Ummm, not sure who you mean by “y’all” but you know we have a whole thread here about Biden:
https://bbs.boingboing.net/t/the-biden-administration-document-the-atrocities-praise-the-graces
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There’s a big difference between voting for candidates like Bernie Sanders when they are on the ballot and writing them in when they aren’t.
Sanders begged his supporters to vote for the Democratic nominee in both 2016 and 2020 because he understood the threat Trump represented.
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That’s a relevant point – fascists don’t need the support of a technical majority of the population, because the only question for fascists is strength. If you’re a fascist, it doesn’t matter if you only get 30% of the vote; what matters is whether the other 70% can stop you.
If you had wanted to stop the Nazis through the ballot box, rallying behind the Communists might have worked, but settling for the Social Democrats and Hindenburg obviously didn’t.
(I think there are some parallels with US politics there, but it would be obnoxious and wrong to stretch the analogy too far)
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I really wish BoingBoing would look for articles like “Here’s how the citizens of the U.S. can crush the wanna-be fascists,” and “Effective grassroots campaigning.”
Or linked to this, from Indivisible:
https://indivisible.actionkit.com/mailings/view/72236
Because this Autocracy Bingo Card shit is too much like fundie Christians reading Revelations End-Times signals into current events and waiting for the seven headed Beast to show up, rather than going out and fixing shit.
“Yeah, we could have signed up enough voters, got them IDs, and worked out a game plan for election season to work around all the voter suppression bullshit, but they got judges so why bother?”
Fuck that shit. Fuck that fatalistic doom-addiction crap. Go volunteer, or donate, to Fair Fight Action, When We All Vote, Black Voters Matter, and various ACLU state chapters.
And get used to kicking in the balls of goons like these every generation or so.
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Bernie Sanders has pretty consistently been better than his fans.
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Stacey Abrams is your hero, clearly!
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More, please.
I’ll admit that life grinds me down too much on most days for me to be able to seek out this information on my own. I sign online petitions, but that doesn’t feel like I’m actually doing anything, and I can’t volunteer for medical reasons, can’t donate for fiscal ones, and can’t spread things on social media because I have no audience beyond immediate family, who already hear me rant.
If I can at least stay informed, so my letters (emails) to congresscritters can be cogent and targeted, I’m doing the best I can. So please keep sharing info!
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Ranked choice voting would be a huge improvement over the current system in most of the US and it’s definitely something we should all push for.
As for a more systematic change to our government, such as replacing our current system with a multi-party parliamentary style system, there are a lot of pros and cons and I’m really not sure what’s best overall. There’s a lot to like about a parliamentary system but it’s clearly not a panacea. For example, in Israel Netanyahu’s Likud party hasn’t won an outright majority of votes since 2001, and typically brings in only 25-30% of total votes. Yet Netanyahu has managed to maintain control as Prime Minister for 16 years. It looks like an unlikely coalition between ideologically disparate parties is finally going to oust him, but the new coalition government is so full of fundamental inconsistencies between its member parties that it’s unlikely to govern very coherently or effectively.
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I can’t even imagine what it would take to fundamentally change our system of governance. Not against it, necessarily, but I think if we could increase voter participation from traditionally suppressed populations and enact ranked choice voting everywhere at every level, we would see a lot of changes within a few years. When people are no longer worried about “spoiling the vote,” you start to see a whole new “farm team” of candidates emerge and get their sea legs, so to speak. It’s exciting.
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Thank you! I ask this every day and feel like I’m so overwhelmed by life that I feel like I’m powerless anyway.
Then I remember what people in actual regimes of terror end up going through and feel like I need to fight it, but then go back to step 1.
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There is a difference between supporting a third-party candidate who actually has a shot at the presidency, and voting for one that clearly doesn’t because “muh principuls”, thus allowing fascists to gain power. I don’t think anyone here thinks a third-party candidate will never win, I don’t know where you’re getting that from.
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Since inception - the US decided to fuck with the world in a major way - altering the landscape and terrain, displacing peoples, defining economies and defying ecological boundaries. It’s citizens are now observing the same on their own soil it seems.
Neal Stephenson’s Interface comes to mind, or La Malinche.
Can totally relate to the “overwhelmed” feeling! But never powerless. Doing anything for the cause of good is better than doing nothing. And doing nothing is better than actively encouraging others that nothing they do matters (which we see here sometimes, rare but unfortunate).
Today all I’m doing is voting in the local election and renewing my local newspaper subscription because places with local reporters have better accountability of politicians. It’s next to nothing, but it’s something.
Way back when I was learning organizing in college I heard a great quote that has stuck with me ever since. It was along the lines of, “sometimes you don’t have the energy to organize the demonstration or campaign or even the fund raising bake sale, but maybe you can make a pie…or maybe you buy some cakes. You don’t have to be doing something big to be helping.”
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Truth. I did just vote in my local primary, since I’m in VA and some of the local races are essentially decided today given party makeup, and otherwise send a message for the fall.
It’s better than nothing, but often feels like it’s throwing pebbles into the ocean. I know it’s not, but it can feel that way.
Thanks.
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Come on people… pay attention to what’s happening and what can happen…
Start listening to folks like Snyder who know what they’re talking about.
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Better than a certain subset of his fans at any rate.
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They’d also have to get McConnell on board. I can see Cruz, Hawley, and other QAnons going along, but fascist turtle that he is, I can’t see McConnell colluding in a coup.
There is so much I hate about this, but this repeated claim makes steam come out of my ears:
The Pentagon over-corrected by seeking to avoid looking too aggressive following its heavy-handed response to Black Lives Matter protests.
As if that truly had anything to do with their lack of response. As if they were truly regretful of their ham-fisted, violent response to previous peaceful protests and learned something…
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I’m sure every time they face marginalized people, it’s just an over-correction from how lenient they’ve been on white supremacists, and vice versa. 
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I think Kyle Rittenhouse’s fan club would agree. 
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