One loud fartpillow?
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Fairly successful strategy I've been using lately is to out-crazy the red team and feed em their own medicine. No one here needs to be told the libertarian party is just Far Right Liteβ’, but do you know their selling points? Cuz there is no chance in HELL I'll be able to convince a Trumpanzee to vote for Biden, but I have been able to steer a handful of votes away from Trump and toward Chase Oliver - usually goes down like this: MAGAt will open the conversation by bitching about someone on the blue team - such as Hillary and her emails. I'll AGREE with them, but lump her and Trump into the same category... "Idk how they get away with sending classified data on a private email server or printing it out and hauling boxes of it to their private residence. If I did hundredth of the crime Trump or Hillary committed, I'd spend the rest of my life in jail!". Bitch about how both parties are doing the bare minimum just to stay in power etc; then start pitching 3rd as an alternative option.
'Both sides' em, and change their vote to "not trump" by pitching whichever 3rd most closely aligns with their impressionability (which is pretty much always the LP). Put the spoiler effect to good use.
And be weary of folks doing the same to you, especially here on Lemmy with all the 'genocide Joe' shit or encouraging apathy because of the shit debate.
And be weary of folks doing the same to you, especially here on Lemmy with all the 'genocide Joe' shit or encouraging apathy because of the shit debate.
I'm already quite weary of that!
("Weary" means tired; you probably meant "wary" which means cautious)
What else do you call someone complicit in the genocide of a sovereign nation for the sole purpose of furthering a blatantly-supremacist regime? Other than Amerikan, I mean?
Become one of Biden's close personal advisors and remind him of his obligation to protect the constitution from insurrectionists using official acts? Sorry I'm hella salty today.
If Biden did that the House might impeach him. I mean, the surviving members of the House probably wouldn't, but they theoretically could.
He canβt. His only power over SCOTUS is nominating Justices in the event of a vacancy.
Congress can, but Republicans control the House.
They won't control the House after a few official acts.
That only applies to criminal prosecution. You really think Biden is going to off a dozen or so House members?
"...Enemies foreign and domestic."
Same here man, but it makes me think. Does Monica Lewinsky count as an official act?
If your state allows it, set up a table and register people to vote
Volunteer to phone bank
They say your time is much better spent guaranteeing people who already will vote blue show up to polls than trying to change the opinion of people who will vote red.
So that looks like asking people "do you have a plan to vote?" And perhaps in a less nosy phrasing: "When will you vote?" "How will you get there?"
People verbalizing a plan makes them more likely to follow through.
There are many places you can sign up to go canvassing, which is great. I would suggest in addition to and maybe before that, make a list of everyone you know and would feel comfortable talking to, and talk to them about voting. You will get much more mileage from existing relationships. (It's like how sales differentiates a warm lead and a cold lead)
Once you've exhausted that list then every little bit still helps. I do think high density events like farmers markets, community gatherings, concerts, games, etc have better rate of contact than door to door.
I realize I just essentially said to tell people to vote while you were asking for something more. I wanted to share that because some people think that posting "vote" is the same as having a conversation about voting. Posting is not nearly as effective.
Another thing that might help is directly asking elected officials to intervene. Staffers for politicians keep a tally of calls and letters they receive for/against a given issue. So while your words may not move an elected, you and some friends can get them to act on an issue. If you have a group you can also request a meeting to discuss your issue which is even more effective. Politicians take notice of organized groups of constituents since that's a block of votes for/against them and possible a group knocking doors for/against them.
The trouble is I don't know what the ask is. There should be a specific action you're demanding: "introduce this bill" "cosponsor this bill" "vote for/against this bill". And it has to be something they're able to do. I don't know what that thing would be.
Pack the supreme court (but there's not time for that or majority in the house).
Long term I think building true power means growing communities, joining unions and cooperatives. Most of us aren't rich or powerful enough to be heard, which is why organizing is so important. None of this is fair or easy to do.
Convince Biden to drop out of the race about a week before the Democratic National Convention, citing health reasons, and name a millennial candidate who grew up on a farm with wind turbines and solar panels, before enlisting for 2+ terms, and moving to a middle-class area of a blue state after separating. Turn the convention into a media frenzy, energizing the Democratic base.
Undercuts Trump among rural Americans and veterans. Reverses all of Trump's old and senile attacks against Biden, as he suddenly becomes the geriatric candidate. Keeps all of Biden's supporters, while stepping away from the "genocide" criticism.
Basically, if Biden backs out a week before the convention and names someone in their 40's, they can run on a platform of "Ok, boomer" and reach 270.
I suppose Biden could have him officially assassinated. That's legal now.
It's good to see that the propaganda accounts have learned the Fox News trick of having one person innocently ask a question so a bunch of other people can rush in and provide the answer (which is turning out to be, big shocker, that Biden is bad and we shouldn't vote for him.) As Fox discovered, it seems a lot more organic that way instead of just having someone stand in front of the camera and say over and over "DON'T VOTE FOR BIDEN."
I am still waiting for them to learn to make accounts that are supporting Biden but doing a terrible job of it -- sort of a Lemmy version of Alan Colmes -- like "I'm glad the stock market and GDP are going up so much under Biden, as a rich person I think he's doing great with the economy and also he's sticking it to the Palestinians which I obviously support."
I've seen a little sporadic trickle of accounts with very bad semiconservative opinions and then also supporting certain Democrats, but they seem pretty chaotic and probably like authentic homegrown trolls. I think the real fake-Biden-supporting propaganda potential has yet to be unlocked. I do support this new development in innocent questions, though; it seems like it's got some potential.
Mozz Mozz Mozz... C'mon man! I'm just getting the discussion going. I've never told you "don't vote for Biden". Here buddy...
Register to vote and/or check your registration status:
You know what? I actually think the answers are almost all pretty solidly productive stuff. Like taking at face value the question and saying "hey here's how to help the Democrats win since you asked."
That was not what I expected. I am -- for real -- pretty surprised. I think I have well founded reasons for being suspicious of why you would have posted the actual "just asking questions" original post, but the answers (even the discussion from people being real critical of Biden) is fine. Has the Lemmy consensus, even on lemmy.ml, shifted that far away from "let's not vote for Biden what's the worst that could happen"?
Volunteer to help get good local politicians elected.
Help a local charity.
The impact will be indirect, but inpactful.
Volunteer to help get good local politicians elected.
Help a local charity.
The impact will be indirect, but inpactful.
Don't have a genocidal sundowning segregationist nominated without a rank-and-file voting process with multiple candidates. Or accept that you are not really in charge of any of this when it comes to The Democratic Party and therefore you should place your political focus on ways to build and wield power that do not depend on it.
This is the only correct answer. The settler empire cannot and will never do right, neither by the subjects-of-empire they still subject to fascism, to tenement housing because anglo realty companies bought up everything else to stranglehold rent prices, to carceral slavery in moldering prisons with food that'd give you COVID before it nourished you, to murder in our beds at the hands of SWAT teams; nor by the rest of the world that they routinely violate, pillage, and commit genocide upon. Death to the empire, worse to those who bear its water.
"I am now quite certain that the crimes of this guilty land will never be purged away but with blood. I had, as I now think, vainly flattered myself that without very much bloodshed it might be done." -- John Brown, December 2, 1859
ways to build and wield power that do not depend on it.
How would one go about it? Would be useful if it's in a general context, as I'm not a North American.
As has consistently been the case for people in our position, our power comes from our ability to organize and take collective action and to develop the question you asked even further and for the conditions in our own countries. This in contrast to what our rulers tell us gives us power (in reality, they give us instructions on how to maintain their power), which is usually some kind of institutional cooption, like joining an NGO or nagging people to vote for their oppressors or doing some slight participation in a milquetoast political party.
Increasing our organization and choosing good actions to take is not an easy process, though it is often surprisingly simple to describe. To be more organized we have to meet with one another, we must gain the skills to convince others to join up with us, to compile the information needed to contact interested parties, to strategically work in coalition with other organizations, to train each other regularly in the core tasks or running any organization. To choose the right actions to take, we must read political theory and history, teach this to each other, and understand how it applies (or does not) to our current situations. The political theory that is the most useful is that which is usually not taught, not even to criticize, but is glossed over or told stories about - it's the political theory of the left and a fearless critical reading of history.
Because our institutions educationally neglect us so severely, particularly when it comes to the tools for our own liberation, it can take a while before you might feel like you are confident or ready to go. That is okay and normal. There's nothing wrong with taking some time to read or to simply try things out a little first.
So I would recommend two things.
The first is to begin reading the political theory of the left and history. There may already be great authors and movements where you live, or there may have been some in the past. They can help you get an idea for who our enemy is (the ruling class) and what different movements have attempted (successfully and not) in the past. Try just one book at first. I often recommend that people start with Blackshirts & Reds by Michael Parenti, as it is a good primer in what we all need to unlearn, or at least take a skeptical lens to, when it comes to the mass media telling of history and politics vs. what actually happened. The value of reading is that it will help you and everyone you talk to choose good actions to take collectively. Those who do not understand the nature of the system we must fight will choose the wrong actions and may even hurt our interests. So education is not just a good thing in itself, it is a tool of political organization.
The second is to get involved with an organization that does mass left politics. There are certain kinds of organizations I would recommend avoiding and I'll explain more if you ask about it. But most organizations that take a proper ground-up approach and are not an NGO will probably be a useful experience for you and your ability to politically organize. It will likely be useful even if you eventually leave that group for another!
Thank you.
read political theory and history
Which books other than the one that you mentioned(thanks for that), would you recommend? Introductory ones that are modern/contemporary, if possible.
I've been recommended State & rev and I have read it, but it seems that eventhough I get the idea, I don't have the foundation and context(didn't understand who all the people mentioned in it are) to fully understand it. Maybe I need to reread it.
Are there any books that you'd recommend about organising and the associated skills/strategy needed for it?
Could I ask a related question:
In my place I'm seeing communal polarisation increasing. Or it is becoming more evident. How would one oppose that in a populace where religion and caste hold good sway, without the opposition giving it more power accidently?
I've seen leftist n leftish organisations being affected by this.
Introductory ones that are modern/contemporary, if possible.
Michael Parenti, "Blackshirts and Reds". J. Sakai, "Settlers". Too Black and Rasul A. Mowatt, "Laundering Black Rage".
This post. Nice try, glowie.
But for real, just be nice to people. When you talk to them about politics and tell them to vote.
Call your democratic politicians (if you have any) Governor/Senators/House Rep and advocate for pressure for Biden to step down gracefully from the ticket... then prepare to vote for Biden in November because that's a hell of a longshot.
If you're talking to people on the fence about voting or not focus more on Biden's policy achievements instead of Trump being a boogie man. Anyone liberal who is considering sitting out this election has already internally decided that Trump is an acceptable outcome for trying to change the two party system or to avoid dirtying their hands voting for Biden to continue genocide - pushing against people's fervently held beliefs is a waste of energy... the media really hasn't put much attention on things that Biden has accomplished so talking those things up won't make people defensive - you never want to directly challenge someone's fervently held beliefs because it is extremely difficult to shift those.
I'm reading this and having flashbacks to me campaigning for Hillary in 2016 and agreeing with people on doorsteps: yeah she's not great but she's much better than the alternative.
or to avoid dirtying their hands voting for Biden to continue genocide
So genocide isn't a deal-breaker for you. Tells me a lot.
Genocide or more genocide? Difficult choiceβ¦
All I'm saying is capital-H History will know who collaborated by whose names are on the ballots. And goddess willing, if I get to survive this? I will sell y'all asses out to the historians if I'm asked.
"Yessir, those anglos were perfectly fine with letting their personally-armed and trained proxy force massacre as many brown foreigners as possible if it meant they got to keep their comfort"; I'm already practicing my Yeonmi Park routine. And I won't even have to lie; imagine that.