The thing is, for most people voting does take just 5 mins. You obviously have examples of voters in GOP states with tough rules for vote by mail and active disenfranchisement where voting takes longer, but that's not the overwhelming experience.
And there's better holes to point out in Chomsky's argument than that. The one that comes to top of mind is that his examples as "activism" are basically liberal pressure groups that still rely on electoral means - not communist or radical orgs that attempt to build power outside of electoral politics, like a communist party that directs unions on strikes, has an armed wing to confront right-wing forces in the streets, etc.
Again, neither side presented a great argument. But the base of Chomsky's argument was stronger.
The thing is, for most people voting does take just 5 mins. You obviously have examples of voters in GOP states with tough rules for vote by mail and active disenfranchisement where voting takes longer, but that's not the overwhelming experience.
And there's better holes to point out in Chomsky's argument than that. The one that comes to top of mind is that his examples as "activism" are basically liberal pressure groups that still rely on electoral means - not communist or radical orgs that attempt to build power outside of electoral politics, like a communist party that directs unions on strikes, has an armed wing to confront right-wing forces in the streets, etc.
Again, neither side presented a great argument. But the base of Chomsky's argument was stronger.