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.
If unions are so resilient, why are only ~5% of private sector workers unionized today? You can't argue that electoralism will never work and then turn around and rely on institutions that have been mercilessly hacked down to the bone over the past ~90 years. Besides, labor law has been so thoroughly corrupted that we likely need a legislative fix before unions can regain significant power. Want strong unions? Passing card check or repealing Taft-Hartley would make that a lot easier, but you need to win elections to do that.
We couldn’t even get a sweet likable socdem/demsoc anywhere without getting the full brunt of the power in this country against us.
This is like going on a diet for a week and wondering why you haven't lost 20 pounds. The strategy can work, you just need to do more of it. Bernie lost because he got unlucky (Covid or the Tara Reade story hitting a few weeks earlier would have sealed the primary in his favor) and because he was popular, but not overwhelmingly so. There's no reason a more seasoned, larger left-ish movement can't win, especially if a major event that broke in Biden's favor this time breaks in our favor.
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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.
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If unions are so resilient, why are only ~5% of private sector workers unionized today? You can't argue that electoralism will never work and then turn around and rely on institutions that have been mercilessly hacked down to the bone over the past ~90 years. Besides, labor law has been so thoroughly corrupted that we likely need a legislative fix before unions can regain significant power. Want strong unions? Passing card check or repealing Taft-Hartley would make that a lot easier, but you need to win elections to do that.
This is like going on a diet for a week and wondering why you haven't lost 20 pounds. The strategy can work, you just need to do more of it. Bernie lost because he got unlucky (Covid or the Tara Reade story hitting a few weeks earlier would have sealed the primary in his favor) and because he was popular, but not overwhelmingly so. There's no reason a more seasoned, larger left-ish movement can't win, especially if a major event that broke in Biden's favor this time breaks in our favor.
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