We treat voting as a matter of consumption, a buy-in to a candidate and their entire platform, a reflection of our personal values. This is not what voting is or how it was meant to function! Yet, capitalism is gonna capitalism. It’s a category error that convinces people to opt out of voting.

April Rosenblum had a great newsletter on this: "Voting like a Radical". Key points: 1. All candidates, once elected, become our opponents 2. We vote for the enemy we’re best suited to fight 3. We protect our real source of power: The ability to organize & protest

Instead, voting is closer to a marker, an exchange of power that can be called in or revoked based on the conduct of the recipient. A vote is consent, and as consent can be renegotiated or denied at any time — if you pay attention between elections! But the consumption model wrecks this.

opting out of general elections "to send a message" is also a great way to ensure Q candidates take even greater hold of *local* institutions, electing otherwise avoidable reactionary city prosecutors, etc.

Yeah I think this is a side effect of the bullshit vote-with-your-wallet capitalism is that it has infected voting too. We need to restore the idea that voting is community activity that we get together to do every year. It's not about your personal preferences!