“Voting for the lesser of two evils doesn’t work.”
How would you know? It’s never been tried for long enough.
Al Gore, Hillary Clinton, and Kamala Harris all lost.
Biden won, but most people spent his entire presidency shitting on him and giving him absolutely no credit for his successes, which were MANY. (If you need a refresher: RFMA, PACT Act, Chips and Science, Inflation Reduction Act, Bipartisan Infrastructure Act, Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson etc.)
You can’t say “vote blue no matter who” and “vote for the lesser of two evils” doesn’t work if you refuse to ever give it a chance of working.
Also I hate that phrase “lesser of two evils” when we’re talking about someone who supports unions and immigrants and healthcare and food assistance and queer rights and voting rights over someone who is literally trying to end us all.
And the lesser of two evils is, by definition, BETTER.
It’s like the difference between a wound with a bit of an infection, and literal death. Those aren’t comparable.
Democrats are not perfect and no one has ever claimed otherwise, but they are making lasting change. It’s slow and it’s not linear , but it is happening.
Pro forced birth Democrats have been all but forced out the party. Same with anti-gay Democrats AND anti-trans Democrats. You don’t see many Dems supported by the NRA at all anymore. And all Dems believe in the climate crisis.
This was NOT a given even 10 years ago.
Democrats are not becoming more conservative. They’re becoming less. Across the board. Progressive policies have become a deal breaker.
This is what you’re saying is one of “two evils”?
Give me a break.
Do you want things to get better or do you want to scream “perfection only!” and watch it get worse?
Cause that’s what we’re living right now.
We’re living in a refusal to vote for and celebrate the successful harm reduction, or “lesser of two evils,” as you say.
There are rarely examples where we actually get to see what happens if the “lesser of two evils” wins.
And the thing is, when they win, they’re shit on so successfully that we lose next time. Again, Biden.
They do something, or many many things right and the goal post gets moved, again and again.
In the end, the only knowledge anyone has of their actions is that they can’t do anything right.
That’s a dangerous way of seeing the world.
I know this cause we are living it.
What is happening right now is a product of that way of thinking.
I don’t need to find statistics or read a report cause this is our reality.
This is what happens when people refuse to vote for and celebrate the wins of “the lesser of two evils.”
When people choose a candidate in the primary who has no chance of a snowball in hell of winning and then complain and don’t vote when a candidate they REALLY didn’t like becomes the party nominee.
This is our life.
We don’t have to imagine it.
And yet, the mantra hasn’t changed. The goalpost keeps being moved. Dems don’t get any credit for doing ANYTHING right. People spread demands that are literally impossible and convince other people that they are not only possible, but easy. And enough people refuse to vote for harm reduction that the harm is constantly increased.
Perfection is the enemy of progress. That’s not just a catchy phrase, it’s a fact.
If Al Gore had won, we would be A LOT further along on climate than we are now, and we would not have gone into Iraq.
If Hillary Clinton had won, we wouldn’t have lost the Supreme Court. We would still have Roe and affirmative action and the VRA and the Chevron Doctrine.
If Kamala Harris had won, we wouldn’t be at war with Venezuela and Iran and possibly Cuba and maybe Greenland? Trans people would not be attacked at the federal level. Immigrants would not be kidnapped off the streets. We would still have the Department of Education and labor and a DoJ that doesn’t do the president’s bidding.
THIS is the result of refusing to vote for and support the lesser of two evils, WE ARE LIVING IT!
So maybe going forward we stop. We give a chance for the lesser of two evils to actually work. To scream from the rooftops every time they do right thing. We don’t just vote for it once, but do so over at least a decade.
Cause we’ve tried your way. It hasn’t worked. This exact moment that you are reading this post is proof of that.
So let’s try this way, for once. Let’s give this country a fighting chance at actual progress.
PLEASE?
Instead of voting for the "lesser of two evils," think of it as voting for the best option you have. That may not be the perfect candidate. (Because the perfect candidate doesn't really exist.) It may not be your first choice. (Because not everyone's first choice will make it to the ballot.) But you can vote for the best available.
Also, please vote your entire ballot! Anti-trans state legislation means some states aren't safe for my nesting partner to visit. Books are still being removed from school and public libraries across the country. Do what you can to protect your community!
