I know voting by itself cannot bring about change. However the right person in the right position, who is supported by the people, would have a legitimacy that revolutions often lack. The establishment candidates won’t even debate, how can they be considered legitimate.
How am I suppose to choose between the three hopefuls I actually like though?
Jill Stein seems like she has the best chance to win, but I don’t know if she is revolutionary enough.
Cornel West seems like he might actually be able to kick off a revolution, but I don’t know if he could win.
Claudia de la Cruz seems amazing but is still very much a bit of an unknown.
Am I just suppose to roll the dice here? I think I could vote for any of these three with a clear conscience, but my favorite depends so much on the day.
It doesn’t matter. None of them will get a notable part of the vote, and neither will they start a revolution.
No matter who you go with in the end, you can take comfort in the fact that it won’t make a difference.
This isn’t about making a difference in the system. It’s about deciding who could lead the revolution.
It is one of many tools that need to be used to make a difference.
You don’t need to run a candidate for president to gain popular support. And the candidate will never be the center of the revolution - that’s “Great Man Theory” talking.
Revolution happens through popular support of the workers. Building and growing a coalition of working class orgs is where we should be putting in our efforts.
Are they running for leader of the revolution?
Couple of the candidates seem to be leaning in that direction.
We are not waiting for a great leader to arise and lead the revolution. We must build the capacity for revolution by organizing building dual power primarily within colonized communities (black and indigenous), and spreading class consciousness.
Edit: in terms of a ceasefire, this will only end when “Israel” realizes it can’t go on.
The main purpose of voting has historically been estimating popular support for a communist party, not identifying the best leader of the revolution.
That may have been true in the past in the US, but this three way split isn’t helping us. There could be an opportunity here, alot people are just voting against the other guy.
All you are accomplishing by chasing your tail over Jill Stein, Cornell West, etc. is participating in an elaborate dance. None of these people are revolutionaries. Lenin and Mao are not on ballots. If you think that it matters who the president is, consider that the current one is a dementia patient and it’s all been business as usual. This is ephemeral and nonmaterial.
I asked last year at one point about Cornell West and got directed to a tweet he made a decade ago praising Reagan’s “freedom fighters” who went around in the 80s working to snuff out communism across the world.
At best West is a Sanders-esque reformist.
At best West is a Sanders-esque reformist.
Even that may be giving him too much credit.
True but wasn’t sure how to word it.
Cornel West is absolutely not a revolutionary
if this is for a local election, vote for whoever you think can win; otherwise, it makes no difference at all
The American electoral system is rigged by corrupt parties such that a third party vote is a protest vote. Vote third party by all means – to vote for either the Democrats or Republicans would damn anyone’s soul by making them complicit in genocide! – but understand that the point is to send a message.
Which message do you want to send?
Green Party and Cornel West: Progressive, much better than the Democrats, but fundamentally still Liberal reformists who do not seek to fix the structural problems of neoliberalism.
PSL: Communism now.
I think the choice is clear. Vote PSL
The PSL ticket is the only anti-imperialist one
PSL, afaik, is the only one with the right grounding or close to it, but I would say take it with a grain of salt as something to support for helping with educating, agitating, and organizing.
The vote itself probably isn’t going to mean much. It’s more about how you can reach people through the process, like how some were educated through activists in the orbit of Bernie’s campaign, even if the man himself was only a reformist. But also, don’t just support a candidate uncritically if they are partly what you want and fail on the basics of anti-imperialism and such. Instead, use it as an opportunity to talk to people about what they’re saying that is helpful and what they’re saying that is off.
Oki so usually I vote for my man
Juan Guaido
because if the US wants him to be pres of something so bad, well they might as well elect him.
but this year I’m too disgusted and over everything to even do a joke so I actually just threw it away :3
over 31,184 palestinians are dead today, I started out marching with my city and doing everything I could, thousands of us did but nothing changed, and now they’re going after Latin Americans more aggressively than I’ve seen in my life, I hate this place.
so I couldn’t even bring myself to make a joke this year
No
First off, none of these candidates will win so you can throw that out the window. Second off, none of these candidates will lead the revolution, at least within the next 10-15 years.
With that said, the PSL is the only explicitly communist entity of the three AND actually has a revolutionary party structure. I have my disagreements with them but barring an revolutionary Bernie-esque rising from the ashes, I’m gonna keep voting for PSL
