Despite everyone on Lemmy saying otherwise, people didn’t stay home because of the genocide. Most Americans don’t give a fuck about what’s happening in the next town over, let alone in Gaza. They stayed home because they weren’t given a convincing self-serving reason to make the effort to vote.
The threat of trump should have been enough reason to vote. Because we were at eleventh hour of the life of our democracy. Yet these smug, entitled protest voters stayed home and let trump win America.
You’re right, it should have. But I don’t think the vast majority of the 15 million-ish people who stayed home were protesting. I think they were low-information voters who didn’t see a compelling reason to get out and vote. And yes, it is their fault.
The idea that no voters changed from blue to red is nuts. 10 million (so far) less votes over all don’t mean the same people:
Where alive this time
Voted the same
Voted at all
The idea that it is “low-information” voters is also suspect as the race was between Trump (who I doubt any US citizen has NOT heard of) and the status quo. They might have just not seen a compelling reason to vote, a thing that people can chose to do.
You can place blame on people staying home, but in my opinion if the DNC exists in four years (in even slightly the way it is now) you will have more people sitting it out next time (if there is one). We are watching the inevitable end to any two party political system.
But electoralism has less to do with policy than narrative. Most people vote against progressive policies because the prevailing narrative paints them as tyrannical government overstep, and like it or not “socialism” is a scary word to the very people who would benefit most. You don’t win by being right, you win by convincing people to vote for you. The ones campaigning on progressive policies are bad at that
The voters aren’t wrong. It’s the non-voters that are wrong. Democracy should never be collateral for a protest…
EVER.
Despite everyone on Lemmy saying otherwise, people didn’t stay home because of the genocide. Most Americans don’t give a fuck about what’s happening in the next town over, let alone in Gaza. They stayed home because they weren’t given a convincing self-serving reason to make the effort to vote.
The threat of trump should have been enough reason to vote. Because we were at eleventh hour of the life of our democracy. Yet these smug, entitled protest voters stayed home and let trump win America.
It’s their fault.
You’re right, it should have. But I don’t think the vast majority of the 15 million-ish people who stayed home were protesting. I think they were low-information voters who didn’t see a compelling reason to get out and vote. And yes, it is their fault.
The idea that no voters changed from blue to red is nuts. 10 million (so far) less votes over all don’t mean the same people:
The idea that it is “low-information” voters is also suspect as the race was between Trump (who I doubt any US citizen has NOT heard of) and the status quo. They might have just not seen a compelling reason to vote, a thing that people can chose to do.
You can place blame on people staying home, but in my opinion if the DNC exists in four years (in even slightly the way it is now) you will have more people sitting it out next time (if there is one). We are watching the inevitable end to any two party political system.
TBF if we lived in a democracy there would be no protest, because most people want the progressive policies over which they were protesting.
But electoralism has less to do with policy than narrative. Most people vote against progressive policies because the prevailing narrative paints them as tyrannical government overstep, and like it or not “socialism” is a scary word to the very people who would benefit most. You don’t win by being right, you win by convincing people to vote for you. The ones campaigning on progressive policies are bad at that