You can, if you stop abstaining or voting third party out of protest. You can’t blame the electoral system for being ineffective if you don’t use it right.
The problem is systemic, it can’t be solved by one office in one election.
Y’know the old saying about the best and second best times to plant a tree? Sweeping political change takes time. You need progressive candidates to prove themselves on local and state levels.
It’ll take 6 years to replace every governor and congressperson, and based on the landscape I see, at least 5-10 years to promote enough progressives to a position suitable to candidacy. 15-20 years of voting for capable progressives in every race from school board to governor will provide us with a rich crop of experienced candidates.
That does mean voting lesser evil until you can get proven progressives on the ticket. That’s just reality. If you don’t vote for a candidate that wins, you didn’t get even the most meager semblance of representation. Not getting what you want because the voters that disagree with you outnumber the ones that agree is the fundamental principle of democracy. Show up. Vote, for someone who might win.
Republicans planted their tree 50 years ago. Progressives’ best move in the next few elections is show up in droves to big tent blue wave, and then splinter when the Republican party is defunct.
The problem is systemic, it can’t be solved by one office in one election.
Correct, the US Empire will always support Israel, and by extension, genocide.
Y’know the old saying about the best and second best times to plant a tree? Sweeping political change takes time. You need progressive candidates to prove themselves on local and state levels.
It’ll take 6 years to replace every governor and congressperson, and based on the landscape I see, at least 5-10 years to promote enough progressives to a position suitable to candidacy. 15-20 years of voting for capable progressives in every race from school board to governor will provide us with a rich crop of experienced candidates
Oh, lmao, this is what you meant. No, this fantasy will not happen. Perhaps you’ll find small-scale local reforms, but these candidates will not gain enough influence to make a difference at the federal level. The progressive candidate this election is Claudia De La Crúz, the DNC and GOP are far-right.
That does mean voting lesser evil until you can get proven progressives on the ticket. That’s just reality. If you don’t vote for a candidate that wins, you didn’t get even the most meager semblance of representation. Not getting what you want because the voters that disagree with you outnumber the ones that agree is the fundamental principle of democracy. Show up. Vote, for someone who might win.
Wrong. If you are a fixed lever that never moves, your support is taken for granted, and your views will never be represented. Neither the DNC nor the GOP will ever field progressive candidates.
Republicans planted their tree 50 years ago. Progressives’ best move in the next few elections is show up in droves to big tent blue wave, and then splinter when the Republican party is defunct.
The Republican Party will not go defunct. Even if the party disappears, a new one will take its place that is just as fascist, because fascism is a response to crumbling Capitalism. This is such a well-studied phenomenon. The GOP doesn’t exist and hold the views it does because it brainwashes the public, but because Material Conditions support the rise of fascism as an alignment between the Petite Bourgeoisie and large-scale Bourgeoisie against rising Socialist and Communist sympathies.
Read Reform or Revolution. The US will never meaningfully reform in a truly positive direction, it is only through Revolution that Americans have any hope. Feel free to save this comment and see that I’m correct in 12, 24, even 48 years from now, if there is still a US at that point.
All your points boil down to “My positions are not popular enough to win elections”.
I repeat,
Not getting what you want because the voters that disagree with you outnumber the ones that agree is the fundamental principle of democracy.
If your candidates can’t get support from voters, your revolution will be a dictatorship of unpopular positions. You’re saying that your positions are in the minority, but they should be implemented anyway. Regardless of how correct you think those positions are, this approach is definitely undemocratic.
All your points boil down to “My positions are not popular enough to win elections”.
No, they do not.
Israel is supported by the US Empire unconditionally because it needs Israel as a land-based aircraft carrier to secure the Petro-Dollar as the global standard. The DNC and GOP will never cease support for Israel.
The US is not a democracy. The media, state apparatus, police, and society itself are created for and maintained by the wealthiest, ie the large Banks and Monopolies with all of the money. Popular policy doesn’t get elected.
If your candidates can’t get support from voters, your revolution will be a dictatorship of unpopular positions. You’re saying that your positions are in the minority, but they should be implemented anyway. Regardless of how correct you think those positions are, this approach is definitely undemocratic.
Read the book I linked, nowhere did I suggest a random coup. Revolution is inevitable, and it cannot happen without mass support in the first place.
Revolution is inevitable, and it cannot happen without mass support in the first place.
Of course, which is the central problem with your reasoning. What is this “mass support” which is both large enough to coordinate a revolution, but too small to elect representatives? What percentage of the population is willing to do what it takes to unseat the government, but not willing to fill out a piece of paper every couple years?
Please, read the book I linked. The Electoral System is designed to prevent change, and the duopoly exists to prevent movement to the left. Even when revolutionary pressure builds, even if a party like PSL got elected, the system itself is designed to prevent change from occuring.
Solid take. Change happens from the bottom up, a little at a time. It’s a bummer that nothing big usually happens in one lifetime. I guess it’s easier to see the steps when looking through the lens of history, and frustrating when you’re actually living it.
If you can’t stop a genocide electorally, that’s not democracy.
You can, if you stop abstaining or voting third party out of protest. You can’t blame the electoral system for being ineffective if you don’t use it right.
How? Both candidates support genocide, is there an option on the ballot to dismantle the genocidal US Empire?
The problem is systemic, it can’t be solved by one office in one election.
Y’know the old saying about the best and second best times to plant a tree? Sweeping political change takes time. You need progressive candidates to prove themselves on local and state levels.
It’ll take 6 years to replace every governor and congressperson, and based on the landscape I see, at least 5-10 years to promote enough progressives to a position suitable to candidacy. 15-20 years of voting for capable progressives in every race from school board to governor will provide us with a rich crop of experienced candidates.
That does mean voting lesser evil until you can get proven progressives on the ticket. That’s just reality. If you don’t vote for a candidate that wins, you didn’t get even the most meager semblance of representation. Not getting what you want because the voters that disagree with you outnumber the ones that agree is the fundamental principle of democracy. Show up. Vote, for someone who might win.
Republicans planted their tree 50 years ago. Progressives’ best move in the next few elections is show up in droves to big tent blue wave, and then splinter when the Republican party is defunct.
Correct, the US Empire will always support Israel, and by extension, genocide.
Oh, lmao, this is what you meant. No, this fantasy will not happen. Perhaps you’ll find small-scale local reforms, but these candidates will not gain enough influence to make a difference at the federal level. The progressive candidate this election is Claudia De La Crúz, the DNC and GOP are far-right.
Wrong. If you are a fixed lever that never moves, your support is taken for granted, and your views will never be represented. Neither the DNC nor the GOP will ever field progressive candidates.
The Republican Party will not go defunct. Even if the party disappears, a new one will take its place that is just as fascist, because fascism is a response to crumbling Capitalism. This is such a well-studied phenomenon. The GOP doesn’t exist and hold the views it does because it brainwashes the public, but because Material Conditions support the rise of fascism as an alignment between the Petite Bourgeoisie and large-scale Bourgeoisie against rising Socialist and Communist sympathies.
Read Reform or Revolution. The US will never meaningfully reform in a truly positive direction, it is only through Revolution that Americans have any hope. Feel free to save this comment and see that I’m correct in 12, 24, even 48 years from now, if there is still a US at that point.
All your points boil down to “My positions are not popular enough to win elections”.
I repeat,
If your candidates can’t get support from voters, your revolution will be a dictatorship of unpopular positions. You’re saying that your positions are in the minority, but they should be implemented anyway. Regardless of how correct you think those positions are, this approach is definitely undemocratic.
No, they do not.
Israel is supported by the US Empire unconditionally because it needs Israel as a land-based aircraft carrier to secure the Petro-Dollar as the global standard. The DNC and GOP will never cease support for Israel.
The US is not a democracy. The media, state apparatus, police, and society itself are created for and maintained by the wealthiest, ie the large Banks and Monopolies with all of the money. Popular policy doesn’t get elected.
Read the book I linked, nowhere did I suggest a random coup. Revolution is inevitable, and it cannot happen without mass support in the first place.
Of course, which is the central problem with your reasoning. What is this “mass support” which is both large enough to coordinate a revolution, but too small to elect representatives? What percentage of the population is willing to do what it takes to unseat the government, but not willing to fill out a piece of paper every couple years?
Please, read the book I linked. The Electoral System is designed to prevent change, and the duopoly exists to prevent movement to the left. Even when revolutionary pressure builds, even if a party like PSL got elected, the system itself is designed to prevent change from occuring.
Hell, add The State and Revolution to your reading list to really cement it.
Solid take. Change happens from the bottom up, a little at a time. It’s a bummer that nothing big usually happens in one lifetime. I guess it’s easier to see the steps when looking through the lens of history, and frustrating when you’re actually living it.