this post was submitted on 26 Oct 2024
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"If a vote for the candidate you believe in results in your least preferred candidate getting ahead, shouldn't you consider a compromise vote to get a candidate closer to your values in power?"
sure, and they probably do.
your statement implies that third party voters are politically illiterate and aren't considering their vote, which doesn't hold any water.
do you think all Harris or Trump voters are carefully considering their options?
many are voting according to a familiar primary color.
from simple logic, third-party voters are likely more politically considerate than primary color voters.
a lot of the arguments against third-party voting are arguments against voting in general.
that is usually my problem, as it is here, with complaining about third-party voting.
it is completely predicated on the assumption that 3rd party voters are making the "wrong" decision in some fundamental way that primary color voters are not, although the hypothetical flaws that could apply to a third- party voter already apply to primary color voters.
If you don't assume that the right to vote is "wrong" for people who don't agree with you in the first place, then your complaints about third party voting fall apart.
third party voters like a different candidate.
and that's good and they should vote for them if they want to.
Maybe. But with the system in place a vote for a third-party candidate is effectively an abstention. I think you're right that they're more politically considerate and wanting to make a difference. It's the desire to make a difference and effectively abstaining that seems incongruous.
"Maybe."
absolutely.
3rd party voters don't consider....
neither do primary color voters.
3rd party voters are ignoring...
so are primary color voters.
"with the system in place a vote for a third-party candidate is effectively an abstention."
no.
they are probably not going to win an election, but actively voting is the opposite of abstaining.
"It's the desire to make a difference and effectively abstaining that seems incongruous."
they are making a difference by voting for what they believe in, for the policies they consider most impactful on their lives(aka "voting" in most countries).
you see voting as an abstention even though it's definitively the opposite of an abstention, implicitly based on consideration and values.
they probably see voting differently, maybe as an extension of their political will, or a form of activism, or a civic duty to be performed honestly.
I know I do.