Image Transcription:
A tweet from the George Takei Twitter account which states:
"A Democrat was in the White House when my family was sent to the internment camps in 1941. It was an egregious violation of our human and civil rights.
It would have been understandable if people like me said they’d never vote for a Democrat again, given what had been done to us.
But being a liberal, being a progressive, means being able to look past my own grievances and concerns and think of the greater good. It means working from within the Democratic party to make it better, even when it has betrayed its values.
I went on to campaign for Adlai Stevenson when I became an adult. I marched for civil rights and had the honor of meeting Dr. Martin Luther King. I fought for redress for my community and have spent my life ensuring that America understood that we could not betray our Constitution in such a way ever again.
Bill Clinton broke my heart when he signed DOMA into law. It was a slap in the face to the LGBTQ community. And I knew that we still had much work to do. But I voted for him again in 1996 despite my misgivings, because the alternative was far worse. And my obligation as a citizen was to help choose the best leader for it, not to check out by not voting out of anger or protest.
There is no leader who will make the decision you want her or him to make 100 percent of the time. Your vote is a tool of hope for a better world. Use it wisely, for it is precious. Use it for others, for they are in need of your support, too."
End Transcription.
The last paragraph I find particularly powerful and something more people really should take into account.
This upcoming election I'm voting for independent or 3rd party. Fuck blue or red.
Republicans keep their hold on power by systematically disenfranchising voters who disagree with their policies. In a perfect world, voting for a third-party candidate that has no chance to win might have some positive impact; in our world, it means you're doing the Republicans' work for them.
There are only two choices that matter, unfortunately. Voting third party may as well mean not voting at all. Vote in primaries, vote locally and vote for whoever is for voting reform.
You will never attract voters by being condescending, direct your anger at the party instead cause that's where the problem is.
We aren't stupid, we understand strategic voting and how less bad is preferable, we just don't take this self-righteous position about it that you think enables you to speak down to political allies. You know that can't work and will push people away, so it makes it seem like you aren't genuinely concerned if you are so willing to engage in this counter-intuitive approach that can only serve your personal pride.
Dems don't want a candidate that could easily win against Trump, Hillary even helped him win the primary, and Dem PACs give money to run ads for fascist Republican candidates, they're also supplying a fascist government's genocide as we speak. Shaming left voters who are political allies rather than the party who doesn't cater to them is a confession.
You don't know who I am for one and if the DNC wants to win against Trump they would run a candidate who could easily beat him. The money that funds the Democrats comes from the same coffers that fund the GOP, it's corporate donors who give campaign funds to those who further their interests, which is balanced by catering or branding the party to voters. Both parties are consented on the neoliberal economic arrangement, the immigration policy of Trump is now status quo under Biden, the tarrifs everyone complained about are in full swing still, the weapons that enable fascists around the world are flowing quicker than ever. The illusion of Democrats being a way out of this is, and thinking people can't strategically vote for them in disapproval because they're fascism-lite, is denying the ability for change to happen and people to organize. "Don't say what you feel and fall in line" is helping the downward spiral.
If you're allowing the fascists to gain power and kill democracy, you're not my political ally. Left voters don't hand power to fascists - that's shameful behaviour.
Democrats enable fascism by funding Republican fascist primary candidates and selling arms that are explicitly used in a fascist genocide to bomb civilians.
Why do you assume I don't understand strategic voting?
Why did you point out what you did?
I direct my anger at the party plenty - just not on the one day of the election cycle that will threaten democracy.
Why do you assume someone like me wouldn't strategically vote in the same manner? I understand strategic voting just fine thanks.
~~Why do you think I assumed that? I certainly said nothing of the sort.~~
I did in my first reply to you.
Because you seemed pretty passionate about defending people engaging in that sort of behaviour. Again, the one day that isn't for that is the one day democracy is on the line.
Democracy doesn't exist when you're coerced, and the economic conditions behind all of this are consented to by both parties. All the stuff Trump did with tariffs and immigration is still active under the Democrats, I mean Biden is finishing the border wall but you won't hear Democrat voters complaining now, haven't heard anything about the kids in cages since the Democrats won either etc. They only care when it's politically convenient, as good liberals do, it's about using these examples to look superior in the moment then quietly consenting when it's not convenient. Pointing out the hypocrisy gets you shamed by them cause they assume you don't understand strategic voting and how "less bad" can exist, they'd rather explain it over and over like you're a child than address the fact they actually support fascism too on the down low.
The liberal take on Democrats right now is basically, "it's a shame this fascist genocide is hurting Biden's polling numbers." I think you've already lost if you're in that position. At least I can say what I see and react to it freely without some institutional obligation to consent to. The impulse to do this is suppressed by Democrats for fear of losing the election, but it's only through expressing dissatisfaction that you can even begin to organize anything different, everyone hiding their true feelings and quietly consenting is enabling the downward spiral. And they'll say "yes organize" but as soon as that means coming up against the Democrats it's "fall in line" again.
So you see one party that's actively burning things to the ground, and is likely to swap elections with a series of genocides, and another party that's not undoing the bad things the fascists did, and you say they're the same, and then ~~vote~~ defend voting in a way that empowers the fascists. You think you're being coerced because a terrible option exists that you should avoid? Wait till they're in power.
You understand why I think this is moronic, right? Childish fucking virtue signalling that risks democracy. As I said, work to make the Democrats better literally every other day of the election cycle, then vote like a goddamned adult - like lives are on the line.
You mean genocides within your borders, because Democrats are already enabling genocides outside your borders. Like a good liberal you can ignore those or appeal to them at your political convenience.
And no... you are coerced in to voting Democrat because the alternative is more aggressive fascism. You have no choice but to vote for the less bad option. Democrats give ad money to fascist GOP candidates betting on you doing this, they're easier to win against because they can run on being the less bad party, coercing your vote out of pure fear of the alternative. I see it's working well on you. These parties serve donors not you, donors want this and give money to both parties, in return you get to choose the aesthetic of neoliberal capitalism you want to be represented by.
You think it's moronic because you're drawing an equivalency where I'm not, I'm very clearly telling you the differences between GOP and Democrats and you're choosing to interpret as me saying they're the same. They're both right wing parties one is just center-right and uses language of the left to brand themselves with, the other is middle-far right and uses fashy language to brand themselves with.
My major point is you shouldn't be happy with this arrangement, strategically voting within this arrangement isn't profound or complicated, and nobody should be shamed for expressing how the result of the state of politics in the US right now affects them. Instead embrace how bad it is and use that as motivation to organize. As in the past change will come if enough people are hurting enough to organize along class lines, the Populist movement and the Civil Rights movement both came out of labor organizing.
Ah - you're an accelerationist - there's not a party that perfectly represents you, so you'll vote in a way that'll give power to the fascists so they make everything worse, end democracy, ramp up support for the foreign genocide, and commit a bunch domestically so the survivors get fed up enough to hopefully revolt and dismantle that government entirely, rebuild from scratch, and hopefully build something better. Because getting a bunch of workers killed while making life worse for everyone is the strategic, pro-worker thing to do.
You don't need to burn everything to the ground and get a bunch of workers killed to organise. You deserve to be first against the wall when the fascists win.
Uhh no.. recognizing the decaying structure of American politics does not mean someone wants that. See how quick you make someone your worst enemy, how liberal of you.
I recognise the problems. The issue that that your solution to those problems is to make them all worse, burn democracy to the ground and cause a bunch of genocides because that'll somehow magically make it better.
I think I might have overestimated you when I called you an accelerationist - between the incoherent pseudo-leftist nonsense, American diabolist leanings, "fixing" things by electing fascists, performative third-party nonsense, and calling everyone a lib... Are you a Jimmy Dore fan?
The fascists are the enemy - you're just their useful idiot... and what an idiot you are.
Lol okay you're just making things up out of anger at this point cause you can't find any faults with what I've said. If I was accelerationist I'd say vote GOP but I'm not, strategically vote Democrat so the process is slower, build labor power and fight the economic system that is causing fascism to rise. Just don't act like you're high and mighty or exceptionally intelligent for voting for the less bad Democrats because they're part of this system too.
Your politics is determined by the economic conditions you're in and what advances your material interests in that arrangement, you don't really have control over that. You have ideaology, which is the difference between the values you think you hold with those that advance your material interests. Structural stresses change these conditions and alter the political ideology which people believe advances their interests. That's happening all the time independent of individual human agency. This is basic dialectics and I also subscribe to Niklas Luhmann's social systems theory. If you want to actually know my point of view rather than making up weird shit to get internet-angry at.
Have I not made it crystal clear that I don't give a fuck, so long as you vote to keep the fascists out on election day, and then work to improve things at any other moment in the election cycle?
The fact that you keep coming back to disagree with me and call me a lib when you're doing exactly what I'm advocating for is unhinged.
I'm uninterested in the rest of your nonsense (particularly given your deeply weird behavior), and there's no value in dismantling it.
Kinda more like the opposite
What else have I expressed concern about, champ?
Notice how blue voters shame you instead of questioning why the party isn't attracting your vote. Think about how you're being shamed in to voting for a party which provides weapons for an ongoing fascist genocide, then they say if you don't support this the fascist will win, and it will be your fault. Not the Democrats fault, the ones who could easily run a popular candidate to beat the historically unpopular Trump, nope it's the fault of the voters they need, and they want to get them by shaming them in to it. Worked great in 2016, keep it up guys, best case the Democrats win and keep funding ad campaigns for fascist GOP candidates, don't forget Hillary's campaign helped Trump get the nomination. Downward spiral politics.
Why doesn't the Dem party simply run one of the many popular candidates they know will win against Trump then?
You have to be elected to become a delegate and for that to happen you need contributions from either grassroots campaign or Democrat PACs who will not support anyone that goes against what their donors want. That's why very few Democrats are in any way "left" politically, and why they don't run candidates that will certainly win against Trump. The donors who fund the party don't want what you and I want, they don't even necessarily care who wins because the corporations who donate to these PACs also donate to Republican PACs, it's capitalism and if it's one thing the two parties have a consensus on it's the neoliberal consensus.
You're showing how clearly you don't understand voting or primaries
You vote for delegates who in turn vote for the candidate, delegates are darlings of the party's interests not yours. You can't change the party through this self-reinforcing process, no matter how many times you say you can the party simply is what it is.
That would be amazing if they did, but I think you missed the part about human rights being on the line if you don't strategically vote for them. We're aware it sucks.
No, candidates "earn your vote" in the primaries -- the general election is damage control. The fact that needs to be explained is depressing.
We saw what abstaining and protest votes got us in 2016 and nobody should be stupid enough to fall for that again. I will absolutely shame someone for being an idiot incapable of pragmatism in a choice between "bad" or "irrecoverably catastrophic" when the options are already outside of their control.
You know Biden or Trump (or his proxy) is going to be the president in 2024. You also know MAGA voters are organized, motivated, and will turn out to vote for their candidate. It is a bald fact that 3rd party or protest votes will only serve to help Donald Trump get elected and nothing else.
Good fucking luck forwarding any leftist cause or candidates in your lifetime if Trump is elected.
Liberal-splaining this ad infinitum, calling people idiots, and blaming those the party (and you) turn away is again a confession. The party won't change if you don't focus your concerns in that direction, and shaming your political allies is self-sabotage.
As they said, you can push for this change in the primaries. No shame in being principaled or taking a long shot there, but in the general you're just handing power to a fascist if you don't vote dem.
I don't get why you're going around every comment here to complain about being talked down to while you seem to not even understand what you're arguing against.
Let me guess I'm also a Russian troll? Walkaway didn't amount to very much in practice, it was mostly people larping online with a bit of viral marketing around it, one of the organizers I actually doxxed to the FBI after they said they attended the Jan 6 insurrection. (That's why you don't register your LLC to your home address.)
I'm not arguing against voting for the opposition because I understand strategic voting. I'm arguing against the condescending tactic used to shame the left, supposedly your political allies, which I also think is mostly a show people engage in online.
This is how democracies die. Fascists come to power when their opposition fractures. I'm not telling you what to do, I'm just telling you how it is. Choose wisely.
Dems should band together and all vote for someone in a third party to show current party leadership you are no longer putting up with their choices and don't need them. Vote wisely.