this post was submitted on 18 Oct 2024
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Stop worrying, start voting. Especially for local positions.
This is true. But it's incomplete.
We do not have a functioning democracy. Most people feel that. Voting works when there are candidates with voting for, and votes translate into change, but when the system has been hollowed out by money and judicial capture and voting rules designed to prevent actual change, we are in a bind.
Will voting fix this? No, not singularly. So voting doesn't make a difference? Absolutely not! It's still one of our most powerful tools, even as weakend as it is!
Vote ... and March. Vote... and boycott. Vote... and disrupt. Vote... and organize your neighbors.
We can't stop voting, but that can't be our biggest or only tool. And everyone needs to understand this.
Because people don't vote.
Stop voting with your feelings. Stop making voting decisions with your feelings. Stop making decisions that affect your society with your feelings.
Voting also works when there aren't good options because harm reduction is also important. Not voting only supports the goals of people who want to take away your right to vote. If you don't vote because there are no candidates "worth voting for" then you have already helped the authoritarians achieve their goals. If you do not vote, you are saying "I don't care how my government operates".
This has been allowed to happen because people don't vote. The people who had the power to do those things got it by discouraging voting and manipulating the remaining voter groups.
Voting could have prevented it. And can still prevent it from getting worse, while we work on fixing the existing problems.
Absolutely. Also, vote... and unionize, so that you have another place where you can make your voice heard.
Voting is the bare minimum a citizen should do to participate in their government. If you choose not to vote, you have no right to complain about the government.
You can only be represented if you participate.
People (mainly progressives) choosing not to vote because they're waiting for a candidate "worth voting for" are THE reason why conservatives and regressives have more political power and more representatives in government - because they vote reliably.
It sounds like there's no fundamental disagreement between us. It sounds like the only difference is one of attitude.
I worry sometimes that people express frustration with the state of things as though articulating what people should do might serve as a road map to getting them to do it. But getting people to do it requires understanding why they don't.