Is there a red line that a government could cross that would convince you that that system of government is fundamentally illegitimate and needs to be abolished?
I have believed for a long time that the so-called United States, a “nation” constituted on white supremacy and genocide, is fundamentally illegitimate and needs to collapse in order for a just future to be possible. However, year after year I have returned to the polls out of the belief that voting for some candidates over others was a legitimate tactic of “harm reduction.” I no longer believe that, and I have written about that elsewhere. I will not rehash my argument here. Suffice to say that I now believe that our electoral system is actively harmful. Every time we vote, every time we make a campaign donation, we are giving our active consent to the ongoing existence of this system in all its dimensions. We are ratifying it.
What will it take for you to withdraw your consent?
The ongoing US-backed genocide in Gaza, and now the bombing of Yemen and impending widening of the violence into a regional war, ought to be that red line. Gaza is all the proof we should need to see that we are being ruled by fascists. Fascists cannot be reformed. You don’t join the Nazi party to reform it from within. You can’t “harm reduction” your way out of a holocaust.
It is more apparent than ever that the American public has no say over how our tax dollars are used, that the legally constituted, “legitimate” channels for expressing our grievances are designed to muzzle us, to render us powerless. It is more obvious than ever that genocide and imperialism are bi-partisan endeavors, and it doesn’t matter which political party is in power: our system is fundamentally organized towards mass destruction. The job of our government is to serve as administrators for corporate interests that seek profit by any means necessary, even the extermination of life itself.
What will it take for you to revolt against mass destruction?
Withdrawing your vote is a bare minimum. Refusing to keep ratifying America is a very simple way of withdrawing your consent, of saying “this will not be done in my name.” If the system keeps extracting wealth from your labor and using it to commit genocide, it isn’t quite right to say we are personally culpable, at least not to the same extent. It clarifies things: we, too, are being harmed by this system. The resources we need for our survival are being taken from us and used to murder and oppress.
“Don’t call yourself a free person if you can’t make changes, if you can’t stop a genocide that is still ongoing.”
-Motaz Azaiza, Palestinian journalist
The Palestinian journalist Motaz Azaiza, who has been dodging IOF bombs every day to document the slaughter, said in a recent interview with MSNBC, “Don’t call yourself a free person if you can’t make changes. If you can’t stop a genocide that is still ongoing.”
I am imagining a nationwide mass movement to boycott the 2024 elections. An election with 0% turnout is numerical proof of the system’s illegitimacy. So is an election with anything less than 50%, for that matter. Some might argue that most non-voters stay home out of laziness, apathy, or cynicism. Or maybe their employers won’t let them take the time off work. Now I am saying we should stay home out of hope for a better future. We can be more imaginative about the possibilities available to us if we think outside the confines imposed on us by our so-called “democracy.”
Staying home from the polls, withholding campaign donations, putting our resources into building up our communities ourselves – these are ways of starving the beast and enacting the illegitimacy of the system. It is to expose its undemocratic nature.
I am not a charismatic person. I don’t have a big platform to push something like this. But let’s imagine it, anyways. Would you sign a nonvoting pledge for 2024? Or at least pledge not to vote in any race higher up the ticket than your local School Board? Who out there has the platform and power to move something like this?
I am making that promise. And anyone who looks at the blasted bodies of children in Gaza and chooses to vote for this system anyways truly owns this genocide. You have given it your stamp of approval. It is a red line for me, and it should be for you, too.