If a protracted people's war was imminent, yeah, dunking on electoralism would make sense. But we live in a country where the vast majority of people think legitimate political action is limited to (a) elections and (b) protests that aren't even an inconvenience to anyone.
Bashing electoralism in America doesn't do anything for the global south. Arguably, the only way to end American imperialism is to bring socialism to America. Electoral politics are at least as promising an avenue for that as anything else.
the vague idea that playing the us’s political system is more likely to end us imperialism than just fighting the US and working for its collapse, or that it is more likely to do good than just assisting anti-imperial struggles
What do these ideas actually look like in practice? What, specifically, can an American do to:
Fight the U.S.
Work for its collapse
Assist anti-imperial struggles
There is no protracted people's war on the horizon in America. Monkeywrenching, sabotage, and similar individual acts aren't going to fix a systematic problem. Someone scraping by in America doesn't have the money, connections, or language skills to travel to another country to physically fight U.S. imperialism (and in many instances -- sanctions, for example -- there's no war to fight).
This is my issue with writing off electoralism: the alternatives suck even more, or are flat-out unrealistic.
Unionization is good too, but that doesn't make electoralism hopeless. Empirically, tens of millions of more people vote than participate in unions, and it's far easier to get media attention on elections than on unionization efforts.
What alternatives are more likely to succeed?
If a protracted people's war was imminent, yeah, dunking on electoralism would make sense. But we live in a country where the vast majority of people think legitimate political action is limited to (a) elections and (b) protests that aren't even an inconvenience to anyone.
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Bashing electoralism in America doesn't do anything for the global south. Arguably, the only way to end American imperialism is to bring socialism to America. Electoral politics are at least as promising an avenue for that as anything else.
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Vietnam winning the war didn't end American imperialism. Not even close.
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What do these ideas actually look like in practice? What, specifically, can an American do to:
There is no protracted people's war on the horizon in America. Monkeywrenching, sabotage, and similar individual acts aren't going to fix a systematic problem. Someone scraping by in America doesn't have the money, connections, or language skills to travel to another country to physically fight U.S. imperialism (and in many instances -- sanctions, for example -- there's no war to fight).
This is my issue with writing off electoralism: the alternatives suck even more, or are flat-out unrealistic.
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Unionization is good too, but that doesn't make electoralism hopeless. Empirically, tens of millions of more people vote than participate in unions, and it's far easier to get media attention on elections than on unionization efforts.