Image Transcription:

A tweet from the George Takei Twitter account which states:

"A Democrat was in the White House when my family was sent to the internment camps in 1941. It was an egregious violation of our human and civil rights.

It would have been understandable if people like me said they’d never vote for a Democrat again, given what had been done to us.

But being a liberal, being a progressive, means being able to look past my own grievances and concerns and think of the greater good. It means working from within the Democratic party to make it better, even when it has betrayed its values.

I went on to campaign for Adlai Stevenson when I became an adult. I marched for civil rights and had the honor of meeting Dr. Martin Luther King. I fought for redress for my community and have spent my life ensuring that America understood that we could not betray our Constitution in such a way ever again.

Bill Clinton broke my heart when he signed DOMA into law. It was a slap in the face to the LGBTQ community. And I knew that we still had much work to do. But I voted for him again in 1996 despite my misgivings, because the alternative was far worse. And my obligation as a citizen was to help choose the best leader for it, not to check out by not voting out of anger or protest.

There is no leader who will make the decision you want her or him to make 100 percent of the time. Your vote is a tool of hope for a better world. Use it wisely, for it is precious. Use it for others, for they are in need of your support, too."

End Transcription.

The last paragraph I find particularly powerful and something more people really should take into account.

    • banneryear1868@lemmy.world
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      11 months ago

      We aren’t stupid, we understand strategic voting and how less bad is preferable, we just don’t take this self-righteous position about it that you think enables you to speak down to political allies. You know that can’t work and will push people away, so it makes it seem like you aren’t genuinely concerned if you are so willing to engage in this counter-intuitive approach that can only serve your personal pride.

      Dems don’t want a candidate that could easily win against Trump, Hillary even helped him win the primary, and Dem PACs give money to run ads for fascist Republican candidates, they’re also supplying a fascist government’s genocide as we speak. Shaming left voters who are political allies rather than the party who doesn’t cater to them is a confession.

        • banneryear1868@lemmy.world
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          11 months ago

          You don’t know who I am for one and if the DNC wants to win against Trump they would run a candidate who could easily beat him. The money that funds the Democrats comes from the same coffers that fund the GOP, it’s corporate donors who give campaign funds to those who further their interests, which is balanced by catering or branding the party to voters. Both parties are consented on the neoliberal economic arrangement, the immigration policy of Trump is now status quo under Biden, the tarrifs everyone complained about are in full swing still, the weapons that enable fascists around the world are flowing quicker than ever. The illusion of Democrats being a way out of this is, and thinking people can’t strategically vote for them in disapproval because they’re fascism-lite, is denying the ability for change to happen and people to organize. “Don’t say what you feel and fall in line” is helping the downward spiral.

      • WaxedWookie@lemmy.world
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        11 months ago

        If you’re allowing the fascists to gain power and kill democracy, you’re not my political ally. Left voters don’t hand power to fascists - that’s shameful behaviour.