A gun rights group in North Carolina is raffling off an AR-15 rifle that comes with a photograph of Hillary Clinton that is “very popular at the range,” calling the raffle the “Hillary Clinton Special.” The raffle winner will receive the AR-15, 1,000 rounds of ammunition and the portrait of Clinton. All of the proceeds from the raffle will be put to unsettling use.
How is this not an endorsement of violence on their part?
Lately I’ve noticed people taking the quiz from iSideWith to give them an idea of who they should vote for. Having taken the quiz myself, I found that I align more with Jill Stein than with Hillary Clinton, who I will be voting for in November.
While it is absolutely necessary that voters make informed decisions, I believe sites like iSideWith are doing more harm to the voter base by including third-party candidates, especially in this election cycle. In 2012, the site featured five third-party candidates for users to “side with”. This year, there are two: Jill Stein and Gary Johnson.
Featuring these two candidates, when they will not achieve the necessary poll numbers to reach the CPD’s debate stage, and when they have no mathematical chance of winning the presidency, endangers this election, and encourages people to “vote their conscience”.
Lots of disgruntled voters have talked about this idea. Bernie-or-Busters, frustrated independents, even Ted Cruz told the RNC to vote their conscience, before throwing his support behind Donald Trump. It’s a way to protest the two-party system, they claim, the candidates both pose a threat to the nation’s future.
Consider the following scenario:
Neither Clinton nor Trump can capture 270 electoral votes. New Mexico, by a miracle, goes to Gary Johnson. What happens now?
In this event, the House of Representatives would immediately elect the next President, with each state delegation receiving one vote. 33 states currently have a majority of Republican representatives to Democratic representatives, therefore, it is reasonable to assume that those 33 states will vote for, and elect, Donald Trump as the 45th President of the United States.
And this is why “voting your conscience” is destructive and dangerous. It’s willingly giving your vote to a failed Congress that has had the lowest approval ratings in history. It’s risking the next four years of the country so you can feel pride that you “protested the system.” It’s essentially saying that you do not care who is elected president, and you don’t give a damn about the people whose livelihoods could be jeopardized as a result.
Voting your conscience is saying that your sense of satisfaction matter more than the future of the United States.
Make the right decision, and ensure that Donald Trump stays out of the White House.
You have no options. Voting for a third party candidate is effectively throwing your vote away. It’s a BINARY CHOICE.
You are going to get us all killed.
You are going to get us all killed.
You might not remember what happened last time, but I do. Leftists swore up and down an Al Gore Presidency would be “just as bad” as a Bush Presidency. That was the EXACT phrase they used.
“Al Gore is a corpratist,” they said.
“I want to vote for something instead of against something,” they said.
Now, over a decade later, the entire GLOBE is still trying to correct what was done during the Bush administration–global financial collapse, SCOTUS nominees, TWO endless wars, drone strikes, the Patriot Act, No Child Left Behind, Isis, DICK CHEYNEY.
Open your eyes and see how the tide is turning. For the past 10 years, there’s been a steady rise of right-wing ideology and politics. There’s UKIP and the Brexit, France and their damn neo Nazi Marine Le Pen, whatever is happening in Brazil right now. Canada only just ousted a leader who muzzled scientists who spoke about climate change!
And now we have the possibility of Trump. Trump who, as of this moment, has a 38% chance of winning according to Five Thirty Eight. Not 38% of the vote. 38% chance of winning. Those aren’t terrible odds. They’re better odds than rolling a specific number on a die, 16.68%.
Do you understand that we have a chance to flip the Supreme Court for the first time since the 60’s?
Remember all that Civil Rights shit from the 60’s? Do you know what happened to it, why it didn’t usher in a new age of equality like MLK’s Dreamers hoped? The Burger Court happened to it. The Burger Court is the conservative-majority Supreme Court that came into power in the backlash following the 60′s. With that Court came a conservative jurisprudence that would last for generations. It was the Burger Court that stymied de-segregation efforts, and created ‘white flight’ by ruling that de-segregation orders couldn’t be extended past district lines. It was the Burger Court that laid the groundwork for Citizens United, when they ruled that corporations could spend money in politics. Everyone was so shocked when SCOTUS ruled corporations are people and money=speech. Well, thank the Burger Court!
Now, for the first time in SEVERAL DECADES there is an opportunity to flip the Supreme Court. We haven’t had a liberal jurisprudence since the 60′s. And look at what’s coming down the pipe–anti trans laws like HB2, Affirmative Action, housing rights, repealing Citizen United, immigration, abortion, gun control, police brutality, climate change, etc.
I am begging you to vote Hillary. And tell others to vote Hillary. I won’t quibble over whether her policies are better than Trump’s (they objectively are) or whether or not she is a better person than Trump (that’s…more subjective). The SCOTUS nominations should be reason enough. PLEASE don’t make me live through a Trump administration. Please don’t do this again.
Latina trans woman chiming in to add that I am doing my damnedest to get all of my documents updated before the election, because if that two-chambers russian roulette chance pops up I want to at least have everything in order.
But even then, if Trump wins there’s a very good chance that I will die. Three trans women have been murdered within twenty-five miles of my house in the past NINE MONTHS, and I live in a fairly liberal state. If Federal law turns against me, I lose what little protections I have, and my risk of death by murder skyrockets.
And that’s not even looking at healthcare! Currently I am only able to obtain HRT because in my state Medicaid is required to cover transgender health services. With a Republican Supreme Court and Congress, not only does that go out the window but so does Obamacare and the Medicaid expansion which is how I have health insurance in the first place.
If you care even the slightest bit about my safety as a human being, you will
GO OUT AND VOTE CLINTONAND DEMOCRATIC ALL THE WAY DOWN THE BALLOT
This is absolutely about survival, and a Trump presidency will in no uncertain terms be anathema to my continued existence. Please, I beg of you: help me stay alive.
Fuck y’all and fuck this false dilemma bullshit.
The fact that so many people are apathetic about Trump and Clinton being the nominees for this election cycle means that third parties CAN ACTUALLY BE CONSIDERED MINOR PARTIES BY THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT.
Let me break it down for you:
The reason why third-parties are considered a “waste of a vote” is because they lack the resources to get on state ballots and run effective advertising campaigns. The fact that the Commission on Presidential Debates is specifically set up to keep third-party candidates from making it to the debate stage (thus gaining much-needed exposure) doesn’t help this at all. Hell, there are actually pending lawsuits against the CPD for potentially violating antitrust laws because of those shenanigans.
If a third-party receives just 5% of the popular vote, they become eligible for the Presidential Election Campaign Fund’s grant, by way of FEC rules. To put this into perspective: If the Libertarian party had gotten 5% of the vote in 2012, they would start the 2016 election with $10 million. That is literally four times the amount the party raised by donations in 2012.
“BUT ROSS PEROT MANAGED TO GET ON THE BALLOT IN EVERY STATE, AND HE GOT A HIGH POPULAR VOTE!” some of you might say. Yeah, well Ross Perot was also a fucking billionaire who could finance it himself.
People don’t realize that the system is rigged to ensure that the two-party system survives, and part of that is mental manipulation like this shit here. The two-party system fails when you get to points like these, where you have a madman and a warhawk running. This is why I’m voting third-party, because even though I know I’m not voting for a winning candidate, I’m voting to try and change the fucking system so we won’t have these sorts of shit elections again.
Also, y’all really need to start a movement for getting rid of the electoral college because literally, the only votes that matter as far as the EC is concerned are the ones in battleground states.
First, how dare you try to override marginalized voices to tell them that they are somehow ignorant for putting their personal safety ahead of your selfish third-party pipe dreams. How fucking dare you.
Second, what happens if your precious Gary Johnson wins a couple of states? The election is then decided by the House of Representatives, which is currently controlled by the Republican Party. Which means, President Donald Trump.
Third, there is a moral imperative for voting for Clinton. Trump absolutely must be stopped for the security of not only the United States, but for the world. His radical ideas of “bombing the hell out of [ISIL]” can, in all likelihood, spark World War III. Knowing how much of a loose cannon he is, he can get angry at a country not kissing his feet at the UN and seek military action against them. That puts literally every person in the world at risk. I know, because you’re a cishet white man, you won’t be able to properly empathize with the marginalized people’s pleas for their personal safety. But maybe if you understand that a Trump presidency has the potential to start a nuclear war, you’ll make the correct choice and vote for the immediate future over the hypothetical one.
I’m angry. I won’t be as cordial as I usually am in my posts.
Mass shootings have become something of a norm in the US. Turn on the news, see a breaking story, and think, “Another one?” That is not fucking normal.
Gun violence is an issue. Hate crimes are an issue. Guns enable hate crimes. They are responsible for the murder of women, POC, LGBT+ folks, among others.
But there are still people who think the “freedom” to keep and bear arms is somehow more important than protecting human lives. That an outdated portion of the Constitution is more important than protecting the innocent.
FUCK ANYONE WHO BELIEVES THE SECOND AMENDMENT IS WORTH MORE THAN THE LIVES OF MARGINALIZES PEOPLE.
Unfortunately, gun control isn’t the answer, either. It’s not enough when states with strict laws still enable men to buy a gun and shoot up a school, or a church, or a gay nightclub. It’s not enough.
The only solution we have left is disarmament. Confiscate firearms. Similar regulations have worked for the UK, France, Spain, Australia, Japan, and South Korea.
It’s time the US cared more about human lives than its fetishization with firearms.
This is how every election should be. Completely forgo the risk of allowing a two party system to remain The System.
The top-two primary system destroys the concept of “voting against” candidates, and forces the winners to actually debate issues instead of the usual mudslinging that comes with partisan politics. It should be used everywhere.
The reason Trump received this advertising is because the media would actually be okay with a Trump presidency. They would benefit from it.
Think about it: The media thrives on controversy. It spent a ridiculous amount of time on the manufactured debate that was Obama’s citizenship status. Why? Because people pay attention to controversy.
Trump is a controversial figure because he’s a misogynistic, racist, homophobic xenophobe, and is not afraid to announce that to the world. He’s a goldmine for media coverage. People will always pay attention to the things he says, to the point where minor comments would become breaking news. And the public would be exposed to and desensitized to his bigoted ideas along the way.
That is why we cannot allow ourselves to have a Trump presidency.
I’ve been inspired to write an essay about this. Sorry for everyone wondering where the follow-up to “Abridging the Freedom of Speech” is, that will be put on hold for this.
“It is offensive to hear John Kasich tell black women what we should do with our bodies, though not at all surprising.
John Kasich blames black women for infant mortality, while as Governor, he cuts programs that help black families in Ohio. Kasich has created a web of policies that create unsafe environments for black families.
The black community recognizes the truth – the problem is you.” - Alencia Johnson, Planned Parenthood Action Fund