Edit: Right now I’m seeing the upvote count fluctuate jurastically but pretty mush nobody’s actually replying. That’s very telling.

Hi, I'm InsightfulIgtheist and I'm here to tell you even if you are an anarchist, you should vote.

In radical and/or revolutionary spaces it really disenfranchises me to see so many socialists, anarchists, communists, radical leftists etc. who think voting is some sort of performative liberal ritual that actively perpetuates the capitalistic order. This is true for the most part but there's a critical point of analysis that radical leftists simply fail to touch on. It's that the reason neoliberal capitalism has dominated the world and is the fundamental mechanism by which society is run globally.

It's because they don't vote.

You people aren't dumb, I think you're just not willing to compromise. If people (especially in America) elect a dishonest, evasive, corporatocrat, status quo mongering electability asshole, then that same elect a dishonest, evasive, corporatocrat, status quo mongering electability asshole's politics will be imposed on to you and you'd be hard pressed to find an anarchist who actually wants that. The reason these status quo neoliberals keep on getting into office is because 1. Not enough leftists/socdem type liberals are showing up to the polls. 2. People generally prefer the neoliberal status quo and haven't been exposed to leftist thought in any sort of capacity.

Face it. The average person who's fed up with a capitalist system probably isn't reading all 3 volumes of capital before they come to the conclusion that the bourgeois and the extraction of surplus value by extension is the root of virtually every one of the world's problems. What they are probably doing is either seeing that their situation isn't getting any better under a neoliberal democrat or the Nazi so every 4 years they'll flip flop beetween the nazi and the neoliberal with little to nothing changing for them. Now in the near future, they'll show up to the poll while in the background everyone who supported a policy which was to the left of monarchist-confederate-nazi-hunting the homeless for sport is shipped off to whatever the American equivalent of Dachau will be or in the slightly less near future, Auschwitz. (And just as an aside) it really puzzles me as to why I see so many trans, nb, poc, leftists write off voting despite the fact that they're the same ones crying "Weimar this Weimar that". Don't get me wrong, all their alarism is true and leftist politics are literally ontologically the best but why not get that in power? Direct action won't have much action involved with it when a nazi regime has literally no reservations whatsoever about gunning striking workers down in cold blood. Okay, if you're still reading, answer me this. Would you rather have a corporate neoliberal prevaricator or a nazi in office? Pretty much the only difference between democrats and republicans is that the former is alright with blacks and queer and the latter wants them dying cruel, revolting, slow, painful, agonizing deaths. If you're not a nazi, they want you killed legally and as fast as possible. As a matter of fact, if you see an election that has lower than average voter turnout, (especially on the state level) chances are that, the state in question has banned healthcare for trans children. Blood is already on their hands and the people who aren't voting are useful for the goals nazis want to effectuate. A vote is quite literally more powerful than ANY amount of theory one could read. But why not vote? Why, because of your antipathy towards institutions let nazism win? We know nazis vote more reliably than libs and people with socdem adjacent politics so what's your solution with the state of collective barganing in 2023? The reason trade union membership (and union membership in general has declined since THE 80S, is because left leaning people failed to show up at the polls to vote in a guy to the left of reagan and now landing on mars would be easier than unionizing a single starbucks because there are just that many hurdles to get over.

And just to get this out of the way, yes direct action direct action direction action solidarity all that jazz. It's just that the problem is that in 2023, union activity is HIGHLY localized and left leaning NGOs are really limited in the scope of what they can do. I absolutely think we should puruse direct action whenever we can. It's just that doing everything in our power alongside voting will ensure we'll win.

Institutions are more of a reflection of people than they are of the institutions in and of themselves and when you get garbage politicans and institutions, only garbage is showing up at the polls clearly. Trust me, run a few anarchists in the democratic primary, couple that with NOISE NOISE NOISE NOISE AND MORE NOISE, in the course of a few decades, you'll see socialist, after, trade unionist, after syndicalist, after anarchist, on those debate stages.

You have the power to choose. Direct action is effective but it's only as effective as politicians allow it to be. What we've allowed the system to be is a corporate ball of capitalist shit because people pretty much worldwide who have a weird reverance for capitalist and opressive state authority made it that way.

Please vote and register to vote ESPECIALLY if you're in Wisconsin. Your states supreme court election will decide the future of America. And if things go their way, I'm gonna be the most smug prick all the way from when we get on the train to our last moments in the gas chamber.

Thank you for your time.