And what did Marx think about voting for the lesser evil:
Even where there is no prospect of achieving their election the workers must put up their own candidates to preserve their independence, to gauge their own strength and to bring their revolutionary position and party standpoint to public attention. They must not be led astray by the empty phrases of the democrats, who will maintain that the workers’ candidates will split the democratic party and offer the forces of reaction the chance of victory. All such talk means, in the final analysis, that the proletariat is to be swindled. The progress which the proletarian party will make by operating independently in this way is infinitely more important than the disadvantages resulting from the presence of a few reactionaries in the representative body.
I will be no party to it and that will make little difference. You will take large part and bravely march to the polls, and that also will make no difference. Stop running Russia and giving Chinese advice when we cannot rule ourselves decently. Stop yelling about a democracy we do not have. Democracy is dead in the United States. Yet there is still nothing to replace real democracy. Drop the chains, then, that bind our brains. Drive the money-changers from the seats of the Cabinet and the halls of Congress. Call back some faint spirit of Jefferson and Lincoln,and when again we can hold a fair election on real issues, let’s vote, and not till then. Is this impossible? Then democracy in America is impossible.
That’s a very poignant piece, and it was my motivation back in 2000 when I refused to vote for Bush or Gore. It was also before I knew anything else about Du Bois and the context in which he wrote that piece, and it certainly wasn’t when a guy like Trump was running.
I mean, in the greater sense yes. I was one of countless apathetic or cynical people who could have actually voted and possibly made a difference. People have been reposting and miscontextualizing this Du Bois bit since the 50’s, trying to trick people who think their smart into feeling good about not voting. They do this because they know it works.
He was a 90 something year old black man when he wrote this piece in 1956. Compared to the things he lived through earlier in his life, the stakes in 56 were a little less urgent. Likewise the stakes he lived through in 56 weren’t as urgent as the stakes this year.
He also wrote it in the hopes that voter apathy would send a message. He was right… but not how he hoped. It sent a message that spreading voter apathy was a better tactic than changing policy. Again, there’s a reason why this piece is trotted out every four years.
Most people are trying to bring in social programs, not communism. The Democrats can do social programs, and they can do them better when we move the Overton window left by continually voting in Democrats
Oh, I’ll just have to wait. The overton window isn’t going to move to the left. It’s already so far to the right that the “left” party supports genocide.
And what did Marx think about voting for the lesser evil:
Karl Marx and Frederick Engels Address of the Central Committee to the Communist League, London, March 1850
Trump and his cult will be a little more than “a few reactionaries in the representative body”.
And Marx is talking about Parliamentary systems here, which may color the analysis.
Maybe an American opinion:
-Why I Won’t Vote: W.E.B. Du Bois
That’s a very poignant piece, and it was my motivation back in 2000 when I refused to vote for Bush or Gore. It was also before I knew anything else about Du Bois and the context in which he wrote that piece, and it certainly wasn’t when a guy like Trump was running.
So, you’re the reason Gore lost? /s
I mean, in the greater sense yes. I was one of countless apathetic or cynical people who could have actually voted and possibly made a difference. People have been reposting and miscontextualizing this Du Bois bit since the 50’s, trying to trick people who think their smart into feeling good about not voting. They do this because they know it works.
What is out of context?
He was a 90 something year old black man when he wrote this piece in 1956. Compared to the things he lived through earlier in his life, the stakes in 56 were a little less urgent. Likewise the stakes he lived through in 56 weren’t as urgent as the stakes this year.
He also wrote it in the hopes that voter apathy would send a message. He was right… but not how he hoped. It sent a message that spreading voter apathy was a better tactic than changing policy. Again, there’s a reason why this piece is trotted out every four years.
lovely
bravo
just perfect
would that we could hear it in his own voice
Most people are trying to bring in social programs, not communism. The Democrats can do social programs, and they can do them better when we move the Overton window left by continually voting in Democrats
But won’t.
Obamacare. Try voting and moving the Overton window and they can do more.
I do vote. The window keeps moving to the right. To the point where a handout to the insurance industry is considered a social program.
Just think about how much worse it could be.
Oh, I’ll just have to wait. The overton window isn’t going to move to the left. It’s already so far to the right that the “left” party supports genocide.
Do you honestly think it hasn’t moved right because Trump won? Now think what will happen if he wins again.
Ps you’re what the meme is about. Except the meme is wrong, didn’t save anything because Trump would escalate it.
And there it is, like clockwork.
The assumption that anyone who doesn’t love genocide must be a Trump supporter.
Huey Long on the difference between Democrats and Republicans.
hey do you have a Mastodon or anything? a peertube channel? time for new friends?