People often segregate themselves into bubbles separated from others they oppose. I can say since the political affiliation is known from past elections, that has become a stronger factor when I am deliberating on which places I would want to live. I’m sure this is adding to the polarization, where people are gravitating to communities that more often reinforce their beliefs and give them fewer opportunities to challenge them.

How can we counter this polarizing force?

Probably shouldn’t say that

There were a lot of rumors and speculation about this possibility last week that I think did take a lot of attention away from the Republican convention.

Third parties under the First Past the Post voting system are literally the threat to the power structure that will just keep them pushed down by the major parties.

The major parties may be afraid of sharing power now, but they are also seeing the threat of losing power completely when they can’t keep their coalitions together.

We see Democrats making a major move today with Biden stepping down from the race in order to placate parts of the party that are very unsatisfied. The threat is already more real today than it has ever been.

I think that people will realize that we are all in alignment about reforming the election system being better for the country, even to preserve a large part of the current power structure.

Then are you more aligned with the Republicans or the Democrats? Like it or not, the election system only supports two parties. That’s what we should be pushing towards changing rather than hurting ourselves.

I think that Kamala is the most obvious replacement especially because she has access to the Biden/Harris campaign funds. If that’s agreed upon by the delegates, then the selection is just for VP, which I think can be more streamlined.

The Democratic candidate is chosen at the convention, which hasn’t happened yet. What would a legal contest even be based on?

From the article you linked to:

Election law expert Richard Hasen wrote that there is “no credence” to the notion that the Democratic Party could not legally replace Biden on the ticket, as he is not the nominee yet – the nominating process generally takes place during the Democratic National Convention.

Ah, a thought-terminating cliche.

That could be more an advantage with those on the left than it is a detriment for the bigots on the right or the middle. It is a valid point, though.

I hope you are happy helping the Republicans win

I think you are misunderstanding how the election system works. It is the Democrats vs Republicans and nothing else until a third party can get big enough to overtake one of the two and then it’s still just two major parties.

Save your energy for reforming the election system and then advocate for what you want. We have to be realistic here.

My take on the down votes is that it is dangerous to spread ideas about voting third party in a democracy with an election system that mechanically only supports two parties.

Even if you’re in a “safe” state, people from states that are more in the margins may hear the sentiment and want to participate out of principle. It makes the opposition more likely to win.

If we want the Democrats to win in the end, it’s safer to be pushing for engagement on all fronts. That’s what the Republicans are doing and they can actually be trusted to vote.

I’m not ready to encourage this because anybody can get pissed off for any reason. There is very little that a politician does that makes everybody happy.

I hope the right wing fascists didn’t also steal all of the references to the year 2025