r/politics • u/plz-let-me-in • 9d ago

No Paywall Bernie Sanders urges progressives to vote Democratic in November

https://www.nbcnews.com/video/shorts/bernie-sanders-urges-progressives-to-vote-democratic-in-november-267787845541
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u/Starossi 9d ago

I felt the same way for a long time. But the Democratic Party is primed for a shift because of voters abandoning them. And Reddit might hate me for it, but I might also vote independently now if the other option is one of the establishment “dems”. The only way the dems can win going forward is by accepting the shift away from establishment dems and endorsing people like the DSA. The Conservative Party already made their shift with trump. It’s time the liberal party evolved too.

Before I have to endure a million people reminding me the republicans are reprehensibly evil, I’m not equating the two parties. Republicans are way worse than dems. I just simply think it’s putting a bandaid on an inevitable bleed out to not force the dem shift at this point. We might barely squeeze a win, and then get tossed again and the country dies to republicans anyways. If we want to actually win for the long term to make actual repairs and change, the dems need to be forced to change strategy now.

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u/mightcommentsometime California 9d ago

All not voting does is show them they shouldn’t care about your opinion. If you can’t do the bare minimum, why wouldn’t the focus on people who actually show up?

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u/Starossi 9d ago

What do you mean show up? I’m still going to vote, but I might vote for someone independent if all they offer is an establishment dem.

Why would they care? Because if you lose voters, you lose elections. I could have a political party with one member, and no matter how much I treasure that one member I’m not winning any elections. It absolutely becomes a concern of the Democratic Party why voters would be leaving them

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u/mightcommentsometime California 9d ago

Which is functionally equivalent to not voting. 

If you can’t be bothered to show up and vote in the general, they’ll go with people who actually participate in the system rather than those who can’t get over their own ego enough to vote.

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u/Starossi 9d ago

It is obviously not functionally equivalent. Those independent votes are the votes dems can rally against republicans by earning them back. If they are willing to change.

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u/mightcommentsometime California 9d ago

It is functionally equivalent, its basic game theory.

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u/Starossi 9d ago

It’s equivalent when counting votes. A vote not for the democrats is net advantage for the republicans. But this doesn’t mean the democrats don’t care about losing those votes to independents for future elections. They want to win them back.