Some people out there seem to be confused, but I always vote in every local and every national election for every office and every ballot initiative since I was 18 years old. Some of my greatest civil rights heroes have fought and died so that we can all vote and I honor their memory in the ballot box every single time.
To some of us, especially those of us like myself who have been scheduling secretaries for US senators, it often seems like a morally reprehensible choice between compromised corporate Democrats and fascist-minded Republicans. Where I live in California, I have the luxury of voting my conscience for president for third-party candidates that better align with my ideas of justice and equality.
But in any and every contested race, as my mom Mary Morello always said, we have to fight the fascist every which way we can, recognizing that even if there’s but an inch of difference between two candidates, there are a lot of vulnerable people who could be greatly harmed in that inch. So vote your ass off, but don’t just exercise your right to vote. Exercise your right to fight for, organize for, struggle for, and manifest the kind of world you’d like to really see without compromise and without apologies before, during, and after election day. And let’s stop the fascists every which way we can. Power the people.
But in any and every contested race, as my mom Mary Morello always said, we have to fight the fascist every which way we can, recognizing that even if there’s but an inch of difference between two candidates, there are a lot of vulnerable people who could be greatly harmed in that inch. So vote your ass off, but don’t just exercise your right to vote. Exercise your right to fight for, organize for, struggle for, and manifest the kind of world you’d like to really see without compromise and without apologies before, during, and after election day. And let’s stop the fascists every which way we can. Power the people.
He did not vote for Harris. He said he was lucky enough to not have to. Then quotes his mother advocating for harm reduction if you do not have that same luck with your vote.
The democrats & republicans have been spending the better part of a century making sure voters are too dumb to figure them out. Making sure other options are never picked, making Communism and Socialism are taboo words…
Given the plurality voting system, voting Democrat is the only meaningful way to take power away from the Republican fascists.
You can vote third party all you want in the PRIMARIES. When it comes to the general, you vote Democrat or you’re helping the fascists.
Also, don’t stop at the primary. You can be part of your local organization and help choose the people in the primaries. As well as improve the local government.
When your opponent is fascism:
YOU VOTE AGAINST FASCISM.
I thought he was smarter than this, but it seems purity tests don’t leave room for raging against machines.
When your opponent is fascism and you vote for a different fascist, don’t be surprised when this does nothing to combat fascism.
“they’re all the same” is ignorant, elitist and privileged
Well it’s fine that he didn’t vote for shit Democrats but honestly wish he would have been this outspoken DURING the campaign, when it mattered, instead of now.
Notwithstanding but FFS, organize and make the statement during the election for not voting for crappy candidates.
But then you get libs yelling at you cause they think criticizing Dems = supporting fascists. You are only allowed to do so in that 1 year gap between the election ending and the start of the next primaries (whether it be midterms or presidential). Any other time and you’re called a Russian bot or psy-op agent.
So? As long as you can live with the decision you made who gives a flying fuck about what they think? Especially in the Internet where everything is made up and the points don’t matter.
Tom Morello lives in California.
You don’t.
Vote strategically, dumbasses.
Yeah, he even explicitly makes that clear. It’s a pretty good take.
This is the vital detail. By all means vote your conscience if you live in a safe state. And his criticism of conservative Democrats is entirely justified.
But if you live in a battleground state, please do whatever you can to block Republicans, even if it requires holding your nose.
Even in battleground states, you can vote in primaries, for school boards etc. If the choice comes down to a corporate shill vs. a Nazi, you should always vote against the Nazi, of course, even if the alternative is also unpalatable.
And educate people on ranked-choice voting.
Agreed! And open primaries, while we’re at it. These are all simple things that make our democracy more democratic and less prone to corruption and polarization.
Vote with your heart in the primary. Vote with your head in the general.
“ if there’s but an inch of difference between two candidates, there are a lot of vulnerable people who could be greatly harmed in that inch.”
Perfectly put and this is all I have been saying.
I can’t square this with his previous statement that he didn’t vote for Kamala. I don’t care if it’s California. He has a platform and in my personal opinion it is irresponsible to use that platform to provide cover for people who could have helped stop this, and found a reason not to.
Sorry if I blasphemed Lord Tom. I eagerly await my downvotes for having done so.
In that society and country, it’s the only approach that can be taken.
It’ll take a while to win that war through the vote if it can be. There’s only one way to win it…progressively change one party from within and with the vote and there’s only one party that could be achieved with.
There is no other peaceful solution, other than a national shutdown large and long enough to bring production to a halt and force the Houses to act.
That’s it. Those two. No others.
If Dem candidates support zionist racism they will lose.
Dont harp on the voters as if they are the problem here. Harris could have won that election by not taking aipac money, but she chose the money. She chose to shout down student protestors. She also chose to parade around stages with Liz cheney talking about prayer and her glock. She made a lot of odd choices.
The reality here is that many Dem voters will just not vote for crimes against humanity, even if you euphamistically call it “strategic” voting. They do not care what you say, and you cant finger wag your way to convincing them to pull the lever for a genocider. I’m afraid thats the reality we live in, so maybe you should concentrate on pressuring Dem candidates to not lose a third of their base to idiocy.
Well here he is applying nuance. He can vote that way thanks to the realities of California. He is trusting the audience to understand that nuance of that stance.
It’s a tricky one, since on the one hand he may be overestimating the electorate, but on the other folks inclined to listen to him may internalize the nuance and not get alienated by assumptions that he is selling out. I’m leaning towards the latter since he at least is calling people to vote instead of some blindly anti electoral take, which is fairly prominent in the online discourse.
I’ll be honest, most of the people I see critiquing elections or candidates like Kamala have nuance to their views. Which makes sense, because it takes reflection and thought to break with the normal for most people.
On the other hand, I see tons of binary “any criticism is anti-electoralism and literally fascist” takes online that totally lack nuance. Which also makes sense, because when confronted with a break in normality, most people tend to react emotionally, not logically.
I dont see that at all. Every kamala hater ive seen have nothing but genocide on their minds.
Lol just a couple posts down from yours
Sure, that’s a hard line for many people who vote with their conscious, and probably most protest voters agonized over the decision, knowing that in our system it could help Trump (although, as it turns out, even if every single third party vote went to Kamala, it still would not have been enough for her to win — protest voters are a tiny demographic).
That’s still more nuanced than “Blue no matter who” or “nothing but genocide on their minds.” (As if genocide isn’t a huge fucking thing that should break every politician who supports it, but that’s a separate argument.)
Yes and no? There’s a lot of chuds who listen to RATM and somehow don’t get their message; but they’re not necessarily listening to Tom Morello, and very likely may not even know his name (or Zack, or Tim, or Brad). The people who listen to RATM and know who Tom Morello is, are far more likely to understand the nuance here.
I was downvoted to hell for saying this on the original post.
It is a privilege to be able to “vote with your conscience” when you’re life isn’t literally hanging in the balance of that vote.
Whether we like it or not, we are a two party system at the moment and voting third party in a presidential election is a wasted vote. I don’t care what anyone else says.
As cool as Tom is he still has the privilege of voting as white man, which is a very different experience compared to the rest of us.
he literally talks about not being white in the first post
Toms not white.
Is it the platform that makes the difference for you?
I live in a contested state and voted for the democratic socialist candidate in the primary but I will, of course, vote for the mainstream dem in the general.
As a counterpoint, my uncle lives in a blue state and voted for a third party candidate in that last presidential election. My mom has basically gone no-contact with him over it. I think she’s just about equally as angry that I didn’t vote for the mainstream candidate in the primary but gives me a bit of a pass because I’m her son?
I think you make a good point about Tom having a platform that I hadn’t considered before. Did he use his platform to encourage people not to vote for her?
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Maybe don’t call them assholes for that.
I am not from tge US but it’s so frustrating, we really shouldn’t support this infighting. Anyone still supporting Israel IS disgusting, people are rightfully pissed of about this.
I still believe that there is no way forward other than voting Dem but the infighting and namecalling and belitteling of each other is infuriating.
This really just feels like another devide method of the ruling class.
If you want to beat the Rep you need more solidarity in the left wing and this starts by communicating like adults.
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Honestly, maybe you need some time away. Your post is pretty vitriolic for someone who didn’t even address you specifically or say anything in a disparaging way.
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If you understood how things worked, I would expect your worldview to be somewhat less disappointing when it comes to delivering tangible results. Yet, here we are, 4 decades later, and we still don’t even have a basic right to medical care.
if you don’t vote straight blue you’re part of the problem and can get fucked.
I voted for Kamala Harris but I was originally going to vote Cornel West. I thought Cornel West would’ve saved this country.
Imagine if instead of supporting two useless people doomed to lose, you had campaigned for an actual progressive with broad appeal?
The electoral process overrides the voice of people anyways. It’s all a shit show to keep us all fighting.
“an actual progressive with broad appeal”
Who? Be specific.
But in any and every contested race, as my mom Mary Morello always said, we have to fight the fascist every which way we can, recognizing that even if there’s but an inch of difference between two candidates, there are a lot of vulnerable people who could be greatly harmed in that inch. So vote your ass off
I think this is reasonable. A “corporate Democrat”, even if bad, can be better than a Republican in many cases. The Democrat might end up being less bad, for lots of disadvantaged people, than a Republican would be. These aren’t ideal choices to make, but you have to deal with reality as it is.
What gets lost in that argument is the fact that the battle is already lost when you nominate the corporate democrats. Kamala lost in July 2024.
The non voters were not incorrect all along, far from it. I speak as someone that still votes democratic to keep republicans out, but my vote is not guaranteed. I will not vote for an Israel hawk at this moment.
Ah yes, the classic “It doesn’t matter anyway, so bring in the fascism, kill all the trans people and let everyone suffer” argument.
What gets lost in the debate is that there’s two parts to it:
- If you are voting in a general election, vote for the lesser evil choice
- If you are not working to support better choices BEFORE the general… BEFORE the primary… then you are allowing others to make that choice for you
You would vote for the leader of the Ku Klux Klan as long as they supported Medicare for All.
Fuck off, fascist sympathizer
You must be the guardian angel of the establishment dems on lemmy.
Ha ha, don’t let me tell you what I think of you being their bitch.
You say that, yet, I would present our democrats.
Really?
Obviously ignorant of what the two parties have voted for and done. Fascism appreciates your rabid support.
Even if establishment Dems do suck.
I thought I already responded to the uniparty hack, but you did two of them. Piss off. No one, no one of solid mind, agrees with your bullshit. You are the reason we lost in fact.
You fucking piss off. You either are part of the fascist agenda trying to help them win, or you swallowed their shit and are helping them win.
Pretty rich coming from a person who swallowed the fascist shit of Kamala’s campaign and is here asking for a second serving. You lot always want to whine that “this isn’t the time to criticize” the DNC candidate, even in the least consequential of elections. Get fucked.
Vote in primaries if you are happy with the candidates. Primaries on average have about 10% voter turn out.
The primaries don’t have good candidates either because of the gatekeepers. There is no way out of this voting under the democratic establishment, and frankly, that you guys don’t see that yet, indicts your understanding.
Exactly. So many morons on here think that the “primary” is the first real contest. The “primary” they tell us to focus on isn’t the real primary. The real primary is the money primary - the contest that determines who actually appears on the primary ballot.
Get the fuck off it. We all know it’s pointless in the general long term. Stop lying and make truthful arguments and maybe you will get somewhere.
Go fucking research what the two parties have voted for and passed and get the fuck off it yourself, fascism supporter - whether you intend to be or not. Which is not to say establishment Dems don’t suck because of course they do. But it still matters.
Wtf are you on about? Some Dem establishment talking points.
You saw the dem establishment arguing and took it. Huh. Doesn’t speak well to your understanding though does it? No.
Feel free to look at my comment history and learn a little.
Bro, you’ve been yelling like an angry spoiled kid. No one here is going to go ready your comment stream. Call your mom, maybe she’ll do it. Maybe not though.
Kind of hard to learn from someone who boasts of their own ignorance. What would anyone want to learn from you? How to lose an election and be a totally toothless and ineffective opposition?
Thanks god former colonized people and people who formally lived in dictatorship didn’t have American mentality and didn’t accept the reality. Americans are bunch of cowards
I’m not American. I get what you’re saying though. But the quote of Tom Morello in the article, after the bit I quoted with “vote your ass off”, then says:
…but don’t just exercise your right to vote. Exercise your right to fight for, organize for, struggle for, and manifest the kind of world you’d like to really see…
Always easy to armchair from a distance with nothing on the line.
Come, show us how it’s done by doing whatever it is you mean.
Where do you live, by the way?
Clearly a sovereign citizen.
I see it’s time to purity test Rage Against the Fucking Machine!
This is straight up conservative hit piece propaganda. The dude is a Harvard educated pol sci master, maybe if he says one single thing you disagree with, listen to what the cunt is saying.
They’re trying to just throw whatever little piece of shit they can on him so they can go- “hey, this guy disagrees with you on one point of all the thousand things you are both in FULL agreement of. See? Everything he says is fake.”
GTFO of here with this mainstream media psyop diarrhea.
There are reasons that all of this is coming out at the same time Morello is involved in promoting protests against the regime concerts.
I hate this title - it’s a bit misleading with respect to the point he’s making.
It honestly seems downright disingenuous, as though the author of the article wanted to make a “both sides” article but then realized Tom isn’t a fucking moron.
It’s like the exact opposite of the article content.
A bit? Fuckers.
Ready for a warzone in here?
Dude is my personal hero and he’s showing why again here.
He’s doing exactly the right thing. Voting Democrat when the only alternative is a Repugnican who WILL hurt more people than the Corpocrat, but always, always and with all his power trying to move things to the left of corporate Democrats whenever he can without hurting vulnerable people.
Weird how “vulnerable people” are used to justify voting for corporate dems, but when members of those actual “vulnerable communities” share their views and their red lines, they’re told to sit down, shut the fuck up, and know their place. For so many, Democrats,“vulnerable communities” are just a rhetorical tool.
It pains me that the kids these days don’t have similar idols. Like Kneecap is righteous, but they’re not RATM playing a show on wall street despite being told they cannot play a show on wall street.
Icons.
Except he claimed he didn’t vote for Kamala vs Trump. Therefore allowing and be in agreement with the outcome. Any outcome.
He’s in California. He could make his voice heard by voting 3rd party, because it was a given that all electoral votes from Cali would go to Harris. Thus, voting 3rd parry sends a signal without endangering vulnerable people by helping Trump.
There’s a reason the GOP cancer is slowly spreading in California. If enough people vote third party or don’t vote it could eventually flip red with enough propaganda and money.
Protest voting doesn’t work with first past the post system.
And if California get’s anywhere close to vote parity, he, like many others, will then start to vote democrat. But right now, there is absolutely no danger of a purple California, so why not vote his conscience?
Or if our reps would actually make a platform and stand by it. That might also work.
Maybe blame the violent people instead.
He’s in a blue state. If we didn’t have our asinine and backward EC, it’d be a different story.
I’m absolutely exhausted with snowflakes being so very precious and that think they need a specially curated and artisanal candidate to cater to them, most especially to their purity tests, and if they hear one wrong note, they’ll stamp their feet, cross their arms, and do absolutely nothing to help. Stay home, vote for some absurdist clown-show bullshit like the Green Party. Even maybe vote for Republicans.
You know, “to send a message”. Because everyone needs to listen to THEM, and of course, everyone is going to be able to look at this ridiculous childish behavior and respond according to what these types want, because obviously mind-reading is possible. 🙄
Talk about narcissistic bullshit of the highest fucking order. Hell, we all can remember being late teens/early 20s, but most people grow out of this kind of selfishness.
But I think he’s pointing out he’s in a safe district and so basically his vote for Kamala would not even matter.
He may be in a blue state, but it would be foolish to think his influence didn’t extend beyond the state. People like to forget there are more Republicans in California than Texas and more Democrats in Texas than New York.
If enough people think like that more parts of California will flip Red. It’s already spreading before this line of thinking is in play.
And Purity tests? I don’t know where you got that with my comment. If anything I was harking on Morello and his dumb purity test. Only thing his stupid purity test carries influence around the country and can lead to more people not voting like idiots.
Sorry, I’m not talking about you and purity tests.
I’m sick of it in general where there is a certain kind of “leftist” / contrarian “independent” that loves to act like they need to be catered to and they often have a purity test or two. They especially love performatively standing on the sidelines and proclaiming how they are so moral because of that. I have the honor of having a few of them in my life (and seeing lots online) and boy, are they precious about it.
Favorite catchphrase: “elections are decided by independents!”
I’m just saying that I don’t think Morello is being like that…
I’m sick of it in general where there is a certain kind of “leftist” / contrarian “independent” that loves to act like they need to be catered to and they often have a purity test or two.
What kind of privileged-ass take is this? I’m sorry, but if you can’t understand why some groups need to have hard red lines about who they’ll vote for, then you’re a moron. For example, the hard red line for the Muslim community was, “don’t support a genocide against Muslims.” We’re not talking about minor preferences here. People attach red lines to their votes on things that are absolutely essential, sometimes for their very lives.
I’m sorry, but I as a trans person will never vote for a transphobic Democrat, even in the general election. You can fuck right off with the tired “lesser evil” bullshit. I’m thinking 10 elections ahead, not just the one right in front of us. And Democrats turning transphobe represents a much greater direct threat to my life than Republicans winning a Senate seat in Ohio.
That’s great. The options, after the primaries, basically boil down to these two types of scenarios:
-
A candidate that will genocide the hardest and gleefully and sell off Gaza to the likes of Jared to create beachfront property, while attacking opposition within this very country - meaning deportation/prison/stripping citizenship. The other candidate may only tepidly go along with things (but maybe not actually) due to military-industrial inertia.
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A candidate that very well may start throwing trans in prison, or worse. Versus a candidate that may be rather squishy and need convincing/pushing on things like sports and what treatments are available to children, etc.
I happen to have trans in my life that I agonize about every day, given the dangers under this administration and conservatives in general. I have basically two real choices. Withholding my vote on some Democrat I deem to be less than perfect will only advance the fascist agenda and it will endanger those I care about.
Quit mansplaining trans issues to trans people.
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He explicitly says he’s in favor of voting Democrat, even corporate Democrat in EVERY contested race. If people listen to him, they will vote accordingly. If people don’t actually listen to him, it doesn’t matter what he says.
Boo hoo you got morals. How dare you vote by your morals if it inconvenience me?
If Kamala Harris would have gotten a primary she would have come last? If Dems had a proper primary instead of panding to a senior buffon there would have been an actual promising candidate. Dems lost not because of people not voting; they lost because they didn’t represent anyone, other than the donor class.
This is a pretty good response. I wish there was more focus on that ‘inch of space’ and who gets harmed, and less on the disappointing sock puppet figureheads.
Yes, too often that inch is getting ignored on principle and to that I can only say: if your principles are so rigid that you sacrifice vulnerable people and minorities, then your principles are a part of the problem.
You want to talk about vulnerable people? Don’t just bring up our names, actually fucking listen to us.
As a trans person, I encourage you to vote against any transphobic Senate or House candidate, even if they are a Democrat. There are few enough of these sleazeballs now that we can vote against them without risking a major election. But honestly, Democrats going transphobe is a far greater risk to trans people than Democrats ending up with a slightly smaller margin in the House or Senate.
Losing one election just means losing one election. Democrats turning transphobes means that trans rights are dead for a generation.
So listen to vulnerable minorities for once, instead of just citing us as a silent example, treating us how Republicans treat fetuses.
Are you talking about sacrificing vulnerable palestinians syrians and lebanese, or vulnerable groups in the US?
I’m pretty sure Repugnicans are worse for either group?
Most of the Palestinian holocaust happened on Bidens/Harris’s watch. Did you notice people were mad at the dems for that? So you cant really make a case that rethuglicans are worse. On war crimes, they are the same. Both parties are bought by rich zionists, and neither will willingly change. Ever. The only way to redeem the US system is to take it apart and reform it into something that honors basic human rights. Until we do that we are just wasting our time and continuing to support crimes against humanity by delaying the burning. We need to take a longer term view of where we are going.
He does have a PhD from Harvard for poli sci. I would be surprised if he couldn’t put together a decent response. I’ve been surprised before though…
