On Voting

My thoughts on Voting and US Electoral Politics

• Communist and Socialist parties should run candidates if/when/where that's financially feasible and stands a real chance to win.
• Where that's not possible, Communists and Socialists should run in local offices and work to coalition build (ie. unite) until it is.

• In the meantime, voting is quick. Imo, you should vote for the most progressive candidate likely to realistically win. Takes a few hours every season, if that.
• And resources are sparce. The Democratic and Republican establishments are both wings of ruthless capitalism and brutal imperialism. We should not be spending our resources giving money or time to parties who unilaterally allow misery at home and endorse it overseas.
• Vote for whoever you want, or don't vote if you think that's the most useful use of your ballot and time. I'm not telling you what to do - though I do think some candidates (especially at local levels, in certain areas) are materially better than some of their opponents. And after that, go give a pair of socks to the guy on the street; read a book or article (I have recs all over); see if any of your friends want to go volunteering with you; reach out to someone you miss; lay down and vibe to some music; go for a run, or a swim, or a climb. Don't waste any more time on US electoral politics than you have to, keep your eyes on the prize.

Tweets

@GhaisGuevara - Nov 9, 2022 (src)

Ghais also writes rap out of Philly, check out ghaisguevara.net.

i’ll put a ballot in when we aren’t being tricked and coerced into believing in a two party system. they know exactly what they’re doing, idc if you can “put any name you want”. we’re aware of the hold you have on the masses, stop tryna bully me into your useless ass fights

@GhaisGuevara - Nov 9, 2022 (src)

you dems LOSE because you’re FAKE. not because people dont vote. people have seen your lies for decades and have given up. nobody cares! stop with the guilt trips!

@dilanpcook - Nov 8, 2022 (src)

have any leftists voting blue considered the possibility that it confirms to dems your critiques will always be a bluff and not to ever take you seriously because at the end of the day you fall in line?

and the best part is they frame it as if uncritically voting for democrats gives them leverage.

voting for them is emblematic of a general tendency to fall in line, though, effectively serving as a firewall to deter actions (like strikes) that would make dems take people seriously.

(quotetweeting @neuropantser5 here) there is nothing you can do to make them take you seriously, they don't mind losing and will blame the left no matter what happens. there are very few behaviors you could engage in that would make dems take you seriously and none of them occur in a voting booth.

true but whether they want to win or not is neither here nor there really, the problem is playing the game and helping them maintain illusion there are systemic solutions.

(quotetweeting @MuseWendi here) the dems don't care if they win or lose, as made clear by the way many of them campaign, bc they will be fine regardless. so not voting for them doesn't really make a difference either. :/

by some responses to this you’d think i ran on codifying roe then didn’t with a supermajority. Or i voted to let states overturn roe. Or voted for DOMA.

Dems had ample opportunities to codify abortion and lgbtq rights. they chose not to at best, actively voted against at worst.

@dilanpcook - Nov 9, 2022 (src)

leave it to liberals to act as if losing the house and barely scraping by in the senate is a win. all dems had to do was use their majority to improve material conditions and they wasted it on incrementalism, militarism and gaslighting.

I get it’s tempting to pretend when republicans are acting like it’s a massive win, which is also untrue as far as meeting their “red wave” expectations, but at some point you gotta face the facts it’s total gridlock now thanks to dems policy choices.

Izak Novák - Nov 10, 2022 (src)

Izak also runs izaknovak.wordpress.com.

I think it's completely valid - even strategically ideal - for communists to be morally opposed and voice their opposition to voting for fascists (Democrats and Republicans) or participating in bourgeois elections, especially when communists lack their own base of power.

If you're a communist party, and your participation in the electoral system isn't accompanied by a clear, decisive critique of the fraudulent nature of the capitalist "democracy" and a clear analysis of fascism in America today, then what are you really doing?

Strategically, consider that even the most powerful unions (who are almost entirely led by liberals) couldn't pass even mild labor reform (EFCA [even without card check lol]) under a democrat-dominated gov during Obama. What "leverage" do you think you have?

What do you, as a communist party, gain by being the 1,000th appendange of the Democratic Party? How much money and time are you spending on electoralism vs. getting communists elected to union leadership positions or, better yet, helping organize new unions?

I find it bizarre that pro-electoralism communists make the argument that the rest of us are being "too moralistic", when it's literally the definition of moralism to waste so much energy virtue signaling in a political system that you have zero leverage in.

The two fatal errors I see here are a completely faulty analysis of fascism as it currently exists in America and the priorities that an extremely weak communist movement should have.

primarycatdad - Jun 22, 2022 (src)

see on unity-struggle-unity.

I'm voting as hard as I can but my government is still a dictatorship of the bourgeoisie???? Someone help

You know what to do

(quotetweeting himself here) talking about starting Unity-Struggle-Unity.

index tags: Voting, Communists, Democrats, Republicans, US, America, North America, Electoral Politics, Bernie Sanders, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Joe Biden, Ghais Guevara, @GhaisGuevara, @dilanpcook

category tags: Personal Writings, Tweets