Automated Stellar Machines

Doing nothing by not voting is still a choice (arguably a vote) made to allow the worst possible outcome (what we have now)…so yeah, we fucking disagree.

Incorrect.
1/3 of eligible voters NOT choosing the lesser of two evils is how we got here.

Nope. Take another look at *everything* I’ve said instead of using selective amnesia and confirmation bias.

I still leave room for a lesser of two evils decision…in the event that the available candidates don’t check all of my boxes, I’m still going to check a box in the voting booth.

👍

Sure. But there’s a much larger abyss between “perfect” and “worse.”

What a tiresome and illogical perspective. 🤦‍♂️

Obviously we ALL have a duty to vote for the BEST available candidates in the primaries. We also ALL have a duty to vote for the BEST available candidates in the general.

These feeble attempts to box me into YOUR purity tests are absurd.

Yes. I’ll do what I do (emphasis on the word “do,” as in vote) and apparently you’ll keep *not* doing (voting) if a given candidate doesn’t check every single box on your checklist.
As I’ve already established, none of those other boxes will get checked if you don’t check *one* in the voting booth.

Several of the senators and reps on this very limited list of those who support overturning Citizens United have taken PAC money.

Rash generalizations are inherently illogical…no disrespect, it’s just a fact.
People aren’t monolithic, whether that’s as peer groups, party labels, or past individual behavior patterns…every human being is capable of change.

We need to pass a House rule or law that requires them to work a certain number of days to get paid. Since Mike Johnson took over these people hardly ever work. When they finally come back after weeks off they work 2 days and he sends them home for 2 more weeks. It’s ridiculous.

I agree in principle. In practice, getting rid of PAC money may require voting for some candidates who took it but are willing to dismantle that system.

Yes. But focusing on their willingness to *undo* these systems, no matter their participation in them, is how all the other things we want done will happen.
It’s a “let’s learn to walk before we run” scenario and actually voting along these lines within the current system is how we change it.

Once more with feeling…

That’s definitely another thing that needs to go away. Citizens United and the entire dark money apparatus could be eradicated by SCOTUS but the current won’t. So? You guessed it…a constitutional amendment. How? We elect legislators willing to do it.

“Helping to build an alternative” is a laughable notion under this system.

The electoral college needs to be eradicated. How? Through a constitutional amendment. How does that happen? We elect legislators willing to do it.

I don’t scold anyone for having standards by which they judge a candidate. However, I do think it’s illogical and irresponsible to sit out a general election or vote third party in the face of a candidate such as Trump.
Again, perfect candidates don’t exist but we ALL know what “worse” looks like.

If he actually had a full change of heart and his entire worldview shifted so that he truly represented at least basic progressive values and ended up as the Democratic candidate in the general, yes I absolutely would.
Everyone is capable of change, for better or worse (just ask Fetterman).

There is an aspect of Tourette’s that is getting ignored here (and widely everywhere else right now).

“Mental tics” (the result of intrusive thoughts), which can arise in Tourette’s patients who have OCD and/or PTSD, occur *before* verbal tics…such thoughts/tics can be controlled through therapy.

That sound you hear is irony dying.

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Same.
Once again, how do we get that accomplished?
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By voting (and that’s even if we’re actually running for office ourselves instead of just armchair legislating and complaining about how things should change).

I specifically said *most likely* to change the electoral college system (which actually requires an amendment from Congress).

I agree that there are no perfect candidates but you seem to want perfection as a prerequisite for your participation in the voting system we have now…that’s illogical.

Yes, that’s true.
It’s also true that we need a national popular vote system instead of this antiquated electoral college BS…but how do change the system?
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By using the current system to the best of our abilities and voting in the general for the candidate most likely to change it.

🎯🎯

I need to rant about something this morning.
I really am getting irritated by resistance accounts that, while otherwise approaching our problem correctly, keep telling us voting won't matter and the election won't be free and fair. Not only is that not helpful, it's actually harmful...

So your response to their speculation is more speculation?

You know deep down that 1/3 of eligible voters didn’t vote in the last election and that some of the 2/3 of typically blue voters who did were too misogynistic and/or racist and/or single issue-minded to vote for her…all facts.

Oh, okay.
So, what would actually lower those costs?👇

Removing the profit motive for hoarding necessities writ large.

This center-right obsession with volume-based labels to excuse greedy fucks for being “less greedy” if they don’t have “as many” or “as much” is dumb, illogical, and unethical.

BREAKING

Former ICE agent:

On my first day training new cadets, I received secretive orders to teach them to violate the Constitution by entering homes without a judicial warrant.

Aside from having those incredible pipes and songwriting prowess that will stand the test of time, she’s also a wonderful human being.
Her Looking Out Foundation has always done amazing work for disadvantaged groups and communities.
She’s a truly a national treasure. 🥹