i just want to emphasize that candidates do not in fact have to earn your vote. voting isn't about some parasocial relationship between you and a little picture on your screen. voting is a pragmatic choice about which of two futures you prefer for the country. sorry not sorry

Protests votes are progressive thought and prayers.

Exactly right. The commodification of The Vote is one of the worst trends in modern progressive politics.

I find the rejection of voting as a communal obligation in favor of a consumerist framework especially off-putting from people who lecture everyone else about the evils of capitalism

Isn't that one possible interpretation of Converse? That for a large plurality voting is part of a parasocial relationship?

You know who has earned my vote? The millions of people who are worse off if this country elects Trump and goes fascist.

It's unfortunate that our culture has convinced ourselves that voting is an extension of our consumer mindset rather than an exercise of raw political power

Maybe “don’t vote” advocates need to earn my non-vote and they haven’t ever achieved anything? They haven’t even reworded their arguments in 20 years, it’s always the same verbatim

I'll be honest, I'm just confused by the psychodrama. You look at the options, pick the one you prefer, then tramp over to the voting booth and pull the lever. I have a smidgen of sympathy if you have issues with polling access or job stuff, but otherwise, what's the fuss?

and if you make it hard to get your vote, they will just go get someone else's. if it is easier to "earn" the vote of a republican who voted Haley in the primaries than yours, that is the vote politicians will compete for. it's the Median Voter Theorem, not the Median Poster Theorem.