My problem with this analysis is it basically means those 40% of inactive voters are complete sociopaths then.
We have kids in cages, Muslim bans, complete abandonment of allies and a lawless president. If this doesn't make you care enough I question your morals badly.
It also kinda makes it sound like a case of "What are you gonna do for me?"
Things have been bad for hundreds of years, but NOW it's expedient that we all care? A lot of people, should Warren win, will go back to their sheltered existences and breathe a sigh of relief.
Meanwhile, a lot of us will
still be fighting.
THAT'S the problem here. Go preach to
THAT crowd. Not to the minorities that have been fighting for better conditions since forever; not to the disillusioned.
Go convince the group that by far has the
most social capital, the
most outright capital, the
most attention on them, to actually
DO something for once that isn't superficial platitudes.
Let's move away from faulty/patronizing argumentation in attempts to find common ground, because that's just "civility" rhetoric.
Forget the honey for now. Vinegar is necessary for cleaning!
Besides which...40% is just too large a number to determine why they didn't vote. We need a lot more data into who they are because that's half the country right there!
Disclaimer: I'm not a socialist. I came here a while ago and have stuck around because the analysis is far more advanced, and more scholarly than PoliEra by miles.
There's hardly any drive-by's, the discussions are nuanced for the most part (
except the tankie ones; those are clear cut), the participants are mature, patient, and full of knowledge.
A lot of the "conflict" is brought by outside forces like us—when we try and neg them.
Divorcing this particular thread of discussion from the DSA-Warren thing because it's important to talk about and also I will be voting for her if Bernie isn't the nom:
My distaste for any voter shaming like this is rooted in being violently aware of what it's like for the people worst off economically in the US. These people not only have hurdle after hurdle placed between them and their vote, they're (intentionally) pushed farther and farther away from the consequences of their leaders' actions to the point that they feel separate from them.
They're living day-to-day, paycheck-to-paycheck, constantly anxious about keeping a roof over their head, having enough nutritious food and clean water, avoiding any medical situation that would ruin them financially (or dealing with such a reality), raising children, working some shitty minimum-wage (or adjacent) job. I don't see how the psyche of this type of non-voter can be so invisible to people who participate in shaming them.
Hell, "catching more flies with honey than vinegar" applies tremendously to this precise situation. Telling people wallowing in helplessness on a daily basis who see no way out that they're sociopathic for mentally succumbing to the unrelenting socioeconomic pressure of living under capitalism is not going to have the effect of getting them to vote. You can highlight the repulsiveness of Trump's administration, but you're going to need to also have a convincing case that material conditions are going to improve for those people against whom this system is waging outright war.
So yes, these people (rightfully) are asking "What are you gonna do for me?" And the answer they get, regardless of posturing and rhetoric, is always "Absolutely fucking nothing."
Hear, hear!
