But it’s just such a twisted way of thinking about it. You’re telling people to sacrifice their firmly held beliefs, and you’re mad at people who didn’t. But you’re not expending any of that energy trying to change the problematic politicians.

I understand trump is worse. But that does not guarantee his opponent any votes simply because they aren’t him. They have actively turned further and further away from us. At what point does that ever affect your vote? They were taking part in an active genocide. And openly claiming they were not going to change that.

…what do they have to do to lose your vote? Could they be actively rounding up people in work camps?

We all understand the difference between trump and the dems.

But my entire point is what is your vote worth? Apparently it’s worth not very much and can stomach at least genocide without being turned away. Not mine.

And if you’re going to keep blaming people, and not the politicians, then we are going to keep running into this problem. Because the trend has not been kind to us, to you or me. This keeps happening. The politicians have shown us their tactics will be continually moving to the right. It’s been that way my whole life. Genocide was the dealbreaker for me. Not for you. But this is the world we are living in now. And blaming us isn’t changing shit. Maybe you should start aiming your anger at the people making those choices.

No, Russia became an autocracy by never being a free state after the fall of the Soviet Union.

The chaos of just adding a president to the existing Soviet order and then the overpowered oligarchs vying for power and buying the “privatized” industries through nepotism and backroom deals is how it happened. Not to mention Yeltsin literally forcing his constitution into law by having tanks fire on the parliament and arresting its members, resulting in an incredibly powerful president who appointed basically the entire government.

The same few oligarchs and corrupt politicians retaining power, especially when the president holds outsized power in the system led the country to an autocracy. It wasnt from people thinking “both are immoral, voting doesn’t make a difference.”

The Russian people know voting doesn’t make a difference because the government did nothing to show they’re trustworthy. 88% of the vote, the competitors being arrested or suicided?

Ignoring immoral politicians and giving them power despite their shortcomings is far more likely to lead to autocracy. It’s not on the voter to cast their vote. It’s on the politicians to earn the votes. Thinking it’s the other way around is incredibly twisted. And honestly really sad that that’s the way people think.

So you’re saying the democrats are receiving proper blame for supporting the genocidal state, but it’s the people who didn’t vote for either of the pro-genocide candidates that are to blame?

Why do so many people constantly just misframe this argument as “it’s the people who didn’t vote’s fault!” And not the fault of the actual people in power for not standing up to a genocide, for once again moving right to capture a “centrist swing” voter, for parading out the fucking neocons as proof of their ability to fucking govern, and for openly arming the genocide?

You want to lay blame at voters’ feet, but not the people who couldn’t do enough to earn the votes of people…asking not to be involved in genocide. Our votes aren’t theirs to fucking have no matter what they do. What they have done and will do in power matters. If it doesn’t, what the fuck is the point of voting? Why not just trade places back and forth for increasingly bold warmongers and autocrats?

Don’t blame the voter for not sacrificing their morals and for not holding their nose and saying maybe they wont keep contributing to genocide. Blame the people fucking supporting genocide.