Nah. I’m going to stay pissed at the fake “Independents” that were supposedly on the fence while pissing on the same side 90% percent of the time, doing their best to convince Democrats that both sides were supposedly the same.
What they call themselves is unimportant. the people I am mad at are the people on the left of the political spectrum who voted for Facism. Whether they call themselves independents, leftist, greens, anarchists, berniecrats or goddamned jacobites. If you, a politically informed American voter on the left of the political spectrum, saw a choice between Facism and not Facism then chose Facism you are the reason we have fascism. It’s your Facism that you ordered
Well if we follow the logic, the nonvoting nominal Republican would then be implicitly casting a vote for Harris’ communist agenda.
It’s forgivable though, since those same nonvoting Republicans won the election for Joe Biden in 2020 and delayed Armageddon for four years. They are the real heroes in my opinion.
correct. Which is nonsensical of course, and which makes this whole argument that “non-voters are responsible for Trump getting elected” silly in my opinion.
I mean it is nonsensical, It’s really dumb way to run an electoral system. But it’s absolutely 100% definitely the way our electoral system works. Trump won because people on the right side of the political spectrum turned up and voted for him, and the people on the left of the political spectrum did not turn up for Harris. We have a fascist president (with a mandate from the popular vote) because the people who were on the left (whatever their label they give them) did not vote for Harris. It was their choice to make and they said “let’s have some fascism!”.
If Trump had lost it would equally have been the “fault” of people on the right who didn’t vote for him.
Here’s something contrary that I haven’t posted before:
Ecological fallacy? Yes. Also, a sample size of fifty states is small. But it fits with other data:
I don’t see how that’s contrary in the slightest, that doesn’t change how the two party system works
Fundamentally Donald Trump won because people on the right voted for him and and the people in the left did not vote for Harris. There’s plenty of blame to go round but the ones that really pissed me off are the people on the left, who, fully informed about what was at stake said “yeah I’d like some Facism”. Even the ones who did so in a blue state are still responsible for a fascist having a mandate from the people to do fascist stuff. Which will make a difference, however small
I’ve read your last two posts a few times and may misunderstand.
Is there a way to falsify “people on the left of the political spectrum did not turn up for Harris”? Or is it just a pure matter of opinion?
To me, whether someone is “on the right” or “on the left” cannot be measured. So it would all come down to a complete guess if that has to be the question.
Looking at a few web pages, I see that the Census normally releases the number of registered voters in each of the approximately 140,00 U.S. precincts in April of the year after a general election. The Census web site does not have that yet, Maybe the Musk federal worker layoffs mean it will never be released for 2024. But let’s say it is. We still would not directly know how individual non-voters would have voted. But suppose that we do find out which precincts had a higher turnout, Harris precincts or Trump precincts. There still could be an ecological fallacy. But with that many data points, I think it would be implausible. I cannot grok how that will not show whose faint-hearted supporters were more likely to vote for their preferred candidate.
My hypothesis is that, at the precinct level, Harris neighborhoods had a higher turnout percentage than Trump, strongly suggesting that the Republicans are the party with the big turnout problem, and also suggesting that a general increase in turnout would favor the Republicans. I could be wrong! If Trump hasn’t destroyed the federal statistical system, I hope to find out.
P.S. The precinct level Harris-Trump vote, for almost all states, but without registration numbers, is already out:
I mean it’s how elections work in a two party system. Are you proposing that the right wing voted for Harris but that was outweighed by all the left wing voters voting for Trump?
I mean it’s a dumb concept, but that’s the system we have. All the countless political policies people may care about about are squished down into a single political spectrum with a right side and a left side, and two choices.
But that really should not matter when one side is an out and out fascist. This is not 2008, I’m not going to be less mad at you if you say “As an independent I voted for Trump as I agree with his policy on sending brown people to camps, but I disagree with his policy on wiping out the population of Gaza”
Agreed. Would also suggest that if political freedom is a virtue, those who exercise it by not voting are free to do so without being blamed if it means your (general “you”) candidate doesn’t get elected.
The blunt fact is the American, British, Canadian, etc. systems were not designed to be democratic or to empower people or represent them accurately and effectively. That large numbers of people seem to grasp this intuitively and decide not to legitimate the system by participating in it may actually be a ray of hope : it is a wellspring of anger and despair that a smart left movement could build on.
So the option was:
Vote for Democrats who support the killing of 50,000 Gazan civilians, or vote for Trump who’ll support the killing of just as many or more Gazan civilians. It’s understandable if Arab voters want a third option.
So you’re in the “fascism? Yes please! Can I have some” column. Got it.
Yup totally but seeing one wasn’t available, that doesn’t justify voting for killing more Palestinians.
They hoped. Maybe his tough guy act will bring (a little) peace and end (slightly scale back) the war. Maybe his promises to the Arab community were sincere. Maybe. They knew (or think they did) how the Democrats would play this and Trump is inarguably an unpredictable disruptor. They thought maybe it’s worth a flier.
They hoped in one hand and shit in the other. With very, very predictable results. But to some of them it seemed a risk worth taking. I think it was exceedingly foolish, but I get the “emotional logic” of it all. Let’s face it, human beings just refuse to be good Vulcans and act based on rational analysis. Me included, some days.
If that was the only thing to consider, and if that was actually the truth, then that would be something to seriously ponder.
But it wasn’t, and it wasn’t, so it wasn’t.
There are political compasses larger than “liberal/fascist” that we might consider. If you’re in the US, you’ve already got fascism and people like Angela Davis have been saying that for 50 years.
We didn’t. We have now, one of the reasons we do is that “we are already fascist so it doesn’t matter if we choose fascism” bullshit. Fuck that, that’s enabling fascism, and anyone who peddled that in the run up to election (which Angela Davis did not FYI) is complicit in everything this fascist regime is going to do.
If you aren’t in the US don’t worry the way the political winds are blowing across the world I’m sure you’ll get the chance to choose fascism for your country too.
There really aren’t. If you have an election where one of the candidates is a fascist that is really all that matters. Do I want Facism or not? Yes or no. “Maybe”, “I’m not sure”, or “can I have another option” all means “yes I’d like some Facism please”
What else is being offered?
Not fascism. Those are your options, Fascism? Yes or no. Sure it would be nice to have other options but we don’t so suck it up and choose not fascism.