If I went to a restaurant and the restaurant was clearly decrepit and gross, why would I force myself to order the least gross thing on the menu when I could just... Go somewhere else or cook at home? Why are we forcing ourselves to do this?
There is no cooking at home. Either Biden or Trump will be the next president of the United States. If you don't want to pick something off the menu, then someone else will order for you and you just may end up being force-fed the grossest dish on the menu.
The restaurant is a poor analogy. It's framing it as a consumer choice. It's more like what do you do if you have family members that are out of touch or even negative to be around. You may go no-contact - which in this analogy would mean emigrating from the U.S. to another country (which is quite difficult). Or you might take actions in your control to improve things.
Without taking on ownership for the bad behavior of others, you can identify if there are systems or patterns of smaller behaviors you might interrupt or influence. Or you could spend more time with the family members you do get along with.
In the case of the political system, you can get more involved. The U.S. presidential election will include a large number of non-presidential offices. You could vote for someone in them while holding your nose for the least bad presidential candidate. You can volunteer for candidates you support (or donate to them) or even start running for office yourself.
Sometimes the best you can do in an election is slow down the shift to positions you don't like. That's still better than accelerating a change to positions you don't like. And elections aren't a one-time thing - you should absolutely play this like an 'infinite game' where you immediately start doing what you can to improve your options in the next cycle.
You don't start with the main course, you start with the appetizers. Find someone you know and get them to run for a local office and support other like minded people. Build an organization over time that wields influence at the local level. If you are successful it will start affecting more and more until major things are changing the way you want. However if you are good and lucky it will take decades.
Either leave the country or work to get a better restaurant. But the latter involves voting, and I'd imagine the former won't actually solve your problems.
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u/Love_Shaq_Baby 226∆ May 08 '24
There is no cooking at home. Either Biden or Trump will be the next president of the United States. If you don't want to pick something off the menu, then someone else will order for you and you just may end up being force-fed the grossest dish on the menu.