Still new here and trying to figure things out. Regarding voting, I'd like to get some feedback on some thoughts I've had.
I get that voting D/R is pointless since Ds just seatwarm for Rs at best, and actively implement R policies at worst. They have no incentive to work for left policies, and R policies will ultimately benefit them personally.
That being said, we're "punished" for not voting D by getting an actual insane R in office. If Rs are in control its way worse, right? or, maybe it has to get worse to get better?
So what is the dominant strategy here for National elections? My personal vote is extremely minor and unimportant so keeping that in mind, I can:
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not vote - Lower participation rate shows I don't endorse the system, and if enough people don't vote, does it mean anything?
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vote third party - I like this idea since, although super unlikely, it gives more pressure to D and R to moderate (lol) as neither want to lose power. Write in votes aren't going to turn in to anything big without some serious organizing, but I don't know if there's ever been a serious attempt to organize a mass write in campaign? Or if there will even be a viable third party candidate in 2024?
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vote D - 🤮
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Something else?
I haven't seen this discussed much in the short time I've been here so maybe I'm missing something obvious or misunderstanding something above, so would appreciate any help. Maybe the real answer is it really doesn't matter, but would like to make the best limited choice I can
I'm going to challenge you on the assertion that Dems are better than Republicans. How is a Dem better than a republican? There is a long list of things that the Dems have continued since Trump (and before!) that maybe they didn't implement themselves but they could have stopped and they have chosen not to. How is a Dem better?
At least Dems aren't spewing as much hate for minorities. Also, the infrastructure bill Biden implemented was actually pretty good. Republicans want to actively dismantle things like the Environmental Protection Agency. If there was another option that had a chance of winning I would vote for them. We need to figure out a way to build that. Until then, we need to at least delay the worst of it.
"As much" is doing a lot of work there.
This bill? The one where they didn't make it adjust for inflation or actually force states to comply? As cool as that bill may be it isn't enough. Most of the projects haven't even started and there is no guarantee that they will. Especially if they lose the house. That funding over the same time (ten years) is barely more than the military budget and that is only true if the budget stays where it was which it didn't and won't. Some of that funding may also be going to sodium cyanide landmines which was something I only heard about recently but has been going on since 2014, thanks Obama.
They aren't even in power and they're doing it anyways.
As it stands right now the Dems (barely, but still in hand) have congress and the executive. They have the senate by enough to ram judges through to get whatever they want from the courts but they won't for petty reasons like decorum. Petty especially in the light of losing the right to an abortion, losing right to equal treatment for members of the LGBTQ+ community, and curbing capacities of federal agencies. You're going to need to try harder to convince me that the Dems are better and we haven't even gotten started on foreign policy.
Edit: excuse my passive voice, the Dems could have passed laws to ensure that a right to an abortion or protections for the LGBTQ+ community were in place but did not. Saying they lost it is too passive, I should have said they, by conscious failure to act, stripped those rights
What do we actually do about this though? I want to make things better, but how? Not voting at all doesn't feel like sending a message. It feels like apathy. I also think it needs to happen with as little violence as possible. It needs to be someone that is voted in. We can't let violence decide because that always seems to end with some kind of authoritarian government.
You could always spoil your ballot. I think it might be time to remind you where you are though because violence can and has been used to get better governments, the American civil war for one but also Cuba, Vietnam, Zimbabwe off the top of my head were all improved by violent revolution against their oppressors. The Soviet Union too for that matter among others I'd hazard you are more willing to disagree with.
where's that quote about the Maoist uprising against the landlords...
What does it mean to spoil your ballot? I haven’t heard that expression before
If it's been made invalid intentionally (like idk you just scribbling all over or something)
Makes sense. Thanks for explaining
You either mark your ballot in a way that ruins it (ie writing FUCK YOU across the whole page and not actually marking a vote), physically damage your ballot, or the most fun way which is write-in a 0% viable person that is funny. I know some guys who voted for Snoop Dog in the last election to spoil their ballot. It is a way to make it known you don't like any of the options but still made time to vote.
Oh I understand now. Never heard that term. Thanks for explaining
No problem
We can't let violence decide because that always seems to end with some kind of authoritarian government? What about literally every communist revolution? Cuba, China, Vietnam, Burkina Faso, the DPRK, the USSR.
I don't think the US at this time is ready for a revolution, violent or otherwise. But, revolutionary socialism results in better material conditions for people, and all of the above are examples
All of the countries you just named are or were authoritarian.
And all of them accomplished more good than you are even suggesting in a naïve hope. You are tethered to some of the biggest war criminals in the world while being miserable about it and holding no cards, they use their authority to actually carry out their political will.
How is DPRK not authoritarian? Are you seriously standing up for that country?
Yes
The DPRK is an inspiration to the working class worldwide, proof that the evil US empire can be opposed and that a better world is possible
Ok but seriously they are starving their people and literally kill them and possibly their families if they try to leave.
It's difficult, but the reality is that in order to make a comment about the country that people here won't clown on, you kinda need to relearn the history of the country from the beginning.
It's a difficult place for many people to live, and nobody here is looking at the dprk government and thinking "we should copy/paste that in my country" or anything, but what's important is that they did successfully overthrow capitalism, and they have successfully kept it out (at a mas shitssive cost, which was primarily induced by the USA). If you want to undermine capitalism in any way, it's worth analyzing them closely and incorporating that analysis into your understanding about how capitalism could successfully be undermined or defeated in [wherever you live].
When you do this over many countries and similar political movements with a socialist history, you find that it definitely wasn't voting that got them where they are/were. Shit's interesting.
Blowback did a season on the Korean war recently that gives a lot of good historical background. What the US and Japan did to them was pretty fucked.
UN Resolution 2397:
“Strengthens the ban on providing work authorizations for DPRK nationals by requiring Member States to repatriate all DRPK nationals earning income and all DPRK government safety oversight attachés monitoring DPRK workers abroad within their jurisdiction within 24 months from 22 December 2017.”
That's the reason people can't leave the DRPK.
Thanks to Lemmygrad, I just learned about it from that post