I have voted Democrat since I could vote. I voted third party this round. Liberals should blame me for the problems of the Empire. Vote Biden and move him left was only compelling once. Give me economic substance. Dismantle the Empire.

Wanting an end to needless slaughter, healthcare and working equipment sounds reasonable. I am glad there are reasonable voices on Lemmy.

I am probably missing a lot of information on Israel, but continued learning is important. I recently learned about the USS Liberty incident in 1967. I am not sure how Israeli’s could mess up that bad. There are still individuals maintaining the incident was deliberate. Who knows? Troubling history abounds.

People have different reasons for being on Lemmy. Examples are looking to feel validated or to pick a fight. I think these folk also existed in ye olde times. Maybe the attention economy is amplifying specific behaviors that would not have been amplified in the olde times.

Being fair, I usually come to Lemmy to argue. I am probably part of the problem.

The vote is worthless outside of swing states. May as well vote your conscience when fptp and Electoral College enshrine disenfranchisement.

Informative. Well written. Seems like the short version of my Intro to American Politics class at Uni. I classified myself as a social democrat back then. I was told I would get more conservative when I was older. Now I classify myself as an anarchist. Not sure what went wrong.

I am grateful local debates are posted online. Instead of listening to music at work I listened to the debates. Living in a one party state is unfortunate. The opposition tends to have similar political convictions to the incumbent.

Agreed. Voting shouldn’t be the only activism we are involved in. My comment was about solidarity against the oligarchs that can decide to make life harder for people they deem icky.

Republicans and Democrats were unable to stop legislation from the Judiciary with Roe v. Wade and later Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization. Super PAC’s donate multiple lifetimes of dollars to Presidential candidates in a quid pro quo system protected by the first amendment under Citizens United v. FEC. Americans outside the oligarchy will never exhibit their influence.

If oligarchs find your existence icky, they have the power to remove your “right” to exist. You lack the power to prevent it. Instead of thanking anyone, I suggest we take the power back. Punch up.

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

What is socialist about GPL?

Being forced to open source seems like a pyramid scheme. Better examples of socialist and libertarian politics are licenses like MIT or BSD. They embody use without damage.

Stallman seems to have a flawed understanding of hierarchy and power. He exhibits such in the infectious GPL and pedophillic political takes. I purposely avoid GPL or derivatives when considering libraries.

Woody Gutherie, Utah Phillips… I guess I am asking what divides county from folk.

I have a lot to learn. I appreciate the insight. I listen to Aesop Rock. I remember his work being with Rhymesayers.

I agree with the music industry problems. Luckily I have found some great hip hop and country recently.

As an anarchist, voting is fine. In addition, build community and help others.

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.?

Learning to explain math to a computer has been a major blessing.

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.

I also want Cornel West, Bernie Sanders, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, etc. I was sold in 2020 that we could move Democrats left. Democrats moved right. I do not want milquetoast neoliberals.

Selling a Democrat is harder in 2024, but I could be convinced to vote for a different Democrat candidate. The outcome is better than fascism.

I do not believe you are fucked. I also know the feelings of doom. I have been expressing gallows humor to my peers about how I will probably end up on some train to some camp.

Times will be hard. Now is a good time to develop survival skills and community. We need all the horizontal power we can get to overcome hierarchical power.