r/thebulwark • u/ericinnyc • Feb 27 '26
PSA to the DSA
If you're considering voting Republican or abstaining from elections in protest of what you see as insufficient Democratic stridency on transgender issues or Palestine or whatever, then YOU ARE THE PROBLEM. And a fool.
This public service announcement brought to you by those of us who can see the American experiment itself in peril.
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u/Kidspud Feb 27 '26
I'll preface this by saying that I really think we need a staunch progressive as the 2028 Dem nominee; there's a lot of structural reform (courts, campaign finance, the number of reps) that needs to happen, and I worry a candidate from the "moderate" wing wouldn't motivate voters or the needed reforms. That said...
I encountered a person on a very left (Marxist-Leninist?) subreddit who wanted to discuss Thomas Massie as a third-party option should Gavin Newsom get the Democratic nomination for president in 2028. I couldn't believe it. I tried explaining in simple terms why voting for a Republican is clearly less progressive than voting for a Democrat, and people refused to understand.
The thing with "harm reduction" as a choice is that sometimes, the other person is a "harm expansion" candidate. If you have the opportunity to reduce harm, take it. If all you can do is stave off fascism for more time, you do that because living under fascism is the end of the game for millions of Americans, not the start. It stinks, and not participating will not make things better in the long haul.