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Who should I have voted for? Trump doesn't represent my moral values. Clinton kind of represents some of my political leanings, but not all of them and I dislik

Who should I have voted for? Trump doesn't represent my moral values. Clinton kind of represents some of my political leanings, but not all of them and I dislike her for a number of her choices and because she represents a continuation of governance by a select few families. Bernie Sanders has some interesting ideas, but also some that will not work in practice as well as some I don't agree with and also I couldn't vote for him because he was off the ballot by the time my state ran primaries. I guess I can vote in my local elections. Oh wait, the governer appears to be some kind of supervillian but everyone votes for him because of the (R) next to his name. Any more local and I can't find any information about any of them and just kind of guess what their policies are from what's written in their bios and maybe a newspaper article. I try to be an informed citizen. Once in a while, someone who will actually make a substantial change locally makes it on the ballot. They always lose because this state votes republican no matter what. I write emails to my governer and congress people once in a while. I always get a form letter back about how whatever the highest ranking republican wants is obviously the best course of action. I keep writing anyway so I can at least say I tried. I don't have the time or the money or the influence to do anything but fill in the circles that don't make me nauseous.

ALittleLight 5y ago
I don't think voting is a very good idea. I live my ideals by not voting for anyone. Voting makes sense if you're trying to decide where to eat dinner in a group of five. It doesn't make sense to pick leaders to represent you in incomprehensibly complicated sets of unknown decisions. Using the last election as an example, take Trump and Biden, and just consider one single choice, like their respective positions on the Iran nuclear deal. If I wanted to make an intelligent choice between Trump and Biden on this issue it seems like I'd have to know what they were likely to do regarding the Iran nuclear deal, and I don't trust either of them to tell me. I'd have to actually know what a good solution to the Iran nuclear deal is - but that seems like a question for intelligence analysts and geopolitical strategists to discuss likely implications of various choices. I'd have to weigh the morality of sanctions that hurt Iranian citizens versus the increased risk of regional or global nuclear war - which seems almost impossible to do. I'd have to be able to put the importance of the Iran nuclear deal into context against the broader set of foreign and domestic issues facing the would be President known and unknown to come up with something like "I like Trump's position on Iran but Biden has a better position on X, Y, and Z, and together those things are more important..." It doesn't strike me as believable that most or even more than a negligible amount of voters are making informed choices like that. I think mostly people just vote the way their friends and family do, or vote for the person they like better, or vote based on the political and rhetorical games, or for the taller person, etc.

ALittleLight 5y ago

I don't think voting is a very good idea. I live my ideals by not voting for anyone. Voting makes sense if you're trying to decide where to eat dinner in a group of five. It doesn't make sense to pick leaders to represent you in incomprehensibly complicated sets of unknown decisions. Using the last election as an example, take Trump and Biden, and just consider one single choice, like their respective positions on the Iran nuclear deal. If I wanted to make an intelligent choice between Trump and Biden on this issue it seems like I'd have to know what they were likely to do regarding the Iran nuclear deal, and I don't trust either of them to tell me. I'd have to actually know what a good solution to the Iran nuclear deal is - but that seems like a question for intelligence analysts and geopolitical strategists to discuss likely implications of various choices. I'd have to weigh the morality of sanctions that hurt Iranian citizens versus the increased risk of regional or global nuclear war - which seems almost impossible to do. I'd have to be able to put the importance of the Iran nuclear deal into context against the broader set of foreign and domestic issues facing the would be President known and unknown to come up with something like "I like Trump's position on Iran but Biden has a better position on X, Y, and Z, and together those things are more important..." It doesn't strike me as believable that most or even more than a negligible amount of voters are making informed choices like that. I think mostly people just vote the way their friends and family do, or vote for the person they like better, or vote based on the political and rhetorical games, or for the taller person, etc.