Essentially, there have been two reactions over on grad today:
- I didn’t vote, neither of the candidates were going to stop the war in the Gaza Strip, therefore, there could be no good outcome for the US, therefore I can’t be held accountable
- I voted for a third party, which Republicans will have to acknowledge and respect
<3. Sorry about that. It’s been a bit of an upsetting time.
I mean, in this case, they are objectively correct when it comes to the statistics. The Right always wins when voters sit out elections and protest votes (and non-votes) only helped them in the current FPTP system.
The neolib captured Democratic party refusing to move left at all didn’t help but, lack of participation is what allowed it to happen in the first place. Our fellow leftists have continually decided to ignore the basic numbers and be swayed by propaganda suggesting ideological purity over concrete benefit to at-risk populations and demanding seats at the table. Maybe they’ll self-reflect and take responsibility for the consequences of their actions when they see the harms that they contributed to but, I’m not holding my breath as it hasn’t happened in my lifetime despite Iraq, Afghanistan, Palestine, and Rojava, not to mention the impending Project 2025.
Bit of a chicken or the egg situation, don’t you think? I recently watched a documentary about union coal miners in Harlan County, KY, and while watching it felt like I was watching a culture of resistance transition to a culture of defeat as a result of compounding traumas coinciding with minor improvements to material conditions that made it tempting to settle.
The left has had a culture of defeat for some time, and I believe we are now witnessing the early developmental stages of a new culture of resistance. It is young and naive, and chose too early to abandon electoralism entirely, but it will either mature or be stamped out by the fascism they thought they were ready to face. If we are to survive fascism we can’t hold grudges against one another for their errors in judgment.
Edit: Here is the documentary I mentioned, and here is a video that explains what I mean by culture of resistance.
Thanks for the optimistic words. Definitely needed.
Allow me to restore your hope a little bit:
Not all of them will, and those that do might take quite a while to get there, but it happens. Those who see others express such regrets will be inoculated against making the same error.