months ago

            Sometimes being principled in your vote is a good first step towards doing something politically meaningful. Many liberals are chained to the idea that their vote is their political being. And then they go vote for genociders!

            That first step of pulling at their chains can lead to further political education.

            • Pacattack57@lemmy.world
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              11 months ago

              I would say you have to be the stupidest person on earth to vote 3rd party but I know that Magidiots exist.

              You do nothing but enable genocide by voting 3rd party. A Democrat loss in November GUARANTEES the genocide continues. The Republican Party is the party of Israel and they would bend over backwards to give them whatever is necessary to bring back Jesus Christ

              • TheOubliette@lemmy.ml
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                11 months ago

                I would say you have to be the stupidest person on earth to vote 3rd party but I know that Magidiots exist.

                Yep just big dum-dums that won’t support your genocider candidate. If only they were smart like you and supported 98% Hitler!

                You do nothing but enable genocide by voting 3rd party. A Democrat loss in November GUARANTEES the genocide continues.

                You know Dems are doing the genocide, right? And at the point where they have the most to fear from supporting it, they aren’t even pandering.

                You’re the baddies, bud.

                The Republican Party is the party of Israel and they would bend over backwards to give them whatever is necessary to bring back Jesus Christ

                The Democratic Party is also the party of Israel.

                It’s impressive that you’re calling people names while writing polemic that obviously applies to “your team”.

                • Pacattack57@lemmy.world
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                  11 months ago

                  I am not a Democrat. At this point I’m closer to Independent because both parties have gone off the rails over that last decade. However I understand the importance of this election and I understand how our system works. Voting 3rd party does nothing but pull votes from Democrats. It happens EVERY election. I’m sorry to burst your bubble but voting third party doesn’t give you the moral high ground. It just makes you an idiot because not only will your candidate not be elected but more often than not you enable Republicans to win elections based on how our voting system works.

  • OwenEverbinde@lemmy.myserv.one
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    11 months ago

    I voted for Harris, but I feel like it’s pretty obvious why someone would vote third party instead.

    One need only reject the premise that voting should be a strategic act of harm reduction. Mind you, I’m not saying “is” here. I’m saying “should be”.

    We may not take their approach, but you have to admit that there’s value to it. They are embracing the world as it ought to be, whereas we are trying to work with the reality of the situation as we perceive it.

    And we could be perceiving incorrectly. For all we know, Trump could loose-cannon his way into making Netanyahu’s whole party lose their next election. It may not be likely, but nothing in this world is certain.

    For all we know, the Heritage Foundation could destroy so much of the government and economy so rapidly that it weakens all of the property rights and FBI operations aimed against self-sufficient mutual aid, and communes start springing up all over the place. It’s not likely without massive turmoil, starvation, and bloodshed. But however unlikely, we cannot predict the future!

    Cyncism is costly in terms of mental health and well-being. In order to choose pragmatism over principles, we must accept a reality where no good choices exist. But that’s not something we can do everywhere. We can’t repeatedly choose the “least miserable option” and still be able to hold ourselves together and function. It’s just not possible.

    Humans need hope to survive. They need a hill they can hang onto. They need to be able to say, “on this ground, I fight for what should be rather than what is.”

    Some people’s hill is their ballot.