Actually, Voter Shaming Doesn’t Work
jacobin.com
Voter shaming has never been an effective tactic, but the fact that it’s being discussed as one by the likes of Pod Save America’s hosts speaks to the increasingly post-democratic sentiments that have become common among elite liberals.

It’s an election year, so the usual suspects are going to be screaming that any good person will vote party line Democrat and if you don’t you’re letting the fascists win and you’re a a bad person and a bad liberal/leftist/anarchist/communist/whatever.

Of course, every candidate from every major political party is a fascist of some flavor, but “you have to vote for the slightly better fascist or the slightly worse fascist will win” doesn’t have the same ring to it.

Just a reminder that voting is not the default, it’s not a civic duty, it’s not a requirement of being a good member of your community.

Voting, for United States citizens, is the personal choice to participate in one specific form of capitalist neoliberal politics - a form that claims the mantle of democracy while being one of the most profoundly undemocratic forms of government in history.

Don’t shame people for not voting.

Don’t shame people for voting third party.

Don’t shame people for write-in votes or protest votes.

Frankly, don’t talk about voting with random people at all. The choice to vote, or not, is a personal moral choice. You have no right to assume that someone considers voting to be a moral act - and there are strong arguments that voting in the United States is a profoundly immoral act - and assuming someone is a voter and asking them to pick a candidate to vote for is no different than assuming someone supports sex work and asking them to pick a sex worker to employ.

If you know someone is a registered voter, go ahead and talk to them about voting. But keep in mind voting third party, or abstaining from voting in a specific election, are also legitimate moral and political choices, and shaming someone for not voting party line Democrat is offensive, counterproductive, and rude.

And if you don’t know someone is a voter, don’t recommend they vote for or against someone or discuss electoral politics in general. Many of us find electoral politics profoundly immoral and the assumption that we would participate in such equally offensive.

Be respectful. Don’t vote shame. Thank you.

  • averyminya@beehaw.org
    5·
    11 months ago

    I 100% agree with you. I am American. Not voting plays exactly into all the attempts of restricting voters. Other Americans may remember how many states tried to suppress mail in ballots? How historically states have made it difficult for certain demographics to vote?

    Voting works. Communities work. We are at a stage where not voting is simply not an option. They wouldn’t be trying to stop people from voting if it didn’t work. Not voting leads to a party that is actively destroying education and attempting (and succeeding in) preventing certain demographics from running. After 2016 it should be crystal clear to anyone that human rights and the environment do not matter to the R. Party.

    The LGBT+ politicians are currently able to hold their position in office. Under the Republican party, after 5 or 10 years? I highly doubt that would still be the case just given the events of the last 5 years.

    We should be convincing people to vote. Now more than ever. Furthermore, the presidential election is one of the least meaningful votes on your local ballot. There are so many other candidates in your area that by not voting you, I’m assuming, are simply completely unaware of. We need to be invested in local politics, not apathetic to them.

    Voting is the one power we have as a people and not voting is decidedly taking away that power - worse, it can give that power away to a party that is all too gleeful to see harm come to others. The “one vote is meaningless” is a lie that people tell themselves to feel better about not participating and that spite was how we got the results of 2016. I didn’t think either candidate was great, but one was clearly not going to gut the EPA, education, bodily autonomy, and a sham appointment of a Supreme Court Judge among so, so many other things. If all the people who decided it was Bernie or bust had actually just voted we may not be where we are today, set back over 20 years across the board.

    Letting perfect be the enemy of progress is no action. Sitting idly by twiddling thumbs and judging other people for participating in politics is about the worst possible choice you can make.

    I thought this would have all been obvious after the Supreme Court stripped American women of a basic human rights. I guess not, though.

    For the sake of human rights, for the environment. Vote. Shame others into voting. I don’t know at you’re trying to say about shame OP but I completely disagree. Every single person who chose to abstain in 2016 should feel shame. Then they should use that shame to encourage themselves to investigate each candidate and go and actually vote for them this year.

    Having no shame about not voting is (in part) how we got Brett Kavanaugh appointed as Supreme Court justice ultimately repealing women’s autonomy. So, no OP. I don’t think I will sit idly by when people tell me they are not going to vote. I’m going to say to their face that that is the exact mentality that led us to where we are today.

    • averyminya@beehaw.org
      2·
      11 months ago

      “fascism now ® or fascism in 10 years (D)” IMO is bullshit sheerly because of the reality of the current political climate. Democrats have yet to restrict queer politicians from holding office, Republicans have tried. It’s as simple as that.

      In 10 years we want queer representatives holding office. With Republicans the chances of that are so much lower it’s not even a consideration.