Breakup sex
Today I see people whose politics I largely share getting upset about things. Here are Briahna Joy Gray and David Sirota, upset that John Kasich may play a role in the Democratic National Convention. Here is Anand Giridharadas grappling with how to welcome the energy and support of the “Lincoln Project” without ceding power to the very same people who brought us the Iraq War, torture, and predatory mortgages and financial fraud.
The metaphor for how I think that “we” (for a suitably nebulous we) should deal with the 2020 election is “breakup sex”.
Our current relationship with the Democratic Party is intolerable. The people who run the institution do not share our values, at least not in any way that matches the urgency of the catastrophe our world has become. We’ve tried for two Presidential election cycles to reform the party from the inside, using the primary process, and not succeeded, both for reasons fair and foul. Yet the pathology of our first-past-the-post electoral system and the logic of Duverger’s tendency means it would harmful to do the natural thing and form our own political party. Under electoral systems like ours (which it should be among our highest priorities to change) splitting a broad coalition disempowers the entire coalition, handing elections and power to people whose interests and values are so far from our own we would never have been anywhere near a coalition with them. Within the Democratic Party our values are undermined, coopted, sacrificed on the alter of a cynical realism that the well-remunerated realists quietly prefer. If we split from the Democratic Party, we hand power to a coalition that is, at the moment, an unabashedly fascist death cult. Things are tough all over. This is intolerable. We have to find a way out.
I think there is a way out. A fair number of us, described sometimes as “Bernie or bust”, argue that we should withhold our support from the Democratic Party, despite electoral realities, unless they earn our support with candidates and platforms that represent us. Sometimes this is taken a principled stand, to be taken regardless of consequence. But often it is justified in game-theoretical terms: If institutional Democrats know that we are trapped, that we will always hold our noses and vote with them, then we will have no leverage in the party. We have to demonstrate a willingness to accept the short-term risk of spoiling elections in order, over the longer term, to gain bargaining power within the Democratic coalition so that our values and interests actually get represented.
There is a lot to be said for this view, but it is kneecapped when it is put into practice on individualized, atomized terms. Most of us, compelled by the logic of negative partisanship, hold our noses and vote for the “corporate Democrat” who we expect will betray us, but who will probably not murder us like the other guy might. Others vote for Jill Stein or Howie Hawkins, or don’t show up at the polls. The inconsistency dilutes the potential effectiveness of the strategy. If the goal is actually to wield power, our withholding or supplying votes must be a matter of coordinated, collective action rather than individualized expressive choice. We need a union that can credibly threaten to strike, not individuals some of whom rage quit.
So, breakup sex. I think, in this year of our lord 2020, we should actively, enthusiastically, passionately support the Democratic Party and the prototype institutional Democrat who leads its ticket. They always try to convince us that letting the other team win would be the end of the world, but this year the horde of rabid predators is pretty visible while they are crying wolf. As soon as the election has passed, I think we should form a distinct organization that would not be a political party in the sense of participating in our country’s deeply flawed public primary process, but that would, like a political party, sometimes moot its own candidates for public office and help get them placed on ballots (whether as organization representatives or notional independents). Sometimes is an important word in that description. Most of the time, it hopefully would not. The organization would simply endorse the Democratic party candidate, keeping whole the not-Republican coalition. But, if a high (supermajority) threshold of the membership decides that the Democrat would not represent our values effectively, that the risk of spoiling the election is acceptable given whoever the Republican would be and is outweighed by the possibility our better candidate might win, then we would run that candidate and organize on their behalf with energy and unconflicted enthusiasm. Defecting from the Democratic Party, when it makes sense, makes much more sense as a collective rather than individual choice.
This organization might only rarely run candidates but still have a salutary effect on our politics. A credible threat that the social democratic wing of the party might defect would change the kind of candidates the party would nominate under its everpresent “electability” fetish. The existence of such an organization would also incentivize Republicans not to nominate, say, pathological narcissists with inchoate tendencies towards authoritarianism and racial hierarchy. Republicans will understand that, if they nominate someone sufficiently mild and tweedle-dee-ish next to what might be portrayed as a corporate-Democrat tweedle-dum, the social democratic wing of the Democratic coalition might risk a split and hand them an advantage. The existence of a union of social democratic voters would create incentives for the Democratic Party to become more social-democratic, and for the Republican party to become saner. It’s win-win-win.
This is, of course, a second-best solution. Replacing our terrible first-past-the-post electoral system with sane alternatives would enable a diversity of proper political parties to contest elections on equal terms. But this is something we can just do, long before an uphill struggle can be won to get incumbent politicians to reform the system that exalts them.
We should start to build this organization, just after the election. In the meantime, until then, I think we should passionately support Joe Biden and whatever motherfucker has a D next to their name on November’s ballot. My view is that it’s not worth the trouble to be coy, to withhold support conditional on platform commitments or John Kasich not marring the Democrats’ stage. During a Biden administration, there will be a huge battle over who must be betrayed — corporations and donors, or us. For now, the best way to wage that fight is to be an indispensable part of this election’s coalition. Beginning in November 4th, we organize to credibly threaten to take our indispensable selves elsewhere if it is us who is betrayed.
We’re at the point in the relationship where I think we do have to leave, sort of. We can no longer remain an informal, disorganized “wing” of the Democratic Party contesting bizarrely constituted primaries under institutions whose leaders oppose and outmaneuver us. But we need to decamp smartly, in a way that strengthens the influence of our values rather than uselessly spoiling elections. And before we go, this election cycle, the sex should be unreserved and hot. Biden 2020, baby.
SRW for Union Tzar.
Count me in pro-bono for any marketing work that needs doing.
But really: another organization like Justice Democrats and etc.? Umbrella?
July 20th, 2020 at 6:57 pm PDT
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But often it is justified in game-theoretical terms: If institutional Democrats know that we are trapped, that we will always hold our noses and vote with them, then we will have no leverage in the party. We have to demonstrate a willingness to accept the short-term risk of spoiling elections in order, over the longer term, to gain bargaining power within the Democratic coalition so that our values and interests actually get represented.
This never works. Just look at Biden chasing Kasich’s endorsement. The Democrats will always chase the GOP stragglers rather than register more voters or appeal to disaffected likely Democrats.
July 20th, 2020 at 7:31 pm PDT
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I can see two problems with this. First, such an organisation would be treated as a standing threat by the party establishment, so it would repay them to expend effort on finding a pretext to proscribe it. Second, there’s nothing to stop the party right doing the same. In reality, the right’s ability to get away with it (and not be proscribed) would be greater, due to the pre-existing sympathy of the hierarchy and the media.
July 21st, 2020 at 2:57 am PDT
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Did voting for Nader pull the Republican party to the left?
July 21st, 2020 at 6:19 am PDT
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You lost me at “in this year of our lord 2020, we should actively, enthusiastically, passionately support the Democratic Party and the prototype institutional Democrat who leads its ticket”.
The fact is that the Democratic party at the national level has stepped forward to match the worst characteristics of the Republicans, favoring identity politics and intelligence agencies peddling disinformation. Republicans are now often the more honest about these fundamental matters of civilization.
Which party poses the greater threat with regard to being a “fascist death cult”? The party working hand-in-glove with the mainstream media, military, and CIA? Or the party who leader is publicly ridiculed on a daily basis in the mainstream media, and from which many militaristic leaders (such as Bolton) have defected? Trump doesn’t wear a mask and says stupid things which are widely denounced and ridiculed. Biden’s supporters in the CIA try to get Trump impeached for taking his time in selling armaments to Ukraine. Biden’s supporters in the FBI started a new cold war with Russia based upon bogus claims of Russian interference and collusion with Trump. Biden’s supporters plant ridiculous rumors of Russian bounties in Afghanistan so that Trump cannot remove U.S. troops from Afghanistan. Biden’s supporters support comical racist tropes such as “White Fragility” and play the race card indiscriminately and equally against Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump supporters. And you ask me to support Biden enthusiastically and passionately?
So I’ll be voting for Howie Hawkins.
July 21st, 2020 at 9:40 am PDT
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You fight against authoritarianism by supporting the party which is fully supported by the authority – tech monopolies, media, Hollywood? What is your agenda?
July 24th, 2020 at 8:53 am PDT
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Deteroit Dan wrote:
“The fact is that the Democratic party at the national level has stepped forward to match the worst characteristics of the Republicans, favoring identity politics and intelligence agencies peddling disinformation. Republicans are now often the more honest about these fundamental matters of civilization.”
The tired old “Democrats are just as bad” takes are nauseating and false.
Democrats would not execute a man with Alzheimer’s disease who no longer understands why he was on death row. Democrats would not make a person to be executed lay on a gurney with a needle in his arm for 4 hours while using a Supreme Court majority that loves the death penalty to sweep aside some appeals deemed substantive in the lower courts while simply ignoring other ongoing appeals. Both of these executions happened last week. To oppose Biden in this election is to support continued lawless executions.
In a recent interview with Ezra Klein, Ta Nehisi Coates made this important point about how to think about presidential elections between candidates we don’t favor:
https://www.vox.com/2020/6/5/21279530/ta-nehisi-coates-ezra-klein-show-george-floyd-police-brutality-trump-biden
Coates: “I say this as somebody who’s been very openly critical of Biden. We have this idea of elections as this kind of sacred ritual that one is undertaking, that you should be inspired and in love with the candidate. But I often think people need to think about it more like taking out the trash. It’s a thing that you should do. Brushing your teeth is hygiene.
So when I think of who to vote for, the question isn’t how much of my own personal politics do I see in this person so much as how much do I think this person can actually be influenced by my politics or the politics of the people around me. So I can loudly say all the things Joe Biden was wrong on and not feel guilt about voting for him. Me casting a presidential vote is not the totality of my political action within a society.”
July 25th, 2020 at 4:35 am PDT
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Nah
August 5th, 2020 at 3:48 pm PDT
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Democrats would not execute a man with Alzheimer’s disease who no longer understands why he was on death row.
No, they would run him for President long after he could articulate why he is still in politics.
The systems of propaganda and vote manipulation or suppression (different tactics in service of the same sort of strategies) basically result in people voting at random, when they vote at all. The key insight of the OP is that only organized, coordinated action is an exercise of political power with the potential to gain the authority to govern.
I recommend that people of a mind to, vote for anyone but beavis and butthead. That may still be random and expressive, but it shows potential political entrepreneurs that you are available to vote.
I remain skeptical that anyone will care. I do not plan to vote at all, for the first time since 1968. I live in Los Angeles and the system of voting now in place is designed to “steal” the election. If I did vote, I assume they will not bother counting it, and no one could prove one way or the other whether they did, which seems to be the point of the system design. Do not let it be said I cannot take a hint.
Organize and support those who step up to the challenge of working for the People, for the General welfare and that noise, but do not waste any votes or energy on corporate Democrats. just do not. do not kid yourself that Biden is “a decent guy”. do not give in to the wish to be optimistic. we (for some “we” that will not include a living me) will get a chance ’round about 2040 or so. wait for it. seriously, that is time frame for getting out the hole neoliberalism dug.
August 7th, 2020 at 6:38 pm PDT
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