this post was submitted on 12 Jan 2026
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Following USA politics as an outsider, this has baffled me greatly the past year and more. Is harm reduction really such a difficult concept? It's like that damn bus scenario, just with only bad options.
Something like: There's five people on the bus, and the brakes stop working, so they vote for what they should do. Two say they should drive off a cliff, and one says they should just swerve and crash into the nearby ditch. Two people don't vote because they want neither. The bus drives off the cliff and everyone dies
The thing that a lot of people seem to be having trouble grasping is that when voters tell you what they want, and you tell those voters to fuck off, some of those voters won't vote for you. This is the simple reality of politics, it's how it has always worked, it's how it will always work. This is true everywhere, not just the US.
It is not the job of voters to elect democrats, it's the job of the democrats to win votes. They fucked up and they are to blame more than anyone who sat out the election or voted for a 3rd party.
But the bus is still headed off the cliff
Right, and my point is that the bus is still headed off the cliff because of the failure of democrats.
Look, let's rewind a little bit. Your analogy is about the 2024 election. You say the democrats are saying they want to crash it into a ditch, and if that the democrats don't get charge of the bus, the bus is headed off the cliff. But, at the time of the 2024 election, who was currently in charge of the bus? Who had been in charge of the bus for the past 4 years?
But the bus is still headed off the cliff
Right, and my point is that the bus is still headed off the cliff because of the failure of democrats.
Look, let’s rewind a little bit. Your analogy is about the 2024 election. You say the democrats are saying they want to crash it into a ditch, and if that the democrats don’t get charge of the bus, the bus is headed off the cliff. But, at the time of the 2024 election, who was currently in charge of the bus? Who had been in charge of the bus for the past 4 years?
As an American, let me be very clear here. Americans, as a whole, are very, very, very dumb. And dumb people operate almost entirely based off their feelings, not their intellect.
To a dumb person, yeah, harm reduction is actually a difficult concept to wrap their mind around.
I've been here my whole life, and honestly, there really are just a lot of dumb people here. Which is why I don't really see any of this getting better after Trump is gone. We'll just keep making dumb decisions because dumb people make dumb decisions.
The common sentiment seems to be "I'll rather live in a fascist dictatorship than vote democrats" while still thinking that's any different from supporting republicans, so I guess I have to admit you do have a point...