That will only change however by building up local parties and making National parties irrelevant
Even this is thinking too narrow. Power in our society comes from a lot of places. We all have different capacities to do directly, to fund, or influence things.
If I go to the food bank and actually prep bundles of food to distribute, I’m doing something outside the government. Maybe the government should be doing that, but it doesn’t much matter what should happen when we’re out there doing.
If I donate my money to a food bank, or a nonprofit that litigates immigration cases against the government, my money might make a difference by slowing down the government, maybe even stopping its ongoing actions, or even reversing its past actions. And that threat can deter some of those actions from taking place in the first place. (And even if unsuccessful, laying bare the administration’s lawlessness lays the groundwork for morally/ethically breaking the law in resistance).
If I have a podcast that has a bunch of listeners, I can influence public opinion. There are big voices in support of the current administration, and there are some voices against.
We each have our own power. Some of us even have substantial economic power that isn’t our own individually: organizing collective action, making spending decisions of our deep pocketed employers, etc. And at the end of the day, if nonviolent or even violent resistance becomes justified, the government and the political parties won’t have a role in how that power is deployed.
Elections and campaigns still matter, of course. But so much else matters, too. And those decisions and those actions don’t go through a political party or any party officials. The key is finding balance between trying to influence the politics versus just bypassing politics and influencing the world directly.
Yes all that was implied, anarchist, mutual aid, investment in communities, yes. The point was the national parties were never our friends. And will never be our friend. You can “weed out fakes” indefinitely.
It doesn’t matter how much you food bank etc. No National Group as a whole is going to sit up and take notice of you and dedicate themselves to you. Local groups and politicians will though. And it is absolutely part of what will be required to build up and empower local groups to take back leadership. It just won’t solve the problem on its own.
Even this is thinking too narrow. Power in our society comes from a lot of places. We all have different capacities to do directly, to fund, or influence things.
If I go to the food bank and actually prep bundles of food to distribute, I’m doing something outside the government. Maybe the government should be doing that, but it doesn’t much matter what should happen when we’re out there doing.
If I donate my money to a food bank, or a nonprofit that litigates immigration cases against the government, my money might make a difference by slowing down the government, maybe even stopping its ongoing actions, or even reversing its past actions. And that threat can deter some of those actions from taking place in the first place. (And even if unsuccessful, laying bare the administration’s lawlessness lays the groundwork for morally/ethically breaking the law in resistance).
If I have a podcast that has a bunch of listeners, I can influence public opinion. There are big voices in support of the current administration, and there are some voices against.
We each have our own power. Some of us even have substantial economic power that isn’t our own individually: organizing collective action, making spending decisions of our deep pocketed employers, etc. And at the end of the day, if nonviolent or even violent resistance becomes justified, the government and the political parties won’t have a role in how that power is deployed.
Elections and campaigns still matter, of course. But so much else matters, too. And those decisions and those actions don’t go through a political party or any party officials. The key is finding balance between trying to influence the politics versus just bypassing politics and influencing the world directly.
Yes all that was implied, anarchist, mutual aid, investment in communities, yes. The point was the national parties were never our friends. And will never be our friend. You can “weed out fakes” indefinitely.
It doesn’t matter how much you food bank etc. No National Group as a whole is going to sit up and take notice of you and dedicate themselves to you. Local groups and politicians will though. And it is absolutely part of what will be required to build up and empower local groups to take back leadership. It just won’t solve the problem on its own.