Voting Strategically

blm(October 3, 2016) “Voting your conscience” is a bourgeois individualist concept, to use old words. True though: the bourgeoisie is the ruling class. Capitalism is their thing and supremacy of the individual is their ideology. I don’t mean to make you feel bad, but voting is a tactical decision within an electoral strategy. And strategy is a plan to achieve…what? That’s the big question. What do we want?
I know what I want. I want a society that values the well-being of people and of the planet above its individualism, it’s profit. I support these three demands:

  • End all wars immediately and disarm all nations and peoples
  • Move aggressively toward complete equality – economic, social, and racial –  of all people in the world
  • End exploitation of labor and the earth’s resources. Take aggressive steps to reverse global warming.

Is that asking too much?

Building an international movement to advance these demands would be a good strategy. With the internet, this shouldn’t be so hard to do. Of course one might want to support the candidate for president in the U. S. who is least likely to disrupt the internet. Mind you they both might fuck with it. But Clinton would be more easily influenced. That’s a tactical approach. It has nothing to do with conscience or individual revulsion for corruption.

Another strategic objective is the defeat of white supremacy to unite the working class.  So we have to choose between two candidates. The third and fourth one, great though they may be, are not viable. IMHO efforts would be better spent demanding a one-person-one vote system that would allow for meaningful third parties. That’s not a value judgement. That’s a tactical question. Which candidate do you think will give the most encouragement to the white supremacist movement?

So I don’t care who you vote for. Voting is pretty much of a sham anyway, as has recently been revealed even as we’ve really known it all along. What I care about is if you’re are making your decisions based on an understanding of where you think we should be going – collectively –  and the most effective strategy and tactics for getting there.

I have no great love for Hillary. I am  not making the decision to vote for her out of fear of Trump. I base my decision on my judgement of the best strategy for us to get toward a human-centered society. Under the regime of which candidate will it be easier to organize the working class toward that goal?

The advance guard of our movement is Black Lives Matter and its associated groupings. We best listen to them. One of the founders of Black Lives Matter, Malkia Cyril (who figures prominently in the new Ava DuVernay movie “13th”)  puts it this way:

“I’m not with her. I’m not with him. They’re not with me. I think it’s important to be clear about that. I am with us, and act from that place. Ideology shapes analysis. Analysis guides strategy. Strategy drives action. Ideology alone should never drive action. Voting, for me, under a rigged system, is strategic and tactical, not ideological. That’s it and that’s all.”

 

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