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A tweet from the George Takei Twitter account which states:
"A Democrat was in the White House when my family was sent to the internment camps in 1941. It was an egregious violation of our human and civil rights.
It would have been understandable if people like me said they’d never vote for a Democrat again, given what had been done to us.
But being a liberal, being a progressive, means being able to look past my own grievances and concerns and think of the greater good. It means working from within the Democratic party to make it better, even when it has betrayed its values.
I went on to campaign for Adlai Stevenson when I became an adult. I marched for civil rights and had the honor of meeting Dr. Martin Luther King. I fought for redress for my community and have spent my life ensuring that America understood that we could not betray our Constitution in such a way ever again.
Bill Clinton broke my heart when he signed DOMA into law. It was a slap in the face to the LGBTQ community. And I knew that we still had much work to do. But I voted for him again in 1996 despite my misgivings, because the alternative was far worse. And my obligation as a citizen was to help choose the best leader for it, not to check out by not voting out of anger or protest.
There is no leader who will make the decision you want her or him to make 100 percent of the time. Your vote is a tool of hope for a better world. Use it wisely, for it is precious. Use it for others, for they are in need of your support, too."
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The last paragraph I find particularly powerful and something more people really should take into account.
This reasoning is part of your mistake about me (and many others I presume). I don’t vote for Democrats to stick it to fascists. I don’t vote thinking that voting is the solution to the society’s fundamental problems. I vote because my other, non-electoral efforts to make the world a better place are significantly more difficult and dangerous with far right wing leaders vs right-ish leaders like Democrats.
Not voting because voting can’t solve the world’s problems immediately the way you want seems like you’re letting perfect be the enemy of progress.
You see the right wingers banning books, closing libraries, trying to take basic rights from minorities, those things make it harder for people in those groups to make real progress outside of the electoral system.
The sooner we can begin the transition away from Empire and towards a more equitable form of government, the more lives can be preserved.
Electoralism can only delay the inevitable, and that time and energy is better spent on building networks of mutual aid so we can support each other and minimize loss of life during the Second American Revolution.
Ah, an accelerationist I see. For me, I don’t think it’s my place to choose to sacrifice other’s lives to achieve my political goals with expediency.
I’m sure the furries will be fine in the event of a revolution!
Call it what you will, the people dying in Gaza right now don’t have the luxury of waiting 'til after the next election.
I don’t think its your place to choose to sacrifice other people’s lives to accomplish your political goals at a more leisurely pace either.
And how exactly is forfeiting your vote helping the people in Gaza?
It gives the Democrats one vote’s worth of incentive to stop the war machine right now, as opposed to waiting a year and hoping there will be a candidate on my ballot more beholden to BDS than AIPAC.