listeme wrote:
When the folks for whom the elections have the worst consequences are those who are already marginalized, disenfranchised, and terribly vulnerable, saying "elections have consequences" can sound an awful lot like blaming the victims, many of whom aren't even old enough to vote.
I certainly didn't mean to blame the victim, only to state the obvious: that as a result of elections in Michigan, Wisconsin, Ohio, Maine, etc., that policies are being enacted that are radically different than those which would have been enacted had different electoral choices been made. The more every man, woman, and child in this country knows about the effects of electoral decisions, the better.
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When the RWNJs have to learn this lesson, they learn it bitterly: some poor person got something for nothing, or someone got rights they didn't think they should have.
The RWNJs will never learn any useful lessons - it's the low information voters (on both sides) who need to see the real impact of elections on them and their neighbors. As long as the Koch-suckers are enacting radical policies which are against the best interests of the vast majority of the electorate, shining a light on what what they are doing is not just good, it's necessary.
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When the corporate puppet masters have to learn this lesson, it's because their belts got tighter.
Never try to teach companies anything - it doesn't work. If they are exhibiting undesirable behavior, tax it until it becomes unprofitable.
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When our side has to "learn this lesson", it's because the most fragile of us is being actively harmed.
Yes, many of the most fragile people in Michigan are being harmed because we elected King Snyder. I want everyone to know that. If the people being harmed know that their suffering has been increased by that choice and that they have a right to make a different choice if they wish (in the next election, if not the recall), how is that blaming the victim? I call that empowering the victim.
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I don't accept that such a thing should be considered a prod or a stick to a disinterested electorate, even in our rhetoric.
We can't prod the electorate by pointing out the victims of policy? Even when those victims are a significant part of that electorate?
I'm not blaming the victims - I just think that people (on both sides) need to be educated as to what impact electoral decisions have on their lives and the lives of the other people. Everyone should be made aware of exactly who is being harmed and who is being helped by the policies of all elected officials (if people still want to vote for someone like King Snyder knowing the effects of his actions, that's their right, but I believe that there's a lot of potential buyer's remorse from the 2010 elections out there and that the more people know about what they voted in, the more likely it is that they will make a different choice next time. What's wrong with that?
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), I have to say that I want the noses of all of the people in Michigan to be rubbed in the piece of shit they elected as governor - even if my nose is one of them. The lesson that votes have consequences is an important one to learn (and many people clearly don't understand it yet...).
