@mmalc@mastodon.social @HamonWry@mastodon.world @Strandjunker@mstdn.social
It's rather weird still encountering people, as I have recently, who think "teaching Democrats a lesson" is more important than {gestures broadly}
It's also extremely entitled
That the bad effects of the Trump administration won't affect them
(Or, rather than entitlement, extremely fucking stupid to think it won't effect them.)
@benroyce@mastodon.social @mmalc@mastodon.social @HamonWry@mastodon.world @Strandjunker@mstdn.social I think it's much deeper than just idealism, having 2 choices and having to choose something you disagree with because the other option is... well, unacceptable is a rotten system.
We've seen how a two party system keeps shifting right. Eventually your options will be just far right or farther right.
@Sh41@androiddev.social @mmalc@mastodon.social @HamonWry@mastodon.world @Strandjunker@mstdn.social
yes but you have cause and effect backwards
it's not "this shifts right, so i won't participate"
it's "i'm not participating" and then as a consequence, things shift right
it's a feedback loop that accelerates
the only solution is more participation
you're never going to get perfect, it will always suck in some ways
but if you hold your nose and participate you can iterate on that and proceed left
in fact, that's the only way it will ever happen
@benroyce@mastodon.social @mmalc@mastodon.social @HamonWry@mastodon.world @Strandjunker@mstdn.social IMHO a solution is to have more parties, and someone to dares to do far left
@Sh41@androiddev.social @mmalc@mastodon.social @HamonWry@mastodon.world @Strandjunker@mstdn.social
100% no
clarification: i want 3rd parties
but to have them, we need ranked choice voting
currently in the usa we have an FPTP voting system
what that means is if we were to add a new 3rd left party, we divide the left, and we guarantee MAGA wins
we need ranked choice first. so we need to get candidates that support that
that has to come first. without that, we are guaranteeing failure
the left has to take over the democratic party
it is the only way
@benroyce@mastodon.social @mmalc@mastodon.social @HamonWry@mastodon.world @Strandjunker@mstdn.social I love in Europe, our political party and voting system is quite different, it also changes from country to country 🤷♀️
@Sh41@androiddev.social @mmalc@mastodon.social @HamonWry@mastodon.world @Strandjunker@mstdn.social
Right
so a general comment for Europeans:
what you need to do is not comment on the American voting system if you don't understand it
many of you speak of a solution: 3rd party
but we're not parliamentary
we're FPTP
which means 3rd party divides the left and hands MAGA more wins
You don't want that
But that's what you get
Please Europeans:
understand our voting system is completely fucked up
we need to change our system before getting 3rd parties
@benroyce@mastodon.social @Sh41@androiddev.social @mmalc@mastodon.social @HamonWry@mastodon.world @Strandjunker@mstdn.social
From a European that understands your electoral system – your system is indeed truly fucked. I'd say problems that need addressing first are gerrymandering and transparency of campaign financing.
Then, before deciding whether you'd rather use FPTP, STV or say D'Hondt, you'd have to reconsider the average district magnitude.
At the moment average population of an electoral district on a federal level is over .75M
It takes a lot of resources – money and connections to campaign in a district of this size. OTOH if you'd reduce the average size to say more manageable 100k you'd have 3400 people in Congress.
Ben Royce 🇺🇦
🇸🇩
Raul Portales