They had to take steps that looked like abandoning their villages and towns, but they understood that if they didn’t then no one was going to be around for them tomorrow.
so is this metaphor supposed to imply that i should be okay with my 'allies' abandoning me and other trans people in the name of their third position democrat schemes?
By the way, there are also more than just presidential elections. Local elections are far more important and often have on gerrymander or even people bothering to vote. These are not terribly expensive.
personally i am very involved in municipal stuff; many cities are heavily gerrymandered to have the local politics dominated by suburban shitheads completely detached from reality. the seats are all nonpartisan so often times even deep blue cities will have entire councils run by conservative real estate assholes and their friends.
the point isn't just the money, it's that it's a massive time and personnel sink to pursue that across the country. all that for basically no payout considering how heavily most voter rolls are slanted towards wealthy homeowners. renters often end up effectively disenfranchised because in addition to needing to making extremely high rents and move between municipalities, they also have to update ballot paperwork every year or get de-enrolled.