Some people out there seem to be confused, but I always vote in every local and every national election for every office and every ballot initiative since I was 18 years old. Some of my greatest civil rights heroes have fought and died so that we can all vote and I honor their memory in the ballot box every single time.
To some of us, especially those of us like myself who have been scheduling secretaries for US senators, it often seems like a morally reprehensible choice between compromised corporate Democrats and fascist-minded Republicans. Where I live in California, I have the luxury of voting my conscience for president for third-party candidates that better align with my ideas of justice and equality.
But in any and every contested race, as my mom Mary Morello always said, we have to fight the fascist every which way we can, recognizing that even if there’s but an inch of difference between two candidates, there are a lot of vulnerable people who could be greatly harmed in that inch. So vote your ass off, but don’t just exercise your right to vote. Exercise your right to fight for, organize for, struggle for, and manifest the kind of world you’d like to really see without compromise and without apologies before, during, and after election day. And let’s stop the fascists every which way we can. Power the people.
That whole premise doesn’t make sense. At the time of voting, you do not know what party would be in the majority. With slightly different results nationwide, Fetterman could have been the tipping point in the Senate. If he voted with Democrats even just a single time in those conditions, that would be better than Oz.
If we’re looking at his current impact given the results we got, it’s probably better to consider what he voted against. Democrats obviously can’t pass anything right now, but which Republican bills have failed? Not a lot, Republicans mostly vote in lockstep, but there have been a couple of budget bills, and most importantly the SAVE act failed by a single vote. Fetterman voted against it. With Oz in that seat it would almost certainly have passed, making it a lot easier for Republicans to ratfuck the midterms.
Regarding your comments on Fetterman reflecting poorly on Democrats, I have never seen anyone make this claim before. In general, people understand that Democrats don’t control Fetterman, and whatever he says only reflects poorly on himself. This is a lot like how we felt about Kirsten Sinema and Joe Manchin. The sentiment I’m seeing is to primary them next time and move on.
I also find it cute that you announce preemptive victory if I don’t respond to your comment, considering I already said I was going to disengage. This time around I’m actually dropping the thread, though, so feel free to lay the logical fallacies on thick in your inevitable reply.