I'm in a state where my vote for president doesn't matter, and I think withholding my vote sends a more powerful message because Biden is unacceptable. I will be voting for candidates I believe in downballot. I do hope he wins, but this is for an extremely narrow band of issues that only matter to me as a relatively well off white gay man. I think you are wildly naive if you believe that he'll be an even acceptable president, and that he won't be followed up by someone worse.
A few things to keep in mind:
The courts in this country are already fucked up beyond repair. It'll suck to lose RBG but she cannot do anything other than write a good dissenting opinion. The Supreme Court is fucked, the lower courts are fucked, it's all complete garbage. The only solution is to dramatically restructure the courts.
A large part of this is because of decisions made during the Obama presidency. He was so unwilling to make any fight against the Republicans that he left a ton of vacancies, and every one of them was filled by Trump without a peep from the Dems. And this is with young appointees, who will be fucking people over for decades. And speaking of RBG, her decision to not step down during a Democratic president should taint her memory, because there's no reason she shouldn't have been replaced a decade ago.
As for the executive branch, many of Trump's worst policies are just continuing things begun under Obama: the militarization of police, the ratcheting up of ICE, the weakening of labor laws. This is partly because Obama is a conservative, and partly because he capitulated reflexively to Republicans. I have no doubt that Biden will do the same, and worse.
The Democratic Party is a waste. It provides no one any safety from the Republicans, enables their worst aspects, and is complicit with horrendous crimes. I cannot actually encourage anyone to vote for them.
devtesla wrote (edited )
I'm in a state where my vote for president doesn't matter, and I think withholding my vote sends a more powerful message because Biden is unacceptable. I will be voting for candidates I believe in downballot. I do hope he wins, but this is for an extremely narrow band of issues that only matter to me as a relatively well off white gay man. I think you are wildly naive if you believe that he'll be an even acceptable president, and that he won't be followed up by someone worse.
A few things to keep in mind:
The courts in this country are already fucked up beyond repair. It'll suck to lose RBG but she cannot do anything other than write a good dissenting opinion. The Supreme Court is fucked, the lower courts are fucked, it's all complete garbage. The only solution is to dramatically restructure the courts.
A large part of this is because of decisions made during the Obama presidency. He was so unwilling to make any fight against the Republicans that he left a ton of vacancies, and every one of them was filled by Trump without a peep from the Dems. And this is with young appointees, who will be fucking people over for decades. And speaking of RBG, her decision to not step down during a Democratic president should taint her memory, because there's no reason she shouldn't have been replaced a decade ago.
As for the executive branch, many of Trump's worst policies are just continuing things begun under Obama: the militarization of police, the ratcheting up of ICE, the weakening of labor laws. This is partly because Obama is a conservative, and partly because he capitulated reflexively to Republicans. I have no doubt that Biden will do the same, and worse.
The Democratic Party is a waste. It provides no one any safety from the Republicans, enables their worst aspects, and is complicit with horrendous crimes. I cannot actually encourage anyone to vote for them.