Thank you for putting this out there, I have been talking with my partner about this and we agree that patriarchy and racism have been the main factors. By patriarchy we also acknowledge the fact that many women voted for Trump despite their opposite interests, patriarchy does not just pervert man just like racism does not only pervert white people!
I know within my community spheres, even in my personal life, I had to CONVINCE people to vote at all. There is something especially important to consider that in the far right political movement (which is seen in other countries too ofc, especially recently) a really "good" tactic to use is to demoralize opponent voters. I truly believe that is a huge factor why people, especially young voters, simply didn't vote. Demoralized and no longer trusting that their vote will even matter, even intelligent people who would normally vote have come to think of it as useless and a waste of time.
And sure, to a certain extent that may be true in a lot of ways, but it is one of the few ways we DO have power. It's why it works so well as a tactic to the right. It effectively makes it so we feel we are powerless and then inadvertently remove our own power by not enforcing it. It isn't our fault we can't trust the government process but it certainly is our fault if we don't take every opportunity to use our voice when given the choice. If we only take the opportunity that seems like it'll work best....well...there isn't a perfect way for every situation and how are we meant to get to a point of collective power and motivation if we don't even work to get there in the first place with simple decisions like voting??
As always, thank you Arturo. A point you touched on indirectly is truth telling. In front of Fox news, VP Harris waffled on Trans rights. I shudder to think how either the pres or vp candidate would have fared on Dan Bongino’s show. Why did we all veer away from being 100% true to our values and beliefs when the pressure was on? Pres-elect did it too. I guess that’s why I would make a terrible politician.
I attended the monthly meeting of my county’s Democratic committee, and it was hard to stay present. It wasn’t the committee I remember from the 1970’s. We have so much to do to reactivate. Misogyny and racism were brought up. The average age of the committee members (OLD) was brought up. In a few months when we drill down into the election numbers, I am eager to see the demographics of the 18 million eligible voters who didn’t show up. Can we find that? I am hearing from 30 year olds who voted GOP, how excited they are. Their joy comes from debating whether they should buy a big new truck or move to that bigger house. Will we really need to hit rock bottom to revive our democratic system?
Thank you for putting this out there, I have been talking with my partner about this and we agree that patriarchy and racism have been the main factors. By patriarchy we also acknowledge the fact that many women voted for Trump despite their opposite interests, patriarchy does not just pervert man just like racism does not only pervert white people!
Very true.
I know within my community spheres, even in my personal life, I had to CONVINCE people to vote at all. There is something especially important to consider that in the far right political movement (which is seen in other countries too ofc, especially recently) a really "good" tactic to use is to demoralize opponent voters. I truly believe that is a huge factor why people, especially young voters, simply didn't vote. Demoralized and no longer trusting that their vote will even matter, even intelligent people who would normally vote have come to think of it as useless and a waste of time.
And sure, to a certain extent that may be true in a lot of ways, but it is one of the few ways we DO have power. It's why it works so well as a tactic to the right. It effectively makes it so we feel we are powerless and then inadvertently remove our own power by not enforcing it. It isn't our fault we can't trust the government process but it certainly is our fault if we don't take every opportunity to use our voice when given the choice. If we only take the opportunity that seems like it'll work best....well...there isn't a perfect way for every situation and how are we meant to get to a point of collective power and motivation if we don't even work to get there in the first place with simple decisions like voting??
As always, thank you Arturo. A point you touched on indirectly is truth telling. In front of Fox news, VP Harris waffled on Trans rights. I shudder to think how either the pres or vp candidate would have fared on Dan Bongino’s show. Why did we all veer away from being 100% true to our values and beliefs when the pressure was on? Pres-elect did it too. I guess that’s why I would make a terrible politician.
I attended the monthly meeting of my county’s Democratic committee, and it was hard to stay present. It wasn’t the committee I remember from the 1970’s. We have so much to do to reactivate. Misogyny and racism were brought up. The average age of the committee members (OLD) was brought up. In a few months when we drill down into the election numbers, I am eager to see the demographics of the 18 million eligible voters who didn’t show up. Can we find that? I am hearing from 30 year olds who voted GOP, how excited they are. Their joy comes from debating whether they should buy a big new truck or move to that bigger house. Will we really need to hit rock bottom to revive our democratic system?