You know what. Kara, you're right about not voting.
Is there really a difference in the fascism? There's Trump's fascism and then there's the carcerality of Harris, which is really just another form of slavery.
I would say there is a difference, just to be clear. I chose a comparison between the ruler of all of a Hell equivalent and a being charged with protecting its border to try and illustrate that. (borders require a certain flexibility that distant capitals do not) Poorly it appears now, however.
spoiler (click to show/hide)
To preempt any Forgotten Realms nerd "well, actually" posts: shut up, nerd(s).
The point I was trying to make is: if you feel very conflicted about the Democratic Party ticket in a given year and you live in a state where the results of the election are a formality, why bother twisting yourself into knots about what to do when you can just say, "No thank you," and go about your life? Existing Democratic Party leadership sure doesn't have sleepless nights about it.
The only reasons I can think of to still vote are:
1. You belong to a group that was historically disenfranchised. (Because of this I try not to dissuade women from voting anywhere, for example.) No matter how pointless the election is your participation in it is a vindication of struggles that took too long and cost more than they ever should have to win. For me personally this doesn't resonate very much, but Jewish emancipation is a bit of a mess, and possibly not so much actualized as it was resolved by giving us our own place to be assholes in.
2. You think it's important that your decision be reflected in the popular vote. That means something, but I'd also point out that the Democratic Party has recently lost 2 elections in which they won the popular vote and their solution to that problem was what exactly? These results aren't going to fuel a (peaceful) political revolution to correct the inequity in the system, they appear to have merely provided a pretext to chase after voters with some of the worst politics in the country.
That said, I also pointed out that this year looks to be very different. It's possible that whomever wins gets so few votes that they have even less legitimacy than a president who wins in a normal ~55% turnout year. If you live in a state that prioritizes voter suppression and you belong to the dominant minority, I think it's worth contemplating that this year your vote might count. Of course if you live in such a state voting also probably means risking your life and / or long-term health and I can think of few things less deserving of those than a U.S. federal election.
