I’m ambivalent about respect from peeps about following the leader.
I’m ambivalent about Quakers not voting. If choose not to decide you still have made a choice. I think they should set aside their childish beliefs, but it’s a free country, whatever.
I think the third point is off-topic.
How do you figure? The senatorial donkeys staged a vote boycott stunt. How is that not relevant in a thread about boycotting votes?
If this is a troll, please expunge post haste. My 13 year old was complaining the other day that all my wife and I do is talk politics and he is sick of it. I explained that our nation is at the brink, Trump is awful etc. He comes back with the statement that he plans not to vote when he 18. So I come back over the top with you would be enabling facism, racism and other evil isms. He 4 bets me with, "Dad, if everybody just doesn’t vote, then we’ll have anarchy, and that would be better then Trump. Check and mate? I’m raising an anarchist and I’m ok with that.
I assumed that the topic was about constituencies not voting for representatives not the governing machinations of the representatives.
Man, X >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Rush.
Cool folks too. I briefly partied with them “back stage” at the PB Block Party. They played this a couple times in it’s degenerate heyday (post Johnny Zoom era).
I’m not a huge Rush fan, it just had the right lyric there.
Although US Senate levels of voters is pretty uncommon, there are plenty of US House sized constituencies around the world. So the dynamic would be the exactly the same in those sized pools of voters regardless if the voters are pros (politicians) -vs- ams (rank-n-file voters), correct?
Or not. Perhaps there’s a fundamental difference between representatives vs civilians that doesn’t involve these scaling issues at all? That’s the kind of nuance I’d like to see discussed ITT.
And, is there a difference in scale… as in voting works one way with smaller numbers in the pool -vs- another way altogether with larger numbers in the pool? This is another of the nuances I’d like to see discussed ITT.
I think it’s a matter of organization and solidarity. The Dems in the Senate can maybe make a meaningful statement because they can organize almost 50% of the vote. The Kenyan protestors may have organized enough people to boycott to make a recognizable statement. Not voting as a protest in the US is just lost in the sea of not voting out of apathy at the moment.
So… you’re saying that sometimes, in certain circumstances, vote boycotting can be effective. And that at other times, in other circumstances, vote boycotting might not be so effective. And that, in general…
Vote boycotting is just another tool in the toolbox. And that… any particular situation must be examined in some detail… to have an informed opinion if that tool is a good fit for any task as hand.
I’m legitimately curious: do you think your behavior in this thread was a good look for you? Because you seemed absolutely unhinged and creepy to me.
A week before the election that will literally decide whether we fall under right wing dictatorship, but sure let’s have a stupid fucking thread championing the moral high ground of not voting because hero derp then the dictatorship or whatever will not have legitimacy.
This is the dumbest thread in the history of this community.
Agreed
Great point. I just got another 100k DMs from white, non-college educated, swing state, independent, undecided, likely voters. They read this thread and are all withholding their votes now. If just 10 posters can make 20 GOTV posts in ITT in next 15 minutes, we may be able to sway them back.
Some of us are out here putting sweat and tears into this and trying to get others to volunteer, and if the leftists in that thread shitting all over our efforts weren’t bad enough, we’ve got this one to convince people the mere act of voting is bad.
Fuck off with this thread right now.
You want to discourage them? Show up in the goddamn primaries to vote/text/donate for Bernie or Justice Dems or whoever.
It seems like voting (usually) has less risk than some other tactics in a diverse approach. I’d be hesitant to eliminate it as a tactic unless presented with an extremely compelling case.
It also seems like this thread has little functional upside being posted now vs in two weeks, aside from engagement. I think it has a larger potential for downside.
I doubt there’s any potential for downside. Maybe Sabo hasn’t voted and you can convince him to vote? Upside? He’s in CA, so it doesn’t matter for POTUS unless you think running up the score helps.
I’ve already voted, so it’s too late for him to stop me.
Leaving aside for a moment the confounding concerns regarding timing and comparativeness (to anything else at all)…
What possible & measurable IRL downside are you imagining?
