• Semi-Hemi-Lemmygod@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    0
    ·
    edit-2
    6 months ago

    Stop thinking that you vote “for” someone in a FPTP system. You don’t. You vote against the guy you don’t like.

    It sucks, and I hate it, but don’t delude yourself into thinking otherwise. We’re playing a badly-designed game with a shitty controller and we’re only allowed to press a button once a year at best.

    Think Twitch Plays Pokemon, but with a lot more trolls and no moderation. There will be a constant stream of people voting to do something stupid and destructive, so you spend all of your time voting against them.

    Oh, and their votes count for more, so they can win even if there’s fewer of them. All we can ever hope to do is try to stop them and hope they don’t fuck everything up and give themselves even more power before the next time we’re allowed to pick a move.

    Yay America. Greatest democracy in the world right there.

    • OneWomanCreamTeam@sh.itjust.works
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      0
      ·
      6 months ago

      Both Democrats and Republicans have a vested interest in keeping the system as it is. They won’t change it unless citizens make them change it.

      Honestly I’m kind of losing hope that it’s even possible at this point.

      • UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        0
        ·
        edit-2
        6 months ago

        They won’t change it unless citizens make them change it.

        They’ll send a fucking SWAT team to the house of any citizen tries to change it.

        Honestly I’m kind of losing hope that it’s even possible at this point.

        At some point, “we just need to vote for the most right-wing Democrat and then blame the leftists any time we lose” is not a productive long term strategy.

    • UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      0
      ·
      6 months ago

      You vote against the guy you don’t like.

      What if I don’t like any of them?

      There will be a constant stream of people voting to do something stupid and destructive, so you spend all of your time voting against them.

      I would simply not participate in a system that sounds this miserable and tedious. I would play a game that’s more productive and enjoyable.

      Oh, and their votes count for more, so they can win even if there’s fewer of them.

      But it doesn’t matter, because casting a vote for Ralph Nader from my bright red state of Texas is still the reason Al Gore lost Florida in a 5-4 SCOTUS decision.

      • Semi-Hemi-Lemmygod@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        0
        ·
        6 months ago

        What if I don’t like any of them?

        Join the club.

        I would play a game that’s more productive and enjoyable.

        That’s not possible. We voted on what game we’re playing and we glued the cartridge into the console. Much to my disappointment we don’t get to change the game, or not play, or even ignore it.

        It’s a stupid world and we all live in it.

        But it doesn’t matter, because casting a vote for Ralph Nader from my bright red state of Texas is still the reason Al Gore lost Florida in a 5-4 SCOTUS decision.

        Exactly: The system is built to let them win as much as possible. You’re not going to ever beat it. It’s like Getting Over It with Bennett Foddy except even more frustrating and without the pleasant voiceovers.

        • UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          0
          ·
          6 months ago

          That’s not possible.

          That’s very possible. It’s just not what Americans are used to doing.

          We voted on what game we’re playing

          That’s a naive perspective, as it misses the historical, financial, and sociological roots of the game. You can’t play a game of basketball if the other team picks up the ball and walks off the court.

          This is Lockean Theory 101, and its the entire basis of democracy. We use democratic tools to divine popular intent. But when the democracy is subverted and political leadership is divorced from public sentiment, the institutions fail. But if institutions aren’t failing because people are too afraid to withdraw their support from them, the system is implicitly endorsed and corrupt officials get to continue abusing their social mandates.

          It’s a stupid world and we all live in it.

          Its only as stupid as we make it. Atm, we’ve got a country that’s invested an enormous amount of time, energy, and labor hours in infesting our senior population with brain worms. That needs to change and simply voting isn’t going to be the thing that does it.