Harm reduction voting makes sense in swing states. How is voting third party useless in a non-swing state?

Tell them that the Nazis never really went away […] And we’ll never rest again until every Nazi dies

• The Day The Nazi Died by Chumbawamba

Sanders or West would be better candidates. I admit ignorance on Stein’s relation to Putin. I mentioned her since she is the Green Party candidate.

What are Biden’s progressive accomplishments? I remain unconvinced Biden is left or progressive. I hope you can help me see my shortcomings.

The best of the Biden Administration’s work has been coalition building for Ukraine. That work is fatigued by support for Gaza. Support for suppression of student protests is not progressive. Infrastructure seems to be a corporate bailout. Handling of COVID was roughly the same as under Trump. Waiting for pandemic fatigue and the virus to become endemic ended the War on COVID. Wages are not keeping up with cost of living. I am against gun control, so that failure is fine.

Swing state voters decide elections. Since I am not one, voting against Biden is not equivalent to voting for Trump. My vote will not swing the outcome in my state.

That’s informative. I haven’t paid much attention to her. I know she is the Green Party candidate.

Move Biden left in 2020 became just take Biden again 2024. I will keep the language US centric. Democrats are surprised they are losing progressives by appeasing conservatives and moderates. A better progressive option is Jill Stein or Dr. Cornel West. Would be surprising for a coalition between Democrats and Greens.

Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated. While having other successes, he was unable to carry out the Poor People’s Campaign. Was violence successful in removing the voice of Martin Luther King Jr.?

I may change my vote for different candidates or a different voting system. I currently support Cornel West. Biden was not a great candidate in 2020, but I was convinced we could move him left. There has been an “always D” tone on Lemmy until the recent debate.

Beyond voting there are more issues to work on like: building community, mutual aid, cardio, survival skills and marksmanship.

TL;DR: I’m not voting for Biden. I will be a spoiler if that’s what you call it. The police response to protests is an example of policies Biden wants to keep funding. Biden and Trump can both be bad leaders.

Aside: Voting is entertaining, but work on your cardio. Build some communities. Life is going to get harder for working folk.

I understand the spoiler effect in first-past-the-post voting. Avoiding a voting system subject to the spoiler effect requires a rated voting system. Major reform is required to remove the spoiler effect from the voting system in the USA.

There are other logical problems with the spoiler effect in the USA however.

First, the popular vote is divorced from the Electoral College vote. Thereby, even if Tiger gets 15% of the vote the Electoral College representatives for that portion of the population may vote for Leopard.

Second, there is an assumption Tiger voters would vote for Leopard or Gorilla if Tiger was not an option. Voter turnout in 2020 was 66.8%. That means roughly a third of people chose not to vote. There is an argument to be made that this is also a spoiler, but combined that block could shift the outcome in Tiger’s favor.

Third, “I’m not the other guy” is not a political platform. Biden pays lip service to protecting American Democracy which seems to be a conservative stance to maintain a voting system favoring the wealthy. Codifying Roe v. Wade is great, but could have been done at any time in the past. Separation of powers requires a Legislative branch that would work on such issues. Funding the police does not solve policing which leads to responses to protest like the George Floyd marches or recent campus violence.

I am sure there are other reasons to vote for Biden. The FTC fighting corruption under Lina Khan is one. Corporate bailouts opposing the neoliberal order, like CHIPS and Infrastructure, could be another.

I am unable to vote for mass murder. I am unable to vote for corporate bailouts. I am voting for Tiger.

Best case, a third party wins and starts to dismantle an empire. Realistic case is Biden or Trump win and my vote had nothing to do with it. Biden and Trump are both bad leaders. Deporting or silencing dissenters is bad leadership. I’m still not voting for Biden. Nice try though.

What’s the Democrat’s end game with Project 2025? Is it keep voting Democrat or else you get Project 2025? How can we convince the powerful that genocide is bad?