What Are Americans Allowed to Ask for this Election Season?
Well, the (US) American election season is well underway, and oh boy are things happening. Joe Biden is stepping out, Kamala Harris is the new Democratic nominee, Walz was picked over Shapiro for VP, Donald Trump was shot and people kind of forgot about it. Everything is changing - the possibilities are endless!
Except, are they? After the stumbling, fumbling mess that was Biden's 2024 campaign, the marketing for Harris was framed as a breath of fresh air where new, progressive politics were back. But ask the average voter what policies they like from the Harris/Walz campaign and the answer will probably be vague. The most concrete reason most people seem to have for supporting Harris and Walz is that they will prevent another Trump presidency and stop the Republicans' proposed Project 2025. The Harris campaign seems to reflect this attitude, with slogans like "Let's Win This" and "Not Going Back!" featured prominently.
But what about positive policy platforms? Well that has been a vague area. There is a little talk about infrastructure and defending reproductive rights, but not much talk about adding to the Supreme Court to counterbalance the judges that overturned Roe vs. Wade. And it doesn't seem like packing the court or making changes that might break through the systematic obstructions of the GOP is something the DNC is even willing to consider.
And there's one thing the Democrats are definitely not making promises about: ending the US-funded Palestinian genocide.
Oh, for months the White House, Biden and Harris have all talked routinely about being in talks for a "ceasefire," "negotiations," and "deals," etc. with the Israeli government, everything short of actually establishing red lines or stopping funds and arms for Israel's military. Despite their repeated statements of concern with Israel's bombardments and the swell of popular opposition to the latest acts of destruction against Gaza and Palestine in general, words and assurances are all the present Democrat White House is willing to offer.
No, they will not consider doing more. When protesters came to campaign events demanding that the incumbent Vice President take real action to stop funding the genocide of Palestinians, they were met with scorn from dedicated party supporters. In one campaign stop in Michigan, the Candidate herself told protesters that they were basically asking for Trump to win...
All of this raises some questions. Why shouldn't voters ask a political candidate to support a certain policy in exchange for their votes? Is that not one of the central concepts of representative democracy?
Moreover, why shouldn't voters ask that currently sitting elected officials use their offices to take action on an international humanitarian crisis that the same government is funding?
Is it really so extreme and rude to organize a protest when the government has taken no meaningful action to stop the mass killing of civilians by a nation that it supports?
The situation with Palestine and the USA's unwillingness to take meaningful action is an especially stark reminder that the Democratic Party is still firmly in the era of policy-free politics.
More specifically, by policy-free I mean that the Democrats' campaign is promising voters no policy platforms other than Not Being Republican and Not Being Trump. Trump and the MAGA movement represent a fascist, existential threat to American democracy, they say, and therefore the most important issue of this election is making sure they do not gain power and destroy democracy as we know it. Ending the war (and genocide) against Palestine, restoring nationwide reproductive rights, protecting labour rights, limiting the damage of climate change, all of that can surely wait until the existential threat to the nation is defeated at the ballot box, right?
This would be compelling - except for the fact that the Democrats have been in power for just about four years now and have not only been slow to address some of these issues (If Harris is committed to enshrining abortion rights into law, why not introduce such a bill in this term?), but have in fact conceded and embraced Republicans' policies on others.
Remember the families of migrants and asylum-seekers who were being cruelly separated by ICE at the southern US border? Remember the outrage over kids being locked in cages alone? The Democrats and the media that favour them don't. In fact, this year's DNC showed that the Democrats are embracing the MAGA policy of militarizing the border as much as possible. From "Abolish ICE" to "Build the Wall" in just four short years.
What about addressing climate change? Well, all those oil drilling permits that the Biden administration has handed out since 2021 probably haven't helped much with that.
End the Israel/Palestine war? We hear you, we see you, but the munitions trade must continue.
And when any of these issues and the DNC's inaction are brought up on the campaign trail, when someone asks the politicians to commit to something in exchange for a vote, the politicians reply, "Do you want Trump to win again?! Don't you know how important it is that we win this election?! How can you throw your support to the other side???"
The specter of Trump really has been a boon to the DNC and all of its staffers. Since 2016 - that's three elections now, they have been able to keep their donations and supporters coming in with just the threat of Trump gaining power - no positive campaign promises required, and no accountability needed.
Did the Democrats win an election? Great, now we can get back to normal and stop thinking about issues and stuff. Don't worry about the ICE stuff or renewable energy, we'll get to that eventually.
Did the Democrats lose an election? We need your donations now more than ever so we can fight Trump and make things better in ways we weren't doing while in office!
Did the Democrats fail to act on their promises before the campaign, or even move to the right on them? Look, it's difficult to get stuff through the Senate or whatever, and we can't do executive orders because that's what the other guys do. The important thing is to vote for us so Trump doesn't win and then we'll definitely do the thing next time.
The Democrats frame this Presidential election as a vote to prevent the ultra-right and fascism from taking over America, just as they did in 2020 and in the midterms of 2018 and 2022. This begs the question, however: If America has been one election away from descending into fascism for two election cycles now, how well is the country actually doing at fighting fascism? Is there any plan to use executive power to strengthen real democratic rights and lessen the ability of fascists to influence government? If the stakes are so high, why is the supposed "only party that can stop MAGA" letting their policies ratchet to the right and embracing some of the very things that MAGA has supported?
It should be clear by now that voting every four years for the Party that Promises to Stop Fascism and then hoping they don't slide further towards the fascists is not going to get anywhere. If we are told that addressing the most urgent issues cannot be asked of candidates, then it is time to demand they are addressed.
We are seeing now how electoralism is once again failing working class people in the USA and abroad. It's time now more than ever for people to organize beyond the established electoral system - in protest movements, in boycotts, in labour unions, in community orgs and affinity groups, even in a revolutionary party if that's your thing.
Vote if you must, but remember that voting is not enough to stop fascists at home or acts of genocide abroad. Rights and liberties are not handed down through begging. They are won through power.
Tradcaths have some wild takes on geopolitics. Today I saw a Twitter account with a Vatican flag in the username posting about how Wikipedia is funded by the CIA and Mossad. And it's like, whether that's true or not, tradcath politics are all about stamping out communism and establishing fascist theocracies. You should all be thanking your patron saints every day for the work the CIA has done for the cause over the past 80 years. But instead you get mad at the most anti-communist organization there has ever been because there was a pride flag on a government building one time.
(And of course they aren't against the Mossad for any valid reason, it's purely because because of ((Jews)))
On the existential horror of Gaza refugee fundraisers
One of the things that has filled me with a deep feeling of anguish, inadequacy and anger during Israel's genocidal bombings of Gaza is seeing the hundreds of crowdfunding campaigns started by Palestinian refugees - often organized by relatives or contacts in other countries due to international sanctions. Vetting groups have worked tirelessly to verify as many of the legitimate fundraisers as they can, while people here and on other platforms repost links to hundreds of campaigns in hopes that they will reach more potential donors. And so for more than a year, I and other concerned people (mostly in the First World) have had to ask ourselves over and over how many people we can afford to help, who we should choose to donate to, and whether donations to individuals or aid groups are more effective. We have been confronted with the question of whether to help someone to survive or not, and then are expected to go on with our days as we scroll through social media.
The more appeals come in, the more I have been hit with the sickening, enraging thought...
IT DID NOT HAVE TO BE LIKE THIS
OUR GOVERNMENTS COULD HAVE MADE THIS UNNECESSARY
I get upset again and again when I think that the governments of my country and others not only continued to fund the state of Israel as it bombarded Gaza and other lands relentlessly, but withdrew their support for key aid organizations such as UNRWA and other long-serving orgs in Palestine, labeling them as "infiltrated by Hamas terrorists" or whatever unsubstantiated excuse. The governments who hold the institutional power to stop this genocide and support Palestinian victims' needs instead abdicated that responsibility down to individual citizens with the least amount of political power.
Instead of any state action to stop or defund the IDF's destruction, we are instead given the chance to vote with our dollars on who gets to escape the destruction that our own governments are funding. Much like the countless GoFundMe pages for USAmericans in medical debt, there is a cold, institutionalized cruelty to being asked to use your limited savings and resources to try and save what few people you can - a neoliberal cruelty.
There is now a ceasefire agreement between the government of Israel and Gaza, which means a hopeful stop to more than 15 months of wholesale bombing of the Gaza strip, which leveled upwards of 50% of buildings, killed more than 70,000 people by low estimates (it's probably much more), and displaced countless others. Many people in the West are going to think that their job is done and disappear like Tuxedo Mask, but the people of Gaza and wider Palestine will need support more than ever now that so much needs to be rebuilt and so many need care. Fundraisers will continue to be important for this and we should continue to support and share them, but we need to demand more than the chance to donate - we need states to commit meaningfully to a lasting peace and to funding real development for the Palestinian people. We need to reject the idea that fundraising is all we can do - we need to organize against our institutions' funding and support for genocidal military action.
