this post was submitted on 03 Jun 2026
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[–] hzl@piefed.blahaj.zone 79 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (4 children)

Loads of people who vote Democrat are well aware that capitalism is fucked and has only ever worked for the rich. Voting for a Democrat does not imply agreeing with every party decision.

The question is whether you agree with harm reduction, accelerationism, or nihilism.

From a harm reduction standpoint, it makes sense to elect the imperfect candidate who will at least try to make things a little better. This is the same thinking that makes things like needle exchanges a good idea. Yes, maybe it would be better if no one were addicted to heroin, but given that some people are it's probably be better to reduce the likelihood that they become a vector for blood-borne illnesses.

From an accelerationist standpoint, it makes sense to elect the worst possible candidate in the hopes that it's jarring enough to get people to change the system. This approach of making things better by making things worse reflects the conservative tendency toward punishment as a solution. If addiction is punished and demonized, people will have a strong incentive to avoid addiction.

From a nihilistic standpoint, it makes sense to refuse to vote for anyone you don't fully agree with. Participation in the political arena can be disregarded. This approach reflects the perspective that consequences don't mean anything, so we might as well all share the same needle because it's easier.

Personally, I find harm reduction to be the most beneficial option.

[–] LurkingLuddite@piefed.social 32 points 1 week ago

I mean, you're right in the general sense, though OP's quote does say, "liberals", not, "those who vote Democrat". So the implication is clearly pushing against people that think Democrats are a good choice and not simply the lesser of the two evils.

[–] YoureHotCupCake@lemmy.world 6 points 1 week ago (3 children)

Is extending the life of capitalism really considered harm reduction? I bet more people suffer in the long run with no healthcare and constant wars.

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[–] JasonDJ@lemmy.zip 2 points 1 week ago

These motherfuckers would forcing HepC needles on every junkie if they could.

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[–] Natanox@discuss.tchncs.de 32 points 1 week ago (2 children)

I always love when someone thinks the answer to problems usually being replied to with overly simplified (but wrong) answers is another equally simplified answer that surely explains everything.

[–] PotatoesFall@discuss.tchncs.de 4 points 1 week ago (1 children)

The post doesn't even formulate an answer. It just discredits the two "standard" answers provided. Why is everybody in this thread arguing with some strawman

[–] bort@sopuli.xyz 3 points 1 week ago

Why is everybody in this thread arguing with some strawman

because OP provides 3 strawmen,

[–] BeardededSquidward@lemmy.blahaj.zone 28 points 1 week ago (2 children)

If the Dems get a trifecta do not expect them to do anything meaningful, say it all takes too much time, and just shuffle chairs around.

[–] Tja@programming.dev 6 points 1 week ago (4 children)

Which is not ideal, but better than setting fire to everything...

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[–] Nalivai@lemmy.world 5 points 1 week ago (2 children)

If by meaningful you mean socialist revolution, then no, and nobody expects them to. However there are things to be done better within the system and it's something we need to do anyway

[–] BeardededSquidward@lemmy.blahaj.zone 5 points 1 week ago (1 children)

We had a Dem president after an insurrection attempt that did nothing to go after those who organized it. I doubt they'll go after the system as it is unless we get more progressive candidates in.

[–] Nalivai@lemmy.world 1 points 4 days ago

Fun part is, they did so much it's unbelievable. They were handled severely broken justice system, a bunch of judges that were appointed by the same person they tried to persecute, a bunch mechanisms and systems were completely dismantled, the majority of supreme court are outright taking orders from a outside organisation.
In less than 3 years, they managed to gather all the insurrection perpetrators, used smaller ones as a fodder to persecute bigger ones, overcame all the corruption and bullshit, got cases such tight, they even managed to "al-capone" the biggest one, to the point that was actually convicted of 34 cases. By the standards of the American judicial system, doing so much to a conservative bunch with ties, money, and power, is probably unprecedented.
But then America decided that they would rather have that convicted felon in charge again, and all this hard work went to shit.
Do I think it's good or fair? Absolutely not. But given the system they had to operate in, Democrats in general did a good job. The obvious answer is, the system is shit and needs to be dismantled and reorganised, but that's not what Democratic party is, and it's not what it was elected to do.

I doubt they’ll go after the system as it is unless we get more progressive candidates in.

Absolutely correct.

[–] architect@thelemmy.club 2 points 1 week ago

Like arrest all sitting maga in government, and do the needful to the pedophiles in power.

Because anything else is just letting pedos destroy your country and rape your kids.

[–] chemical_cutthroat@lemmy.world 15 points 1 week ago

Third parties don't win presidencies... they win city councils, state legislatures, and governorships first. That's how political movements actually work. But posting about it on Twitter is probably fine too. #socialism

[–] Venat0r@lemmy.world 11 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (7 children)

the point of electing a democrat isn't to fix capitalism: it's to try to make the decay slightly slower.

[–] explodicle@sh.itjust.works 12 points 1 week ago (1 children)

It's buying time to organize, for real this time!

[–] WraithGear@lemmy.world 4 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (2 children)

but only if it’s for a no kings protest, so only like on a weekend, when the weather is nice, and does’nt stay too late, and doesn’t inconvenience the police, and only that one day, and we don’t allow people to protest with their firearms, and we don’t make any demands, or specify a thing we want changed, and don’t interrupt traffic, nor stop people from entering protested buildings, and we remain respectfully quiet, and the news won’t report on it, and i can still go shopping after, only then will a protest be acceptable.

… and the goal is to maybe get people to vote for the party of normal socital harm escalation

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[–] ChilledPeppers@lemmy.dbzer0.com 5 points 1 week ago (1 children)

No nuance allowed! We good they bad! Fuck everyone who disagrees with me!

Is that what the post is conveying tho? I know there is a lot of discourse like that on Lemmy, but I don't see it here. Feels like a strawman

[–] FiniteBanjo@feddit.online 5 points 1 week ago (1 children)

The Delusion of this guy is he thinks not voting is going to help him.

Hey Einstein, you've got a pedophile for president whose policy resulted in millions of deaths by starvation after USAID was cut, environmental policy which is literally decided by oil companies, dismantling of public land protections, gutting of SNAP and Medicaid, the foreign policy stance of "if I can kill people and take it I will", all because more than 6 Million People who voted for a Democrat in 2020 decided NOT to show up in 2024.

You're about as socialist as a hooker on crack.

[–] LurkingLuddite@piefed.social 7 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (6 children)

OP's quote doesn't talk about voting except ONLY in saying that 'liberals' think voting in a Democrat will fix things.

It says nothing about what the 'correct' answer is for them, and your angst is aimed very poorly.

[–] CardboardDecoy@lemmy.world 5 points 1 week ago (1 children)

I think getting semantic here is a trap, it's still serving the purpose of casting doubt on the system. Great most days, but when an election is looming this is wrecker shit.

Think the usual 'Democrats are terrible too' schtick doesn't actually work well on Lemmy broadly but now we're going to see things like this where people will start picking apart the words of the text and claiming it isn't what it is.

We're all, mostly, at least a good decent number of us, adults who have seen all this shit before. Yes they said liberals, liberals are centerist poo-poo-ers who want their status quo and don't want to be associated with bad press but not much else, fuck em. But also, Capitalism isn't going to be fixed any time soon, in the meantime, however, one party plays host to at least some number of people trying to actually improve the lives of their constituency and for fucks sake you can't tell me they're just as bad as the partyconsisting exclusively of people openly looting and pillaging the entirety of the nation for personal gain and bald faced cruelty.

Just downvote OP and keep an eye out for people trying to bait.

[–] LurkingLuddite@piefed.social 2 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

Again, OP's post says nothing about what the "correct" answer is.

They do not even specify something along the lines of voting for the lesser of two evils. It's a nothing-burger but insulting idiots that act like idiots, and ya'll read what ever the hell you want into it... Sad.

The only people who deserve downvotes are those reading things that are not written there.

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[–] Janx@piefed.social 4 points 1 week ago

Capitalism is working, though. The giant corporations and billionaires are doing great, while workers (MAGA, Democrat, Independent, Unaffiliated, etc) get fucked. Sucks only one party champions these rich assholes as "working for them"...

[–] CardboardDecoy@lemmy.world 3 points 1 week ago

I mean close your eyes and 'lalala' whatever you want vut if you haven't seen the pattern over the last 12 years maybe you never will.

[–] wirebeads@lemmy.ca 2 points 1 week ago

If Netflix had a show called “hunting oligarchs”, the world would show up to watch.

[–] minorkeys@sh.itjust.works 2 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

Capitalisms ultimate end is the control of all resources and natural systems, to be consumed and used by whoever owns everything for whatever purpose their ego demands. It's just extreme narcissism as an economic system and the ultimate destination is human extinction. Which, maybe isn't so bad.

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