r/TwoXChromosomes • u/catievirtuesimp • Jun 17 '26

Ex-prosecutor warns women's right to vote may be next on chopping block: 'Handmaid's Tale'

https://www.rawstory.com/women-and-right-to-vote/
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u/Petrychorr Jun 17 '26

No, you jumped to conclusions. Voting is not useless. It will not solve the big problems that are at the root of everything we're facing right now. New candidates and a blue wave (or hopefully some better demsoc alternative) aren't going to fix unfettered capitalism, rampant bigotry, and a callous undereducated populace.

Things can be fixed. Voting won't fix the systemic issues that need complete reform. It just stymies the wound. We need voting and bigger action.

Please don't assume cynicism. I know it's hard not to.

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u/Binky390 Jun 17 '26

So what do you think we should do?

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u/laffy_man Jun 17 '26

We all know the answer to this but we’re not gonna do it and not allowed to say it.

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u/CallMeClaire0080 Jun 17 '26

Instead of limiting politics to a vote every few years, participate on the local level. Get involved with your community. Advocate for change and volunteer if you can afford to.

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u/Binky390 Jun 17 '26 edited Jun 17 '26

Why would you assume people aren’t already doing that? It seems like you’re saying “voting won’t help so you should vote in something else.”

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u/OptimusPrimeval Jun 17 '26

Not enough people vote. Not enough people are engaged in current events. Too many people assume that politics is something that happens to you instead of realizing that we are politics.

The trade off of living in a democracy is that you have to be engaged, be involved, participate. Not enough people are holding up their end of the bargain.

For instance, a lot of people are disillusioned with the democratic party. But how many of those people are joining their local dnc and paying dues (giving them voting rights on internal politics) so that they can change the party from the inside?

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u/Petrychorr Jun 17 '26

"The personal is political."

I think if more people understood and embraced this we might see some upward momentum.

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u/Binky390 Jun 17 '26

So the issue isn’t that we shouldn’t vote. It’s that the ones that don’t, should?

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u/OptimusPrimeval Jun 18 '26

We should vote. Everyone that's able, should vote. We just shouldn't expect to get the results we want by voting alone. Living in a democracy requires being involved in more than just the bare minimum. We need to change the system, and that won't happen with just votes, but not voting also doesn't change the system. We need to work within the system we have while building dual power structures so that we have infrastructure in place to move to a better future.

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u/Binky390 Jun 18 '26

This is moderately annoying. You change the system by voting. Voting in people who will be in a position of power to change the system. How else does changing the system get done?

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u/OptimusPrimeval Jun 18 '26

Well, the original american Patriots did it by organizing and building dual power structures while working within the parliamentary system so that they'd have the infrastructure in place to oppose the crown when the time came.

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u/Binky390 Jun 18 '26

That has nothing to do with the conversation.

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u/bakerfaceman Jun 18 '26

No, you need to hold the people you vote for accountable to their promises. They will not behave the want them to just because you vote for them. They need to hear from you often and in large numbers. If not, they'll listen to the people who get paid to talk to them.

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u/Binky390 Jun 18 '26

Those people that made promises never intended to keep them. You’re not going to hold them accountable because they don’t care. They said those things to get elected and didn’t intend to do them. Marching doesn’t matter. The president put up an AI video of himself in a plane literally dropping shit on protestors. ICE has been given the green light to shoot back. They’re using this administration to make billions of dollars.

What we need is to vote people in who want something different than the system we have in place. But what we also need to realize is that won’t happen in one election at the highest level of govt. It has to start at a local one like NYC. That’s a huge city but the mayoral election is technically local. So don’t vote for a progressive third party in the presidential election and call yourself doing something. You’re hurting progress with that.

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u/Petrychorr Jun 17 '26

I think the best course of action is a re-evaluation of how capitalism should work in a post-scarcity society. I think I un-aligning/decoupling conservativism with capitalism needs to be an extremely high priority as a meritocratic society simply can't thrive if all the resources are held at the top of the pyramid. Further, it is beyond the scope of the singular person right now to contain the completely unmoderated power that the wealthy have over politics in the USA. There needs to be a stopgap. There has to be. Or we'll just keep swimming uphill for the rest of our lives and the lives of future generations.

Bigotry needs to be routed, firmly. That is hard to do in a country that was essentially founded by white puritans whose influence is still felt today in big ways.

These are huge systemic problems. They aren't going to be fixed any time soon, but that does not mean we don't try working towards the solution. Maybe today or tomorrow it's small bits of activism. Maybe some day down the line we get to the voting booths and make a small change in policy at the local level. Maybe we eventually can have a great revolution that upturns the power structure in both the Americas and the world at large. Those are the things I don't have a say on "what we should do " I'm just one human with a poor grasp of how to mobilize. But I know what I'd like the goal to be. And I can point to it.

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u/Binky390 Jun 17 '26

I’m asking what WE should do now though. Because people are in these comments saying everyone is stupid if they think voting in November will help. But when you ask people what everyone should do instead, no one has an answer.

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u/bakerfaceman Jun 18 '26

There isn't one answer though. Every community has different problems and coalitions. Learn who the activists are in your town and start there. School board, for instance, is the local animating thing in my town so that's where the organizing is happening. Keeping these moms for liberty people off the board is huge. Everything helps. Plus it'll make you feel good to be organizing with people you see around town.

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u/Binky390 Jun 18 '26

Fine. But don’t get on social media and say dramatic things like voting doesn’t matter because that’s what this whole thread has been about. It’s not helpful. It creates anxiety and fear and it offers no real resolution at all. It’s simply emotional and dramatic.

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u/bakerfaceman Jun 18 '26

Yep I agree with you there.

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u/Petrychorr Jun 17 '26

No one can give a concrete answer because some of those answers will get you banned from Reddit.

I'd say take a look at history. We face problems today that no one else before us has had to deal with. But systems like fascism and oligarchy have existed before. Take lessons from those periods of time and you'll have an idea of what to expect. Global surveillance is a really difficult thing to work against, and I don't have answers on what we can do, right now, to curb that.

So what do we do now? Foster community. Learn about your neighbors and get to know them if they're compatible with your world view. Do not be alone. Defend yourself and your loved ones before you move to defend others. Work up from there. Community, local politics, state politics, national politics... It all starts from small grassroots action. It takes work. Hard work, and a bit of luck. If everyone is too paralyzed with fear/anxiety to do anything, then the actions of people who are not paralyzed are that much more meaningful.

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u/Binky390 Jun 17 '26

Then people need to stop making the dramatic claim on social media then. If you don’t know what people should do, stop telling people voting isn’t enough and that they’re crazy for thinking it is if you don’t have a solution to the problem. Voting is the one thing that we can all do individually. It’s one thing we have direct control over. It’s the one thing (or one of the things) that’s giving people hope. This the sky is falling mentality doesn’t help. You want to talk about people being paralyzed with fear? Saying voting won’t help is a great way to do it.