Following politics for most of my life has brought me to the realization that the only power that a person realistically has at the ballot box is to use their vote as a harm reduction mechanism. That is, you look at the parties that have a realistic chance of winning, figure out which one of those would do the least amount of good for society as a whole, and you vote for the party most likely to defeat them. Simple harm reduction, nothing more, nothing less.
Bringing about changes that go beyond that, involves winning over hearts & minds, and convincing people to support certain policies. For example, there was once a time where it was believed that the only way to get climate action was to elect the Green party. Then, as time went on and more people understood the need for urgent action, the larger parties adopted carbon pricing into their policy platforms. This is how social progress happens - it's not always about electing the "correct" politician or party.
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