“It should come as no great surprise that a Democratic Party which has abandoned working class people would find that the working class has abandoned them,” Sanders said.
“First, it was the white working class, and now it is Latino and Black workers as well. While the Democratic leadership defends the status quo, the American people are angry and want change. And they’re right.”
“Will the big money interests and well-paid consultants who control the Democratic Party learn any real lessons from this disastrous campaign?” Sanders asked.
“Will they understand the pain and political alienation that tens of millions of Americans are experiencing? Do they have any ideas as to how we can take on the increasingly powerful Oligarchy which has so much economic and political power? Probably not.”
If they didn’t vote, they’re not a voter. Non-voters get their fair share of the blame, and non-voters who want to complain get shamed.
What if I voted differently from how you want me to vote?
How I “want” you to vote is pragmatically. If you vote 3rd party in a FPTP election, you’re pragmatically indistinguishable from a non-voter.
If you’re a leftist, the pragmatic strategy is to recognize the ratchet effect and vote for the “halt movement” party over the “full send fascism” party. It’s much easier to push leftist policies and promote leftist representatives under a neo-liberal regime than under a fascist one. At the absolute minimum the neo-liberals decelerate the plunge into fascism.
Neoliberalism IS fascism
What? No it isn’t. Fascism is fascism, neo-liberalism is neo-liberalism. You can certainly make a compelling argument that neo-liberalism eventually begets fascism. But fascism is already fascism, it’s not waiting to be begotten.
When the viable options are the road to fascism, or the destination itself, non-fascists are best served choosing the road. At least on the road you have a chance of slowing down or steering down an alternate road, or even turning around as remote as that possibility is. When you’re at the destination, it’s too late.