Organizing and Movement-Building Through 2020 and Beyond

 

'Future Hope' Column

By Ted Glick 

From my vantage point, one “positive” effect of the election of Mafioso Don is the marginalization of the position taken by some on the political Left that elections in the US are a sham, and the correct approach to them is to non-participate.

Elections do have consequences, potentially very big, very negative consequences, like a neo-fascist government. Young people in general are most likely to view elections as a sham, for understandable reasons. 

Young people tend to be more idealistic so that they are turned off by the often-cynical and dishonest political maneuvering from both Republicans and Democrats.

That’s why the 2015-16 Bernie Sanders campaign generated so much active support from young people. Here was someone who spoke truth to power, who didn’t accept Super PAC money or mega-donations from rich people, who articulated a strong, positive program consistent with positions he had been taking for literally decades, who had a history of winning elections and using his elected office positively, and who consciously reached out to young people and working-class people.

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortes, a young person herself, was elected and has become a political star since for similar reasons. Articulating the truth about what is needed and taking strategic risks in support of that program, as she did in Nancy Pelosi’s office in November in support of a Green New Deal, is exactly what is needed to inspire and mobilize the tens of millions of potential voters who don’t vote because they correctly think the system is rigged.

However, it’s essential that progressive candidates and elected progressives are pushed, if necessary, by their supporters to take steps to ensure that they are continually in contact with the people they are representing and with organizations rooted among progressive-oriented constituencies. This is particularly essential in this time when corporate money is so much a factor in elections.

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Source: tedglick.com