• severien@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      Some voters may see two bad choices and not seeing any decent choice won’t vote at all.

      • kartonrealista@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        That’s something you may think if you’re 5 y/o and going on vibes. Every decision you face not only has the consequences if you choose it, but also if you don’t.

        A pure hypothetical to demonstrate the general principle on an extreme example (not a direct comparison): you have an election with two candidates: one runs on a promise of Holocaust 2.0 and the other will twist your ankle after he wins. Would you say you can’t choose because both are bad? Obviously you would under any case want to avoid the worse outcome. Because not doing anything is risking that bad outcome, even if the alternative is bad. The upcoming election is not that extreme, but my example should have demonstrated the principle: inaction in face of greater evil is wrong.

        There is no absolute good in this world, and if you can’t choose between Kamala Harris and those horrible people you moral compass is out of whack. When you don’t vote, the choice is made for you. Whether something is good or bad has to be evaluated considering possible alternatives, you can’t just not choose and expect a miracle to happen.

      • rhacer@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        I don’t vote because I believe voting is an immoral act, but for those that do vote, I think this is a significant comment. Voting for the lesser of two evils is still voting for evil, and that may be a bridge too far for some.

        • Rhynoplaz@lemmy.world
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          1 year ago

          Yeah, I used to think that when I was young and ignorant. There is a real difference, and if you don’t know that, you haven’t been paying attention at all.

          Just say that you don’t care, don’t pretend to be on some moral high ground.

          If you don’t vote, stay out of the conversation, because this has nothing to do with you. If you want to join and share your opinion, do some research and take some action.

        • dorkian_gray@lemmy.world
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          1 year ago

          By not voting, you’re abdicating your chance to vote against the destruction of the country. If a Republican wins and does what they’re promising, tens of millions of people will suffer in all sorts of ways, a full spectrum of ouch. A painbow, so to speak. COVID alone killed over a million people here when Trump was president, nevermind his disastrous impact on the country as a whole or his foreign policy (mostly because numbers are hard to come by for the Kurds and Afghanis we abandoned, but go ahead and get opinions on how the Taliban has been running the place).

          If you don’t vote, the suffering and death is partially on you, because you could have tried to stop it. That’s the immoral act, regardless of how you feel about the system itself. Hold your nose if you have to, and do it.

          • rhacer@lemmy.world
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            1 year ago

            So I should engage in an immoral act because other people might do something wrong?

            I have no right to tell anyone how to live their lives, and that is what I attempt to do any time I cast a ballot.

            • dorkian_gray@lemmy.world
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              1 year ago

              Not “might”. Will. And voting is absolutely not tantamount to telling other people how to live their lives, it is rather a statement on the way you think things should be run. You have a right to that, because we live in a society together. If you think you can go be a hyperindividualist all by yourself, you will most likely die early, but more importantly you will never enrich anyone else’s life, or have your own enriched by others. We’re all individuals, but we are part of a greater whole.

              And just to play this angle: if you won’t vote because you “won’t tell others how to live”, then you would equally stand by and let the evil harm the helpless, for the same reason. Get off your fence and stand for something.

              • rhacer@lemmy.world
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                1 year ago

                Surprisingly, I haven’t died early. I just celebrated six decades of life last week. I guess if I pass in the next couple of years that might still be considered early.

                I think you’d be surprised at the number of people who’s lives i have enriched over those years. I certainly am.

        • morgan423@lemmy.world
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          1 year ago

          The debate shouldn’t be about voting for the lesser of two evils. The entire debate should be focused on opening up more options and the actual ability to vote for third party candidates without throwing your vote away, by implementing a different system, like ranked choice voting.

          Continuing to focus on which Sith lord will blow up the country the least if elected is a losing play. We have to do better and focus our attention elsewhere if we have any chance of getting anything reformed.