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Jürgen Hubert
Jürgen Hubert
@juergen_hubert@mementomori.social  ·  activity timestamp last week

To the #VoteBlue people in the USA: Yes, voting for the #Democrats _is_ necessary in all upcoming elections. But you also need to realize that the anger at the Democratic Party establishment is both real and entirely justified, and you should understand where that anger is coming from.

To quote the "Letter from a Birmingham Jail":

'First, I must confess that over the past few years I have been gravely disappointed with the white moderate. I have almost reached the regrettable conclusion that the Negro’s great stumbling block in his stride toward freedom is not the White Citizen’s Counciler or the Ku Klux Klanner, but the white moderate, who is more devoted to “order” than to justice; who prefers a negative peace which is the absence of tension to a positive peace which is the presence of justice; who constantly says: “I agree with you in the goal you seek, but I cannot agree with your methods of direct action”; who paternalistically believes he can set the timetable for another man’s freedom; who lives by a mythical concept of time and who constantly advises the Negro to wait for a “more convenient season.”'

https://letterfromjail.com/

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Ben Royce 🇺🇦 🇸🇩
Ben Royce 🇺🇦 🇸🇩
@benroyce@mastodon.social  ·  activity timestamp last week

@juergen_hubert

focusing on the dem estbmnt is a red herring

of course they suck

and mamdani showed us: just show up and vote for who we like. he got no support from the estbmnt, even hostility. now he's mayor

because we voted

the dem estbmnt is not going to change

does that matter? why should we care?

ignore them

vote

and replace them

*especially in the primaries*

voter anger is not the fault of the dem estbmnt

the dem estbmnt being shit is the fault of people not voting

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Jürgen Hubert
Jürgen Hubert
@juergen_hubert@mementomori.social  ·  activity timestamp last week

@benroyce

Yeah, voting in the primaries is one of the most important paths for change in the USA, although I think this should be accompanied by political action groups independent of the political parties. Political leaders need to fear voters even outside of the campaign seasons.

Though I do think only blaming voters for "not voting" misses the mark a bit. The US election system offers methods for vote manipulation and Big Money influences that are inconceivable in most democratic countries. The "will of the voters" has a massive structural disadvantage in the USA, and this has been the case from the start.

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Ben Royce 🇺🇦 🇸🇩
Ben Royce 🇺🇦 🇸🇩
@benroyce@mastodon.social  ·  activity timestamp last week

@juergen_hubert

right you delineate the problem accurately

i'm describing the solution

which is we vote

what is the point of giving the fascist what they want and not voting?

and what is the value of honoring the convoluted self-defeating rationalizations of people who have given up on the thing that is the path to the solution of our problems?

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Jürgen Hubert
Jürgen Hubert
@juergen_hubert@mementomori.social  ·  activity timestamp last week

@benroyce

I never said that people should not vote. Voting is one of the most key parts of a comprehensive political action strategy that brings actual change.

My point is that voting _in itself_ is not enough. Progressive forces must be out there all the time, in public, demanding change, and calling out groups and people who block progress. Or else the political establishment will reassert itself. Because _their_ lobbyists are active all the time, too.

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Ben Royce 🇺🇦 🇸🇩
Ben Royce 🇺🇦 🇸🇩
@benroyce@mastodon.social  ·  activity timestamp last week

@juergen_hubert

no argument and this is sort of a trap because if i emphasize voting people think i am deemphasizing everything else

of course i'm not doing that. and of course the real problem is people emphasizing all the other good things we can do... and then argue for not voting, which i find particularly infuriating

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Michael Richardson
Michael Richardson
@mcr314@todon.nl  ·  activity timestamp last week

@juergen_hubert voting blue uncritically is why the USA is here. Lack of useful third parties. Lack or PR. USA citizens need to revise we the constitution... Somehow. In Canada, our "Liberals" have moved seriously to the right.under the guise of being unified against Trump. I am very scared under Carney.

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Patch You Up
Patch You Up
@Jumpmed@mastodon.social  ·  activity timestamp last week

@juergen_hubert We need to be much louder in calling out the right for what they are: evil and stupid. If you call yourself a moderate because you're uncomfortable calling people out for being evil and stupid, you're part of the problem and will be remembered as such. (Using the hypothetical "you" here, not saying that *you* are doing this)

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SlightlyCyberpunk
SlightlyCyberpunk
@admin@mastodon.slightlycyberpunk.com  ·  activity timestamp last week

@juergen_hubert I would slightly disagree about it being necessary to vote blue in *all* elections. But I'm in Rhode Island where many (probably most) elections have no Republicans running at all. So if you've only got a Democrat and a socialist on the ballot...*absolutely* vote for the socialist lol

Popular vote doesn't always matter and blocking MAGA isn't always a factor. So look at local conditions and work strategically to boot out the fascists, the billionaires, the corrupt nepo-babies, and anyone else who isn't fighting for our liberation!

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