I’d rather Bernie be Minority Leader…

I’ve been in the streets. Where are you?

I’ve been attending various demonstrations, protests, and actions for nearly 20 years now. Ever since my early 20s (I’m 38 now) I’ve made a point of attending at least one protest every month, in addition to other actions I take part in. Lately, that’s been closer to weekly than monthly. I cook for my local Food Not Bombs and sometimes help distribute (although my work schedule makes that difficult).

I vote, sure, but that’s 2 days a year, at most. That’s an incredibly small part of my political engagement.

Granted, but my top priority at the moment isn’t getting rid of the Democratic Party. It’s the fascism of the Republican Party. History shows us pretty clearly that a fascist movement has never been defeated without leftists and liberals finding common cause in opposition to the fascists. Every time fascists have lost in history, it’s been at the hands of a popular front of leftists and liberals working together. Literally every single time. And the inverse is also true. Literally every time fascists have taken power, it’s been by dividing leftists and liberals and getting us to fight against each other while they take and consolidate power.

It’s not about whether it’s the right time or not. The fact is that under the current political system it’s simply not possible. The system is designed to prevent it from happening. You can’t get rid of the Democratic Party until we get rid of the current political system first.

Also, if we’re wishing for things that won’t happen without overthrowing the political order, I’m much more interested in getting rid of the Republican Party. You know, the fascists who are actively black bagging people on the streets and sending them to a foreign Slavadoran labor camp where we supposedly can’t get them back from.

I never told anyone to get third party candidates elected. Whoever told you that was either maliciously giving you bad advice or is clueless as to how the American electoral political system works.

Feel free to steal/copy.

I feel like the phrase “Deny, Defund, Depose” could become a very powerful slogan if it takes off.

My sign is big block letters reading (words on the left in black, on the right in red)

DENY DOGE

DEFUND MUSK

DEPOSE TRUMP

That’s really why I was hoping to hear from someone involved in planning. If this event is permitted, will have infrastructure constructed (ie a stage, gates, etc) and has a public schedule of speakers, etc along the lines of the Women’s March in 2017, the March for our Lives in 2018, or the various Marches for Science, then I think it’s much less likely to see a violent crackdown by the administration.

On the other hand, if this is more along the lines of the airport protests against the travel ban in 2017, the anti-Iraq War protests in 2003, or the 2020 uprising protests, which were all MUCH less structured and had a much more confrontational vibe to them, then I think there’s a greater likelihood of a violent crackdown.

Thanks! I try to be one, although I’m sure there’s plenty I could improve upon.

My older (5 yo) has already attended a couple of protests at Tesla dealerships over the past couple months. When she was less than 1 year old she went along with my wife and I aas we did mutual aid supply drops at various events during the 2020 uprising.

The younger (3 yo) hasn’t been to a protest yet. This will be her first. Suffice it to say, though, this will not be the last either one attends.

I’m not worried about them getting lost. I know how to keep track of my kids in a large crowd pretty well. And my wife will be there, too. We’ll have child carrying harnesses so the kids can ride strapped onto our back if they don’t want to walk anymore. My concern is about the intended atmosphere of the event.

Also, as someone who never saw my parents engage in politics beyond voting, and barely even ever heard them speak about politics, I think it’s important for kids to see their parents engaging in politics, even if they don’t really understand what’s going on. It shows them that it’s not only OK, but encouraged to form and act on their own political ideas. It opens them up to discussing political issues when they get old enough to, and shows them that politics isn’t just something for the ruling elite.

I assume you’re restating this to show your agreement?

Nah, they can have it. It’s always been a symbol of white supremacy and subjugation. I don’t want it.

Nobody is ever claiming that any were ever amazing. I was on facebook when it was still called theFacebook and you needed a college email to sign up and I was on Reddit before Gamergate.

Opening up facebook to allowing anyone to join isn’t what made it shitty. Not by a long stretch. It barely even existed when that happened. It was 2 years after the site launched. Back then there wasn’t even a feed. The landing page was your profile with your Wall, and that eventually evolved into the feed. Peak facebook was from ~2006-2012. The thing that drove it to shit was the IPO and the drive for constant increase in quarterly profits that comes with a company being publicly traded.

GamerGate wasn’t massive all over Reddit. It was largely on 8chan and 4chan and a few isolated subreddits, but it didn’t even make the front page of Reddit until after mainstream media started reporting on it. Reddit has always had problems, but the thing that’s made it really shitty, again, was the IPO.

Get over your superiority complex. Nobody cares.

I found it on Voyager, but had to search for it with the exact correct spelling “50501.chat” and I only knew about it because I found it referenced in another instance and signed up on my browser on my laptop. I don’t think I would have found it on Voyager if I hadn’t already known about it.

“The dummies” didn’t ruin either Facebook or Reddit. The companies changing policies and algorithms in an effort to drive profit did.

I think trying to both primary Vichy Democrats and run a 3rd party bid at the same time would be enormously counter-productive.

If people start campaigning and supporting a third-party right now, there’s actually a shot to win some house seats and local elections next year.

No, there isn’t. We’re heading into a midterm where a lot of the typically disengaged public will be afraid and in strong opposition to the incumbent party. That’s going to draw a lot of people towards the Democrats, and there will be a strong “Blue no matter who” push to convince people to vote strategically. The Democratic establishment will be fighting even harder against any third parties they might see as spoilers than they will be against the GOP.

You’re right that the upcoming midterms present a great opportunity, but it’s not in a third party. It’s in a primary push. Rather than talking about a 3rd party that has almost no chance at materializing and even less chance at winning, all our effort should be put towards convincing people they need to show up in the primaries and vote for the most anti-establishment, most left-wing Democratic primary candidates they can.

That’s where the real opportunity lies. Primaries get such an incredibly small voter turnout that a relative handful of voters can swing primaries. Then, once a real leftist progressive wins the primary, the whole force of anti-fascist electoral politics will be behind them in the general. It’ll be easy to paint any Republican as a fascist, which will make it easy to frame any Democrat as a rational choice, regardless how far left they may be. When that progressive is the ONLY alternative to GOP fascists on the ballot, they’ll have a much easier time of winning.

Get people who don’t normally vote and who hate Democratic leadership/establishment to vote in the primaries. Run progressives in the primaries. Take over the party. That’s the only way this could work.

I don’t think systems are immutable. That’s exactly my point. They are, but you have to have a strategy that can actually accomplish it. Systems aren’t changed by people just dreaming of a better one. They’re changed by motivated people executing a successful strategy.

Imma press ‘x’ to doubt…