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‘It will be the end of democracy’: Bernie Sanders on what happens if Trump wins – and how to stop him
(www.theguardian.com)
this post was submitted on 26 Feb 2024
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politics
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I like the insinuation that the US is an actual "democracy" lmao
If we do an election and the wrong candidate wins, the democracy goes away.
So you can't vote for the wrong candidate.
And also, you can't vote for a third-party candidate.
And also, you can't abstain from voting.
So, really, you have exactly one choice that you're allowed to make.
Democracy!
oof. perception +20
but “allowed” is not accurate. you’re allowed to do any of those things. it’s just that all of them blow, and one blows less.
Also, unless you live in a specific set of states, your vote is effectively meaningless!
There's downticket stuff and that shouldn't be ignored.
At the same time, we get meager media coverage of the downticket races so its very difficult to discern who is good and who sucks unless you've got an in-group to turn to. I like to pretend I'm active in Dem circles, but I'll be damned if I know who to vote for on my state senate seat much less all the judiciary races. The one guy I liked to primary out the loathsome Liz Fletcher turned out to be a serial sexual harasser.
But yeah, pretending my vote in Texas will swing the national election is absurd. And then trying to tie that national election vote back to "Oh no, democracy is ending if you don't vote for my guy!" is even fucking dumber.
[Citation required.]
We could actually improve our democracy by making voting mandatory.
We'd get a better representation of how all of the voting-age population feels.
Then maybe we can get politicians that support more thorough voting system reform.
In Australia, we've tried that. I have to say, that I personally, am not a fan.
The consequences of forcing politically ignorant or complacent people to vote is that they end up deciding the result of the election, and you just get skilled used car salesmen as your politicians. They know all the buzzwords and three word slogans to keep the politically apathetic tuned in.
And how is that different from what we have?
Brazil has mandatory voting, and its just as rife with corruption and fascism as anywhere else. I like the idea of compulsory enfranchisment simply because it operates as a counterweight to disenfranchisement. A state with a legal duty to vote is one with a legal obligation to fully implement elections infrastructure (at least, in theory).
But when it comes to the quality of candidates? Well... Bolsonaro was not a paragon of civic virtue.
It is for anything besides president. That's the sad part.
i’d say it’s largely, tho not completely, a de facto oligarchy now.
It never was, or was ever meant to be, an actual "democracy". Imperial core countries' political systems only serve to protect capital and imperialism, with a thin veneer of "democracy" to discourage uprising and two parties to divide the working class.