People vote for candidates that they don’t like.
If your rule is “no, you also have to like them, and I will angrily insist you do so” you are telling people they shouldn’t vote for a candidate they don’t like.
Nobody has to like a politician.
It is fully okay to vote for the NLRB board being able to protect unions and the FTC to keep all our grocery stores from being owned by the same entity.
You don’t have to like the goddamn candidate.
It doesn’t mean I’m planning on “sitting this out” or that I think that my dislike for Candidate Y means I think Candidate Y is “just as bad as” Fash McFascist.
I didn’t like Hillary and I worked for her campaign for 20+ hours a week because I knew Trump posed a bigger threat than people thought.
And just to be clear, this isn’t about people who are not voting for a candidate because their conscience won’t allow it.
That is also a thing people are allowed to do, and normalize letting people vote (or not) the dictates of their conscience.
Favorite quote on subject:
“If you are part of a society that votes, then do so. There may be no candidates and no measures you want to vote for...but there are certain to be ones you want to vote against. In case of doubt, vote against. By this rule you will rarely go wrong.”
― Robert A. Heinlein
I consider this to be in the "A blind squirrel can get caught in a clock, stopping it, making it right twice a day, until a carrion eater has a meal, demonstrating the circle of life and the necessity of fixing public infrastructure." set of Heinlein quotes:
Correct, but only incidentally so.
Or even love all their policy. But especially for President, you are voting for compromise with some unsavory ideas and so it’s never going to be “all you want.” It’s always going to feel- meh
I will knock on them for not voting rest of the ballot however. Fine, you utterly despise and cannot in good conscience vote for a particular candidate.
Skip over that race and pay attention to props/measures/transit/utility/parks/libraries/bonds others items on ballot. That stuff has impact.
I am weird because I've never really given a shit about the president but I get excited about my local candidates. Did a lot of door knocking for a candidate I liked in Iowa. She lost but I accept that's how it is and our goal now is to stop the GOP rep who's okay with concentration camps
Technically we didn't vote for Layton; but he got a lot of new people to vote his party despite not knowing their local candidate very well, and damn that was a loss.
Hope this isn’t annoying, but I volunteer with Sister District Project that supports state races, and I LOVE our state leg candidates. We supported Danica Roem and Mallory McMorrow, among others. The candidates are mostly first time and so passionate! Really encouraging.
lot of state candidates are good! that is a wonderful place to start because that’s the bench for the future
much of my money in recent years has gone to state candidates - much better bang for your buck too
@kleinman.bsky.social has done some great work in that regard
Yes, The States Project, started by my former state senator, is a similar organization. Sister District does, I believe, more direct action and the States Project does more fundraising. Our endorsed/supported races have a lot of overlap. States are great!
Would love to have "a Christmas Carol" style overview of a world where Obama held dubya's administration accountable for the blatant corruption and incompetence instead of looking forward to letting the same ghouls take over congress next election
All of this thread.
Surely one of the points of not being a monarchy was NOT being required to have a relationship (parasocial or other) with people holding political power? They’re just another damn human being.
Seriously.
To riff on the old adage, you don’t need to like the bus driver. As long as they’re driving the bus in the direction of 2024th Ave instead of 1824th Ave, better to get on that bus than sit on the curb.
Or at least not flipping the fuck out when they don't do a few jobs unsatisfactorily.
You wouldn't treat one of your own employees like that, would you?
I donno, pick one of the dozens of things that are actually a complex web of competing interests and moving parts that are stymied by residual reactionary elements in our state and that administration actually have attempted to address meaningfully by means other than unilateral decree.
the thing for me is, can they get stuff done? is it more than just the blah, blah, blah? you can usually tell the ones that are full of it, and if by chance they turn out to be a dud, well ok, next one! they’re not *all* the same. not all ppl in govt are apathetic, some work hard for the public 😔
