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   carl marks (tillshadeisgone@blackqueer.life)'s status on Tuesday, 23-Jul-2024 14:35:48 JST carl marks

   One of the things that just MOST frustrates me about liberals is magical thinking. Just saw a Tiktok that was about the shift in energy after Joe dropped out, and how while it's okay to critique Kamala Harris, we should wait until we put her in office to "put her feet to the fire".

   And I just get so aggravated when I see people who want to give away one of the only sources of influence they have. Because voting is LEVERAGE. One of the only kinds of leverage we have in our political system. And they just want to throw it away! We did this same damn dance with Biden, and y'all said the SAME DAMN THING. But NEWS FLASH: ONCE YOU GIVE AWAY YOUR LEVERAGE THEY DON'T NEED TO LISTEN TO YOU ANYMORE.

   So HOW are you supposed to put anyone's feet to the fire if you REFUSE to use your leverage?? Do you really think these politicians are going to listen to you after you give them the only thing they need you for? What ✨magic spell✨ are you going to cast to make them go left, when every time they get put in power they just do what they want?

   History holds such a powerful lesson if you pay attention: power isn't given freely. It must be taken. So you have to be smart and use the little leverage you have in order to move the dial. We cannot afford to throw that away!! We must not make the same mistakes over and over again; we have to learn from them. Think for yourself!!

   • Embed this notice
     carl marks (tillshadeisgone@blackqueer.life)'s status on Tuesday, 23-Jul-2024 15:52:09 JST carl marks

     in reply to

     • Henning Deters

     @DetersHenning I think electoralism isn't the best way forward but I don't agree that there's zero leverage. For example, Biden's team insisted on the debate that ultimately led to his reelection downfall. Why? Because he was already very unpopular and people had lost confidence in him. There were national grassroots movements to unseat him, with folks in many states participating.

     Why did that make a difference? Because the party was scared of losing the votes. Because his age, his terrible record, and his incredibly unpopular genocide participation hurt his polling significantly.

     And the end result? His staff insisted, the debate happened, he stepped down. Part of that was leverage.

     Now obviously yes the lesson I take from that is about the power of organizing more than the power of voting. But that doesn't mean the leverage is zero. We see the results.

   • Embed this notice
     Henning Deters (detershenning@eupolicy.social)'s status on Tuesday, 23-Jul-2024 15:52:10 JST Henning Deters

     in reply to

     @tillshadeisgone once your choice is between a fascist and a "centrist", your leverage is zero and your vote really counts for nothing.

   • Embed this notice
     carl marks (tillshadeisgone@blackqueer.life)'s status on Wednesday, 24-Jul-2024 04:24:42 JST carl marks

     in reply to

     • Tom Forsyth

     @TomF how did what work out? You mean the Dems running an imperialist with a documented history of war crimes over a more center-left politician that energized young folks? When the DNC clearly pushed past the desires of the working class to hand their fave the nom? And then tried a fucked up pied piper strategy that was supposed to torpedo the Republicans' chances of winning the election by putting Donald Trump (a clearly unelectable buffoon) in position to get the Republican nom?

     That 2016? That's the one you're talking about? I voted for Hillary Clinton. It didn't work out how I had hoped. I wish I had focused more on organizing; I might feel in retrospect that I had wasted less of my time.

   • Embed this notice
     Tom Forsyth (tomf@mastodon.gamedev.place)'s status on Wednesday, 24-Jul-2024 04:24:44 JST Tom Forsyth

     in reply to

     @tillshadeisgone How'd that work out in 2016?

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     carl marks (tillshadeisgone@blackqueer.life)'s status on Wednesday, 24-Jul-2024 04:28:41 JST carl marks

     in reply to

     • Tom Forsyth

     @TomF oh and just an addition, not enough Black folks had had the forethought to die on camera yet such that white folks actually cared, so we didn't have as much leverage.

     The wealth gap was still quite wide, but we hadn't seen as much price gouging in food and housing as we have now. We didn't have Tiktok, so nobody was seeing genocides on camera quite like they are now, the government hadn't just left us all to die by lying about beating a pandemic while we kept getting sick, making it really obvious they didn't give a shit as long as we went back to work... I could go on. It wasn't the same.