[lbo-talk] the antiwar student vote

[Matthew Snyder]

Chuck0 writes:
> The vast majority of anarchists do not vote or participate in elections. 
> There may be a few younger anarchists who vote next year, but they do so 
> out of fear and failure to totally reject their American social 
> conditioning. 

[snip]


> It will really suck big time if American activists get suckered into 
> wasting their time over the next year on pointless electoralism. This 
> will set back our work and destroy momentum much more thoroughly than 
> any amount of government repression could hope to achieve.

Is there no difference between "pointless electoralism" and the simple act of
casting a ballot?  

There's certainly almost no time at all spent on the actual act of
voting, but it sounds to me like you're using this notion of 
destroyed momentum and wasted time to justify not voting.  

Often (at least in some states) there are ballot questions pertaining
to funding, for example, that aren't directly "electoral" in the sense
you're using the word.  Does caring about the answer to one of those
questions enough to go answer it also "destroy momentum"?

--
Matthew Snyder
Philadelphia, PA