• Pratai@lemmy.ca
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    0
    ·
    edit-2
    9 months ago

    This is for ALL of the bOth siDeS suck, “I refuse to vote because I don’t like the candidates available!” people:

    All of your concerns are fixed when everyone pays attention for more than one out of every four years. Until that happens, it’s first past the post- and we either get to drink the metaphorical piss of all those who didn’t pay attention, or eat the metaphorical shit of those who didn’t pay attention- chiding neither doesn’t excuse you from the buffet, it just takes the choice of which away from you.

    What I’m saying is…. change doesn’t happen when people only choose to be “activists” once every four years.

    So vote for the guy that isn’t going to end democracy as we know it- and at least buy yourselves and everyone else four years to start actually paying attention and making the change you’d like to see.

    • t3rmit3@beehaw.orgOP
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      0
      ·
      edit-2
      9 months ago

      From my other comment:

      This belies the fact that there is a TON of work being done, constantly, by organizers at all levels. The problem is that you cannot out-raise party-aligned Super PACs with grassroots, individual funding. You can’t reach a wider audience with door-to-door campaigning, than a Super PAC can with TV and internet ads. You can’t meet the primary debate requirements set by the parties (when they don’t just not hold debates altogether), when the parties are intentionally making those requirements impossible for grassroots campaigns to meet.

      Our political system is set up to discourage political engagement. Organizing takes time, money, community, and civic-mindedness, and our society is set up to sap all of those away from the average person. You’re basically just blaming the people who are overcoming those barriers, to organize and be politically-engaged, for the fact it’s impossible for them to singlehandledly overcome the political apathy that the system is built to propagate.

      All of your concerns are fixed when everyone pays attention for more than one out of every four years. Until that happens…

      That will never happen, because as I said, our political system does not want that to happen, and works to make sure it doesn’t. So what you’re really saying is, “don’t ever push for change within the party itself, just toe the party line”.

      No thanks.

      • Pratai@lemmy.ca
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        0
        ·
        edit-2
        9 months ago

        Nope… that’s not what I’m saying. That’s what you’re wanting me to have said.

        What I AM saying, is what I said:

        If people are only going to pay after or one year out of every four- and do nothing but whine to strangers that don’t care online…. Don’t expect to see the change you want.

        • t3rmit3@beehaw.orgOP
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          0
          ·
          9 months ago

          You have no clue whether someone online who is complaining is in fact only engaging in politics “one year out of every four”, so this is just showcasing your own assumptions.