Please vote in November, even if Biden gets the election

Submitted by twovests in just_post

(US elections)

Biden is very likely going to win the democratic nomination and that sucks. A lot of people I know are happy to vote for the lesser of two evils, but I still see a lot of "Nope, not voting for evil" holdouts.

This makes me unhappy, for a number of reasons.

The Supreme Court:

This is one of three branches of the US Government. They interpret the constitution. There are nine members, and their appointments are for life. The president chooses a new member when they die, which means a president can have a long-lasting influence.

Donald Trump has elected two justices to the Supreme Court already.

The oldest member, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, is awesome and progressive. She is also 87 years old and has had cancer multiple times. She will probably die during the next presidency, if she doesn't die before the election. She is very old.

There are a lot of other very old members. I would much rather have Biden pick new members than Trump.

The Congress:

Congress is the second of three branches of the US Government. They make laws in a very complicated process. Congress has two halves: the Senate, and the House. If one political party controls both halves of congress, it is very easy for that party to get their way.

Since the 2018 elections, the House was (narrowly) controlled by the Democrats, while the Senate was (narrowly) controlled by the Republicans. Thanks to this, we were able to impeach (but not remove) Donald Trump, plus a whole lot of other things.

Voters can do an "undervote", meaning they do not need to fill in every bubble. Someone can vote for their Senators and Representatives without voting for president.

The President:

The President leads the third of three branches of the US Government. They're arguably the most important! They can veto things from Congress. As said previously, they get to pick new supreme court justices. Usually, the president can only run for two consecutive terms. Donald Trump is on his first, and expects to gain a second, and hopes to gain a third (despite term limits). If he did, he would not be the first world leader to get rid of term limits. I'd much rather not elect a fascist white supremacists into power.

I got tired writing this post but I hope I've convinced at least someone in the US to vote. ty for ur time bye

4

Comments

You must log in or register to comment.

flabberghaster wrote

I will vote downballot but I will not vote for Biden.

Idk why Dems think Biden will help them with the supreme Court with his record on supreme Court nominations...

The Democratic party is handing this election to Trump and then blaming everyone but themselves for it, just like they always do. I'm not going to play in to the bullshit anymore. I am not going to be told that after a years long campaign of the DNC saying Sanders and anyone who supports him, or anyone who wants medicare for all or any number of things that I care deeply about, are toxic and poisonous, have the DNC do everything in it's power to stop those things from happening, and then tell the people they have been calling evil that if we don't vote for the candidate they picked who openly opposed everything important to us that we are responsible for trump.

I hate when people say call political things gaslighting but I don't know a better term for it.

8

musou wrote

i really can't stomach voting for him a third time. SC justices getting lifetime appointments is itself part of the systemic problem we face; between that and the complete takeover of our electoral process by corporate finance, and the rampant voter suppression and gerrymandering, and the absolutely anti-democratic way in which the DNC primaries are run, i am more pessimistic on the prospect of accomplishing even the mild electoral reforms sanders has been proposing than i have ever been. politically speaking, biden is to the right of richard nixon. he has multiple credible sexual abuse allegations against him and i am a survivor of multiple assaults myself. i can't help but feel that casting another vote for biden would signify my continued assent for this interminably corrupt political system, and i frankly don't have it in me. like flabberghaster i intend to vote for local candidates instead. when it's time to riot in the streets, i'll be there. i know this sounds hyperbolic, but if the choice is between getting shot dead in the streets by a riot cop and casting a third vote for joe biden, i'll take my chances with the cop. they haven't outlawed body armor yet, at least.

7

devtesla wrote (edited )

I'm in a state where my vote for president doesn't matter, and I think withholding my vote sends a more powerful message because Biden is unacceptable. I will be voting for candidates I believe in downballot. I do hope he wins, but this is for an extremely narrow band of issues that only matter to me as a relatively well off white gay man. I think you are wildly naive if you believe that he'll be an even acceptable president, and that he won't be followed up by someone worse.

A few things to keep in mind:

The courts in this country are already fucked up beyond repair. It'll suck to lose RBG but she cannot do anything other than write a good dissenting opinion. The Supreme Court is fucked, the lower courts are fucked, it's all complete garbage. The only solution is to dramatically restructure the courts.

A large part of this is because of decisions made during the Obama presidency. He was so unwilling to make any fight against the Republicans that he left a ton of vacancies, and every one of them was filled by Trump without a peep from the Dems. And this is with young appointees, who will be fucking people over for decades. And speaking of RBG, her decision to not step down during a Democratic president should taint her memory, because there's no reason she shouldn't have been replaced a decade ago.

As for the executive branch, many of Trump's worst policies are just continuing things begun under Obama: the militarization of police, the ratcheting up of ICE, the weakening of labor laws. This is partly because Obama is a conservative, and partly because he capitulated reflexively to Republicans. I have no doubt that Biden will do the same, and worse.

The Democratic Party is a waste. It provides no one any safety from the Republicans, enables their worst aspects, and is complicit with horrendous crimes. I cannot actually encourage anyone to vote for them.

9

toasthaste wrote

I am going to vote both down ballot and for Biden(though it doesn't matter much in my state) because, while maybe the glorious revolution will come and fix everything and restructure the whole government, in the meantime I would like things to be somewhat less bad than they could be.

3