When it's the only game in town, it's not like you have a choice. Ironically,
Pennsylvania is a good example of how Redmap can be undone as between court challenges and the Dems holding the governorship (which has veto power over maps and isn't up for election until next year), the damage can be repaired even if the GOP holds the statehouse.
No matter how bad it gets, not voting is not an option if you want change. For all the problems in the system, politicians still need to get reelected and not all of them can be preserved through redistricting. So be part of a movement, but don't forget to vote, otherwise all that energy and effort in the movement goes to waste.
You're absolutely right about how it can be undone, but the problem is that you don't get another chance at a first impression.
Hell, when I was growing up watching Animaniacs, even they had skits about how the government was iffy at best. A lot of us were already wary of government. And then to have the promise of fairness legally wrenched out of the hands of the people, you lose interest in the 'system' as a whole. That plus the debt and the pillaging of the Average American's coffers has millennials convinced that this system is corrupt through and through and running for other answers like Socialism.
And all we have to really say is "Yeah, I know it's bad. But you still have to trust in it because that's what we're working with".
That doesn't work for me with the Police. That's never worked with me for a government that marginalized me from literal birth. I still vote. But I can't honestly look at a disenfranchised youth and tell them not to want to buck a system while I am apart of a population that never truly mattered.
And it's not that they don't want to flex whatever power they have. I believe it's just that they don't feel their power will count in the current system. And again. With institutional things like the Electroal College and being able to quietly redistrict and have the highest court in the land
(which has a party majority) back the effort that happens to benefit that party in question... This is just a stacked deck.
Hell, I'm not even saying they are right. Just as one disenfranchised party to another... I get where they are coming from.
Thats just hand waving the issue, while you aren't wrong, it also is much more important than just presidential elections. You have local elections, you have state elections on top of the federal elections. You don't like the redmap and districts then you need to vote more in the local and state elections since those tend to be the ones that control things like that. Also, I think the whole money talks thing is actually much more overblown than you would think, especially since in the 2020 primaries we saw money not mattering as much as you would assume. Bernie outspent Biden and he still lost, we had a couple billionaire that tried to run too and they were burning money like it was going out of style, one no one remembers and the other was still only barely a blip in the electorate. We even saw Kanye West momentarily throw his stupid hat in the ring and the only support he got was from conservative black folks. It's fun to think of the public as being easily manipulated and sheep lead to the slaughter but that is a very cynical view of things and ignores what happens when a party starts going against what its voters want. Democracy is a huge pain in the ass, but its the best we have at the moment till the glorious sun horse comes down and rules over us with her benevolent dictatorship.
Hey, I agree with you on a lot of things. But it is the issue for a lot of people.
I feel like my vote doesn't count because of how the system is set up. Whether Theist or Atheist, we're all praying to anything that will listen to keep Ruth Bader Ginsberg alive until Trump is voted out. The Supreme Court is already stacked enough on the Republican side. It doesn't need to be a landslide every time.
But firstly, you're falling in the trap that every voter has the same opportunities that you have. The youngest Millennial is... what, 22? 23? Operation Redmap was set about in 2010? By the time Redmap was set up, they were 16. Their first major vote (and yes, people don't understand how important local votes are) seemingly was taken from them. And we have a derisive, toxic figure because of it.
You have to understand why this isn't hand waving. Because people are angry. They don't trust the system. And for a good deal of them, their first time at the bat it was shown to be (in their minds) corrupt. As much as I might respect individual officers, I will never respect and/or trust the Police Force as a concept, because it has treated my family and myself as an enemy for longer than I care to think about.
But Bernie is a great example about what I'm talking about. Hands down, the best presidential candidate in my opinion. He got my vote last election here in the NY primaries. He would have gotten it if he made it to these primaries. There's nothing I questioned about Sanders at all. Nothing.
But people now are scared. Beaten. Trump took a lot out of people. And now they just want safety. Normalcy. They picked to back someone who doesn't hold a candle to Bernie because I feel they think they won't have to worry as much as with Biden as they do with Trump. And they want calm waters now, not the catalyst of change that I believe Sanders would be.
Feelings aren't handwaves, Worgen. It's literally the most important drive for people's voting. And Mileenials feel this system doesn't work. And like I said, I can't blame them.
I won't do their methods. I'm going to vote. But I can see their point. It's up to us to show them the way, instead of chastising them. And it's a hard sell. One that I'm having trouble buying myself.