It’s not “outlandish” at all. You can’t agree that it’s “extremely obvious” that democrats care about gaining or losing votes in one case and that it’s “outlandish” in another, it’s completely arbitrary.
I didn’t say it was “outlandish” to claim they care about gaining votes. I said it’s outlandish to claim that voting 3rd party does anything to meaningfully pressure them into changing their policies to capture your vote. They are more concerned about changing their policies to capture the center-right, like you said.
I don’t consider that obvious at all. First off, I dispute the claim that voting third party is “throwing your vote away,” because I’ve already established the effects it can have regardless of not winning
No you have not.
But I also assert that it’s better to throw away your vote than to support someone who is fundamentally unacceptable.
That is a ridiculous assertion.
I do not subscribe to the ideology of lesser evilism, or to act utilitarianism.
There it is. You don’t care any of the work that has to happen over the next 4 years to push for positive change. You just care about virtue-signaling.
more concerned
I agree that they are more concerned about the center-right (mostly because the center-right is more prone to defecting while the left just falls in line), but that does not mean that they are not at all concerned about losing the left, or that a change in strategy couldn’t make them concerned about that.
There it is. You don’t care any of the work that has to happen over the next 4 years to push for positive change. You just care about virtue-signaling.
How does not being an act utilitarian mean that I just care about virtue-signaling? Do you know what act utilitarianism is? Do you think it has something to do with taking actions vs not taking actions?
Act utilitarianism is an ethical framework that is based around judging specific acts to determine which action produces the most utility, in contrast to rule utilitarianism, which is about judging which general rules tend to produce the most utility.
I think I see where this is headed.
Am I right to say that you view casting a vote as an endorsement of a candidate/party (like MAGA does), rather than as a chess move (like Liberals do)?
Obvious, a vote is an endorsement, yes. Whether MAGA does or Liberals don’t, I don’t know anything about that and don’t particularly care.
But even if you want to treat it as a chess move, it’s a bad one. It’s tactically wrong as well as ethically.