
Originally Posted by
Bhaalizmo
Knowing that the lions share of votes would go to the top two parties, did you feel any inclination to toss your vote in either of those buckets? I'm honestly curious.
I voted for Ralph Nader once because I agreed with more of his stated principles than the other two guys, but afterwards I couldn't help but wonder what value the vote had in the end. Our electoral system needs reform at the least and probably ougtta be scrapped altogether while we work out some new stuff, but one has to wonder about the value of a vote to a third party in this two party system as it exists today. If your vote is meant to support A but in the end it benefits B by pulling votes away from C, does your vote still mean the same thing to you? Is it merely a principle you're voting for, while knowing that your candidate is extremely unlikely to win, and if so would you still vote the same?
The only Democratic Party candidate I had any intention of voting for if he won the primary was Bernie Sanders. When he dropped out, way too early in my opinion, I debated for about a month whether to write in Sanders or vote for the Green Party's candidate, Howie Hawkins. Since most of Hawkins' policies were similar or even better than the policies Sanders supported to me, I eventually decided I would vote for Hawkins. I knew he almost certainly had no chance of winning, but voting for Biden or Trump did not appeal to me at all, since I disliked their policies and their political records. I feel no regrets voting Green this time, and in fact I've found that I regret my votes for Obama in 2008 and 2012 and my reluctant vote for Hillary in 2016 after I supported Sanders in that year's primary. To paraphrase what the Socialist Party candidate Eugene Debs said about a hundred years ago, I feel like it's better to vote for what I want and not get it than to vote for what I don't want, and get it.
I suppose I should add that my current political views are way to the left of both major parties. I dislike both the Democrats and the Republicans because I think both are too far to the right, and in my view it seems that almost all the politicians of both major parties are bought and paid for by the very rich and the big corporations.
Last edited by Kyulen; 03-02-2021 at 11:15 PM.
I'm one of those few weirdos who doesn't use Lich.
"Workers of the world, unite! You have nothing to lose but your chains!" -Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels