cross-posted from: https://lemmygrad.ml/post/233463

I grew up as a democratic Blue No Matter Who type. I voted in 3 elections so far, and now that I’m 20, I seriously don’t think I will ever vote again. I know there are certain rights that were fought for with good intentions, like allowing black people to vote, avoiding Voter ID requirements and other policies that give a greater degree of democracy. But, I don’t see how it helps. Best case scenario, I vote La Riva for president and she wins. Ik, ik, it’s utopian, but she wins in this scenario. Now what? USA is still a haven of fascists and war crime-oriented militarism. I had been a Bernie fan in the past(I don’t hate him and I think some people are too hard on him considering that this is like one of the furthest right nations on Earth. He is pretty genuine and believes what he says and doesn’t get bought and sold) but his policies are not Left, this isn’t new, he’s a Soc Dem, not a very far left one at that. But EVEN if Bernie won, what for? So the Dems and Reps can spitroast him from each side? He tries a simple tax reform and he would get shut down. If he tries to do anything like nationalizing the energy/power grids(like he had suggested once before) he’d be called a communist and possibly ousted. The whole point is this: In a bourgeois democracy, the businesses decide who will have the big fundraiser or campaign event. The candidates that they choose will go the distance bc they paid to make it damn near impossible to at least make them past primaries. Once again, for anyone misconstruing my point, Bernie is not left, but is not as money-grubbing or corrupt as the Dems. Look how they fought tooth and nail against Bernie twice and look at how he conceded. In 2016, Bernie won every district in WV and lost WV to Clinton. Also Debbie Wasserman Schultz did dirty shit to him. 2020, we saw the campaigns of Warren and Biden trying to split up Bernie’s lead and try to demonize him. Can you imagine what they’d do to La Riva? Bernie’s policies would be much more in line with their values and they still hate his guts, I can’t imagine what a La Riva presidency could accomplish. The only thing that is positive abt Us voting is that if a candidate receives enough votes, they get additional funding to the party guaranteed and also more exposure for more people to join the party. Sorry, hope this doesn’t break the rule of being electoralist/liberal. Just wanted to sorta vent and ask what American Democracy can even accomplish anymore, what with all the fascists and restrictions on rights that are growing daily