Why is it necessary? Wouldn’t direct action be sufficient for change?
You forgot the next sentence:
The problem is that so many people think of voting as their primary way of exerting political and social power that a disproportionate amount of everyone’s time and energy is spent deliberating and debating about it while other opportunities to make change go to waste. For months and months preceding every election, everyone argues about the voting issue, what candidates to vote for or whether to vote at all, when voting itself takes less than an hour. Vote or don’t, but get on with it! Remember how many other ways you can make your voice heard.
Idk man, theres not too much debate on who to vote for. There’s a clear lesser evil and theres an avowed fascist. The quoted paragraph just reaffirms what his one sentence says, that voting isn’t sufficient.
I like the pamphet. I think it hits most everything important. If you only vote and the entirety of your efforts are spent on electoralism and not direct action, its a lot if wasted time. But if you cant even take 20 mins to vote every 2 years, or worse you’re advocating people who aren’t fascist sit it out, you need to rethink what you’re doing.
Not substantial enough changes unless you’re capable of overthrowing the state. Direct action works best when the state is mostly uninterested in what you’re doing, it’s significantly harder if the state is actively opposed to what you’re doing.
Voting isn’t about solving everything, it’s about making it slightly easier to do direct action. Participation in bourgeois elections is important precisely because it’s never going to get rid of capitalism. It’s the one method of slightly influencing the systems used to opress and undermine working class struggles. You aren’t going to fundamentally change anything by voting, but elections influence how openly and strongly the state opposes direct action.
You don’t throw away a tool just because it doesn’t have much impact, you just use it where it can be slightly helpful.
You are playing into this issue of voting taking up more time than it deserves just as much as anyone you’re criticizing. Time wasted on debates about if you should vote or not partially happens because you’re making a big deal out of not voting instead of engaging in direct action.
It’s like you didn’t even look at your own pamphlet. It backs up his exact statement.
Why is it necessary? Wouldn’t direct action be sufficient for change?
You forgot the next sentence:
Idk man, theres not too much debate on who to vote for. There’s a clear lesser evil and theres an avowed fascist. The quoted paragraph just reaffirms what his one sentence says, that voting isn’t sufficient.
I like the pamphet. I think it hits most everything important. If you only vote and the entirety of your efforts are spent on electoralism and not direct action, its a lot if wasted time. But if you cant even take 20 mins to vote every 2 years, or worse you’re advocating people who aren’t fascist sit it out, you need to rethink what you’re doing.
The goal is to let people know that voting isn’t enough.
Voting isn’t enough, but it is the bare minimum.
Eventually, the bare minimum won’t be enough.
Voting isn’t enough, but it is the bare minimum.
Eventually, the bare minimum won’t be enough.
Voting isnt enough, but it is the bare minimum.
Eventually, the bare minimum won’t be enough.
Not substantial enough changes unless you’re capable of overthrowing the state. Direct action works best when the state is mostly uninterested in what you’re doing, it’s significantly harder if the state is actively opposed to what you’re doing.
Voting isn’t about solving everything, it’s about making it slightly easier to do direct action. Participation in bourgeois elections is important precisely because it’s never going to get rid of capitalism. It’s the one method of slightly influencing the systems used to opress and undermine working class struggles. You aren’t going to fundamentally change anything by voting, but elections influence how openly and strongly the state opposes direct action.
You don’t throw away a tool just because it doesn’t have much impact, you just use it where it can be slightly helpful.
Great comment.
You are playing into this issue of voting taking up more time than it deserves just as much as anyone you’re criticizing. Time wasted on debates about if you should vote or not partially happens because you’re making a big deal out of not voting instead of engaging in direct action.
Some think that voting is enough. I don’t think it matters without organizing and direct action.