I did the thing. I made my voice heard in our democracy, others in my community did the same. But nothing fucking changed and the system of electoralism remains ever rotten to the core.
Lol but now I’m being told that “they’re scared of us because they say how frustrated we were.” Bull fucking shit. Why the hell do people equate mean words and insults with violence? This is the exact same song and dance that’s been happening for decades in American politics. “You must work within the system to get the change you want” or whatever other nonsense. “Be sure not to damage any potential relationships with liberals or scare off any potential voters!”
I guess the most absurd part about all of this is that liberalism has a track record of producing zero systemic change (or hell even challenges for that matter). So what am I fucking doing with my life at this point? What the hell can you even do without doing something that addresses the root cause of a serious problem?
That’s the thing though. I struggle to see a reality where multiple people voting in a left way will make any tangible difference on an election outcome. Because there are so many fucking back room dealings and all it takes is one coward to flip
I have so many more thoughts but nowhere to spread them without
but something has to give eventually. I guess I’ll just be twiddling my thumbs until the bourgeois decide to start automating everything and/or climate change gets realDo you have any good literature/write-ups on how to go about building a support network? Like almost doing socialism with capitalism? I have a few pretty well-compensated friends and we’ve all floated the idea but have had some trouble getting the idea off of the ground
There is none, voting is nothing it will never do anything (in bourgeois 'democracy')
Lmao right even if you were to get some magical voting turnout, do people seriously think the powers that be wouldn’t just add unnecessary hoops to jump through and more voter suppression methods for marginalized groups?
Yup because they can. And it’s not just republicans, prod a dem enough and they’ll be indistinguishable from a bush era republican
They keep most people too afraid of the other team to demand any real change. And it works.
People always bring up the civil rights act when talking about electoralism leading to change. Convenient how they never mention how riots/protests are what eventually got the goods?
2020 and cop cars burning? Something happened. I have a couple of buddies with connections to law enforcement and one of their lines when teaching new piggies is “this is how we do things since George Floyd”
Almost makes it worse having this knowledge, honestly. Really puts into context the absolute powerlessness
It is as exhausting as it is frustrating. I've been listening back to Hell of Presidents, and I keep returning to the thought that this system was built - half intentionally, half blindly - to be unable to respond to whatever given set of conditions it finds itself in. The two largest political shifts, the end the southern slave economy and the New Deal nearly a century later, seem like they were only possible because war broke out and the institutional norms were suspended. Even then, the ruling class was quick to reestablish norms and move things as close to the previous status quo as possible.
Federal politics looks over-determined. That could change, but not from the inside. Some external force, like a shift in the global economy or our ability to maintain empire, is going to crack that open and allow for new possibilities. But there's no way to know exactly how or when. Until then, I think state and local governments present a more actionable goal -- with the added benefit that growth in these smaller institutions becomes another advantageous inroad for if and when federal politics changes.
...that's obviously easier said than done; each state has it's own set of conditions and it's hard enough to draw local attention away from the national spectacle -- let alone doing it while also combating Red Scare brainworms.
If voting was sufficient to change the system it would be made illegal. Therefore, it makes tweaks around the edges or lags behind the real agents of change.
Feel free to vote if you want it's not like it's bad to do it. But do spread the news that spending tons of time on electoralism is a wasted effort.
Libs don't know game theory, if you don't act on your threats - there is no incentive for les acteurs to change behavior
Most cynical democrat after losing 2 times in a row to some green party 4% might think twice. Dems however are banking that republicans will be so horrible that you won't have convictions to follow through (see nader) it in a row.
*But also multi party eu systems do bs as well
Btw I realize voting has some utility in the context of producing some marginally better things, but why do fuckers think we’re going to vote our way to socialism? At this point, if you’re privileged enough, I’d say you’re better off building a support network locally
