this post was submitted on 09 Jul 2024
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It's the Democratic strategy to not be a fool whenever possible. Or, y'know, it should be.
First of all 80% of the country is irrelevant because only voters vote. Babies and non-registered people can't vote. So 80% of them are pretty useless in an election. So far so good?
Secondly, if you can engage non-voters into voting you're an unhailed supergenius who has figured out what centuries of political hacks have not. Please explain how to achieve this power. And if your first thought is something that's already been tried, please move to the line of political hacks who have not figured it out.
Thirdly no third parties are "actually decent" unless you want to define that such that it fits your favorite third party - because any definition of a 'decent' third party is one that can win, and none of them can win. (Why not make Star Trek a third party, that way when we win the election we all get to explore space and have replicators and what not. Oh because it's entirely fictional, right. And so are the presidential administrations of any third party right now)
If you're talking about 2028 or beyond, sure, what's your pitch? Because if "progressives" want to sit around for four more years doing nothing and then bitch again about how unprogressive the Democrats are - welcome to the world of tomorrow - today!
If you want to get super high and imagine a beautiful outpouring of people to the polls - feel free. It's not like it hasn't been done. But to actually win the one coming up in roughtly 14 weeks you're going to need to rush to get that 80% number. You'll need work from thousands of unpaid volunteers, hundreds of millions of dollars for infrastructure, promotions, and operations, and an electable human or two.
Or, if you prefer to wistfully whinge that Democrats aren't progressive enough and not vote for them, you can watch everything burn more. Is that a strategy for voter engagement? No. It's reality. Make a more perfect union, but to do that you have to vote. Voting for a party that has zero chance is dumb.
This is as fictional as Star Trek. What would be very possible is for the Democratic party to replace their candidate; while the centrists myopically claim there's no time for it, data from every other country in the world proves that you can do that in under 100 days. Moreover, it would serve all the Democrats' purposes: it would build an inspiring narrative about them "moving mountains" to ensure they serve the people.
Unfortunately, we on the outside can't do much besides push on the DNC to act in our interests (speaking for myself - I don't know how many Dem fundraisers you can afford to attend). But you're lying to yourself if you think you only need me for my vote: you need boots on the ground. I've canvassed every year to get the vote out for my state reps and fucking coroner. Am I going to do that this year?
Well, yes.
Not if the candidate doesn’t want to be replaced.
If the US was like every other country we wouldn’t have this electoral college nonsense.
How are you this dense lol. Peak DNC brain here