So I watched Kyle's video on Trump's libertarian convention speech, and while it was a faceplant as I pointed out myself yesterday, idk, in some ways, I kind of the way he should handle third party voters, and the way the dems should handle them.
I mean, Kyle kinda pointed out something I overlooked in my analysis. Libertarians are highly ideological. That's why they arent republicans. Because they are the kind of people to put ideological purity above working with imperfect organizations or candidates who might not give them everything they want. And this reminds me of how many left wing third party voters are. Whether it be me in 2016 and 2020 with my economic concerns, or the gaza people in 2024, left wing purity testers exist too, they're highly ideological, and they would rather vote for what they want and not get it, than what they don't want and get it. I myself have used that line before. Btw, do I still believe that? Yes. I just believe that supporting Biden is in my best long term ideological interests given the current political environment.
But, as we know, voter shaming is big on the left. If you arent for Biden, or Clinton in 2016, the dems seem you like a traitor. They call you out and shame you for not voting for all of these other issues that you might not care about and does this actually influence people? No. Because those people are highly ideological and they have their priorities and dont care what you think. Sometimes their approach might come off as straight up suicidal, as voting third party in 2024 seems to me, but ultimately, we live in a system where politicians are beholden to the voters, not the other way around, the voters are ultimately the boss, and while we can criticize their decision making at times, politicians have to work within that really. Getting uppity in peoples' faces because they wont just vote for a major party candidate is not only ineffective, it's counterproductive. It's a lot like what Yang said about trying that on politicians in DC. You're just burning a bridge and it doesnt actually help you.
So what did Trump do differently? Well, again, he told them "maybe you dont wanna win, maybe you're fine just getting 3% every election, have fun with that." He didnt' shame them like YOU BETTER VOTE FOR ME OR YOU GET BIDEN, he's like, look, you can either vote for me, and Ill nominate a libertarian in my cabinet and give you something, even if it's not everything you want, or you can do youre purity schtick and get 3% of the vote. And then he just left it up to them. he didn't shame them, he didnt bully them, he just implied that they're a bunch of losers who will never accomplish anything and let things speak for themselves.
Was this effective? No. he got like 6 votes at the convention. That's it. If I recall they nominated Chase Oliver, who was the frontrunner who I did review once before on my metric, but yeah, I kinda have to respect Trump for not full on voter shaming. He just said "look this is what i wanna do for you, take it or leave it, and maybe if you dont wanna vote for me, maybe you don't wanna win."
And that's kind of how I see the 2024 gaza people. So many liberals are like "how do we reach these people?" and think voter shaming is effective, when I'm like, nah these people ARE that ideological and extreme, and we should just let them do their little sidehug of uselessness while we focus on appealing to voters who will play ball with us. The liberals want the leftists to abandon their ideological positions to see things on their terms. Me, I'm fine with just letting letting them scream into the void on gaza. Because lets face it, neither side is gonna budge, and neither is particularly ingratiating to me. The gaza people and the blue maga libs both believe in voter shaming and harassing people who dont think like them, and neither are effective at changing each other's minds. And that's why I'm an enlightened centrist this election between these two guys. I still got my priorities, and while I admit the leftists do a little better on my economic priorities, I also recognize that strategically, not backing Biden is a blunder. Because he did put some things on the table that I like. And while it's not everything I want, I do wanna win. I would rather see Biden accomplish everything he wants to accomplish than to get 1% doing nothing. And I would rather see Biden win and defend his legacy than to see Trump get in and tarnish it. Because if Trump gets in, the ideological ground may shift AWAY from me. And I recognize that.
So yeah. In a sense I kinda am thinking like the more liberal version of that kind of protest voter. I kinda realize that I DO wanna win, assuming Im actually accomplishing and furthering my own goals, and my behavior in 2016 and 2020 was more because I believed the dems were slamming the door in my face, not letting me in. But Biden has let me in enough where yeah, I do feel justified in backing him. Will I do this every election? Depends on whether the 2028 candidate earns my vote. You all know my purity tests. I admit I might change a few things by 2028 if I've deemed myself fit to do so, I'm not necessarily gonna stick with the same exact tests every cycle, but you already know my overall priorities. Act on them, get rewarded, ignore enough of them and I might decide I'd rather take my 1% and stand on my values. Totally up to who runs, and what position we're in, and where we stand. I'll make the calculation probably around 2027 or 2028.
And yeah. I just wanted to highlight that since I think it's a metric crapton better than voter shaming people.
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