PARIS—“Do I really have to answer that question? I’m certainly not voting for the person leading the Republican Party.” That was the response of communist icon Angela Davis when a journalist asked about her intentions for the 2024 U.S.
And as you smile smugly to yourself about your moral superiority for choosing philosophy over the unfortunate situation that is reality, women die due to lack of reasonable healthcare, minorities and those deemed “deviant” by fundamentalists are oppressed, and the genocide in Palestine is ramped up and overtly supported by American interests because the right doesn’t do this kind of philosophical masturbation and thus handily wins the election.
Look, I want to see the end of the binary too, but only an ignorant person thinks you can win a race by being dropped off at the finish line and walking 2 steps. The end of the binary will not come from a surprise upset Presidential election out of nowhere. It just won’t. Not today, not ever. If you actually give a shit about making a change and not just feeling above it all personally, you’d be out on the streets in non election years working to legitimize third party candidates in viable lower and local races where they can win and affect change outside the party system. And if you’re somewhere where that has already happened, you’d be working with them to extend their reach, pushing their influence further. Or you’d be running locally as a third-party candidate yourself.
And if you are already doing that, first off thank you so much, but secondly, then you must understand what a difficult uphill battle the fight is and more importantly you must understand you can’t just skip ahead to the finish line.
You mention that voting is not the only way to change things for good and you are absolutely right. Hell, I’d say it’s not even one of the primary ways. But what voting is is one of the highest return on investment ways of effecting change; the amount of effect it takes to vote is beyond nominal, practically insignificant, yet the consequences have significant real world impact. Not smartly utilizing your vote is like being hungry in a cabin in the woods and taking a knife out hunt a wild boar for food when there is a literal ham sandwich in a ziploc bag in the fridge waiting for you.
But what voting is is one of the highest return on investment ways of effecting change
I’m constantly working on local stuff, my vote has never made any kind of a difference - I live in an urban area jerrymandered to include as much of the suburbs as possible, they vote in lockstep to keep their taxes low and poors out. They are bipartisan about that. The local democratic committees are all just full of the family of people running for office and nobody with good politics has the time or energy to participate in the democratic party
I’m in a blue state, I’ve voted every year for decades, it’s always felt like a waste of time. Any time I ask elected representatives about something they didn’t already want to do they (or their staff) tell me to fuck off.
Seems a great time to see the section of my comment about legitimizing or running as a third party in your community to effect change on the local level, then.
The point of my comment was not to be satisfied, it is that change doesn’t start at the finish line. If you are fed up and think your vote is worthless, then do something about it rather than impotently protesting which accomplishes nothing but throwing away that tiny bit of power you did wield.
Here’s the deal guys: nobody is coming to save you. Not Harris or Trump, but also not Stein, or Bernie, or anyone else. There is never going to be a time when you can just vote and suddenly things are all sunshine and rainbows. Change takes work, and we’re discussing enormous change on a massive scale.
Or, let me offer you a counterpoint - maybe the democrats in your area aren’t a lost cause. Maybe they can be better utilized, motivated, incentivized, etc. Going back to the change takes work/nobody is coming to save you bit, what have you personally done to change the situation in area beyond voting or donation?
Municipal level stuff is nonpartisan where I am. Literally the only reason I bother to vote in federal years is ballot referendum. State rep seats are a lock for Democrats and trying to primary them usually means the incumbent wins in a slam dunk.
I actually do a lot in my spare time, but certainly not electoral work, I don’t have the money, time or network to personally run for anything. I have been involved in several unions organizing, which is about the only time voting has felt consequential.
Also I kind of resent the question, this isn’t an individuals problem to solve, and blindly participating in a broken system isn’t going to fix it.
And as you smile smugly to yourself about your moral superiority for choosing philosophy over the unfortunate situation that is reality, women die due to lack of reasonable healthcare, minorities and those deemed “deviant” by fundamentalists are oppressed, and the genocide in Palestine is ramped up and overtly supported by American interests because the right doesn’t do this kind of philosophical masturbation and thus handily wins the election.
Look, I want to see the end of the binary too, but only an ignorant person thinks you can win a race by being dropped off at the finish line and walking 2 steps. The end of the binary will not come from a surprise upset Presidential election out of nowhere. It just won’t. Not today, not ever. If you actually give a shit about making a change and not just feeling above it all personally, you’d be out on the streets in non election years working to legitimize third party candidates in viable lower and local races where they can win and affect change outside the party system. And if you’re somewhere where that has already happened, you’d be working with them to extend their reach, pushing their influence further. Or you’d be running locally as a third-party candidate yourself.
And if you are already doing that, first off thank you so much, but secondly, then you must understand what a difficult uphill battle the fight is and more importantly you must understand you can’t just skip ahead to the finish line.
You mention that voting is not the only way to change things for good and you are absolutely right. Hell, I’d say it’s not even one of the primary ways. But what voting is is one of the highest return on investment ways of effecting change; the amount of effect it takes to vote is beyond nominal, practically insignificant, yet the consequences have significant real world impact. Not smartly utilizing your vote is like being hungry in a cabin in the woods and taking a knife out hunt a wild boar for food when there is a literal ham sandwich in a ziploc bag in the fridge waiting for you.
I’m constantly working on local stuff, my vote has never made any kind of a difference - I live in an urban area jerrymandered to include as much of the suburbs as possible, they vote in lockstep to keep their taxes low and poors out. They are bipartisan about that. The local democratic committees are all just full of the family of people running for office and nobody with good politics has the time or energy to participate in the democratic party
I’m in a blue state, I’ve voted every year for decades, it’s always felt like a waste of time. Any time I ask elected representatives about something they didn’t already want to do they (or their staff) tell me to fuck off.
Seems a great time to see the section of my comment about legitimizing or running as a third party in your community to effect change on the local level, then.
The point of my comment was not to be satisfied, it is that change doesn’t start at the finish line. If you are fed up and think your vote is worthless, then do something about it rather than impotently protesting which accomplishes nothing but throwing away that tiny bit of power you did wield.
Here’s the deal guys: nobody is coming to save you. Not Harris or Trump, but also not Stein, or Bernie, or anyone else. There is never going to be a time when you can just vote and suddenly things are all sunshine and rainbows. Change takes work, and we’re discussing enormous change on a massive scale.
Or, let me offer you a counterpoint - maybe the democrats in your area aren’t a lost cause. Maybe they can be better utilized, motivated, incentivized, etc. Going back to the change takes work/nobody is coming to save you bit, what have you personally done to change the situation in area beyond voting or donation?
Municipal level stuff is nonpartisan where I am. Literally the only reason I bother to vote in federal years is ballot referendum. State rep seats are a lock for Democrats and trying to primary them usually means the incumbent wins in a slam dunk.
I actually do a lot in my spare time, but certainly not electoral work, I don’t have the money, time or network to personally run for anything. I have been involved in several unions organizing, which is about the only time voting has felt consequential.
Also I kind of resent the question, this isn’t an individuals problem to solve, and blindly participating in a broken system isn’t going to fix it.