Bob Lord and AZ Blue Meanie are having an interesting dialog on whether progressives should or shouldn’t withhold their votes to punish DINOs who regularly vote or embrace positions that go against progressive values. Bob argues that progressives have not done themselves favors by rewarding the DINOs with electoral victories and that reorienting the country from the massive rightward shift of the past three decades may require be willing to lose some elections to Republicans. Meanie counters that it’s about basic math and caucuses. In other words, the party that wins the majority of seats controls what even goes up for a vote.
For my part I’ll just say my heart is with Bob but my head is with Meanie on this. I’m a pro-choice activist and I cannot in good conscience withhold my vote from a pro-choice Democrat even if I am furious at her about several other things. Not with this relentless barrage of attacks on women’s reproductive rights going on. See, when Republicans lose a few elections to push the party to the right actual people don’t get hurt. If progressive Democrats did that then a lot of people, mostly poor and vulnerable, would be substantially harmed. I say “if” because the empirical evidence that we have on voting patterns demonstrates that progressives do not sit out elections.