this post was submitted on 02 Mar 2026

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Every time... (media.piefed.ca)

submitted 6 days ago by MyBrainHurts@piefed.ca to c/politicalmemes@lemmy.world

188 comments fedilink hide all child comments

If we can't be bothered to vote in the primaries, wjy would anyone believe us that a progressive candidate would somehow lure millions more to vote?

As I know the comments will be, uhhh, fun, I've turned off reply notifications.

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[–] lennybird@lemmy.world 147 points 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago) (19 children)

Progressive here. I vote in every primary and try to rally support for the most progressive in my coalition. Come November, I vote against fascists which means voting for Democrats because they're obviously better in every way.

If you don't vote or vote third party, congratulations, it means you were duped by right-wing propaganda or don't understand how our election system works and the inevitable binary outcome that comes with FPTP and whole you didn't give fascists +2, you gave them +1.

[–] circuitfarmer@lemmy.world 54 points 6 days ago (70 children)

This.

Not voting or voting for a third party hands a win to people you don't want winning. The system is not fair, at all -- but that doesn't mean we should operate in a way we know will lead to a bad outcome. We have plenty of evidence that third parties in the US don't really make a dent, but they do sway elections (and generally not how you want). The rest is idealism.

It's also a good example of why single-issue voting means you'll almost always get more collateral damage, even if you get representation you want on that specific issue.

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[–] ChonkyOwlbear@lemmy.world 38 points 6 days ago (2 children)

I've gotten more down votes saying exactly this.

In 2020 Biden won with 81.3 million votes. In 2024 Trump won with 77.3 million votes. All we had to do to avoid the mess we are in is turn out with the same "enthusiasm" we had for Biden in 2020.

[–] kuhli@lemmy.dbzer0.com 10 points 6 days ago (13 children)

It's the job of a politician to generate that enthusiasm.

[–] agamemnonymous@sh.itjust.works 15 points 6 days ago (6 children)

It's the job of my dentist to encourage responsible dental hygiene. But if I don't brush, it's my teeth that rot.

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[–] LibertyLizard@slrpnk.net 22 points 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago) (1 children)

I agree with this strategy but I think you have to also concede that anti-electoralists have some good arguments too. Since voting is relatively low investment, my personal view is that it's best to pursue a variety of strategies. But for the vast majority of Americans for whom voting is their only political activity, I would challenge them to figure out what the next step is in becoming a more effective political actor. Frankly, there are a variety of actions a person can take that are way more impactful than voting. And this moment demands more from us than passive participation.

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[–] prole@lemmy.blahaj.zone 8 points 6 days ago

Careful, people who have never met you will now tell you that you're not actually a progressive, but a dirty liberal

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[–] Semi_Hemi_Demigod@lemmy.world 50 points 6 days ago (1 children)

I vote in every damn primary fuck you

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[–] WraithGear@lemmy.world 20 points 6 days ago (2 children)

you know, like our last primary.

[–] SethTaylor@lemmy.world 6 points 5 days ago

Well... shit... can't argue with that

Imma head out

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[–] CaptDust@sh.itjust.works 50 points 6 days ago (2 children)

Democrats haven't held an unbiased presidential primary since 2008, but go off. Superdelegates will save us.

[–] resipsaloquitur@lemmy.world 19 points 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago)

Indeed.

Polls showed Bernie beating Donald head-to-head. Polls showed Hilary losing to Donald head-to-head.

Heard enough from liberals about “electability.”

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[–] Mulligrubs@lemmy.world 13 points 5 days ago (4 children)

Independents can't vote in primaries in my state and many others.

Independents are the majority, 40% of voters, with Rs and Ds at 30% each.

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[–] OwOarchist@pawb.social 30 points 6 days ago (7 children)

We keep being told that we're not voting in the primaries.

I don't quite believe it. I'm starting to think the primaries are rigged. And this is their excuse -- they get to smugly tell us we're just not showing up to primaries in enough numbers to make a difference. Conveniently puts the blame on us, trying to make us blame ourselves.

[–] nandeEbisu@lemmy.world 18 points 6 days ago (2 children)

The last 2 primaries were a disgrace. You can find a bunch of vocal progressives who didn't vote or voted 3rd part, but the bigger problem has been the establishment completely ignoring trying to get democrats to get off the couch and vote and instead try to court sycophantic far right voters with weird anti-trans rhetoric or pushing class warfare under the guise of deregulation and "small government".

[–] Maeve@kbin.earth 15 points 6 days ago

Two?! This goes back to Kucinich not getting airtime when he would've been a viable opponent against Clinton!

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[–] resipsaloquitur@lemmy.world 23 points 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago)

Ahh, projection.

Tell me again how Bernie dropping out of the primary and endorsing Hilary lost her the general election.

“Yadda yadda yadda misogyny.”

Or, if you want a more recent example, there’s this progressive who won the democratic NY mayoral primary. Progressives did what we’ve been told to do — disagree during the primary, then vote blue no matter who in the general. Liberal democrats lost their goddamn minds and ran Andrew “Sex Crimes” Cuomo as an ~~Independent~~ spoiler.

Progressives’ biggest mistake was ever believing liberals.

[–] sp3ctr4l@lemmy.dbzer0.com 22 points 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago) (1 children)

Damn right I didn't vote in the last primary!

... because I was fucking homeless!

Can't vote without a permanent mail receiving residence!

[–] dvoraqs@lemmy.world 12 points 6 days ago (1 children)

My sources say you can in all 50 states by listing a park, shelter, or other place where you spend time as your residence and shelter, church, etc as your mailing address. You should be able to go to a polling location and get a ballot even if you don't receive one in the mail.

Just saying that I think there are options for you next time if you find yourself in the same situation. You are not without some power.

[–] sp3ctr4l@lemmy.dbzer0.com 16 points 6 days ago

Your sources are broadly wrong.

Before I became homeless... I worked at a nonprofit, assisting the homeless.

Irony aside, no, a park wouldn't work at all, and most shelters actually don't let their 'residents' use it as an address, support or recieve mail for them.

Of those that do, they all nearly all have the barest of minimum effort put in to making sure residents receive their mail in a timely fashion, and its fairly common for them to lose your mail, bar you from obtaining it for arbitrary and petty reasons, if not just outright stealing it.

And spare me your 'you have options' speech.

I did the math, I ran the data, that was my job, I did it better than the government does it.

The PIT is bullshit, multiply that number by about 4, at least, to get an accurate count.

I distinctly remember my horror upon realizing that covid had utterly broken our seasonal trends, entirely. Just straight up needs being unmet.

Which leads into: The shelters were all completely full back in '22.

When cops go and clear a settlement and say they offered access to resources?

What that means is they gave people a phone number, to people who often don't have phones, a number that may or may not still be in service, where if you go through a 30 to 60 minute phone interview, you'll discover that "oh well we can't offer you any help at this time, have you tried this other number?"

... and that was all before Trump slashed roughly 80% of SNAP, Section 8, and grant funding to non-profits serving the homeless, before the Grants Pass decision functionally made being homeless a crime, before the tariffs, before CECOT, ICE invasions, and before ICE/FEMA began building 23 concentration camps, in line with Trump's stated policy, from before he got elected to round 2, to round of the homeless into concentration camps.

In summary, fuck off.

I have PTSD now, thaks for triggering it with yet more useless and wrong advice, you have bo idea how bad things are.

... and I couldn't get to ballot place if I wanted to, because I was crippled, couldn't get a ballot if I managed to get to a polling place, because my ids were all stolen, along with everything but the clothes on my back.

I had to bullshit my way from seedy motel to shelter to seedy motel for 2.5 years before I managed to get an actual, current, proper drivers liscense.

... and I'm the guy who used to design the data systems used to manage helping people do things like that, at scale.

[–] Canconda@lemmy.ca 12 points 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago)

It's not just about voting. We need more people RUNNING!

Knock Down The House

Regardless of your opinion on AOC, this documentary about how she got elected lays out the steps. IMO it's how AOC got elected that is the key to fixing America. Americans need to make that happen every single election. Systematic problems need more than 1 presidential term to reverse after all.

Independent local grassroots electoral movement. Dedicated to getting/organizing volunteers, signature gathering, door knocking, everything from getting candidates on the ballot to winning in the election.
Candidate nominations. AOC didn't sign up, her BIL or someone nominated her and the Grassroots Movement approached her to run.
PRIMARIES. PRIMARIES. PRIMARIES. Target establishment DNCs who clearly have more in common with corporate lobbyists than their own constituents.
Run the numbers game. Only 1/4 of their candidates won. Democrats should face a primary EVERY SINGLE ELECTION.

[–] Professorozone@lemmy.world 10 points 6 days ago (4 children)

There may be a ring of truth in that, but I'm registered "no party" in my state and therefore CANNOT vote in the primaries. I've considered changing my affiliation to Republican, so I can vote I'm their primaries.

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[–] BromSwolligans@lemmy.world 20 points 6 days ago (1 children)

lol what primaries? As I recall last time we were simply handed Kamala, and everyone I know voted for her despite that. But If Biden had stepped away earlier as he originally claimed to intend to, we would have had time for a real primary. And I would have voted in it.

[–] FaceDeer@fedia.io 24 points 6 days ago (5 children)

There's an upcoming midterm election. The Democratic primaries are just getting started for it, in fact the primaries for Texas, North Carolina and Arkansas are starting tomorrow.

Other important Democratic primaries, according to a quick Googling:

March 17: Illinois (competitive Senate primary to succeed retiring Sen. Dick Durbin)
May 19: Georgia (Senate primary to challenge incumbent Sen. Jon Ossoff) and Kentucky
June 2: California (crowded, top-two primary for governor)
June 9: Maine (competitive Senate primary to take on Sen. Susan Collins)
August 4: Michigan (open Senate and Governor races)
August 11: Minnesota (Senate primary) and Wisconsin (Governor primary)

So maybe let's get to it. When the election itself comes around you'll have the usual two-party choice of D or R, which isn't really much of a choice. Hold your nose and vote D in that one regardless of anything else, it's the lesser evil. The primaries are where you can express your political desires more freely without handing a win to the Republicans by picking the less-than-optimal choice.

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[–] elevenbones@sh.itjust.works 10 points 6 days ago

What fucking primaries? 🤦‍♀️

[–] anarchiddy@lemmy.dbzer0.com 15 points 6 days ago (2 children)

DNC primaries are nothing more than a livestock auction for donors. Libs will cry a big game about FPTP election systems and our need to overturn CU, but will ignore any of those major systemic contradictions when it happens to affirm their worldview

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[–] Sharkticon@lemmy.zip 7 points 6 days ago (1 children)

I mean you say that, but in the state I live in a progressive candidate is running and getting huge engagement with the largest primary turnout ever I think but certainly in decades. All while the establishment Democrats are fighting hard against him.

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[–] BeardededSquidward@lemmy.blahaj.zone 7 points 6 days ago

I vote in primaries, I vote for the more progressive candidate. I've also held my nose for too long voting for the candidate with more money and especially when they are just MAGA lite.

[–] Maeve@kbin.earth 13 points 6 days ago

Because the DNC will sue to keep them off the ballot and win, and when constituents sue the DNC for not keeping their promises and the DNC will argue they are are a private entity or something (I forgot the exact argument), and under no obligation to keep their promises, and win. 🤷‍♀️

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