Image Transcription:

A tweet from the George Takei Twitter account which states:

"A Democrat was in the White House when my family was sent to the internment camps in 1941. It was an egregious violation of our human and civil rights.

It would have been understandable if people like me said they’d never vote for a Democrat again, given what had been done to us.

But being a liberal, being a progressive, means being able to look past my own grievances and concerns and think of the greater good. It means working from within the Democratic party to make it better, even when it has betrayed its values.

I went on to campaign for Adlai Stevenson when I became an adult. I marched for civil rights and had the honor of meeting Dr. Martin Luther King. I fought for redress for my community and have spent my life ensuring that America understood that we could not betray our Constitution in such a way ever again.

Bill Clinton broke my heart when he signed DOMA into law. It was a slap in the face to the LGBTQ community. And I knew that we still had much work to do. But I voted for him again in 1996 despite my misgivings, because the alternative was far worse. And my obligation as a citizen was to help choose the best leader for it, not to check out by not voting out of anger or protest.

There is no leader who will make the decision you want her or him to make 100 percent of the time. Your vote is a tool of hope for a better world. Use it wisely, for it is precious. Use it for others, for they are in need of your support, too."

End Transcription.

The last paragraph I find particularly powerful and something more people really should take into account.

  • deaf_fish@lemm.ee
    30·
    1 year ago

    It’s ok to complain. The complaints are valid. Still vote and encourage others to vote.

    If your two choices are between a 99% fascist and a 98% fascist. Vote for the 98% fascist.

    • spookedbyroaches@lemm.ee
      22·
      1 year ago

      Problem is that people actually think that it’s 99% vs 98% (not saying you think that) when that’s not the case. You have a guy that incited a riot against our democratic process and a guy that kept encouraging unity and actually helped fund infrastructure, local chip manufacturing, renewable funding, etc.

        • knightly the Sneptaur@pawb.social
          4·
          1 year ago

          Remember when the Democrats voted with Republicans to censure the only Palestinian-American in Congress for objecting to the arms deals that are currently enabling one of our proxy states to perpetuate a genocide against her ethnic group?

          Voting for the “lesser evil” is still voting for evil. Worse, it provides the lesser evil with no incentive to seek redemption, since they know you’ll vote for them anyway out of fear.

            • knightly the Sneptaur@pawb.social
              1·
              1 year ago

              I’m not asking to be persuaded, folks are just mad that I refuse to commit to “vote blue no matter who”. The people who need persuading are those 188 who aren’t demanding resignations from the other 12.

              I’m not going to give up the only leverage I have on the party by promising it my vote a year in advance. If you want to describe that as “handing you to the fascists”, then you’ve clearly misunderstood me.

          • Gormadt@lemmy.blahaj.zoneOP
            8·
            1 year ago

            That’s why participating in primaries is so important, the primaries are where the candidates are chosen for the parties. So pushing for more progressive people in the primaries helps prevent such out comes.

            That vote was 234-188 it wasn’t a unanimous thing.

            Edit: the way people have been screaming about it makes it sound like all the Dems voted for that out come when they didn’t.

            • knightly the Sneptaur@pawb.social
              3·
              1 year ago

              “Pushing for more progressive people in the primaries” is what I’ve been begging people to do instead of wasting time trying to persuade me to hold my nose and vote blue no matter who, lol.

              • Seasm0ke@lemmy.world
                3·
                1 year ago

                Exactly. I registered D to vote for someone halfway decent in primaries, not to shill for whatever donkey the DNC force feeds us.

      • deaf_fish@lemm.ee
        1·
        1 year ago

        I’m sorry to say that this will probably not be a choice.

        3rd parties are great and all, but the most likely outcome is that a vote for them will remove a vote for a more realistic candidate.

        I hate this, but it is the reality of the situation.