I’m coming to the end of a long hiatus from political writing, and I’ve been struggling with where to go next.
In my absence from the daily political grind, I decided that at the very least I will refrain from arguing about the 2024 presidential race (unless it’s to make fun of RFK Jr., which is really just a kind of self-care).
There is no candidate or party that I can, with clear conscience, campaign for.
Any persuasive powers I have will be used to argue against the GOP rather than for the Democratic Party.
I will argue that you cannot, either with your vote or your abstinence, shift the juggernaut of American two-party politics.
I will argue that ceding ground to the right is tantamount to a death sentence for the most vulnerable among us.
I will argue that the ruling class will win the election regardless, but that putting a larger buffer between marginalized people and the GOP is worth the time it takes to cast a ballot.
And I will argue that if all you’re doing is voting, you’re not really doing anything at all.
In the end, you’ll vote for the slightly lesser evil, or you won’t. Or maybe you, like me, will be lucky enough to live in a state where you’re not forced to make that choice.
But you’ll be asked to make others, because there are dozens of races up and down the ballot arguably as important as the Presidential race.
More importantly, there are a hundred other things — from setting up a mutual aid network to helping pregnant people find safe abortion services to working to prepare those around you for climate collapse to organizing your coworkers to blowing up a pipeline — that you can do to change our present and our future.
There is work we can do that isn’t limited to the ballot box, or to our borders.
I’m not discouraging you from voting. Far from it.
But rather than spending my energy on this platform (and on this planet) arguing about the minutiae of American electoral politics, I’d like to spend my time working to lead you further to the left, to see the politics in every aspect our lives from what we wear to where we walk to how we live and die, and, if I’m lucky, to help you find the ways and means to fight with solidarity, ferocity, and love for a better world.
That’s what I plan to do here. I’m honored to have you with me.
A friend of mine on Facebook mentioned how she spent yesterday at a local Board of Education meeting debating with bigots and refusing to cede to their agenda. I felt so incredibly inspired. This is someone I had given heck for making such a loud pronouncement about not voting in the midterms last year. But here she was, doing so much more than just voting.
Personally, I think we should all be doing both. We need to leave the comforting glow of our computer screens and take our principled stands into the real world, where it matters. And I still think we should all vote, even if it's not sexy or inspiring. But if people are just gonna choose one action or the other, I'd rather they get out in the real world and challenge the culture warriors on the right.
perfect!