In a matchup between Biden and Trump, many young voters say they might choose silence.

  • Semi-Hemi-Demigod
    link
    fedilink
    20
    edit-2
    10 months ago

    “The logic of not voting for Joe Biden in 2024 is that the Democratic Party is supposed to be accountable to young people and diverse communities.”

    Such an adorable take. I used to think they were accountable, too. That they gave a shit what I thought and would do things that I approved of, or have a good reason not to. That voting actually sent a message.

    Give this kid another decade and he’ll be as hopeless as I am.

    Then there’s this guy:

    “[I’ll say], ‘Hey, you want to buy a house after college, right? You want to have a good-paying job after you graduate, right? You want to be able to have access to health care?”

    I really don’t think voting is the best way to get these things. Especially when Democrats never talk about access to health care, just health “coverage.”

    What voting for Biden will get you is more boring government. That’s about the only thing voting will get you that you actually want.

    This kid actually gets it:

    And then there’s the Electoral College. For Lillian, it’s difficult to feel like her vote matters in a state that has gone blue since 1980 and a rural county that generally swings red. "The whole [voting] thing is a symbolic gesture,” she says. “If we had a more direct voting system, I would participate more. The Electoral College is scum.”

    Want people to think voting matters? Make their vote actually matter. Outside of swing states votes for president just become meaningless statistics, especially since you don’t need the popular vote to win the election.

    Will the silence be loud enough to create actual change in how the Democratic Party approaches the youth vote in future elections[?]

    It never has been, and it never will be.

    • RubberDuck
      link
      fedilink
      7
      edit-2
      10 months ago

      Dems not talking about healthcare is kinda not true is it? The US has the ACA and coverage means expanding who has access to the ACA and at what tarrifs.

      • Semi-Hemi-Demigod
        link
        fedilink
        1210 months ago

        The ACA was supposed to have a public option. But the health insurance companies got Lieberman to kill that. Now whenever I hear a Democratic politician talk about health care it’s about making sure everyone has “coverage.”

        Pay very close attention when you hear them talking and you’ll hear it. But people don’t need health insurance, they need health care. And the coverage Dems keep pitching often gets between people and care.

        • @[email protected]
          link
          fedilink
          English
          610 months ago

          But the health insurance companies got Lieberman to kill that.

          It was designed to be jettisoned from the beginning. Lieberman was just the rotating villain at the time.

          • Semi-Hemi-Demigod
            link
            fedilink
            510 months ago

            If you listened to Democratic politicians you’d think everybody loves their health insurance company and wants to have one. I just want to go to the doctor when I get sick and not go bankrupt. I want people with chronic conditions to get the things they need without fighting a company they’re paying hundreds of dollars a month to.

            Health insurance is a rent-seeking industry that massively inflates our health care spending while making that care have worse outcomes. But Democrats keep insisting we want health coverage and not health care. When someone asks them about health care they immediately use “health coverage” in their response.

            Its infuriating and I hate that I have to vote for these people.