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Joined 11 months ago
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Cake day: October 30th, 2023

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  • properly documenting the people who enter our country is vital for providing public services …

    Not really. We can track that the same way we track non-immigrants: census, job reports, bank accounts, change of address forms, buying private data hoards.

    Frankly I’d be in favor of just letting people in and letting them legally work. Our current system allows people in but then they are just expected to lie around waiting for permission to stay. Meanwhile they aren’t contributing to the broader economy. Let them work while they’re here and more of them will get off the streets, there will be more money going towards taxes, and there will be a broadening pool of people that can actually afford to buy things.















  • They have touted for a long time their false equivalency that restriction equals security. If they backtrack on that (I believe) they believe they will lose customers. In reality their fanbase will likely stick with them because that’s what they know and the added functionality will make their offerings a more appealing product.

    Now that Europe is forcing their hand on some of this we can see the impacts it will have on their market growth in the coming years. There are other factors that impact this potential shift in market share too:

    • Is your current phone still working
    • Have you had a lot of problems with your current phone or phone manufacturer
    • Are you willing to ignore Apple’s past regresses in anticipation of actually being able to use their hardware as you wish


  • There’s a lot more to my post that you neglected to address, so I’ll just stick to your reply. I am writing this followup not in an attempt to convince you, but to seek clarity and understanding; unfortunately my rhetoric is often not perceived that way, though I do mean it earnestly.

    Trump or Harris will win.

    I have no doubt.

    Do you have a preference of the two? Are you okay with either of them winning?

    The notion that a 3rd party vote dilutes is based in strategic voting

    Which I don’t practice nor believe in.

    What do you mean by that? I practice voting strategically, it’s certainly a thing that exists. Are you saying you believe people in general shouldn’t or do you really mean you believe there is no such thing? Are you also positing that you still believe it is based in fear?

    According to YOU. I mean, just accept that some people don’t believe the same way you do. And if there are more of them that vote for their candidate, than yours, then that’s how the American voting system goes.

    What are you talking about? I listed a diverse selection of thoughts then stated truthfully that they were diverse. Is your fault found in my understanding that those thoughts are not causing democracy to thrive? People living under dictatorships, authoritarian regimes, and week democracies do not necessarily think in unison. People the world over have different thoughts and opinions even within their own communities and ruling structures. That doesn’t cause democracy to spontaneously arise or even thrive. The distinction between democracy and other ruling structures is the ability of the people to vote. If you want democracy to thrive then the people need to actually be able to vote, not just think differently.

    I fully understand that not everyone believes the same things I do, that has nothing to do with the ability for a 3rd party candidate to win.

    If democrats are that scared of Trump winning, then they should pic a candidate strong enough to over come his and any third party votes. Also maybe they shouldn’t have waited till last minute to make Biden step down.

    I fully 100% agree. I just also expect that people will vote in their best interests, but recognize they don’t necessarily, and I don’t understand why that is. Voting for a 3rd party candidate does nothing for you, while voting for a major party candidate possibly can do something for you. I am a gay leftist atheist. One of the major candidates doesn’t want me to be able to vote (or potentially live) the other one isn’t immediately dismissive of who I am and can be reasoned with. If I vote for the former I am contributing to active oppression against me. If I vote for the latter I am not. If I vote for someone (or no one) else I am complicit in whatever happens to me. I don’t know you. I’m sure there is some category that means a lot to you and that you see Dr. Stein recognizing, but she will not be able to act on that, whereas a major candidate will.


  • The notion that a vote for a 3rd party “dilutes” the vote is rooted in a fear-driven mentality rather than in Democratic principles.

    Its neither. Trump or Harris will win. They both have flaws, but one of them has significantly more including wanting to be a dictator and removing the right to vote going forward. The notion that a 3rd party vote dilutes is based in strategic voting. We have a system that benefits only 2 teams, refusal to work within that 2 team system without first erecting groundwork to actually have a chance at winning is either: 1) removing votes from the main candidate of those 2 teams you’d rather see prevail over the other or 2) not voting against the candidate you’d most like to see fail. It didn’t matter which of those is the case, they are both diluting.

    It assumes that votes are owned by the two major parties which they are not.

    They are. The system is erected such that only a member of one of the 2 major parties will actually win the presidency. Therefore only votes for them actually matter.

    Our electoral system is supposed to represent the diverse views of the electorate, not just those of the dominant parties.

    It’s not. First past the post only helps the dominate parties. They are the only ones that stand a chance at winning and they are the only ones who actually win. This results in a majority of the electorate compromising somewhere to settle on a less ideal candidate. Ranked choice voting and proportional representation with a parliamentary system of government is significantly better at representing the diverse views of the electorate.

    In the end, I personally refuse to be intimidated into voting against my conscience.

    That’s fine. Your preferred candidate won’t win and you will not be contributing to choosing a candidate that more closely aligns with your views than the other.

    Democracy thrives on diversity of thought.

    No it doesn’t. Democracy thrives on having access to the polls. Outcomes of democracy thrive on them being educated, voting critically, and for their best interests, and having proportional representation.

    Some people believing women shouldn’t have control of their bodies, that they belong naked, standing in the kitchen without the right to vote, some people believing women should have autonomy and suffrage, some people believing women should have autonomy, but not the right to vote, and some people believing that a man should have 1 vote for him and all his dependents are a diverse selection of thoughts. But those thoughts and the people that hold them are not causing democracy to thrive.

    All told there are tons of problems with our electoral system from the EC to paid ballot access for minor parties, first past the post, unlimited money, 2 year campaign cycle, the people that actually get nominated, strategic drawing of maps, culling voters from registrations, states leaving ERIC, and more, but those problems benefit a 2 party system and refusing to participate in that does not benefit your cause. What voting a 3rd party does do is get them closer to the 5% cutoff for access to federal Presidential Election Campaign Funds in their next election and signal a vehement opposition to some policy. However, that signal is easily ignored with such a low turnout.

    So how do you get a third party presidential candidate to win? By actually building a 3rd party first. Run candidates in local elections, get them on school boards and mayorships. Start locally, build a following and work up to state. Start winning an appreciable percent of state legislature seats and move on to congressional seats. Once the American people are familiar with you as a “party” who actually is involved politically and demands a significant amount of real-estate on the hill and in their states and not simply as a “fringe party” taking a crap shot at power they will start to view your party as actually having a chance to win the presidency, they might actually vote for you in no small part, and you eventually can work your way to an actual victory.

    Vote for who you want. If it’s not one of the main candidates that may be ideological and even admirable, but right now it’s ineffective. I’ll be voting to reduce the chances of Trump winning office, because I actually want my vote to matter in future elections.