What confuses me with this take, is that you guys get two options over there, so how was Trump a better choice? In a battle of lesser evils you still pick the lesser evil. Such an unbelievably flawed democratic system the US has.
With 1st past the post and all of the power wielded by the 2 major parties, it is basically two options, which sucks. But we have had this system for a really long time and the major parties know it and support it, so they ought to be able to navigate it (it they and sincere and competent).
So even though I absolutely disagree with leftists who vote for anyone other than the Democratic candidate in the general election, I share their frustration with the DNC who waste resources trying to flip moderate Republicans instead of energizing the base and courting the left. Hillary Clinton was actually rude and dismissive of the left. And the party stance seems to be “bend over backwards for moderate Republicans but harangue and hector leftists for not being enthused and for not turning out to accept whatever corporate scraps they’re given”.
I, like most Democratic voters are well to the left of the candidates and the party. I suspect that they keep moving to the right to keep the donors happy. I guess they’re trying to thread the needle between donors and the base, but they are not winning enough so whatever they’re doing is shit. I’d say that they’re over indexing on donors but part of why Clinton took over in 2016 is because the DNC was broke and needed someone to come in with big donors and make them solvent.
Lemme finish this sloppy rant by saying that I’m also super frustrated with anyone who isn’t voting - especially young people and people on the left. We can say that we’ll vote if they give us something to vote for, but there isn’t much evidence to support that assertion.
You’re missing a very, very key component.
In the U.S., voting is fucking hard. If you’re a low-income working class stiff, it is a serious challenge to set time aside to get registered and go to the polls. You can receive a mail-in ballot, but as many Americans learned this season, there are additional complications that can occur with those regarding registration and delivery. There are a lot of barriers to participating in the democratic process, and if your candidate isn’t willing to motivate people to push through that bullshit and vote anyway, then you can’t be surprised when a bunch of people don’t want to put in the effort to get them elected.
The system is so much more flawed than you’ve even imagined.
Very true, here in Australia we get the day off to go vote, which is the least you’d expect considering voting is mandatory. I’m privileged to live in a country where it is so effortless to vote and I can trust the system to work. Not getting a public holiday or making early voting early easy is a huge barrier to entry.
We don’t just get two options and I never said Trump was a better choice. Do you think Trump was a better choice? In a battle of two evils, you don’t pick the other evil. You either move, tear down the system, or do nothing cause you’re fucked if you do and fucked if you don’t.
First past the post is a stupid and terrible system (which we probably won’t have now in favor of something worse) that turns what may have been other options into just two options.
It’s not a false dichotomy, it’s a crap set of board game rules. And because of it, yes it was only just two options.
All in the past now, though.
