Hmm, a 40-80ft wide road that needs to support thousands of pounds of cars, or 8ft of bike path that only needs to support a few hundred pounds of pedestrians/bikers.

I wonder which needs more of a budget.

Like if you’re not an omnipotent being with every power you can imagine then you have no choices?

That is not even close to what I was saying.

But then you also think that the fact that world is some primitive video game where there’s only very simple A) B) C) style options it would be a paradise

This is an oversimplification of a very easy to understand thought experiment.

and you’re angry at God because the world doesn’t work like that.

I'm not angry at god, I don't believe gods exist. Are you angry at Thanos?

And the atoms from that burnt building will go elsewhere and allow for the creation of new life. Nobody ever teach you about the circle of life, Simba?

Thanks for this waste of time.

Atheists have killed a great many people in history, that’s a fact.

A fact that has nothing to do with any of this.

You can choose to fly because airplanes exist

That's not what I meant, and you know it.

Also nuclear weapons exist and people can choose to drop them on cities and many thousands of people will die.

Other people have that choice. I do not.

It feels like you’re desperately trying to miss the point

Given that you seemingly intentionally missed the point about the things that I cannot choose to do, I'd say this is projection.

to avoid having thoughts that conflict with your current belief (or non-belief if that’s how you choose to term it)

This conversation has nothing to do with the existence of god(s), it instead has to do with the existence of tri-omni god(s).

Matter can’t be created or destroyed and energy cannot be created or destroyed.

This is a false equivalence. If I burn down a building, it's been destroyed even if the matter of the building still exists.

Do you consider this to be a religious belief simply because conflicts with your argument?

Are you here to have a serious conversation, or just waste time?

How much suffering was caused by the religious oppression done by atheists like Stalin, Mao, and Pol Pot?

This has no relevance. You completely missed the point of everything I've said, I hope not intentionally. Because this line of thinking isn't coherent.

if they don’t serve a purpose, then where are we supposed to live when we’re only staying in a place for a few months or years?

A non-market housing unit. Basically, a non-profit org that only charges the actual cost of the housing & maintenance.

"I didn't read the article, so I'm gonna make shit up"

Good. Now make it work for everyone's tax situation.

Putting a limit on people’s choices is the antithesis of free will.

There will always be limits on people's choices. I don't have wings, I cannot choose to fly. I don't own a nuke, I cannot choose to nuke something.

So because limits on free will are inevitable, they should be reasonable, which means no evil.

For there to be distinct consciousness there needs to be the capability to make choices, which means there’s there’s the capability to make bad choices.

As is demonstrated by the sandwich example, even when no evil choice is available, choice is still possible.

For me to be incapable of throwing a jar of jam at you there would need to be an omnipotent being governing my decisions.

As is demonstrated by Forever Peace, this is not the case. The mechanism for Forever Peace being that humans see others as an extension of themselves, thus being incapable of harming others, but there is no limit to other mechanisms that would do this.

Destroying things is the opposite of creation, which would be against everything God is supposed to be.

That would appear to be blatantly false. The universe constantly is destroying things. Celestial bodies get destroyed every day. Stars die, black holes consume, planets get bombarded with rocks from space. This planet alone has had 5 mass extinction events.

Not a year passes where there isn't some child starved to death or slowly killed by disease. Natural disasters wipe people's homes off the face of the earth and kill thousands.

The universe is an incredibly hostile place.

But is mocking other people’s beliefs making the world a better place?

When it is ultimately a force for suffering, yeah absolutely.

and a majority in Congress

Democrats do not have a super majority, which is a problem thanks to the fillabuster. So the only branch of government the democrats have is the executive, which is not enough to fix things.

Would you characterize your position as “vote however you like unless it’s a state level or higher position for which the democrats are running someone.”?

That's an over simplified take. There are races where the only two candidates are establishment democrats and republicans, even at the local level. I am saying be realistic with your vote, and don't split the vote if a republican has a chance.

How would you say the gbu-39 2000lb jdams Biden is sending to Israel impact women, minorities and the lgbtq in Gaza?

This may surprise you, but there are women, minorities, and the LGBTQ in places outside of Palestine. And they're gonna get hurt if the vote gets split thanks to people like you, who put their need for "clean" hands over the safety of others.

No one person can be blamed for the sorry state of the nation, but if you’re interested in an example of legislation which has done significant harm to Americans and funneled billions into the carceral state that Biden himself takes credit for and that third parties have reenforced, the ‘94 crime bill is one.

I am aware of Biden's history.

What is considered progress now (progress for whom, measured how) may very well be abhorrent in the future.

Yeah, that's how progress works. I don't care for these semantics. You well know what I meant about local politics.

I'll respect your request to quote in full if we forget the semantics.

Now didn’t you just say that federal elections can only maintain the status quo and that change has to happen at a local election level?

I said federal elections generally only can maintain the status quo. Not always. In some respects Biden (for as milquetoast centrist/boomer as he is) has made progress towards dealing with climate change for example.

It seems like I just described the logical steps a person with your views would take when it comes to elections. Why are those ideas perfectly normal when you write them down but suddenly fantastical when I say them?

The difference is, in local elections there is often less competition, and less fuckery in the primaries. Key word being less, not none.

The last president to run unopposed was 1820. Wheras for local elections, every year there is some seat that is being run unopposed.

The democrats always go for some centrist/conservative for the big federal seats. The local seats and minor congressional seats are the only places progressives have a chance. Hence why it is fantasy land to try this stuff for federal positions and not so for local.

So use that, leverage the democratic party into being a party that actually serves the people to make progress, and we'll be doing significantly better. Splitting the vote to get Trump in power will only serve to hurt women, minorities, and the LGBTQ.

Men like him don't learn from things like that. The only way he would "learn" is if you specified he wrote a manifesto of regret, then committed suicide.

as the architect of nearly all the problems America faces.

There is no one person responsible for all of this.

I reject progressivism because its ambiguity allows for any kind of political idea to brand itself progressive (the Nazi party called itself progressive!)

You're the one lumping nazis in with progressives. Any damage done to the name progressive is on your hands.

but if you value a change to the status quo wouldn’t it make sense to cast a ballot with as many votes for candidates endorsed by or representing parties whose policy platforms actually represent the change you’d like to see rather than the (your words here) status quo democrats?

In fantasy land sure, but this is a FPTP system.