I support and respect your right to vote for who you want to vote for. As you support and respect my right to vote for who I want to vote for, right?
That's a red herring. Calling out the foolishness of wasting your vote against your professed goals has nothing to do with respecting your right to vote.
When you actually have a chance to win the electoral college, then you have a point. Until then these 3rd party presidential candidates are a fool's errand.
Yeah, I've noticed an above average tendency to copy/paste responses too. If I were a mod I would have banned them days ago, but I'm not so I'll keep arguing until I can maybe break the logic cycle. I'm hoping they are just a youthful naively innocent new voter caught up in the propaganda and that reason will break through but it really really really doesn't feel that way.
This individual's account was created 18 days ago and since then has posted 546 times and commented 969 times for a total of 1,515. That's over 84 posts per day every day on average. Assuming that they sleep 8 hours per day, that's 5 posts per hour or about once per 12 minutes or so.
Sort of makes you wonder what they do for a living that lets them spend all their waking hours posting on Lemmy, doesn't it?
Respecting my right to vote means respecting my choice to support a candidate who aligns with my values, even if they aren't favored in the electoral college.
Dismissing third-party candidates as a "fool's errand" ignores the role they play in challenging the status quo and pushing for real change.
Voting isn’t just about winning this election—it’s about shaping the future direction of our politics.
No, it literally is just about winning the election. You're confusing it with polls.
it’s about shaping the future direction of our politics.
Agreed. But as I've already started it is in the opposite direction you intend, unless... If I'm hearing you correctly your goal is to knowingly spoil the legit candidate so when they lose they'll lick their wounds, look at the voting data and learn the lesson to be more sympathetic to your demands in 4 years?
This is a youthful understanding of action vs its consequences. You intend to vote for x due to an apparently myopic sense of ethics, but the logical result is that -x^2 gets elected. As such rational observers must conclude -x^2 is your political goal.
My vote is grounded in my personal values, and I’m choosing a candidate who best represents them, regardless of the outcome.
If another result occurs as a consequence of that vote, then so be it, but that’s not my primary goal.
Voting for what I believe in isn’t a "youthful" or "myopic" act—it's a deliberate choice to support a vision for the future that aligns with my principles. I’m focused on the long-term impact of pushing for real change, rather than just maintaining the status quo.
Also, I wish I were "youthful" enough to actually fit your criticism. But I have been voting for longer than you have been alive.
You claiming you're old enough to know better isn't helping your case. Actions have consequences that can be both predictable and against your original intentions. In this case they are and continuing to choose to do so despite knowing this is... unhealthy and counterproductive which brings us full circle.
At this point all you have done is failed to refute the argument with anything other than obstinance so have a good day.
Understanding that actions have consequences is precisely why I’m voting based on my values rather than out of fear of unintended outcomes. My comment about was my age was in response to the comment implying that I was making a "youthful" mistake.
The predictable consequence of continually voting for the lesser evil is perpetuating a system that doesn’t truly represent the people’s needs or desires.
Voting third party is not counterproductive—it’s a conscious choice to push for real change, even if the immediate outcome isn’t a win.
My decision is based on principles, not obstinance, and I feel comfortable that standing by those principles is the right approach for me and my lifestyle.
You haven't changed my mind at all. As I haven't changed yours. And that's ok. You have a good day too!
No it fucking doesn't, just like respecting your right to free speech doesn't mean respecting what you say.
You are making a choice to have your ballot not count whatsoever in the final decision. You have a right to make that choice, but it is IMO stupid as fuck.
You are trying to conflate two senses of "respect." You have the right to cast your ballot how you wish. But it is a fact that casting your ballot into the trash is foolish. Especially when the country is on the precipice as it is.
It is throwing it away, it will not count towards the final result in the slightest.
I'm voting for who I want to, that's not throwing it away at all.
You are beyond privileged if you aren’t concerned about another Donald admin.
That makes no sense. You do realize that half of the country isn't voting for Harris, right. So is everyone not voting Harris "beyond privileged"?
This all tracks with my existing opinion of you.
Oh, I'm not surprised. You have made your bias very well known. I'm not voting the way you want me to, so now you think I am a "beyond privileged" person that couldn't possibly just have a different opinion than you!
I definitely see the narrative you are trying to portray. It is, however, incorrect.
I support your right to vote for who you wish. And you support my right to vote for who I wish, right?
It'd be cooler if you were honest about your position but you're also posting on conservative communities about DEI and immigrants and so on. So we can see why you actually support spoiler candidates.