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this post was submitted on 24 Oct 2024
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A literal pandemic killed millions of Americans and the status quo between the Democrats and the Ivermectin party barely even twitched.
If you think there is a realistic electoral path out of our bipartisan death spiral, I would love to hear it. I'm just cynical enough not to be surprised that neither complicity in genocide abroad or the mass murders of schoolchildren at home will convince the Democrats to start treating Republicans like a threat.
What exactly does "treating Republicans like a threat" look like to you?
An end to the fillibuster.
Fistfights in Congress.
Omnibus bills failing as Democrats refuse to put Republican policies in place.
Three-letter-agencies start prosecuting churches that give political endorsements.
Y'know, anything other than bending over backwards to try and work with them.
Can you be more specific?
I agree, and Senate Democrats seem to be coming around to it too.
Pointless, though amusing.
Agreed.
Romneycare, immigration, defense budgeting, etc etc etc.
Democrats are the only party still pushing bipartisanship.
I get that, I'm asking what you mean by "refuse". You mean just vote against Republican policies every time, no compromise? Because they're already almost doing that.
If a Republican attaches an amendment to a bill, then it should never even make it out of committee. If they propose a bill, it should be tabled and forgotten about. If they try to stick a rider on a must-pass omnibus bill, then let it fail. Republicans in congress should be treated with contempt, not respect.
So, no laws ever get passed.
Congratulations, now Congress is...doing pretty much the same thing as now?
The way out of a death spiral is not directly into oblivion. It fucking sucks that genocide is in the category of really important things that need addressing but it is not in the category of things that can be addressed in this particular election.
The electoral path is not at the ballot box every four years at the presidential level. It's down the ballot and on the other the years. It's building political capital for the cause you believe in by showing usefulness to the people seeking or holding power and talking to them about the issues you care about. Volunteer for your local house candidate and talk to people in their campaign about how important it is to you that they don't support genocide, urge them to vote against arms shipments and denounce settlements. Tell your representative how you want them to vote and get other people to do the same.
Working to get people elected gets them to listen to you, that's why there's so much money involved in elections.
So we need to change course, that means not doing the same thing we always do.
I strongly agree. Not only does it fucking suck, the lack of any reasonable choice betrays the entire electoral system as an anti-democratic waste that deserves nothing but our contempt.
I can't think of a response to this that isn't condescending. It's cute that you think we will be allowed to vote our way out of a system that is designed to keep the levers of power out of our hands.
The better solution is not to put your fate in their hands in the first place. Don't build political capital for someone else, build alternative structures of power that can serve the needs of your community.
Okay, so you don't believe in representational democracy. I'm not surprised that if you can't be bothered to vote then you can't be bothered to influence who you get to vote for.
What's a realistic way to build these alternative structures? How do these alternative structures work such that your local needs are met and the genocide in Palestine gets stopped?
Nope. Relying on political operatives to faithfully represent our interests is how we got into this mess in the first place.
I already voted. I'm just not pretending that we get to have any influence over who we get to vote for.
Follow a historical example like the Black Panthers. If your community has an unmet need, serve it and use it as an opportunity to organize your neighbors.
Nothing threatens the structure of power more than the existence of organized groups of people who don't depend on it.
Please explain to me slowly because I have never read a political science book of any kind: how does threatening power structures through personal independence stop the Palestinian genocide?
Even without directly opposing the State, the mere existence of alternative power structures poses an existential threat to it.
For just one small example, having fewer desperate people means there will be fewer volunteers for military service, making recruitment more expensive and sapping the budget available for foreign military aid.
Fewer military volunteers also means fewer people indoctrinated into the military mindset, further reducing support for military adventurism.
For another, organized people who work together to solve common problems are also more likely to recognize the shared humanity of those whom the State has declared to be enemies. It's hard to sell a genocide to the voters when they understand that they have much more in common with the victims than their own political leaders.
You're a fucking idiot.