The problem with this line of thinking is that it encourages short-term rather than long-term thinking.
From a purely utilitarian perspective, the absolute good to the absolute greatest number of people - we would have been better off if Trump won in 2020. He would have had another lame duck term in a continuation of an administration where he had a lot of restraining voices in his cabinet. He wouldn’t have had the four years to regroup and come back with an entirely different organizational structure.
A Biden win in 2020 guaranteed a Trump win in 2024. It was eminently predictable and it was widely predicted. Biden wasn’t going to do anything to address the actual causes for Trump winning. Biden was only ever going to be a temporary speed bump to fascism. He simply lacked the character to properly confront a fascist movement. He’s not morally capable of it.
Even if you stick to a purely utilitarian framework, even if you believe that harm minimization is all that mattes, sometimes voting for the lesser of two evils is the option that’s going to get more people killed.
over_clox@lemmy.world 1 day ago
Read my other comment, I tried in 2016, definitely wasn’t going to vote for orange. I never got to see the inside of the voting place.
After waiting around 2 hours, they shut down and cops ordered everyone remaining in line to leave at 8pm. There were probably around 200 people outside still waiting to vote…
lemmy.world/comment/17812288
capt_wolf@lemmy.world 1 day ago
You tried once, so you said fuck it this time…
You know mail-in, absentee, and provisional ballots are a thing, right?
Also, if you’re in line to vote and the polling place is set to close, you still have the right to cast your ballot, no matter how long it takes. They can turn new people away, but they can’t just close up and send people home if they’ve been waiting. If you were told to leave, those cops violated the law. And if they absolutely had to close, they’re required to give out provisional ballots. Know your rights dude.
over_clox@lemmy.world 1 day ago
Okay, good to know. Maybe I can sue the library and the cops and get to cast my 2016 vote, wouldn’t that be fucking nice if there was a time machine?
Like I said, we were in a line of probably around 200 people, and we were probably in place about 150 back towards the end of the line.
Everyone else ahead of us followed the orders first and left for their vehicles, we were towards the back of the line and were amongst the last to find out they closed as the cops ordered everyone to leave.
What the fuck you expect me to do, run around the block to get to the library door and beat on it? Get tackled and shot by cops?
You think I’m fucking stupid? If the 150 people ahead of me are complying with the cops, you think I’m gonna be the idiot to catch a bullet?
capt_wolf@lemmy.world 1 day ago
I think less of everyone involved, yes… 150-200 people straight up abandoned their legally guaranteed rights…
However, that’s getting off track… my disappointment is with people’s inaction during THIS election. The one between a reasonably mid candidate and an absolute garbage dump of a felonious excuse for a human being.