And frankly, even if you're literally portioning rations for the revolution you plan to start tomorrow, the idea of not taking the absolutely minute amount of time, in the grand scheme of things, that it takes to potentially positively affect change is still absurd. If this really was the revolution, then the people's army couldn't afford to leave strategic advantages like that on the table.
Somebody said something to this effect once: Voting isn't about picking which hero is going to save us; it's about picking the kind of villain we have to fight against.
I just don't even understand how this is still a conversation. It's literally not an either/or dichotomy here. All of those things you want to do to prepare for the revolution or whatever? You can still do all of them and vote. You lose absolutely nothing by voting. Zero. It's just such a batshit mentality from the very onset.
After really trying to engage sincerely with a couple of these folks online the only conclusion I can reach is that they are trying to suppress the vote under the guise of being extremist left. Like you say, there's zero rational strategy to not using or tanking your vote, and only can be defended if you claim both candidates are the same. They persist in saying that, with trash like "Revolution is necessary, electoralism cannot work." to rationalize not voting toward the lesser of two evils.
"Anarchists against electoralism" is a tiny number of people the Dems like to scapegoat. The vast majority of voters don't even know Anarchists exist.
Unfortunately, most people are checked out of "politics". I wish Democrats were more focused on reaching out and getting people excited to vote, rather than the constant complaints about people to the left of you.
Exactly this. I think there are only two people you hear saying this: the overtly bad actors trying to suppress votes or the few extremely gullible idiots who stupidly get wrapped up in the lies of former. Thankfully I think it's usually clear before long which of the two you're talking to and only one of them is worth your time, and they're the rarer of them.
All of those things you want to do to prepare for the revolution or whatever? You can still do all of them and vote.
I mean, a few of the things I want to do to prepare for a revolution are explicitly illegal, and I don't have enough commas in my bank account to get away with treason.
And this has any relevancy on voting.... How? Either you're going to the do the illegal things, which can be done on any day other than Nov 5 or you aren't going to the do the illegal things and you can still vote on Nov 5.
I don't give a shit about your personal revolutionary savior cosplaying fantasy; it is entirely non-sequitur to the topic of how voting is still the reasonable choice even for the revolutionarily-motivated.
Canonical Strawman Leftist™ describing their utopia: “Everyone votes on everything, and we engage in thoughtful discussion to persuade our neighbors to make good choices with their votes.”
Same leftist describing today: “Voting is pointless, and it’s impossible to change anyone’s mind.”
If the threat of your neighbors, everyone in Gaza and the West Bank and Lebanon and in Taiwan and Ukraine being killed while worsening the climate crisis and plunging over 300 million into fascism isn't "exciting" to voters, then those voters are sociopaths.
Most Americans are extraordinarily ignorant of anything outside of america. Shit a lot of people dont even know the war in Ukraine is still raging. The only thing they can really see is the cost of living, and we suffered terribly under biden.
Theres a video by britmonkey explaining how Americans became so ignorant
Didn't we just have a four year democratic regime? What happened? Did they just forget? On Jan 6th, will Biden go "oh shoot! We were supposed to do something about abortion rights! Ah well, next presidency."
The burden of proof is on revolutionaries. Always!
You not only need to show that your radically new society is a genuine improvement (and won’t collapse into a brutal dictatorship) but also that it’s enough of an improvement to be worth the millions of lives that would be lost during the revolution! Furthermore, you need to show that the new society you propose can accommodate people whose ideology is different from your own.
Assuming that humans will all think and behave the same way has never worked throughout human history. Liberal democracy (and to a lesser extent enlightened monarchy) has been the only time period to accommodate diverse opinions, scientific and economic flourishing, and strong protections for individual liberty (and sexuality) simultaneously with a large population. All of the other systems were either very small (and so relied on the close bonds of kinship and inter-familial relationships) or dominated by brutal despots.
Thus, as much as we hate our current system for its many flaws, it’s so much better than everything that has gone before that the bar has been set very high.
There "anti-electoralist leftists" are nearly undisguisable from those nihilistic radical centrists, except one likes to LARP as the Stalinist secret police.
One day you'll understand what "non voting leftists" truly mean.
When kamala wins, and the world still spirals into fascism, maybe you'll see what they mean
At "best" they are an accelerationist, seeing Trump as a useful idiot to burn it all down, and then they can swoop in and "save" us. At worse, you've reached the Kremlin Election Emergency Hotline...
Why so angry? NPC moment for real. If god forbid i was American i'd vote for kamala but this high and mighty attitude of never holding your politicians accountable and ostracizing anyone who even dares whisper such thing is exactly what allows fascists like trump to reach the vote. Your blind rage for any kind of complex thought that goes beyond "blue good and red bad" is not as democratic as you think.
How does voting help? It's just a dumb question, and I, personally, am not saying people shouldn't vote. I'm just saying not to act like voting will stop fascism and not voting will enable it, it's just not that simple
You're absolutely right. Most of these self-proclaimed leftists don't even pretend to have any clue how to start a revolution, whilst demanding it as the only possible course of action.
People were saying the same about Biden and look at all the stuff he did. Green energy, ira, drug price controls, chips act, etc. So yes voting Dems will give you a better system.