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Biden closes gap on Trump but third-party candidates pose danger, polls show
(www.theguardian.com)
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this post was submitted on 14 Apr 2024
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Okay, so we punish the Democrats and the Republicans necessarily win as a result. Hopefully that's not a controversial assumption.
How many such intentional losses should be planned on so that we can get the Democrats try to move left to recapture support? How are we going to ensure they try to better court the left instead of moving to the right?
I'm always so confused by this argument because "punishing the Democrats by letting Republicans win"...wouldn't the assumption just be that the people WANT a more right wing government?
Wouldn't that simply encourage politicians to be like "Oh, the crazies won last time. Maybe that's who our voting block is now. Maybe it's time to also be crazy."
I'm not asking you to read minds. Just to explain how this works in your mind. I understand the frustration, and desire to express it, and the expression I'm, possibly incorrectly, assuming you have is to not vote for them. What is the process by which this accomplishes more than making Republicans win elections, and pushing the Democrats to the right?
Okay, fair. I asked that in that way because I believe that politicians listen primarily to corporations, sure, and secondarily to reliable voting blocs. My thought was that by proving to be an unreliable voting bloc, there's a reasonable risk that instead of trying to court that bloc to make it turn out more, they would just go after other blocs that already are reliable.
But! You don't think the democrats would try to court the right instead of the left if the left proves to be an unreliable voter bloc. Fair! What about the rest? We punish them via withholding of votes, they lose, and then... by what mechanism are they pushed to the left? By the loss, or is there more to the idea? What if they don't, or don't do it good enough? Withhold votes and make them lose again? Is there ever an adjustment to the plan, or is it just an unfortunate helping of our ideological opponents for however long it takes for the Democrats to get it right?
I see. I appreciate your taking the time to explain your point of view. Still not my preferred method of engagement, but I understand better where you were coming from, and that's what I was trying to accomplish!