Who Can Meet The Moment?

There is discourse going around in the online political sphere that started when Hasan Piker or Hasanabi, a popular Twitch podcaster, stated that he would rather vote third party than vote for Gavin Newsom. Immediately, liberal democrats descended on him, saying that he doesn’t actually care about the democrats. Thing is, he doesn’t! So many of us are simply doing damage control. You think we would vote for the democrats if there was a viable 3^rd party or if we had ranked choice voting in this country? Hell no. We vote for democrats for damage control and to keep Republicans from winning because that is how our system is set up as long as we have an electoral college. Because Republicans want the working class to be in poverty for the enrichment of their billionaire friends, and we just want free healthcare.

Photo by Dmitrii Vaccinium on Unsplash

In terms of Gavin Newsom, not even mentioning how his son is a “big fan” of Ben Shapiro, or how he throws transgender folks like me under the bus whenever he can, he just simply isn’t the front runner for 2028. He hasn’t won a primary. Just don’t already treat him like the front runner! The DNC would be extremely foolish, as they often are, to run him. He’s a centrist at best, and an actual Republican at worst who would promise to arrest Donald Trump, then do nothing once he’s in office.

When folks like Hasan talk about how he’d rather vote third party, that’s because we have to make it very clear, that we will not vote for these centrist old men anymore. To tell the DNC that they will lose if they don’t listen to the youth vote.

They have refused to listen in the last ten years, and all signs point that they will continue to ignore us. I mean, we can’t even get Schumer and Jefferies to admit that our tax dollars shouldn’t go to America’s own Gestapo (ICE). So forgive me if any of us who consider ourselves democratic socialists, are not even optimistic that getting a majority in the house and senate during the Midterms will result in any action whatsoever. Of course I will vote, but it is not promising that anyone who has done evil throughout this administration, will face any consequences whatsoever.

We have two years to demand better. We have two years to say what we want the democrats to focus on, and whether they listen to the people, will be the decider on if they win. Many democrats hate when we say that the politicians have to ‘earn’ our vote. But they are also so used to just conceding on what we actually need, and voting for a lesser evil, that they won’t even fight for politicians that will make society better for the working class.

I can’t say who is going to end up voting for Gavin If he does win the presidential primary. And I also can’t say who is going to split and vote third party because the democrats offered them nothing. But the important thing is that I can see why they’d vote that way.

We should not be telling disenfranchised voters that they need to fall in line or they are the cause of US Fascism. That is just not true. So many feel that voting doesn’t even do anything, because ultimately they don’t have a choice. They have to vote for the democrats as damage control, even if they don’t agree with any policy (which is usually no policy) that they put forth. So they don’t vote or they vote third party to feel like their vote is going somewhere. We need to give them something worth voting for, that will change their material lives by demanding actual policies that support the working class and everyone who is struggling. And I mean everyone.

We need to be demanding better of our politicians and following through by replacing them if they cannot meet the moment. If we force people to vote for lackluster Democrats to avoid Fascism then that is not a choice. That is not freedom. At that point at least be honest and tell people that they don’t have a choice.

I am saying that until that choice is no longer ours, until a centrist democrat is locked into the race, we have a choice to demand better in who is going to represent us to the whole world. We must demand better. Otherwise what kind of democracy are we fighting for?