Sadly i see it as my only legal move. So i am compelled to take it even if risky. Part of that is taking heat off the narrative that non voters are to blame for the democratic loss. Not only that it’s unfair, but it should be socially acceptable the vote in a manner that represents your interests.
I already acknowledge that possibility with that whole ‘cutting my nose off the save my self’ analogy. The problem is i am looking over the long term. What i see is a history of vote blue no matter who being the rallying cry of neocons who are advocating in resisting progressive policy, and promoting historic republicans policies. That under the current leadership we continue to ratchet right. If this pattern persists the situation will get worse. This requires a change as far as i am concerned. So i May conditionally vote Democrat when i find a candidate i can trust, that is a conditional.
If you are a pragmatist, then you must see that the current pattern of damage mitigation has ratcheted us into a worse and worse position. Before the last election “now is not the time! We can talk about reform after we stop trump” and i with great discomfort obliged. Well now it’s time, as apparently we are never going to move on from blaming the scape-goat and also full on refuse to acknowledge the democrats fault. If There will never be an appropriate time to deal with the duplicitous party, then it might as well as be now.
A pragmatist should see the end of the path this leads to and change accordingly knowing that the pragmatic approach means possible pain involved. To me voting blue no matter who is surrendering decision making with the hope that against all evidence the Democratic Party will change once they get everything they want. That to me seems to be an idealist.
And i usually prefer progressive policies over lip service. It’s unfortunate that Democratic leadership chose their position. I am not cutting off my nose to spite my face, i am cutting off my nose to save my person. Seems my nose was destined to come off regardless.
My pitch if you had been watching, and my whole reason for being here in the first place was the comment that, 100 days into a trump presidency still blames the large group of progressive disenfranchised voters for the fall of democracy. These voters are not agents of political power beyond who they vote for. If they did not vote for democrats, that is because of a deficiency in the democratic platform. The democrats do not get to be a progressive platform by default because they are the party of damage mitigation. They are by all intense and purposes, a right wing political party who’s demonstrated position is on passing conservatives policies that are more temperate then the republicans. they post lip service to progressive values when it comes time to vote, and then is thrown away when it comes time to act.
They want my vote, they can act like it.
If i do it’s my right. Don’t like it? I don’t care. But i will most likely vote independent for someone i trust to push progressive policy.
People usually learn not to touch the stove when they get burned. The democrats have a large segment of voter apathy and disillusionment. They caused this, and we all got burned. So let’s see if they continue to burn themselves. If anything it seems to me that the Democratic Party is being passive to trumps actions because they are playing chicken with progressive voters. It puts the neocon on the ballot or else it gets the trump again. But the stance of damage mitigation is a short term and short sighted goal that sacrifices the future direction of governance. My vote so far is my right, don’t like my vote? Though.
Doing ‘nothing’ Is a stragetic choice. And i didn’t say i wasn’t going to vote i said i was not going to vote blue no matter who. I will not vote for neoconservatism. Period. I did that last election, and was rewarded with democratic lack of action and their talk of further relinquishing of progressive ideals to correct their stagnant voter problem that they caused.
My leverage is my vote and they can not just have it. No party deserves my loyalty. And if i can’t trust the democrats to fight a tyrant when it’s needed then i can’t trust them to not be one when they have power. With out pressure they have no onus to change and this is my one tool to get that change.
If you were unwilling to debate you should have just said so to your self and and remained silent.
Thats dishonest and you know it. I want progressive change. I know the path to it is blocked by both political parties. And so my actions must be to address this. The first step is to change the party most likely to do so. My avenues to do that are very limited. And so my only leverage to direct a change is with my vote. There is no punishing anyone, if you are upset at this calculated choice, then take that up with the agent that made the calculated choice to abandon the progressive vote.
Plan? You already know my plan. To abstain from backing the democrats until they become a progressive minded party, or break. I am outright telling you of voter disillusionment. Sure i may vote for someone like Bernie Sanders, an independent that wears a D when he can use it. But i will no longer vote blue no matter who. They want to run a neocon? They can do it without me. The whole reason i spoke up is that the constant blaming of disillusioned voters for the failures of the Democratic Party is a distraction that seeks to prevent your plan in the first place.
Want the progressive vote? Better push progressive policy. Better fight conservative policies. The democrats do neither
I am not the democrats, and i am not a democrat as the party has made it painfully obvious. They do not stand for progressive ideals, they actively shut It down. So no i am not my own enemy, i literally do not have a primary party to represent my interest.
I did not make a call to action, i told you why i will not vote Democrat again. It is a statement of the situation at hand. And looking at the polling numbers, it seems my path is the one actually being tread. Good luck bullying the disenfranchised progressive vote back into lock step with “authoritarianism but slower”. It seems to be working out so well for you.
I am not the ones screaming at voters. I am not the one who blames an entire group of disenfranchised progressive voters whom democrats told to get fucked, even when the math didn’t shake out.
‘Hey guys, you know how the Republican party turned extreme due to the oligarchs funding a think tank managed to use their institutional power and wealth to organize the installation of agents in positions of power in order accelerate their already authoritarian direction? Well what if we do the same! But against the democrats rightward momentum…. And without vast wealth… or power… or direction. And at the local scale…”
We both agree that democrat leaders do not want change and that requires something to be done to fix it. I don’t believe in your plan to use the same mechanism for change completely opposite the conditions in which it succeeded only in accelerating their rightward March.
They seem very good at it recently, though it’s not hard to miss when literally every thing is a target. Good luck getting corruption to willingly give up power.
Its more absurd that you think that you can change a corrupt party from within. And that you are willing to do the same thing that has failed every time and expecting different results. If you think trump getting worse will change that calculus for the better, you are mistaken, democrats are somehow losing footing by being obviously feckless, and actively preventing what you hope for. The voters would be confused you see. It the mandate of the people. We got to reach out to the republicans, blah blah blah
Nope, because the same pressures that caused that, are the same pressures that caused the democrats to be an issue in the first place.
You can’t get change by working with democrats, the democrats have bent over backwards to prove they do not outright oppose the direction, only the speed we got here.
Their refusal to do their ‘job’ shows that their actual cause is not in governance but the allocation of power. In order to put up a resistance to republicans the democrats must first be dismantled. I told you people that i was going to hold my nose and vote blue, and it’s not that the democrats failed to get the vote.
It’s because they failed to get the vote because they had no interest in running on a coherent platform. It’s because after losing the confidence of their own base, they decided that it was progressive issues they must throw off as ballast. It’s because they appeal to the weak republicans voter over their own base. Its because they are actively undermining progressive proposals put forth by local progressive politicians. It’s because they parrot the ‘mandate of the people’ lie/republicans talking point to justify doing nothing. It’s because they attack individuals who put truth to power and try to do something.
So fucking no. You people do not get another ‘vote blue no matter who’ from me. Democrats are the opposition party to progressive policy. Its become crystal clear to me that if i want progressive policy, democrats must first be brought to heel, or destroyed. Only then can republicans be stopped.
Incorrect allotment of blame, for the furtherance of an agenda.
Sadly that choice was made by those in power, and so was the cost. And we are already there when it comes to that harm. Harm mitigation is not helpful if the root causes creating it is not dealt with, its just a losing battle forever. The first step is to regain progressive pressure from the democrats. They must be made to blink, and to that end, this blaming of non voters for the crimes of the Democratic Party must be stopped and dismantled where ever it is found. The sooner the better, The hope is that we get a shift early in order to rally before the next elections. I am doubting democracy will last under a second term but if the democrats field another neocon candidate, the party will fracture.