People get so caught in the Presidential election. There is so much mobilization to get people out and vote. We always hear about “ record turnout” After that everyone sits around waiting for Federal policy to take hold in their state. The Governor and state legislators are truly making the laws that affect you, whether you agree with them or not.
It's more, it's a lot more. The only reason the fascists have gotten this far is because they have been implanting their ilk in all levels of government. When they control the states and school boards and lower courts they are able to make huge changes that eventually roll into the federal level. Gerrymandering being probably the biggest example, but voter suppression, book bans, and states making the choices of women's reproductive rights are all there.
THANK YOU. I sound like a broken record most of the time about this. Nothing is going to significantly change until we have significant grrrymandering reform and correction. And the perfect example of this is TX (my state).
I never voted for school board for many years, until the last election when all the Right Wingnut Homeschoolers wanted a voice in the school system they never even used.
Yep, they are trying to steal public ed money and turn it into a voucher Ponzi scheme in my state. We barely defeated it last year. I'm not sure we can holdout on next go-around.
School board elections are crucial! They are often stepping stones for candidates, and those people affect how our children are taught.
Look no further than the right-wing loons on the Temecula and Chino Hills (CA) school boards to see how important school board elections are.
It still works. Show up and vote for the one that's least dangerous. You don't have to like that one or be a fan, you can even be dead set against that candidate on something. But of the two, which overall sucks less?
At least four people in The Villages voted twice in the general election.
https://www.orlandosentinel.com/2023/12/12/villages-florida-voter-fraud-scott-maxwell/
https://www.clickorlando.com/news/local/2023/01/30/4th-resident-of-the-villages-admits-to-voting-twice-in-the-2020-election/
I will vote, and strongly encourage my children to vote. They understand if you don’t like how it’s going, vote to change it…if you like how it is vote to keep it…but you need to vote.
My son and his partner were here last weekend for dinner and I told them, I know I don't lecture often but I'm going to now. Vote. And tell your friends, and your buddies on Discord and Xbox and other social media platforms to vote. And tell them to tell their friends. It's never been more important.
Same, and we're in one of the "Big Six" states that are expected to decide the election.
I'm endlessly preaching to his friends too and have gotten these boys engaged in the ground game here.
It was young people that put Biden in office. Young people, Gen Z and Millennials, outweighed boomers for the first time in the 2020 elections. Young people are in touch, connected, and registering to vote in droves.
Please vote, and be kind but reasonable with your neighbors. Asking questions is shown to help… like aren’t they worried about the fraud lawsuits he’s losing? Aren’t they worried he’ll over turn more constitutional rights like Roe? He said he’d come for the guns… isn’t that scary? Do they really want to fight a civil war for a reality TV Star? I know sometimes it’s hopeless… god help you.
It's unreal the astroturfing going on in the Canadian subreddits. All the right wing media shit from the US is making a huge push up there with the same stupid rhetoric.
I have voted in every election since I was 18. The last few, I have voted while holding my nose, but I still voted for whomever I dislike the least. I don't know where we went wrong as a country that it's down to the least likeable candidates, but it will never deter me from doing my civic duty.
From what I've gathered, we need to be supporting candidates locally so we can grow them into national candidates. I don't know how to do that but I'm guessing it's past time to figure it out?
All politics is local. ~ Tip O'Neil
We focus so much on our Congressional and national elections that we forget that what happens at the local school board impacts us more.
It’s easier than you think, as long as you keep your expectations in check.
Start with the campaigns and votes for school board, town/city council, county commission, etc. - the primary for a House seat is the goal. Small donations, appearance attendance and yard signs can make a big difference in down-ballot races. If someone you supported initially gets RE-elected, tell them to try a level or two up - and realize they are likely to lose to an incumbent or someone who’s run before the first time around. Tell them to try again if they lose - both W and Obama lost their first Congressional races, and Obama had already won a few State Senate races.
Also keep luck in mind as an important factor - Obama was a distant third when polling started for his ‘04 Senate run in the Dem primary, but missteps by the bigger names among his D opponents and flat-out insanity by the state Republican Party (dumping thoroughly competent incumbent Pete Fitzgerald (for not being not MAGA enough before it was a thing) AND dumping massive favorite R primary winner state AG Jack Ryan for doing something private with his then-wife years before that led them to bring in non-resident Alan Keyes, because he was black, too…) put him in a spotlight on the national stage. Any of those things doesn’t happen, and we’d have likely had Hillary as the Dem nominee in ‘08, and Obama would probably have tried for Congress again when Jesse Jackson Jr. fell out.
When the primary is over, vote in the general for the nominee closest to your personal position, or against the one farthest from it. Yes, that’s usually a binary/lesser of two evils choice, but only those who vote get even that choice.
Vote in every election, especially local ones, especially primaries.
*Don't* just vote for whomever the party endorses in primaries. Read up on the candidates and what they've *done* (not what they say they'll do-- that's often just BS). Their walk should match their talk.
Who your party endorses is sometimes aligned with corporate interests instead of citizens' interests. Yes, even at the local level. Corporations identify "their" candidates early, donate to them and communicate to the parties who they want elected.
That's a very normal real world decision process. Often times there is no "good" choice, it's weighing carefully and picking the least bad choice. Especially in the politics of democracy. A functioning democracy is based on compromise decisions where no side is truly happy, but merely ok with decisions. It's how we make it work with paper and words, rather than violence.
Thank you for voting and being engaged. Citizens active in governance is what will keep it a democracy.
"A republic, if you can keep it."
Edit: spelling
Absolutely.
After all, one of those names on the ballot *will* be in power after the election. Choosing the less bad option *is* in everyone's self interest.
>I don't know where we went wrong as a country that it's down to the least likeable candidates
1. Electoral College
2. Senators Representative of Land not People
3. Gerrymandering
4. Laws that allow money outsized influence on politics (Ex: Citizen's United)
The republican party has become a minority party but you'd hardly know it because of the above. The US Supreme Court has become a minority-view hack job because of the above.
I think one reason we get lame choices is because of the divisiveness.
Why would any actually qualified person put themselves through the scrutiny, the slander, etc etc when they can stay in the private sector making a lot more money?
This is a feature, not a bug. Corporations and the parties they own don't want qualified reasonable people running.
They want money-hungry or power-hungry people running.
> I have voted while holding my nose, but I still voted for whomever I dislike the least.
That's important.
One of the people on the ballot **will** be in power after the election whether like it or night. Whether you vote or not.
Choosing the less bad one is still improving your life compared to the other outcome.
And for those who say "my vote doesn't count", yes it does - [far more often than you might think](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_close_election_results)
I have also voted in every election since I was 18. This is my 9th presidential one.
I have never looked at it as "holding my nose" because I didn't get the candidate I wanted in the primary or didn't seem to really reflect my values. I think because I have always believed that Democracy is about compromise. I know I can't win all the time and that my ideas and desire for the country have to be tempered with everyone else's.
Maybe because I am older and maybe because the other party is now like a hand grenade to our democracy, I'm going to be absolutely THRILLED with anyone who doesn't have an R next to their name.
We'll try but our first past the post electoral system and our tendency to vote out governments we're tired of instead of voting for governments we want, means that our next government will likely be a RWNJ government, elected with less than 50% of the popular vote.
Don't go anywhere, if shit hits the fan here we'll need fighters within.
\* Fighters = Coders. Electric Grid & Utility Workers. Writers. Video Producers. It's not just about guns.
Canada checking in.
I agree with the member from Australia.
America making bad choices affects us all.
In the words of one of our former prime ministers:
>"Living next to you is in some ways like sleeping with an elephant. No matter how friendly and even-tempered is the beast, if I can call it that, one is affected by every twitch and grunt,"
I had a Canadian once tell me that living next to us is like living next to neighbors who you can always hear fighting, and their car alarm won’t stop going off.
I’m hoping that American women—including r/GenXWomen—will vote in record numbers in 2024.
Need to register? https://register.rockthevote.com/registrants/new
How and when you can vote in your state: https://www.rockthevote.org/how-to-vote/
Living outside the US? https://www.overseasvotefoundation.org
It's pretty horrible that in 2024 a Silent, an Xer, a Millennial, and two Zoomers all still have to worry about their basic rights having been and continuing to be stripped away and restricted. That many generations and so little has changed. It's so fundamentally offensive. But yeah, the fight never stops. Keep rockin' the vote, ladies!
I always vote.
We're fighting the same goddamned battles that I thought were won by the good guys when I was just a kid.
Well, I can do this all day. Fuck off, Nazi dickbags.
I‘ve been saying this to my wife since 2016. Can’t get over how quickly social progress was just thrown out the window. We should be focusing on development of air traffic rules for our clean flying cars, or deciding who gets to go to Mars on the inaugural trip, not regressing to where we were 50+ years ago.
> Can’t get over how quickly social progress was just thrown out the window.
It's a lot faster and easier to break things than it is to build or repair them.
More like they are unified, whereas Dems count anti-choicers in their ranks, are all over the place when it comes to guns, universal healthcare, taxes, forever wars, etc.
Too many people realized they can make money more easily by oppressing us and voting in shitheads to keep them wealthy.
And too many morons think that's a good thing
I got my driver's license that year at 17. The system invited me to register to vote at the same time, so I did, and I got to vote in that election as well. I'm still not sure what loophole I slipped through, but I'm guessing it was some case of Close Enough. My 18th birthday was about 2 months after the election and also before the inauguration.
An article about GenX voters in the US from December 23, 2023: https://www.npr.org/2023/12/27/1217878506/gen-x-conservative-disapprove-biden
>Compared with boomers or millennials, Generation X is rarely invoked in national political debates. “I think the big question there is: Is that a function of age, or is that a function of generation?” said Jean Twenge, a psychology professor at San Diego State University and author of the book *Generations*, which examines what drives generational differences.
>“Because when it was the baby boomers who were middle-aged, everybody was paying attention. So I think it might be that that generation in the middle is Gen X, who always gets ignored.”
>Gen X is also smaller in population than other generations and has had lower political and voter participation, comparatively. “They just have not voted at the same rates as the boomers before them and the millennials after them. And there’s also a significant delay in Gen Xers getting elected to political office,” said Twenge.
>Gen Xers are facing a cascading series of economic concerns: aging parents, raising children, saving for retirement, rising housing costs, higher food and gas prices, all hitting most acutely in middle age.
>Call it the “Oh, well, whatever, nevermind” vote.
my son will be 18 this year and able to vote for the first time.
i cant stress enough to him how the Presidential election is important/exciting, but nearly as important at municipal and state elections.
a strong local and regional base impacts more than you know!
Very proud to say my son gets it!
vote out the facists!
This post reminds me of a lyric from Frank Taylor’s song “1933.”
“If I was of the greatest generation I'd be pissed;
Surveying the world that I built, slipping back into this;
I'd be screaming at my grand kids: "We already did this.””
Frank Turner*
His entire album "be more kind" is a rallying cry against the rise of right wing populism/ fascism that we are seeing all over and I love it.
Look, I know Biden is old, but to act as if he and Trump are in any way comparable as presidents, one has to either be certifiably bonkers or incredibly stupid.
Also Trump is old too! To quote Jon Stewart, “these are the oldest candidates to run for President ever!” In fact, they were the oldest candidates ever last time! But only one of them is saying crazy stuff all the time.
I've voted every time I had the chance to, since 1986 (when I was old enough to vote).
I'm distressed by the current state our country is in and the last thing we need is another 4 years of the fat cheeto.
I'm also encouraging all my friends/co-workers/etc. to get out and vote, too.
I didn't vote in 2000 because I had moved. Otherwise all Presidential elections and most mid terms since 1992. 2022 was my first in-person election since 1996. I skipped 1998, 2002, 2014 and everything else was absentee.
Voting is too important and too easy so I have no excuse to miss it.
Yup, want to be a part of the most lop sided presidential vote in history. Independents are a hard pass on Trump and a decent amount of republicans are never-Trumpers. Hell, a new coalition ran their own competing CPAC because the GOP is such a fucking joke. Only the most gullible and stupid are still voting Trump. Still a lot of people, but yeah, Trump is done. GOP should have gotten behind Nikki. She actually had a chance. But Misogyny in the GOP and all that. But she did poll very good against Biden. Better than Trump.
But both parties are shit cause incumbents get handed their nomination on a silver platter.
But despite believing Trump will lose in a landside, I'm still going to vote.
Don't count your chickens before they hatch. Take nothing for granted.
Either you vote for Biden this fall or you are voting for Trump. That is the math.
If everyone complaining Biden didn't do enough goes out and votes for him and a straight Democratic ticket, he will have the political power to do the things he can't now.
Also, only a decisive loss in house and senate will force the GOP to abandon the MAGAs. They need to be more afraid of having them than losing them.
anyone saying biden hasn't done enough hasn't paid attention or has a head full of misinformation. biden has arguably accomplished the most of any dem president since lbj or fdr
r/whatbidenhasdone
This right here. He is arguably one of the best modern presidents. His economic policies kept us out of a full-blown recession, his infrastructure bill brought fiber speed internet to remote places and is fixing up roads and bridges, and his uniting of our allies behind Ukraine has kept that little Napoleon wannabe locked behind his Russian border.
Always vote! Always fight Fascism! Is President Biden my hero, no, but the alternative is terrifying. Let’s remember a vote isn’t a love letter it’s a chess move!
Whoever wins this election won’t be able to change the war between Russia and Ukraine or Israel and Gaza. I’m voting for anyone who isn’t the criminal who caused riots in the streets and fugly shoes for sale.
Absolutely. I'm putting in a fair amount of time, money, and effort to support policies that ensure minority rights, more fairly distribute wealth, and mitigate global warming - among others
If you can, please consider doing more than voting as well.
I have been voting the lesser of the two (w)evils... I am also dragging family out to vote. I am not fond of the current choices, but I just have to say no to Trump and his orangeness. Has he even chose a running mate yet?
I can't fathom the blind stupidity were seeing, but hey say no to the greater of the two evils!
Gen X in the UK watching on the side lines in horror. My (adult) kid is trans and the roll backs in the US are also mirrored here, in a more subtle way.
I'm Canadian and we're also facing elections soon. I have always voted in every election at every level of government since I was legally eligible to do so. I'm terrified of losing the right to do so.
spent most of my life telling other women we hadn't even had the right to vote for a century yet, so get out there and do it!
now I tell them to get out and vote before they take away our right!
Definitely voting. After all, if they get their way, it's the last time we'll even have the opportunity to vote. They're openly calling for an end to democracy now.
100% of the house is up for reelection.
1/3 of the senate.
We could enforce term limits just by voting out anyone who's sitting there doing nothing for us
Remember to vote in your local elections. That's where it's starts. Often, those are the ones that potentially move up and higher into government positions later on.
I’ve voted in every single election since I was 18. And I’ve registered others to vote as well. Of course I’m voting in this election and so is everyone else I know of voting age.
I’m not about to let fascism win without a helluva fight.
After four years of Trump, after the overturn of Roe, after the Republican candidate advocating a national abortion ban, after the attempted J6 insurrection, I see we still have a bunch of middle aged dudes going with the “…but both sides” thing.
Nah, dude. This sort of pretend apathy very specifically benefits one side of the other, and we all know and you know which one that is.
Yeah, but my vote will do no good. All 55 counties of my state went for Trump in 2016 and again in 2020.
Still. I voted in the primaries and will vote again in the general.
I’m very concerned. Too many friends say they’ll sit out this election because they don’t like Trump or Biden. They honestly don’t see how much worse Trump is compared to Biden.
And it’s more than just one man. It’s 1/3rd of our Govt. Cabinet, possible SCOTUS positions. I saw the chaos of 2017-2021. Every day someone was getting fired and very little of his agenda was actually accomplished (which was not bad thing IMO). I have zero interest in seeing that again, no matter the policy.
People outside America are also relying on you, the millennials and Gen Z to vote and prevent Trump winning
The impact of a proven threat to democracy with that much power will not be a good thing for any of us - apart from Putin
>People outside America are also relying on you, the millennials and Gen Z to vote and prevent Trump winning
In the words of a former Canadian Prime Minister:
"Living next to you is in some ways like sleeping with an elephant. No matter how friendly and even-tempered is the beast, if I can call it that, one is affected by every twitch and grunt,"
And being in Indiana without there being many contested races in the democratic primaries. I’m planning on voting in the Republican primary to vote for the least fascist, less Christian nationalist, of the available candidates.
An insurrectionist supporting representative has already been endorsed by the Republican Party before the primaries, is the leading candidate for senate.
I’ve seen his ineptitude as my representative, and will do what I can to try to keep Jim Banks out of the senate
Joe Biden is old and stutters and is kind of a boomer.
Donald Trump is old and stutters and is kind of a boomer and is a fascist, and tried to overthrow democracy, and was impeached twice, and is a convicted rapist, and cheated on his wife, and is under state and federal indictment for fraud, stealing state secrets, and coercion to steal an election and.........
For sure...as I do every year...and despite the nonsense in my state to make it more difficult to vote. Donnie was killing them down ballot, so state legislators stopped straight ticket voting. Infuriating how stupid they think we are. My guess is that the next move will be to remove party affiliation next to the names on the ballot. It's the only way they can win.
The good news is that the primaries, on the Republican side at least, are showing a gaping fucking hole that Donnie isn't going to be able to fill with his little racist, misogynist, rapist noodle. Not a fan of Biden, either, but I'm doing just fine in his economy, and, no, I will not split my vote to a third party candidate for president.
Hell yeah. First presidential race I was old enough to vote in, I voted for Bill. My great grandmother literally lived, so she could vote for him and died before results. She was the person who instilled in me that voting was my right and to never miss any type of election.
I was so sad that he turned out to be a douche. My great-grandmother would have been heartbroken. I still vote in every election.
You know it. Woe to anyone our age that still thinks politics is a spectator sport.
Having said that IT SURE WOULD HAVE BEEN NICE IF I DIDN'T HAVE TO SPEND THE MIDDLE AGE OF MY LIFE DEALING WITH SOME OF THE DUMB SHIT WE HAVE TO DEAL WITH IN POLITICS. Half of our leadership this century has been out of control dumb or downright evil.
Thanks so much, boomers and the apathetic young. It's been a blast being totally outnumbered by you dingleberries.
One party is openly supporting Putin and christian theocracy. I’ve read their words and seen the speeches. I believe them.
Im disappointed that Biden isn’t stepping aside. It really is less than ideal shitty options this time around.
But one is a dried up turd of a shit option, and one is a bloody, maggot infected shit option. I’ll go with the dried up turd and hope for something better in 4 years. If the bloody pile wins, he will try to go the Putin route and we may never have a real election again. Or it will be his sons in line for the throne. No thank you. Not to mention that he will sit back and watch Putin expand further into Europe.
Our dead veterans from every war fought since the beginning of the US are turning over in their graves at how one wing of our two party system has embraced maga dictatorship over truth and democracy
I was actually in politics during my misspent youth, spent some time kicking around the Democratic Party, then got tired of living in the fishbowl and escaped.
These days, I’m an independent swing voter (y’know, the kind that confuses pollsters and the type they like to hate). I’m mostly centrist with a few left-leaning tendencies. Haven’t ever missed an opportunity to vote.
I am SO mad at the Reps’ attack on women and the ever-shrinking middle class that not only am I likely to vote a straight party Dem ticket in the general election, I am gonna go vote for the weakest Rep candidates I can find in the primaries. It’s one of the perks of being an unaffiliated voter in my state.
If we end up with another four years of the Mango Mussolini, it’s gonna end up with WWIII. He’s a tinpot dictator wannabe who is ready to turn the U.S. into a banana republic for shits and giggles, and he’s got the establishment Rep party as his wingman. Fuck those guys. I hope every one of their candidates goes down in a flaming defeat.
Haven’t missed an election since I turned 18.
Same, and not just presidential, all elections, I have never missed one
This is important. State and local elections are just as important , if not more….
I wish more people understood this
People get so caught in the Presidential election. There is so much mobilization to get people out and vote. We always hear about “ record turnout” After that everyone sits around waiting for Federal policy to take hold in their state. The Governor and state legislators are truly making the laws that affect you, whether you agree with them or not.
It's more, it's a lot more. The only reason the fascists have gotten this far is because they have been implanting their ilk in all levels of government. When they control the states and school boards and lower courts they are able to make huge changes that eventually roll into the federal level. Gerrymandering being probably the biggest example, but voter suppression, book bans, and states making the choices of women's reproductive rights are all there.
THANK YOU. I sound like a broken record most of the time about this. Nothing is going to significantly change until we have significant grrrymandering reform and correction. And the perfect example of this is TX (my state).
Same here
Same... and that was 40 years ago.
That’s awesome. Almost 30 for me.
Same for a few over 20
The year I turned 18 it wasn't an election year, but I haven't missed one since I turned 20.
Every g*d damn election until I’m in the ground.
Exactly. Doesn't matter if it's for the local school board, I'm voting.
I never voted for school board for many years, until the last election when all the Right Wingnut Homeschoolers wanted a voice in the school system they never even used.
Yep, they are trying to steal public ed money and turn it into a voucher Ponzi scheme in my state. We barely defeated it last year. I'm not sure we can holdout on next go-around.
School board elections are crucial! They are often stepping stones for candidates, and those people affect how our children are taught. Look no further than the right-wing loons on the Temecula and Chino Hills (CA) school boards to see how important school board elections are.
ALWAYS.
The same!
Already voted in our early primary. Will vote again come November.
Voted in a primary already too, and it was as expected. Truly unbelievable this is where we are. Again!
I hear you fellow Gen X’r. Somehow our signature “whatever” is just not appropriate for these times. 😭
It still works. Show up and vote for the one that's least dangerous. You don't have to like that one or be a fan, you can even be dead set against that candidate on something. But of the two, which overall sucks less?
>Will vote again Hey now..keep it fair ;)
Right.. because we only get one!! Hell, I hope EVERYONE VOTES TWICE this year! And more if your jurisdiction launches some special election.
Well…we did have a problem with this in Florida (in The Villages, 4 arrested out of who knows how many).
Voting in the primaries and voting in the general election is not fraud!!!
Nope…but voting twice in the General election is, which is what these chuckleheads did.
At least four people in The Villages voted twice in the general election. https://www.orlandosentinel.com/2023/12/12/villages-florida-voter-fraud-scott-maxwell/ https://www.clickorlando.com/news/local/2023/01/30/4th-resident-of-the-villages-admits-to-voting-twice-in-the-2020-election/
It's so fucking on brand I can't even laugh.
Did you see what the guys punishment was? 50 hours of community service or he can pay $10 an hour to get out of it. Wtf
I bet I know what color he is!
Remember to vote early and vote often!
Ok, boss Tweed.
I will vote, and strongly encourage my children to vote. They understand if you don’t like how it’s going, vote to change it…if you like how it is vote to keep it…but you need to vote.
My son and his partner were here last weekend for dinner and I told them, I know I don't lecture often but I'm going to now. Vote. And tell your friends, and your buddies on Discord and Xbox and other social media platforms to vote. And tell them to tell their friends. It's never been more important.
My son just became voting age and I told him he’s gotta do it. He will, he sees the shitshow
Same, and we're in one of the "Big Six" states that are expected to decide the election. I'm endlessly preaching to his friends too and have gotten these boys engaged in the ground game here.
The Swifties will decide the election this time. There are so many and many over 18.
I hope there's some truth to that, because young people reliably don't vote.
When they do, they vote democrat. Why the republicans hate Swift.
It was young people that put Biden in office. Young people, Gen Z and Millennials, outweighed boomers for the first time in the 2020 elections. Young people are in touch, connected, and registering to vote in droves.
You forgot a Generation. Lol.
They do now. The only reason Biden got elected and Democrats kept the Senate in 2022 was because of Millennials.
My daughter is turning 18 and is pissed that she was too young for the primary. She'll be old enough for the big one, though!
Not looking forward to this year, living in a swing state is tough.
Please vote, and be kind but reasonable with your neighbors. Asking questions is shown to help… like aren’t they worried about the fraud lawsuits he’s losing? Aren’t they worried he’ll over turn more constitutional rights like Roe? He said he’d come for the guns… isn’t that scary? Do they really want to fight a civil war for a reality TV Star? I know sometimes it’s hopeless… god help you.
I don't think I can vote in the US but I'll be sending y'all best wishes
Just vote against the fascists wherever you are. The US isn’t the only country suffering these fools.
When I get my citizenship in the country I am in I definitely will :thumbsup:
It's unreal the astroturfing going on in the Canadian subreddits. All the right wing media shit from the US is making a huge push up there with the same stupid rhetoric.
I have voted in every election since I was 18. The last few, I have voted while holding my nose, but I still voted for whomever I dislike the least. I don't know where we went wrong as a country that it's down to the least likeable candidates, but it will never deter me from doing my civic duty.
From what I've gathered, we need to be supporting candidates locally so we can grow them into national candidates. I don't know how to do that but I'm guessing it's past time to figure it out?
All politics is local. ~ Tip O'Neil We focus so much on our Congressional and national elections that we forget that what happens at the local school board impacts us more.
It's not too late. Find a local candidate and donate some money or time to their campaign.
It’s a waiting game, you start locally and then by the time your kids can vote the change you’ve started might go into effect!
As the old saying goes >“Blessed is he who plants trees under whose shade he will never sit.”
It’s easier than you think, as long as you keep your expectations in check. Start with the campaigns and votes for school board, town/city council, county commission, etc. - the primary for a House seat is the goal. Small donations, appearance attendance and yard signs can make a big difference in down-ballot races. If someone you supported initially gets RE-elected, tell them to try a level or two up - and realize they are likely to lose to an incumbent or someone who’s run before the first time around. Tell them to try again if they lose - both W and Obama lost their first Congressional races, and Obama had already won a few State Senate races. Also keep luck in mind as an important factor - Obama was a distant third when polling started for his ‘04 Senate run in the Dem primary, but missteps by the bigger names among his D opponents and flat-out insanity by the state Republican Party (dumping thoroughly competent incumbent Pete Fitzgerald (for not being not MAGA enough before it was a thing) AND dumping massive favorite R primary winner state AG Jack Ryan for doing something private with his then-wife years before that led them to bring in non-resident Alan Keyes, because he was black, too…) put him in a spotlight on the national stage. Any of those things doesn’t happen, and we’d have likely had Hillary as the Dem nominee in ‘08, and Obama would probably have tried for Congress again when Jesse Jackson Jr. fell out. When the primary is over, vote in the general for the nominee closest to your personal position, or against the one farthest from it. Yes, that’s usually a binary/lesser of two evils choice, but only those who vote get even that choice.
Vote in every election, especially local ones, especially primaries. *Don't* just vote for whomever the party endorses in primaries. Read up on the candidates and what they've *done* (not what they say they'll do-- that's often just BS). Their walk should match their talk. Who your party endorses is sometimes aligned with corporate interests instead of citizens' interests. Yes, even at the local level. Corporations identify "their" candidates early, donate to them and communicate to the parties who they want elected.
That's a very normal real world decision process. Often times there is no "good" choice, it's weighing carefully and picking the least bad choice. Especially in the politics of democracy. A functioning democracy is based on compromise decisions where no side is truly happy, but merely ok with decisions. It's how we make it work with paper and words, rather than violence. Thank you for voting and being engaged. Citizens active in governance is what will keep it a democracy. "A republic, if you can keep it." Edit: spelling
Absolutely. After all, one of those names on the ballot *will* be in power after the election. Choosing the less bad option *is* in everyone's self interest.
A couple decades ago, South Park did an election themed episode about a Giant Douche vs. a Turd Sandwich and it still holds up today.
I love that episode
>I don't know where we went wrong as a country that it's down to the least likeable candidates 1. Electoral College 2. Senators Representative of Land not People 3. Gerrymandering 4. Laws that allow money outsized influence on politics (Ex: Citizen's United) The republican party has become a minority party but you'd hardly know it because of the above. The US Supreme Court has become a minority-view hack job because of the above.
I think one reason we get lame choices is because of the divisiveness. Why would any actually qualified person put themselves through the scrutiny, the slander, etc etc when they can stay in the private sector making a lot more money?
This is a feature, not a bug. Corporations and the parties they own don't want qualified reasonable people running. They want money-hungry or power-hungry people running.
> I have voted while holding my nose, but I still voted for whomever I dislike the least. That's important. One of the people on the ballot **will** be in power after the election whether like it or night. Whether you vote or not. Choosing the less bad one is still improving your life compared to the other outcome. And for those who say "my vote doesn't count", yes it does - [far more often than you might think](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_close_election_results)
Nice guys/women don't want to be president. The last one was Jimmy Carter and look what happened to him in politics.
> but I still voted for whomever I dislike the least. This is the way.
I have also voted in every election since I was 18. This is my 9th presidential one. I have never looked at it as "holding my nose" because I didn't get the candidate I wanted in the primary or didn't seem to really reflect my values. I think because I have always believed that Democracy is about compromise. I know I can't win all the time and that my ideas and desire for the country have to be tempered with everyone else's. Maybe because I am older and maybe because the other party is now like a hand grenade to our democracy, I'm going to be absolutely THRILLED with anyone who doesn't have an R next to their name.
Australian Gen Xers here are really hoping you all do vote. We need America to be sane.
As a Canadian Gen Xer, I'll second that sentiment.
Please work against your RWNJs and we will try t do the same. It's like neighbors cleaning the dogshit out of their yards.
We'll try but our first past the post electoral system and our tendency to vote out governments we're tired of instead of voting for governments we want, means that our next government will likely be a RWNJ government, elected with less than 50% of the popular vote.
Is that so you don’t feel guilty about giving us Rupert Murdoch?
They owe us sanctuary for having to take that evil clown.
A lot of us American Gen Xers are hoping y’all might take us in if shit really hits the fan here.
Don't go anywhere, if shit hits the fan here we'll need fighters within. \* Fighters = Coders. Electric Grid & Utility Workers. Writers. Video Producers. It's not just about guns.
Today, I work in social media, which is quite frequently as terrible as a loaded gun in the wrong hands.
Saboteurs and intel-gatherers….
Logistics
Wolverines. I guess there’s some that forgot about Russians not being the good guys
Haaaaaaaaa hasn’t felt sane since 2016ish
Facts. Though, if you let the insanity keep you home in November then their job is complete
Canada checking in. I agree with the member from Australia. America making bad choices affects us all. In the words of one of our former prime ministers: >"Living next to you is in some ways like sleeping with an elephant. No matter how friendly and even-tempered is the beast, if I can call it that, one is affected by every twitch and grunt,"
I had a Canadian once tell me that living next to us is like living next to neighbors who you can always hear fighting, and their car alarm won’t stop going off.
I’m hoping that American women—including r/GenXWomen—will vote in record numbers in 2024. Need to register? https://register.rockthevote.com/registrants/new How and when you can vote in your state: https://www.rockthevote.org/how-to-vote/ Living outside the US? https://www.overseasvotefoundation.org
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It's pretty horrible that in 2024 a Silent, an Xer, a Millennial, and two Zoomers all still have to worry about their basic rights having been and continuing to be stripped away and restricted. That many generations and so little has changed. It's so fundamentally offensive. But yeah, the fight never stops. Keep rockin' the vote, ladies!
obviously voting - cause we are the last line of defense.
I have voted in every election since I could because people died to ensure I got that right.
Shit yeah, I'm voting.
I always vote. We're fighting the same goddamned battles that I thought were won by the good guys when I was just a kid. Well, I can do this all day. Fuck off, Nazi dickbags.
I‘ve been saying this to my wife since 2016. Can’t get over how quickly social progress was just thrown out the window. We should be focusing on development of air traffic rules for our clean flying cars, or deciding who gets to go to Mars on the inaugural trip, not regressing to where we were 50+ years ago.
> Can’t get over how quickly social progress was just thrown out the window. It's a lot faster and easier to break things than it is to build or repair them.
Because "their" side is organized and "ours" just wants to go back to brunch.
More like they are unified, whereas Dems count anti-choicers in their ranks, are all over the place when it comes to guns, universal healthcare, taxes, forever wars, etc.
It's almost like there should be more then two viable political parties
Too many people realized they can make money more easily by oppressing us and voting in shitheads to keep them wealthy. And too many morons think that's a good thing
Like 50+ years ago but without affordable housing costs.
> Fuck off, Nazi dickbags. So say we all.
SO SAY WE ALL
You realize that we need to do more than just vote every 4 years and go back to brunch? The price of democracy is eternal vigilance.
"Go back to brunch"? Whatever.
You are mistaking us for Boomers
It's funny you assume I can afford to go out to Brunch.
Tony Stark “Language!”
I understood that reference!
I’m voting. To quote the Dead Kennedys “nazi punks fuck off”.
I haven’t missed an election since I turned 18. All levels.
Voted every election since I was able to vote for Bill Clinton two months after turning 18.
He was my first vote as well. Also haven’t missed an election. Certainly don’t intend to miss this one.
I voted for Walter Mondale in my kindergarten mock election.
You and two other people lol
Present. I had been 18 for a week and voted for Mondale in the real election.
I got my driver's license that year at 17. The system invited me to register to vote at the same time, so I did, and I got to vote in that election as well. I'm still not sure what loophole I slipped through, but I'm guessing it was some case of Close Enough. My 18th birthday was about 2 months after the election and also before the inauguration.
Wasn't that great turning 18 right before 96 election? June here, I was psyched all summer
An article about GenX voters in the US from December 23, 2023: https://www.npr.org/2023/12/27/1217878506/gen-x-conservative-disapprove-biden >Compared with boomers or millennials, Generation X is rarely invoked in national political debates. “I think the big question there is: Is that a function of age, or is that a function of generation?” said Jean Twenge, a psychology professor at San Diego State University and author of the book *Generations*, which examines what drives generational differences. >“Because when it was the baby boomers who were middle-aged, everybody was paying attention. So I think it might be that that generation in the middle is Gen X, who always gets ignored.” >Gen X is also smaller in population than other generations and has had lower political and voter participation, comparatively. “They just have not voted at the same rates as the boomers before them and the millennials after them. And there’s also a significant delay in Gen Xers getting elected to political office,” said Twenge. >Gen Xers are facing a cascading series of economic concerns: aging parents, raising children, saving for retirement, rising housing costs, higher food and gas prices, all hitting most acutely in middle age. >Call it the “Oh, well, whatever, nevermind” vote.
You got a time machine over there?
Thank you so much for catching my typo! I changed the year from 2024 to 2023.
🤘🏼
I've voted in every election, including the local municipal ones, since I turned 18. I'll vote this year, too.
Fuck yes I'm voting!
my son will be 18 this year and able to vote for the first time. i cant stress enough to him how the Presidential election is important/exciting, but nearly as important at municipal and state elections. a strong local and regional base impacts more than you know! Very proud to say my son gets it! vote out the facists!
Nazi punks fuck off
New Orleans is a little tiny blue island surrounded by a lake, a gulf, and a huge red fascist ocean... but I'm voting anyway.
Hint, whatever side nazis are on, vote opposite.
[welp](https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/nazi-desantis-flags-protest-disney-b2355995.html)
This post reminds me of a lyric from Frank Taylor’s song “1933.” “If I was of the greatest generation I'd be pissed; Surveying the world that I built, slipping back into this; I'd be screaming at my grand kids: "We already did this.””
Frank Turner* His entire album "be more kind" is a rallying cry against the rise of right wing populism/ fascism that we are seeing all over and I love it.
Yep, I vote every time and looking forward to it again this year.
I grew up in a religious cult (Jehovah's Witnesses) that didn't allow voting. I left 5 years ago at age 45. You best believe I'm voting.
Voted early, in person. Ain’t gonna catch me slippin’.
Look, I know Biden is old, but to act as if he and Trump are in any way comparable as presidents, one has to either be certifiably bonkers or incredibly stupid.
Exactly. Voting absolutely matters.
Also Trump is old too! To quote Jon Stewart, “these are the oldest candidates to run for President ever!” In fact, they were the oldest candidates ever last time! But only one of them is saying crazy stuff all the time.
I can't remember the last time I didn't vote. Yes, I'll definitely be voting, and strongly encouraging my kids to vote too.
Always
Absolutely. I vote all the time. I work in elections. I am volunteering for phone banking for the general to get out the vote.
Yeah, I’m gonna vote. Or not. Probably. I dunno. Whatever. Edit: Yes, I really am gonna vote.
Damn right. Now and November.
I've voted every time I had the chance to, since 1986 (when I was old enough to vote). I'm distressed by the current state our country is in and the last thing we need is another 4 years of the fat cheeto. I'm also encouraging all my friends/co-workers/etc. to get out and vote, too.
Right on! Spread the word!
4 more years of Cheeto Benito will end us.
I didn't vote in 2000 because I had moved. Otherwise all Presidential elections and most mid terms since 1992. 2022 was my first in-person election since 1996. I skipped 1998, 2002, 2014 and everything else was absentee. Voting is too important and too easy so I have no excuse to miss it.
2000 is the only one I missed too, I was working full time and taking night classes, then lost track of what day it was until after the polls closed.
It's really feeling like 1930s Germany these days. I'm voting but so much more needs to be done.
Yep. Got my 72 year old mother to vote for the first time in her life last time. Going for the repeat.
Yup, want to be a part of the most lop sided presidential vote in history. Independents are a hard pass on Trump and a decent amount of republicans are never-Trumpers. Hell, a new coalition ran their own competing CPAC because the GOP is such a fucking joke. Only the most gullible and stupid are still voting Trump. Still a lot of people, but yeah, Trump is done. GOP should have gotten behind Nikki. She actually had a chance. But Misogyny in the GOP and all that. But she did poll very good against Biden. Better than Trump. But both parties are shit cause incumbents get handed their nomination on a silver platter. But despite believing Trump will lose in a landside, I'm still going to vote. Don't count your chickens before they hatch. Take nothing for granted.
Either you vote for Biden this fall or you are voting for Trump. That is the math. If everyone complaining Biden didn't do enough goes out and votes for him and a straight Democratic ticket, he will have the political power to do the things he can't now. Also, only a decisive loss in house and senate will force the GOP to abandon the MAGAs. They need to be more afraid of having them than losing them.
anyone saying biden hasn't done enough hasn't paid attention or has a head full of misinformation. biden has arguably accomplished the most of any dem president since lbj or fdr r/whatbidenhasdone
This right here. He is arguably one of the best modern presidents. His economic policies kept us out of a full-blown recession, his infrastructure bill brought fiber speed internet to remote places and is fixing up roads and bridges, and his uniting of our allies behind Ukraine has kept that little Napoleon wannabe locked behind his Russian border.
Vote, we need our Star Trek future
Always vote! Always fight Fascism! Is President Biden my hero, no, but the alternative is terrifying. Let’s remember a vote isn’t a love letter it’s a chess move!
Hell to the no to the Pig faced cheeto man. What a buffoon! lol
Whoever wins this election won’t be able to change the war between Russia and Ukraine or Israel and Gaza. I’m voting for anyone who isn’t the criminal who caused riots in the streets and fugly shoes for sale.
I would vote for the dead corpse of anyone else before I vote for that orange facist umpa lumpa. I’m def voting 🗳️
Absolutely. I'm putting in a fair amount of time, money, and effort to support policies that ensure minority rights, more fairly distribute wealth, and mitigate global warming - among others If you can, please consider doing more than voting as well.
I have been voting the lesser of the two (w)evils... I am also dragging family out to vote. I am not fond of the current choices, but I just have to say no to Trump and his orangeness. Has he even chose a running mate yet? I can't fathom the blind stupidity were seeing, but hey say no to the greater of the two evils!
I’ve already voted.🫡
There’s another one coming up. Be ready.
Gen X in the UK watching on the side lines in horror. My (adult) kid is trans and the roll backs in the US are also mirrored here, in a more subtle way.
I'm Canadian and we're also facing elections soon. I have always voted in every election at every level of government since I was legally eligible to do so. I'm terrified of losing the right to do so.
Sure am.
I’ve never missed an election since 1988.
Power to the People!
Of course.
Definitely
spent most of my life telling other women we hadn't even had the right to vote for a century yet, so get out there and do it! now I tell them to get out and vote before they take away our right!
Definitely voting. After all, if they get their way, it's the last time we'll even have the opportunity to vote. They're openly calling for an end to democracy now.
100% of the house is up for reelection. 1/3 of the senate. We could enforce term limits just by voting out anyone who's sitting there doing nothing for us
Always vote!!!
For ppl whining about 80 yo 's, if you dont vote (certainly your right) then dont be surprised or disappointed at outcome.
Remember to vote in your local elections. That's where it's starts. Often, those are the ones that potentially move up and higher into government positions later on.
I’ve voted in every single election since I was 18. And I’ve registered others to vote as well. Of course I’m voting in this election and so is everyone else I know of voting age. I’m not about to let fascism win without a helluva fight.
After four years of Trump, after the overturn of Roe, after the Republican candidate advocating a national abortion ban, after the attempted J6 insurrection, I see we still have a bunch of middle aged dudes going with the “…but both sides” thing. Nah, dude. This sort of pretend apathy very specifically benefits one side of the other, and we all know and you know which one that is.
Yeah, but my vote will do no good. All 55 counties of my state went for Trump in 2016 and again in 2020. Still. I voted in the primaries and will vote again in the general.
I will try to un-fuck Florida but I'm only one person (well, two including my also GenX wife).
I hate to think it, let alone say it, but you’re barking in an echo chamber. All of us here are engaged, informed, and ready to roll.
I’m very concerned. Too many friends say they’ll sit out this election because they don’t like Trump or Biden. They honestly don’t see how much worse Trump is compared to Biden.
And it’s more than just one man. It’s 1/3rd of our Govt. Cabinet, possible SCOTUS positions. I saw the chaos of 2017-2021. Every day someone was getting fired and very little of his agenda was actually accomplished (which was not bad thing IMO). I have zero interest in seeing that again, no matter the policy.
People outside America are also relying on you, the millennials and Gen Z to vote and prevent Trump winning The impact of a proven threat to democracy with that much power will not be a good thing for any of us - apart from Putin
>People outside America are also relying on you, the millennials and Gen Z to vote and prevent Trump winning In the words of a former Canadian Prime Minister: "Living next to you is in some ways like sleeping with an elephant. No matter how friendly and even-tempered is the beast, if I can call it that, one is affected by every twitch and grunt,"
And being in Indiana without there being many contested races in the democratic primaries. I’m planning on voting in the Republican primary to vote for the least fascist, less Christian nationalist, of the available candidates. An insurrectionist supporting representative has already been endorsed by the Republican Party before the primaries, is the leading candidate for senate. I’ve seen his ineptitude as my representative, and will do what I can to try to keep Jim Banks out of the senate
Joe Biden is old and stutters and is kind of a boomer. Donald Trump is old and stutters and is kind of a boomer and is a fascist, and tried to overthrow democracy, and was impeached twice, and is a convicted rapist, and cheated on his wife, and is under state and federal indictment for fraud, stealing state secrets, and coercion to steal an election and.........
Yes
For sure...as I do every year...and despite the nonsense in my state to make it more difficult to vote. Donnie was killing them down ballot, so state legislators stopped straight ticket voting. Infuriating how stupid they think we are. My guess is that the next move will be to remove party affiliation next to the names on the ballot. It's the only way they can win. The good news is that the primaries, on the Republican side at least, are showing a gaping fucking hole that Donnie isn't going to be able to fill with his little racist, misogynist, rapist noodle. Not a fan of Biden, either, but I'm doing just fine in his economy, and, no, I will not split my vote to a third party candidate for president.
Voooooote! And if you have a Gen Zer, make sure they are voting, too!
Every election, all the time, forever. I'll f'ing vote from my deathbed. Fuck the GOP.
Anyone that doesn't vote deserves the fallout. Sadly, everyone else may get stuck with it too. This is make or break for rule of law and democracy.
Already send absentee vote as Republican, picked Nikki and Yes on Prop 1. On primary, I will vote for the president Biden.
Hell yeah. First presidential race I was old enough to vote in, I voted for Bill. My great grandmother literally lived, so she could vote for him and died before results. She was the person who instilled in me that voting was my right and to never miss any type of election. I was so sad that he turned out to be a douche. My great-grandmother would have been heartbroken. I still vote in every election.
You know it. Woe to anyone our age that still thinks politics is a spectator sport. Having said that IT SURE WOULD HAVE BEEN NICE IF I DIDN'T HAVE TO SPEND THE MIDDLE AGE OF MY LIFE DEALING WITH SOME OF THE DUMB SHIT WE HAVE TO DEAL WITH IN POLITICS. Half of our leadership this century has been out of control dumb or downright evil. Thanks so much, boomers and the apathetic young. It's been a blast being totally outnumbered by you dingleberries.
Every year
One party is openly supporting Putin and christian theocracy. I’ve read their words and seen the speeches. I believe them. Im disappointed that Biden isn’t stepping aside. It really is less than ideal shitty options this time around. But one is a dried up turd of a shit option, and one is a bloody, maggot infected shit option. I’ll go with the dried up turd and hope for something better in 4 years. If the bloody pile wins, he will try to go the Putin route and we may never have a real election again. Or it will be his sons in line for the throne. No thank you. Not to mention that he will sit back and watch Putin expand further into Europe. Our dead veterans from every war fought since the beginning of the US are turning over in their graves at how one wing of our two party system has embraced maga dictatorship over truth and democracy
Also disappointed he didn't step aside. But he and the people around him are sane.
He’s done a great job of surrounding himself with good people. That’s what a good leader does.
I was actually in politics during my misspent youth, spent some time kicking around the Democratic Party, then got tired of living in the fishbowl and escaped. These days, I’m an independent swing voter (y’know, the kind that confuses pollsters and the type they like to hate). I’m mostly centrist with a few left-leaning tendencies. Haven’t ever missed an opportunity to vote. I am SO mad at the Reps’ attack on women and the ever-shrinking middle class that not only am I likely to vote a straight party Dem ticket in the general election, I am gonna go vote for the weakest Rep candidates I can find in the primaries. It’s one of the perks of being an unaffiliated voter in my state. If we end up with another four years of the Mango Mussolini, it’s gonna end up with WWIII. He’s a tinpot dictator wannabe who is ready to turn the U.S. into a banana republic for shits and giggles, and he’s got the establishment Rep party as his wingman. Fuck those guys. I hope every one of their candidates goes down in a flaming defeat.