timemachineyeah
drives me up a wall living in a very very red district, like "no democrat is ever going to win any local election, let alone a real leftist" district, like "our school board members ran on who was the most anti-mask" red, like "I pass white supremacist signs on the way to buy weed" red
and being in the local leftist community and the guy who runs the anarchist book club and the lady who helps keep the warming shelters open and the people who marched on city hall when a local business was getting death threats for having a drag show are all members of a discord and we get on this discord and have frank discussions about how best to vote
the people who do the protests and the mutual aid and all the real work
going "okay, they're both fascists, but this one lacks ambition and seems happy to just glide in the position" or "they both suck, but this one can be reasoned with if you frame it patriotically enough" like we don't even have a democrat to vote for. we know what a vote is. we know what we hope accomplish with it. we know what it can do, and we know what it can't.
and going from those discussions to here where people think that your vote is some kind of fucking??? enabling maneuver??? as if someone isn't going to end up in that seat regardless of what you do???
we didn't build this system, we just live in it. we're just trying to survive. a vote isn't a statement of your values, it's not an endorsement, it's not a marriage contract, it's a strategic play you make to keep alive.
the biggest mistake I see leftists making is overestimating their own popularity. "well but everyone would be leftist if they just-" no, stop, 1) you can't possibly know that 2) everyone will not just
That's not what they're saying at all.
They're saying voting won't accomplish any substantial changes because you can't vote power out of the hands of those who wield it. Change requires more than simply voting.
I think voting can absolutely take power out of the hands of those who wield it, just like courts can rule against those in power…. but these things tend to only happen when the ruling class is terrified of what will happen if they don’t appease the masses through giving concessions within the traditional power structures of society.
In other words we need people to vote to codify the concessions given by the ruling class, but unless the ruling class thinks giving concessions through voting and making courts adhere to some form of reality is a less scary option than continuing to fuck around and find out what happens when you push the masses to a breaking point… than voting is next to useless.
We need people who consider voting pointless and people who consider voting to be necessary damage control, both ideologies are mandatory in an effective progressive movement.