Nearly half of all Democrats in the House of Representatives voted Wednesday to cut off US military aid to Israel, a move that underscored a dramatic shift away from the US support the Mideast ally has enjoyed for nearly 60 years.
While House lawmakers ultimately rejected Rep. Thomas Massie’s (R-Ky.) amendment to a national security spending bill that would have eliminated the $3.3 billion in annual foreign military financing provided to Israel’s military, the details of the vote were viewed as an encouraging sign by defenders of Palestine and the rule of law.
Massie and 103 Democrats voted for the measure, while 215 Republicans and 98 Democrats rejected it. The overall tally was 104 for, 314 against, and 10 “present” votes, with 9 absences.
And all it took were democrats throwing a presidential election and getting ousted in primaries by progressives to get there.
And it proves what many have been saying. The primaries are the time for you to cast your protest vote, not the generals.
Sorry citizen, your time for self expression and democracy, as materialized by a single vote for one preset option you had no voice towards, in an election rigged by the party brass, has passed. Please go back to being an obedient worker drone. See you in two years, which is plenty often enough for a satisfactory democracy!
You (general you, not you personally) can and should express your opinion in other ways as well. It’s just the price / collateral damage that’s far higher in the general election. You’ll express frustration at some issues and sacrifice others in the process, without achieving much.
You won’t tear down that pyramid by ripping the golden cover off the top. Attack the base, shatter the bricks holding up the corrupt tip, and the whole thing will start shaking.
Notice that the party brass didn’t throw as much of a tantrum about the lost presidency as they did about the slew of progressives unseating “safe” candidates in primaries. That’s where they actually start to worry.
Votes need to be a tool for establishing public consensus, but that doesn’t mean they have to be the only tool.
The Master’s Tools Will Never Dismantle the Master’s House
Some tools can be appropriated, and some tools will be needed to build a new house. Don’t discard them all.
Voting alone may not be enough, but it’s a useful way to communicate public opinion. Establishing the consensus that enough people are behind you encourages participation in direct action, and building democratic legitimacy helps make your changes stick.
You probably need more than votes to achieve change, but you’ll need them to make it last.
Hard to vote in primaries when they coronate candidates.
Like I’ve told others like you. That literally only happened once.
Too many times
Furthering the need to improve the system even more.
Having the Ranked Choice voting system that NYC, Maine, and Alaska have would make it so primaries and even general elections are won by the people that are most representative of their constituents, rather than just corporate backed donors.
Every state can vote in some form of alternative voting system. It’s such an important change factor that red states have been actively trying to ban Ranked Choice voting.
Hey can I borrow money from you once
Voting for who you want in the primary is not “protest voting.” It’s simply voting for who you want.
If the establishment doesn’t wan’t to be democratic about the primary, then that’s on them.
I’ll vote for their shitty centrist pick as soon as Schumer apologises for not endorsing or even acknowledging Mamdani after he won the democatic nomination.
Vote blue no matter who is a two way street buckaroo.
Fuck you, you dumb piece of shit.
Please don’t ignore the nearly invisible work from countless activists nationwide pushing and promoting antizionist candidates. they don’t just come out of nowhere.
I am really proud of my friends who worked so hard on that. from canvassing to calls to so much work.
And people Latinos getting murdered on the streets by ICE.