In the leadup to an election is when there is maximum ability to influence the policies of the candidates. At no time before or after this period will any individual voter have more influence. Libs could have joined in with the uncommitted movement months ago and continually demanded an arms embargo on israel as a precondition for their votes. They could even have fucking lied and in their cowardly little hearts known that they were going to vote for the dems anyway. But no, even that small amount of effort was too much. Instead they immediately en masse announced their unconditional support for the dems and spent all their effort viciously attacking anybody who even mildly criticized their candidate. Absolutely useless dumb fucking crackers. I will not forgive them.

  • ristoril_zip@lemmy.zip
    ·
    1 month ago

    Do you have evidence to support your first sentence? Jon Stewart influenced the shit out of Congress to pass the PACT Act nowhere near Election Day.

    Individual voters are never going to have influence on candidates for office with hundred of thousands of constituents (Wyoming's "at large" Congressman represents around 450,000).

    Influence groups, on the other hand, can work for long periods of time to build relationships with elected officials and other groups and media to put show, continuous pressure on. Jon Stewart's work is a case in point.

    Cohesive, identifiable, visible groups of voters, as well, can exert pressure. Such as the "uncommitted" campaign in Michigan. But only because they were cohesive and identifiable and made themselves visible.

    Me skipping a vote for Harris (or Trump) tells that candidate nothing about why I didn't vote for them. Maybe polling data could.

    • GarbageShoot [he/him]
      ·
      1 month ago

      OP never said anything about you or I individually making Harris not do genocide. I mean, it's a communist board, we must talk about people as individuals because they are, on many levels of analysis, individuals, but political action lives and dies by group effort.

      Me skipping a vote for Harris (or Trump) tells that candidate nothing about why I didn't vote for them.

      Nor did OP say anything about not voting, which is silly for the reason you describe. However, and this is again the doctrinaire response, voting for a communist does tell the mainstream candidates quite a lot about why you didn't vote for them, even if that communist candidate cannot win that election.