this post was submitted on 15 Feb 2025
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You can only make statements like this, by ignoring history. People in the US have voted for 150+ years. This is the result.
Again, if voting is working so well, why do things keep getting worse? Are they just not voting hard enough? No, it's the system that's broken, it's theatre, a catch-22, a rigged game. Those of us who've studied US history and it's class history learned this a long time ago. The liberals coming and telling us to vote to fix things, aren't bringing any new arguments, and appear to us like fanatical zealots, who think that if they repeat mantras over and over, it cancels history.
You are absolutely right! And there is so much more we should stop doing:
Nowadays liberals are doing their best to cripple the anti-war movement again by discouraging protests, and increasingly corral people into voting. They stood against the Iraq-war protests, just as they stand against pro-palestine protestors now.
Hey I agree with you on pretty much everything else, but the Vietnam and Iraq war protests are bad examples of efficacy. They were necessary, and should have been bigger, but both those wars went on for like 20 years.
With Vietnam I think the US protest movement played a significant role in the defeat(the docu Sir no Sir! has a good overview of it), less so with recent US wars. But that's also due to the size and growth of the US police state, it's imprisoning of activists, and it's better ability to minimize the efficacy of protests.
But ya I agree with the US rightward turn since the 1980s, it's union and anti-war movements have been on life support. The historian J Sakai thinks that US unionism fully died by then (especially if you look at stats like strikes per year, which dropped to single digits).
Yeah the decline of union membership is what I feel really limits working class political power in the US. We've basically ceded all our power (I understand the reasons are not so simple), and our concept of solidarity. I don't know how we can really build any persistent (and effective) movement without organized labor.
I think you can use your vote trying to prevent the pest, since fighting collera is easier. If you think there is no difference what so ever between having a right wing government (democrats) versus an authoritarian (republicans) I would argue that both parties dont care about average people, but with the right wing government in place you have It a bit easier fighting your battles in direct action etc. You bring positive change via Direct action and community building, with your vote you can influence the circumstances a little bit and how hard the fight will be. But There will be a fight no matter who is in charge. But do you want to play this on hard or nightmare mode?
Great point
Brother you aren't thinking far enough!
Seriously, thank you for the laugh. This is one weird ass twist on "ends justify the means" here. "Current situation retroactively invalidates any previous progress or the tools used to reach it" maybe? Quite a mouthful.
Hey Dessalines, have you considered that you can vote and do other things, like activism?
I'm not joining your cult. You've given me no good reasons to join it.
Ah, dodging the question, common tankie behaviour.
They directly answered your question in its entirety.
They didn't