demoralizing those who are also helping on that front

This is the most honest statement I've seen on the topic. Yes, absolutely, it is obvious that when we educate people about the lack of impact voting has that people get demoralized. In fact, they think we are attacking them because they feel anxiety, fear, and despondency.

I don't think there's any denying that. But it's basically the same argument as when white parents say that we shouldn't teach kids about the horrors of slavery because it will make them feel bad about themselves.

The truth is painful sometimes. It is difficult to have your beliefs challenged and more difficult to change your beliefs and your behavior as a result.

All of that is true.

But what Cowbee is saying about wasting millions of dollars and person-hours and political capital and trust on something that is a dead end is worse for harm reduction and liberation. Everyone ought to vote. End of story. No one ought to donate to the DNC. No one should be spending their time door knocking for Democrats. No one should be fighting with their fellow workers if they don't feel like voting. No one should be spending time getting more people registered to vote. None of it is useful and it propagates a falsehood about the path to liberation.

If you want harm reduction faster and sooner start organizing with revolutionary organizations. You and I do not have enough time to be part of three or for political groups, attend rallies for multiple parties, and to develop the skills and rhetorical training for multiple goals. For anyone who wants the world to change for the better the absolute fastest path is a general strike and literally anything that takes away from that is slowing down justice and harm reduction.

People say we can walk and chew gum at the same time. I agree. Individuals will vote and then do revolutionary organizing. But don't tell me that someone holding down a full time job can volunteer for the DNC, the WFP, and also do revolutionary organizing at the same time. I've tried it. It was impossible for me, there's just not enough time to do it all, let alone do it well.

We will all see massive harm reduction if we focus on the root cause. That's what it means to be radical - go to the root. Abortion, medicine, food, racism, misogyny, xenophobia, racialized mass incarceration, homelessness, ecocide, war, human trafficking, the opioid crisis, poverty .. you could spend your whole life trying to fix these things by voting for the right candidates and make no progress. Or you could do the root cause analysis and organize to address the root cause. The root cause is the dictatorship of the bourgeoisie and their maintenance of the imperial capitalist system. That's it. One solid root cause, one place to focus all of our efforts, all of our messaging, all of our education, all of our training, all of our organizing, and all of our relationships and trust building.

That one thing will protect all of your friends and family and the oppressed in your community and around the world more than 100 years of voting ever will. And that's why all of the research, evidence, and history proves out. From centuries-ago history to recent history, it all points to the same conclusion.

So yes, this analysis is demoralizing for people who volunteer earnestly every year for a Democrat candidate they really believe in. Yes it's demoralizing for the people who donate every month, listen to the podcasts, follow the inside baseball, and hang their emotional well being on electoralism on the faulty premise that this is how we will save people and the planet. Yes, of course it's demoralizing. But just as you have no obligation to make people feel a certain way about their false beliefs, I and those who share my position have no obligation to maintain the morale of people who believe voting will save us or even result in harm reduction. Our obligation is to propagate our analysis of the way the world works, to constantly revise our understanding based on research and data and lived experiences, to debate within our own communities about the various positions we have, and to adapt our understandings and our behaviors to have the maximum positive effect on the world. In our analysis, that means shutting down the dictatorship of the bourgeoisie as fast as possible by any means possible. The general strike is the least harmful and most readily available means.

And while people are striking, they can still take time to vote their conscience.