Fucking thank you for this. My wife insisted that I vote, so I told her I'd do so for the down-ticket folks she cares about but I'm never voting for President. I'd rather not vote at all, but it is what it is. I also draw the line at genocide. I'm just not signing off for that.
Great, yes. Thank you. We have no choice, it is their state, their system their choice. Not ours. It is an event for a privileged minority to further secure their power regardless of which party. Emancipation from all this shit and liberation is what we have to fight for.
We live in an electoral dictatorship anyway. Even when these dumb dumbs shame us for not voting, they pull the “democracy card”. Truth is people vote them in and they do whatever they want once they are in power. But “voting is the most important thing you can do!”. I’m sorry but if that’s the truth then our lives are meaningless.
Thank you very much for writing this. I've been gradually coming around to anarchism for a long time from a more traditional liberal upbringing, which included voting as a civic duty. Despite knowing how pointless my national-level voting is, I still vote in every election, and I probably still will, but mostly for the sake of any small-scale local initiatives where I think it might actually matter. I appreciate your writing and agree with you, and I really appreciate the clear elucidate of a better explanation than "None of it matters" or "They're both the same," which just isn't quite right. Thanks.
Thank you for writing this and sharing. I struggle with recalling concepts and why I feel a certain way — especially around politics — and that often leads me to just be like what you said, “it just doesn’t make a difference.” I’m relieved to see my thoughts written out.
tbh i vote sometimes (not for prez etc but) because of referendums and shit like that and feel fine not being a purist about it/it feels obvious it truly doesn't fucking matter how each person chooses to handle it and there is clearly no reason to shame anybody over something dumb like this. but i got this post in my inbox right after the most exasperating vote-shaming encounter i've had in years--with a ukranian-american friend who is passionately convinced that the democratic party gives a shit about the lives of her friends being drafted. it was frustrating to be accused of having an american-centric, internationally ignorant worldview over ... not being willing to overlook the US's total commitment to profiting off and maximizing mass death and war? not mentally compartmentalizing the crimes to one party? not being capable of make any sort of gesture of support for US military "aid" to anything, anywhere, ever? it makes me sick to my stomach that political parties and the state manipulate people this way. it never matters how much I say hey, you do you, it's never enough for people, the sense of disempowerment outside of voting is so total for people that they get emotionally vicious if it's called into question. anyway it was a huge relief to even remember i'm subscribed to voices that can lucidly reiterate some of my existing reasoning. and that there's an existing external consensus among at least some people about this issue...
A friend just sent me a slick IG video in which self-proclaimed Brown/Black (professional & NGO-based) “radicals” state that voting is about “choosing your more malleable opponent” to take “the movement” forward. I felt so sad because my response will require me to point out how dependent my friend’s community work is dependent upon a hierarchical system that rations and distributes resources, privileging those with connections. It will be hard to have that conversation without both of us taking it personally and making decisions about our friendship moving forward
You can't vote away the system, it's true, but participating in the system doesn't mean you are pledging allegiance to the system. It doesn't mean you are in favour of genocide. You can do both, work through the system and fight the system -- and you'll probably have more success that way too. It's too late now.
How long does it take to vote? As far as I'm concerned, rather than encouraging apathy, there should be action everywhere. Yes, the democratic party is flawed, but in the absence of a peaceful stateless society I will never understand the attitude I've noticed from American anarchists in democratic strongholds convincing others not to vote -- no wonder you will have a fascist government now.
So no one votes and the republicans win. There are little girls in America who can't stop crying because a convicted rapist who has promised to eliminate the "enemy within", mass deportations, the gutting of environmental regulations, abolition of reproductive rights for women, and maintains close ties with dictators is likely the president. You have republicans who want to nuke Gaza and the son in law of the president eyeing up real estate opporunties after the land is cleared.
Yes, the status quo is murderous, it's violent, it's destroying the planet, but where are the people creating a viable alternative? Sitting at home singing to themselves, "I'm not going to vote". You need a full on fascist government to set a fire under your ass or what? I'm not American by the way and can't vote there.
Fascists will take power with, or without a vote. The less people that vote the easier it is for the most people to realize these elections are farces. They mean absolutely nothing.
They will invent a number of votes for each candidate and choose who *they* like most.
There's only one way proven effective at stopping fascists but we're not *quite* ready for that conversation yet.
Fucking thank you for this. My wife insisted that I vote, so I told her I'd do so for the down-ticket folks she cares about but I'm never voting for President. I'd rather not vote at all, but it is what it is. I also draw the line at genocide. I'm just not signing off for that.
Great, yes. Thank you. We have no choice, it is their state, their system their choice. Not ours. It is an event for a privileged minority to further secure their power regardless of which party. Emancipation from all this shit and liberation is what we have to fight for.
We live in an electoral dictatorship anyway. Even when these dumb dumbs shame us for not voting, they pull the “democracy card”. Truth is people vote them in and they do whatever they want once they are in power. But “voting is the most important thing you can do!”. I’m sorry but if that’s the truth then our lives are meaningless.
I have never voted. At first it was the fact that I wasn't allowed to do so because I didn't have citizenship, and then later it became a conviction.
Thank you very much for writing this. I've been gradually coming around to anarchism for a long time from a more traditional liberal upbringing, which included voting as a civic duty. Despite knowing how pointless my national-level voting is, I still vote in every election, and I probably still will, but mostly for the sake of any small-scale local initiatives where I think it might actually matter. I appreciate your writing and agree with you, and I really appreciate the clear elucidate of a better explanation than "None of it matters" or "They're both the same," which just isn't quite right. Thanks.
Hell yeah!
Thank you for writing this and sharing. I struggle with recalling concepts and why I feel a certain way — especially around politics — and that often leads me to just be like what you said, “it just doesn’t make a difference.” I’m relieved to see my thoughts written out.
thank you so much for this.
tbh i vote sometimes (not for prez etc but) because of referendums and shit like that and feel fine not being a purist about it/it feels obvious it truly doesn't fucking matter how each person chooses to handle it and there is clearly no reason to shame anybody over something dumb like this. but i got this post in my inbox right after the most exasperating vote-shaming encounter i've had in years--with a ukranian-american friend who is passionately convinced that the democratic party gives a shit about the lives of her friends being drafted. it was frustrating to be accused of having an american-centric, internationally ignorant worldview over ... not being willing to overlook the US's total commitment to profiting off and maximizing mass death and war? not mentally compartmentalizing the crimes to one party? not being capable of make any sort of gesture of support for US military "aid" to anything, anywhere, ever? it makes me sick to my stomach that political parties and the state manipulate people this way. it never matters how much I say hey, you do you, it's never enough for people, the sense of disempowerment outside of voting is so total for people that they get emotionally vicious if it's called into question. anyway it was a huge relief to even remember i'm subscribed to voices that can lucidly reiterate some of my existing reasoning. and that there's an existing external consensus among at least some people about this issue...
A friend just sent me a slick IG video in which self-proclaimed Brown/Black (professional & NGO-based) “radicals” state that voting is about “choosing your more malleable opponent” to take “the movement” forward. I felt so sad because my response will require me to point out how dependent my friend’s community work is dependent upon a hierarchical system that rations and distributes resources, privileging those with connections. It will be hard to have that conversation without both of us taking it personally and making decisions about our friendship moving forward
Similar to the list on abolitionism from before, here's a compilation of arguments against the vote:
https://types.mataroa.blog/blog/dont-voted/
You can't vote away the system, it's true, but participating in the system doesn't mean you are pledging allegiance to the system. It doesn't mean you are in favour of genocide. You can do both, work through the system and fight the system -- and you'll probably have more success that way too. It's too late now.
How long does it take to vote? As far as I'm concerned, rather than encouraging apathy, there should be action everywhere. Yes, the democratic party is flawed, but in the absence of a peaceful stateless society I will never understand the attitude I've noticed from American anarchists in democratic strongholds convincing others not to vote -- no wonder you will have a fascist government now.
So no one votes and the republicans win. There are little girls in America who can't stop crying because a convicted rapist who has promised to eliminate the "enemy within", mass deportations, the gutting of environmental regulations, abolition of reproductive rights for women, and maintains close ties with dictators is likely the president. You have republicans who want to nuke Gaza and the son in law of the president eyeing up real estate opporunties after the land is cleared.
Yes, the status quo is murderous, it's violent, it's destroying the planet, but where are the people creating a viable alternative? Sitting at home singing to themselves, "I'm not going to vote". You need a full on fascist government to set a fire under your ass or what? I'm not American by the way and can't vote there.
Fascists will take power with, or without a vote. The less people that vote the easier it is for the most people to realize these elections are farces. They mean absolutely nothing.
They will invent a number of votes for each candidate and choose who *they* like most.
There's only one way proven effective at stopping fascists but we're not *quite* ready for that conversation yet.