2016 Postmortem

dorkzilla

(5,141 posts) Mon Feb 1, 2016, 11:35 AM Feb 2016

"Idealist Won’t Vote For Idealist Candidate Because He Can’t Win...

Because They Won’t Vote For Him”

I believe they WILL vote for him because the guy they dismissed when he declared his intention to run has performed beyond most expectations.

If you have participated in any political conversations over the past several months (and you are lucky if you have not), you have encountered this strain of thought. It is the thought pattern of those who consider themselves serious and savvy and knowledgeable political realists. Here is a classic example, though it can be found proliferating across the entire LIBERAL MEDIA. It goes a little something like this:

I, an idealist who desires nothing more than a truly progressive American future, agree with the positions of Bernie Sanders.
I don’t think people will vote for Bernie Sanders.
I will vote for Hillary Clinton instead because it is easier for me to envision her as the winner and I don’t want to “waste” my vote.

http://gawker.com/idealists-wont-vote-for-idealistic-candidate-because-he-1756348371

7 replies

= new reply since forum marked as read

Highlight:

"Idealist Won’t Vote For Idealist Candidate Because He Can’t Win... (Original Post) dorkzilla Feb 2016 OP

Sigh> Realists Will Vote For an "Idealist" n/t fredamae Feb 2016 #1

Realistic Idealist will! dorkzilla Feb 2016 #4

an idealist votes anyway. that person has no ideals or they would stand for them roguevalley Feb 2016 #7

As a realist, I realize that voting for the "not as bad as a Republican" candidate Tierra_y_Libertad Feb 2016 #2

+1 VulgarPoet Feb 2016 #5

K.R 99Forever Feb 2016 #3

DOS..... Double Orifice Speaking. nt Snotcicles Feb 2016 #6

fredamae

(4,458 posts)

1. Sigh> Realists Will Vote For an "Idealist" n/t

Reply to dorkzilla (Original post)

Mon Feb 1, 2016, 11:39 AM

Feb 2016

dorkzilla

(5,141 posts)

4. Realistic Idealist will!

Reply to fredamae (Reply #1)

Mon Feb 1, 2016, 11:49 AM

Feb 2016

People who think this country is just hunky dory will vote for the Nope candidate.

I know the article was really a way for Hamilton Nolan (author) to chastise people who may actually feel this way. HamNo is a BIG Bernie supporter. Check out this article from a few months back...

Vote for your beliefs. Vote for your beliefs! This entire dynamic creates the most futile self-fulfilling prophecy in American politics. People bemoan our two-party system; they bemoan the fact that both major party candidates are beholden to rich and powerful interests rather than to common people; and then... they go out and vote for those same candidates, because they think that they are the lesser of two evils. It is not hard to see how this creates a situation in which the very things that we complain about will never change, because we support them with our votes. At least in the primary elections—the purpose of which is to produce the candidate that best represents your party’s beliefs—voters should go all out on behalf of whoever most embodies what they believe. Polls be damned. Polls reflect the way we vote, not the other way around. Humans are horrible forecasters, by the way. Just look back at a random sampling of old political or financial punditry if you don’t believe that. Voting based upon your own forecast of what will or won’t play well politically is as misguided as it is self-defeating. What will play well politically with you is what you believe, as long as you vote for the person who represents those beliefs. Don’t sell out your own vote.

http://gawker.com/a-wild-idea-support-the-candidate-you-agree-with-1741026831