Voting is an act. Trusting the system is a strategy. You can do one without the other.
But when you treat voting as the only proof of “giving a shit,” you’re doing exactly what my original point warns against: funneling all political energy into a structurally limited mechanism. Real power is built between elections, not just at the ballot box.
Not once have I said people shouldn’t vote. If that’s your takeaway, you’re either arguing in bad faith or you’ve fundamentally misunderstood the point.
The argument is straightforward: voting is necessary, but insufficient. Believing it’s the only meaningful political act is what keeps power concentrated and change out of reach. Criticizing the limits of electoralism ≠ telling people not to vote. It’s telling them not to stop there.
If you can’t (or won’t) engage with that distinction, then this conversation has nowhere left to go.
Voting is an act. Trusting the system is a strategy. You can do one without the other.
But when you treat voting as the only proof of “giving a shit,” you’re doing exactly what my original point warns against: funneling all political energy into a structurally limited mechanism. Real power is built between elections, not just at the ballot box.
You’re telling people not to vote or at minimum that they should not vote for Democrats. That speaks for itself.
Not once have I said people shouldn’t vote. If that’s your takeaway, you’re either arguing in bad faith or you’ve fundamentally misunderstood the point.
The argument is straightforward: voting is necessary, but insufficient. Believing it’s the only meaningful political act is what keeps power concentrated and change out of reach. Criticizing the limits of electoralism ≠ telling people not to vote. It’s telling them not to stop there.
If you can’t (or won’t) engage with that distinction, then this conversation has nowhere left to go.