When things get bad enough, people will revolt to build a better system.

An optimist, I see!

since English isn’t something you’re comfortable reading

I’m having a hard time figuring out what they said that merited this level of hostility. They weren’t even arguing with you!?

Here’s their list, if you’re curious.

I post this not to endorse Jill Stein, but rather because I wanted to see the info for myself so that I could understand what they consider an “elected position”.

These are the criteria they use to decide who counts.

I hope you’ll at least consider putting in some legwork toward leftist praxis, as well. The things you’re complaining about are not going to change if that’s your only plan of action.

As a friend of mine liked to say… “Your passport to complaining is your willingness to do something about it.”

If you’re interested, I can point you to a number of local and national US-based leftist organizations that are working both inside and outside the electoral system. They would love to have more volunteers, or even coworkers (depending on how much free time you have). If you’re already involved with direct leftist action, that’s awesome! Please share them with others when you can, so that people can find ways to work toward effecting real change.

To muddle our analysis by insisting that fascism is already here, or that the Democratic party is fascist, or that liberals are fascists or the midwives of fascism, or that Democratic party voters are voting for fascism, is to disarm ourselves against the fascist threat. It is defeatism to shrug our shoulders saying that both parties are fascist, and a disservice to the many antifascist militants in our own country who have been killed, injured, and locked away in prison while struggling against this extremely serious threat. To assume that January 6th was a hyped-up myth, or to belittle its gravity, is a dereliction of our most solemn duty as Communists and workers in the belly of the beast.

https://www.cpusa.org/article/the-united-states-is-not-a-fascist-country/

What next?

Supposing that were true, what should we do about it?

Not quite as simple as checkboxes, but the ability is there to some degree!

Be that as it may, I’ll still use my vote strategically to ensure that the slide toward fascism is as slow as possible, personally. I am not an accelerationist. I feel that I can more effectively perform direct actions, agitate, and educate others in service of leftist ideology during that time. Ideals without sound strategy are little more than masturbatory.

You don’t have to have be a democrat to vote against fascists.

I’m not a democrat, but I plan to use my vote strategically, since fascists have a propensity toward murdering their ideological opponents. You can call the DNC fascist all you want, many do, but I’m less inclined to believe that they’ll try to murder leftists vs the US right wing.

Your ideological purity will not save you from a fascist’s bullet.

I think he still is!

Oh wait, I just realized that you probably mean the “Environmental Protection Agency.”

Here I was thinking you meant the “Eager for Punani Association.”

The rating says false, but the more you read of the article itself, and the many on-the-record things she’s said in interviews throughout the years, the more clear it becomes that she talks out of both sides of her mouth; Perhaps so she doesn’t alienate the anti-vax portion of her constituency.

Not surprising, to me, as she’s historically been perfectly comfortable talking out of both sides of her mouth:

Jill Stein’s Ideology Says One Thing—Her Investment Portfolio Says Another

Call yourself whatever you want, at the end of the day we’re all utopianists who’re overly self-assured that our favorite pet-theory-system will eventually remove all suffering.

“If my vision for society were adopted, the world would be perfect!”

Keep dreaming. We’re fucked.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nKGb8KFY5F8

https://www.dw.com/en/germanys-afd-on-tiktok-the-political-battle-for-the-youth/a-68690661

My new hobby is going to nearby doughnut shops and ordering a dozen doughnuts.

When they ask me what kind I want, I just say “Whatever makes sense.”

Stay tuned for my in-depth analysis of what each shop thinks “makes sense”.

Sorry for my delay in response. I try to limit the amount of time I spend on social media as it can be harmful to my mental health.

As for good game theory resources, it’s going to somewhat depend on your existing math literacy. I’m going to paste a list (below) that I’d found on reddit when I was first exploring game theory about 10 years ago. I haven’t read all of the suggestions.

The following are three foundational works in the development of game theory:

• Theory of Games and Economic Behavior, Oskar Morgenstern and John Von Neumann (THE seminal text)

• A Theory of Justice, John Rawls (an early political application of game theory)

• Convention, David Lewis (a philosophy-heavy investigation of rationality and sociality)

These are four widely-respected contemporary surveys of the subject, listed in descending order of complexity:

• Game Theory and the Social Contract, Ken Binmore (anything by Ken Binmore is worthwhile).

• Behavioral Game Theory: Experiments in Strategic Interaction, Colin Camerer (perhaps the definitive work on behavior economics)

• Predictably Irrational, Dan Ariely (introductory)

• Game Theory: A Nontechnical Introduction, Morton Davis (introductory)

I also recommend checking out MIT’s OpenCourseWare game theory polisci course. I found it quite interesting.

Will do. This honestly means the world because I don’t have a lot of players in my court.

I do mean it. I’m not always fast to reply, but I’m around if you ever want to have a chat about anything! The grad student path seems like a worthwhile pursuit and I wish you all the best with it! As for the social aspect, I can relate, certainly. I was pretty unsure that things would work out when I set out to try alternative living systems in my early 20s. Being around like-minded people ended up being extremely valuable for my social skills, in the end.

Maybe when you’re done with your coursework you can investigate the opportunities available. I lived for a while in a co-op house in upstate New York that would have been perfect for a young professional. Private rooms with common spaces and a nightly shared meal. Communal chores to be done, but income was not shared. Members had to have their own incomes.

There was a good discussion of this on Reddit recently. Sorry to link to Reddit, but it’s a good, topical post worth perusal.

https://www.reddit.com/r/Agriculture/comments/1dv7fw9/how_much_good_land_is_used_to_grow_food_for/

ETA:

We recommend four widely applicable high-impact (i.e. low emissions) actions with the potential to contribute to systemic change and substantially reduce annual personal emissions: having one fewer child (an average for developed countries of 58.6 tonnes CO2-equivalent (tCO2e) emission reductions per year), living car-free (2.4 tCO2e saved per year), avoiding airplane travel (1.6 tCO2e saved per roundtrip transatlantic flight) and eating a plant-based diet (0.8 tCO2e saved per year). These actions have much greater potential to reduce emissions than commonly promoted strategies like comprehensive recycling (four times less effective than a plant-based diet) or changing household lightbulbs (eight times less).

^{https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1748-9326/aa7541/pdf}

I didn’t ask for your answer, I asked for your opinion. I already knew that you didn’t have the answer. Nether do I.

I was young, idealistic, autistic, and naive myself, once, long ago. Still autistic, but less young, idealistic, and naive these days. I tripped over my ideals and ethics for a long time before figuring out how to survive in this capitalist hellscape. I’m still not very good at it, and my path needn’t be yours. I won’t shove it down your throat.

I wasn’t sharing that song with the intent to be adversarial. I shared it because Bad Religion has been a very helpful band for me throughout my young-adulthood, and their lyrics continue to help me to this day. No offense intended. My opinion of what this song meant, for example, when I was young, was vastly different to the meaning I take from it now.

I’m very familiar with anarchist theory and the praxis thereof. I read all of the links you provided and I don’t wholly disagree with the bulk of it. Please don’t get me wrong.

BUT. Refusing to vote against fascists because of ideological distaste is indeed moral superiority, whether you want to admit that or not. People can die.

I have no love for Democrats, and I don’t in any way identify as one. I do, however, have a great love for game theory, and game theory tells me that there’s only one correct decision to make where voting in the USA in 2024 is concerned. I will continue to take direct action to further my own personal beliefs and ideologies, but I won’t let that stand in the way of doing things that I find morally distasteful (such as voting for a Democrat) to keep fascists out of power.

I hope this doesn’t come across as condescending. I don’t mean it that way but people often tell me I’m being condescending. I wish you all the best in life. Please let me know if there’s anything I can do to help you in any way, and don’t hesitate to reach out if you want a conversational partner or a sympathetic ear. I’m always open to discussing the world with intelligent people.

If you’re interested in communal living or alternative lifestyles (at it pertains to anarchist communities), I’m happy to help there, as well. I think I still have some friends that know folx at Emma Goldman Finishing School in Seattle. Admittedly, I don’t know if they’re looking for any new members right now, but I’d be happy to put a word in for you.

When fascists take power it’s not unheard of for them to line up commies and anarchists against a wall and shoot them. I’m all for ideological utopianism, I’ve lived on intentional communities in the country and anarchist collectives in the city, but preserving your moral superiority is little comfort when you and your family are staring down the barrel of a fascist’s gun.

The Answer.

Voting in the general election does nothing to brake the train. Not near zero, zero.

I fear that you’re mistaking your own pessimism for absolute truth, but I’m willing to be convinced otherwise.

Voting is orthogonal to what needs to be done.

What, in your view, needs to be done?