This definitely changed my mind a bit. On Twitter these arguments get dumbed down to reaction images and single sentences, it was great to see this written out acknowledging all arguments. For this whole year I've said everyone not in a swing state they should vote for a socialist and for someone in a swing state its their job to vote for the lesser evil. I've also looked at individual voting strategy to be kind of pointless because the left lacks unification on this issue and is still such a minority voting bloc. Voting matters the most in primaries where progressives can get on the ballot.
I think we really need to move away from voting discourse and into working class solidarity messages and actual activism/protest.
Do you believe at this point all the left parties and orgs should unify? I feel like one big left party is needed. However as the most politically active people in this country, naturally there is a ton of fragmentation in the movement. At the same time, something that was interesting was that Cornel West was asked if he thought he was taking votes from the green party; he expressed that the demographics he was speaking to were far different than the green party. His voting bloc was largely people of color disenfranchised with the two party system vs greens speak to more middle class white people concerned less concerned with socialism.
The article was a great read, I'm glad you posted this, I didn't know you had a substack, I'd promote that more if I were you :)
Great read that definitely expanded upon a lot of passing thoughts I've had lately. My plan, until Biden dropped out, was already to vote for Claudia De la Cruz (whether or not she's on the ballot for my state) on the basis of principle, if nothing else. Biden's withdrawal has made me rethink my plans for November a bit, and I think that now is the time for the left to demand concessions from the Democrats if they want our vote. We need to take advantage of their panic following the Biden debacle, even if it only ends up impacting the mainstream discourse.
This certainly made me think voting 3rd party may be well intentioned and not self aggrandisement. However, there are a couple logical flaws which I think critically change what decision should be made. Firstly, whether or not a Palestinian voter, or infact, anyone who cares about Palestine would automatically think less of their loved ones dying is a redundant argument... is a dubious claim. It certainly isn't something to be passed off as a trap either. The if I've understood the goal of 3rd party voting en masse correctly, it's to create instability in what they perceive as their base such that, if they do not change then they will lose the next election or the upcoming one if it is done midway through the term. So then it would follow, that an effective 3rd party vote puts a very close election in jeopardy. Now understanding this, would someone with a vested interest in keeping Trump out of office want to vote 3rd party? Not if they think that project 2025 will be worse than project 2029 (which I can promise you it will since there are no safety nets for the victims of project 2025). There's some more I'd like to add but I'll stitch another comment under this later.
Well written, gave me some more things to think about coming up on voting in my first presidential election. My plan was to vote Stein and then Biden dropped out and Kamala's approval rating was much higher. Her polling is so close to Trump's right now and I do think the damage she would do is much slower and much less than what trump would do. I believe he would be much more aggressive and proactive in bringing down democracy. I'm still on the fence about voting Jill Stein, Claudia, or Harris but I think ultimately it'll come down to if it's close enough that my vote for Harris would matter.
This definitely changed my mind a bit. On Twitter these arguments get dumbed down to reaction images and single sentences, it was great to see this written out acknowledging all arguments. For this whole year I've said everyone not in a swing state they should vote for a socialist and for someone in a swing state its their job to vote for the lesser evil. I've also looked at individual voting strategy to be kind of pointless because the left lacks unification on this issue and is still such a minority voting bloc. Voting matters the most in primaries where progressives can get on the ballot.
I think we really need to move away from voting discourse and into working class solidarity messages and actual activism/protest.
Do you believe at this point all the left parties and orgs should unify? I feel like one big left party is needed. However as the most politically active people in this country, naturally there is a ton of fragmentation in the movement. At the same time, something that was interesting was that Cornel West was asked if he thought he was taking votes from the green party; he expressed that the demographics he was speaking to were far different than the green party. His voting bloc was largely people of color disenfranchised with the two party system vs greens speak to more middle class white people concerned less concerned with socialism.
The article was a great read, I'm glad you posted this, I didn't know you had a substack, I'd promote that more if I were you :)
The PSL, Greens and Cornell West should most definitely have run as a unified left bloc
Great read that definitely expanded upon a lot of passing thoughts I've had lately. My plan, until Biden dropped out, was already to vote for Claudia De la Cruz (whether or not she's on the ballot for my state) on the basis of principle, if nothing else. Biden's withdrawal has made me rethink my plans for November a bit, and I think that now is the time for the left to demand concessions from the Democrats if they want our vote. We need to take advantage of their panic following the Biden debacle, even if it only ends up impacting the mainstream discourse.
This certainly made me think voting 3rd party may be well intentioned and not self aggrandisement. However, there are a couple logical flaws which I think critically change what decision should be made. Firstly, whether or not a Palestinian voter, or infact, anyone who cares about Palestine would automatically think less of their loved ones dying is a redundant argument... is a dubious claim. It certainly isn't something to be passed off as a trap either. The if I've understood the goal of 3rd party voting en masse correctly, it's to create instability in what they perceive as their base such that, if they do not change then they will lose the next election or the upcoming one if it is done midway through the term. So then it would follow, that an effective 3rd party vote puts a very close election in jeopardy. Now understanding this, would someone with a vested interest in keeping Trump out of office want to vote 3rd party? Not if they think that project 2025 will be worse than project 2029 (which I can promise you it will since there are no safety nets for the victims of project 2025). There's some more I'd like to add but I'll stitch another comment under this later.
Also excuse my poor writing I'm beating the clock on my screen time timer.
Well written, gave me some more things to think about coming up on voting in my first presidential election. My plan was to vote Stein and then Biden dropped out and Kamala's approval rating was much higher. Her polling is so close to Trump's right now and I do think the damage she would do is much slower and much less than what trump would do. I believe he would be much more aggressive and proactive in bringing down democracy. I'm still on the fence about voting Jill Stein, Claudia, or Harris but I think ultimately it'll come down to if it's close enough that my vote for Harris would matter.
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