"If Biden/Replacement loses in 2024, it'll be a clean slate for Democrats to work on 2028."
Bold wild fucking "optimism" to assume that there will be future elections or that any/all of us will still be around if Trump is re-elected.
Have you not been fighting him all along? Is not, that is on you. I still rather continue that fight than the only other choice, which is to surrender power to Trump and make things worse for everyone.
Yes. Not casting your vote for the boss fight means you're letting other people choose, not that you're opting out of the fight. Abstaining only makes sense if you're not actually thinking concretely about fighting.
Exactly that. Don't think of it as who you are supporting. You are a casting a vote for who you want to face off against for the next for years.
I'll take Biden over Trump any time.
True. Doesn't change your options.
Protest. Fund lobbying. Call your reps. Work for the campaigns of people who will oppose this in office, or run for office yourself.
And vote for the person you think will either do what you want, or (if unavailable) the easier one to organize under.
Realistically, who you vote for (or your choice to abstain) won't have any effect at all. It will take a massive cultural shift in the US to stop our military support for Israel, regardless of who's in office. To effect that shift, you have to organize. Change our people, not our politicians.
Politicians are never, ever, ever, never ever going to be out ahead of cultural change. They will not. They are followers. This is a shitty thing, because it means that there's no instant "stop genocide" button. You have to convince Americans to care about genocide.
I am fully aware that there is a binary choice to be made on a time limit. The train is moving forward, a switch will be thrown, and the train will go down one track or the other. Both tracks suck. One sucks less than the other. The only thing we can do is pull harder on one lever or the other.
Depends on who you are. Both tracks lead to hell if you’re Palestinian. But organizing to make things *better* for Palestinians will be easier under one than the other.
Our politics are so far from perfect that we’re not going to see “vote for everything you want” on a ballot in our lifetime.
…how is that possible?
Things are very, very bad right now for Palestinians and the current president is ignoring this and actually aiding their suffering.
As would Trump. The question of “whether the US will abet genocide” is not on the ballot. We are going to continue doing so until it becomes untenable for politicians to hold that position, meaning organized outrage so great that it counterbalances existing forces unconditionally supporting Israel.
Calling your representatives. Joining protests. Supporting candidates who oppose genocide. Funding lobbying groups. Organizing. Power at our level looks like “we can mobilize 100 people to knock doors if you support Palestine.” It is slow and it is not sexy but it is literally all that we have.
You mean for calling your rep?
“I am a constituent and I vote in every election, and US support for the genocide in Palestine is execrable. As my representative I want you to call for an immediate, permanent ceasefire + provision of aid.”
If you ever did work for that member in the past, say so.
Repeat daily. Write letters to the editor calling them out for not taking a better stand. Find other better-behaved reps with bills or statements to ask them to join.
It's only not effective because people like you refuse to join in. You're cowards living in a self-fulfilling prophecy. And you blame everyone but yourselves for your shitty party being shitty. We're not on the same side.
