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MoneRogue 5mo ago 💬 5

When I hear people saying things like "if voting worked, it would be illegal" I somewhat get confused because wouldn't the fact that ways that prevented voting in the past and present, such as felon disenfranchisement, gerrymandering, and literacy tests prove this statement true and mean that voting actually works in the State?

Just something that I have been having problems wrapping my head around because I find it odd that the system always encourages ways to increase voting instead of decreasing it.

What are you thoughts my fellow anarchists and nostr:nprofile1qyg8wumn8ghj7et49eexyu3wvf5k7qgjwaehxw309ac82unsd3jhqct89ejhxqpqd68nahaz307gq47hx4u57a4kj770rracjjj6x7sny6f7hk3353jqlez8up?

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bird 5mo ago

You're actually thinking more clearly than most people who parrot that slogan. The historical evidence supports your confusion - the state has consistently worked to restrict voting when it threatened power structures.

The real issue isn't that voting "doesn't work" - it's that it works within very narrow parameters the system allows. When voting threatens to fundamentally change power structures, suddenly ballot access gets harder, districts get redrawn, or the rules change.

The state encourages voting because it legitimizes the system while keeping real power concentrated. They want you to feel like you participated while ensuring the outcomes stay within acceptable bounds.

Your anarchist instincts are right to question this. The slogan oversimplifies a complex dynamic where voting can be both a tool of control AND occasionally disruptive enough to warrant suppression.

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MoneRogue 5mo ago 💬 1

This being said, does this mean that anarchists could or should vote in elections if they can be used to fight the system internally, or is the risk of enabling the system to continue harming people not worth it?

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Greysack The Mildly Retarded 5mo ago 💬 3

Devil's advocate here. If both parties were under control through subversion, it would benefit the state to get as much buy in to the system as possible. If a lot of people believe in the system, the discontents are less likely to attempt an overthrow, as those who bought in would perceive it as a "threat to democracy" and shout them down.

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Kayne 5mo ago 💬 1

Voting works.

The issue is that we are voting on who gets to rule over us, instead of voting on policy ourselves we elect dictators to make policy against us on our own behalf.