youtu.be
In the past I have made video essay content about SSC/ACX articles. My most popular remains my summary of the concept of Moloch.
Today I've made something a little different. It is a video summarizing the arguments surrounding voting for the "lesser evil". If this interests you, give it a watch and let me know if I missed anything or if you agree/disagree.
https://youtube.com/watch?v=46gi-ODAjF0
Note that I do not make any money off this or other videos. I also apologize if I have broken a rule I didn't see by posting this.
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Notes -
I'll be honest, your video didn't move me away from my decision to not vote this November. You regurgitated the same talking points that I've heard read online and I've heard from my own friends and family about why my decision to abstain is wrong. I get it. I understand that perspective completely. But I think that most people who will abstain from voting are doing so because (1) the politicians in office now, and the candidates running for office are more concerned about making personal or inflammatory or rage-bate-worthy attacks at the opposition as opposed to addressing specific matters of policy; and (2) our election system is no longer appropriate for how globalized, multicultural and nuanced Western society has become in the past century.
You offer no solution to either of these problems. You suggest nothing of platforming politicians who can actively listen, practice mutual respect, have kindness and compassion towards all people, that aren't funded by corporations or special-interest groups. What you are suggesting is just the status quo; you appear to want nothing more than the continued waging of the war between the two major parties and demanding everyone fall in line.
If I'm wrong in any of this, please tell me.
Are you talking about not voting for president or not voting at all? Because as the other person said, regardless of where you live and what ideology you favor, you should still be voting in local elections. The more local the election, the greater your voice-- and the more important the people you're voting for. A president has a lot less impact on your town's crime rate than the policies of your sheriff, mayor, and prosecutor.
Not voting at all
That's dumb. I guarantee your local morons running for city council aren't important enough to be puppeted by whatever evil group you think controls america. Yes, choosing between the soccer mom who thinks harry potter is satanic and should be banned from every school in the district versus the strung-out ex-hippy that wants the police to raise sales taxes by 0.5% to fund their vision of renovating the playground in park fuckhill is less glamorous that voting for GOOD versus EVIL in the national elections. But mediated by the fact that local elections are often one or lost by only hundreds or even dozens of votes, the compounded effect of voting in your local elections dramatically outweight any possible impact you could have in national elections-- and that's even if the national elections were actually composed of the good party and the kicking-puppies party.
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I think my main contention with your post is simply that my goal is to argue about the question of voting for the lesser evil. I don't move on to issues like "what would a better system look like" because that is not the topic of the video and my goal was to make it as short as possible. I chose the arguments I chose because they rebuke the most common talking points I hear to the contrary. I am always interested to hear about arguments I missed.
I do try to argue that change is possible while still voting within the system. I cover this in sections 5 and 7.
OK. I agree with you on Section 5, but your argument in Section 7 feels very weak to me. I'm 31M, I live in a solidly blue state, the people representing my Congressional District are all career politicians and have been so for decades. I have never had anyone come to my door canvassing for a candidate, and even if they did, I'd be as blunt about my decision to not vote as I am being with you. If a party wants to listen and understand what their constituents want, they would be holding open forums across the country where people can get together and actively listen and respond to each other's ideas. I see very little of that going on.
I'll be straight up with you too, I'm 100% politically disillusioned thanks to all the rage-baiting and bitterness and snark everyone is throwing at each other on social media. No one is critically thinking about making things better. It's all just mud-slinging and about who slings the most of it. I have ideas about how to make the issues facing our country better, but who in the hell is going to listen to me? I don't have money. I don't have power and influence. I mean nothing to the people we elect. And when we get third-party candidates who try to run, we get told "don't vote for them, you'll take votes away from my candidate hurr durr." So I ask you, what am I supposed to do with that? Because it seems like everyone wants me to keep endorsing our election system though it's clearly flawed. Well, if that's the case, then I choose not to participate in it anymore.
I'm sorry if it sounds like I'm rambling, but this a very emotional topic for me.
Just because you don’t see it doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist. Many if not most all politicians do in fact hold open forums on a regular basis. You have a very high chance that even in a district that’s an easy pickup/single party, that there exists a chance for you to meet and ask approximately one question to the candidate directly per event. Multiple events, if you really keep your ear to the ground. The caveat is that you need to make at least some attempt to follow socials and/or sign up via email to hear about these.
Your vote probably doesn’t matter, but you know what does? Your “memetic vote”. If you are vocal about your opposition or reluctance to voting, you actually do have a measurable deterrent effect on the people around you voting. And vice versa!
Additionally, you’d be surprised at how many politicians, even national ones, tend to go off of vibe checks. That means they are actually fairly vulnerable to pressure campaigns, in the sense that if you get for example even a dozen people to phone them directly about an issue, they usually both pay at least a little attention as well as assume (rightly or wrongly) that the phone calls represent the tip of the iceberg. So yes, calling your representative’s office also has a small but real effect.
Finally, we live in a big country. Americans often forget how big. National voting trends dominate attention but the simple fact is there are millions and millions and millions of voters, so expecting to have a major personal impact simply isn’t realistic. Local, local, local! Your chances of having a direct conversation with candidates for a city level position approach 100% if you try.
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Not OP, but please go vote. There are usually quite a few local referenda and elections that will matter to you and your neighbors.
You don't have to vote the whole ticket.
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