I don’t have a duty to participate in this system. Votes are earned not deserved. You can keep believing that not voting is meaningfully endorsing the outcome, but that falls through when you ask yourself what would happen if 80% of people didn’t play? 90%? 100%?.. You’re math only works because you continue to play. Legitimacy is given by the players. The winners (the ruling class) aren’t going to change the game that favors them. Look at Canada, Trudeau initially got elected on a platform of electoral reform. He didn’t mention it once after he won, not once. The only way out is not to play.
- Strange game, it seems like the only winning move is not to play.
On the Canada/Trudeau front, you’re ultimately correct but it’s a bit worse when you examine the details:
Trudeau Liberals put together a committee to examine the options and recommend what would work best as a new electoral system. The Liberals recommended ranked voting: as the Liberals are the default first or second option for nearly everyone, this benefitted them the most. The Conservatives, New Democrats, and most independent actors favoured Mixed-Member Proportional, which is a variant of proportional representation with locally elected Members of Parliament and additional seats in the House of Commons to balance the total number of MPs and votes for each party. This system was expected to allow for more smaller parties to operate and would end the forever Liberal/Conservative control of Canada.
The Liberals put out a poll which used intentionally misleading questions and answers to try to guide responses towards ranked ballots. This effort failed due to a series of information campaigns from just about everyone with an interest in electoral reform, and ultimately the Mixed-Member Proportional system came out as the leading choice.
The Trudeau Liberals deemed the whole process and failure and completely dropped it, refusing to discuss it ever again.
…no. in our pretty bad first past the post system, we shouldn’t vote for a good candidate. We should vote for the best, or least bad one.
Less voter turnout wouldn’t influence the system at all, and even if it did, there are not enough people with your views— your 80% figures— to pull something like that off. Maybe wait.
Because right now, yes both possible candidates won’t stop the major genocide going on, but one would actively do less harm to queer people, women, etc.
I don’t have a duty to participate in this system. Votes are earned not deserved. You can keep believing that not voting is meaningfully endorsing the outcome, but that falls through when you ask yourself what would happen if 80% of people didn’t play? 90%? 100%?.. You’re math only works because you continue to play. Legitimacy is given by the players. The winners (the ruling class) aren’t going to change the game that favors them. Look at Canada, Trudeau initially got elected on a platform of electoral reform. He didn’t mention it once after he won, not once. The only way out is not to play.
- Strange game, it seems like the only winning move is not to play.
On the Canada/Trudeau front, you’re ultimately correct but it’s a bit worse when you examine the details:
Trudeau Liberals put together a committee to examine the options and recommend what would work best as a new electoral system. The Liberals recommended ranked voting: as the Liberals are the default first or second option for nearly everyone, this benefitted them the most. The Conservatives, New Democrats, and most independent actors favoured Mixed-Member Proportional, which is a variant of proportional representation with locally elected Members of Parliament and additional seats in the House of Commons to balance the total number of MPs and votes for each party. This system was expected to allow for more smaller parties to operate and would end the forever Liberal/Conservative control of Canada.
The Liberals put out a poll which used intentionally misleading questions and answers to try to guide responses towards ranked ballots. This effort failed due to a series of information campaigns from just about everyone with an interest in electoral reform, and ultimately the Mixed-Member Proportional system came out as the leading choice.
The Trudeau Liberals deemed the whole process and failure and completely dropped it, refusing to discuss it ever again.
…no. in our pretty bad first past the post system, we shouldn’t vote for a good candidate. We should vote for the best, or least bad one.
Less voter turnout wouldn’t influence the system at all, and even if it did, there are not enough people with your views— your 80% figures— to pull something like that off. Maybe wait.
Because right now, yes both possible candidates won’t stop the major genocide going on, but one would actively do less harm to queer people, women, etc.
Voting is for harm minimization, not endorsement.