UBI, or universal basic income, is a form of direct cash assistance to help the most vulnerable get back on their feet. A new study in Denver suggests it works.
I would like to believe in your approach but I don’t believe in protests. That’s transferring union tactics from companies to the state. It’s valid in a monarchy but in a democracy, you can talk to other voters and have them support your cause. The citizens are the state.
Votes drive change. Believing in other means distracts from the real origin of power.
But votes have to be negotiated. Blindly voting for one’s own team turns citizens into a product.
There are other origins of power but votes are special because they control the law.
No votes do not control the law. They elect the government, who controls the law,
The government can be influenced by various means. Voting is but one of them.
Nobody cares if you do not like other methods, such as strikes and protests, they are still effective. And the owning class already uses other methods, such as lobbying and outright bribery, so to constrain oneself to methods that don’t work is voluntary surrender.
Which protests are not ignored?
Pretty much every civil rights and liberation movement around the world has been accomplished through a diversity of strategies, which almost always include protest.
If citizens debate before the election about what they want and coordinate their votes, then the state represents their will.
I would like to believe in your approach but I don’t believe in protests. That’s transferring union tactics from companies to the state. It’s valid in a monarchy but in a democracy, you can talk to other voters and have them support your cause. The citizens are the state.
Votes drive change. Believing in other means distracts from the real origin of power.
But votes have to be negotiated. Blindly voting for one’s own team turns citizens into a product.
Okay, good luck being ignored and accomplishing nothing.
Good. Because those work.
Only if the democratic process accurately reflects the will of the people. And only if the rights of minorities are protected.
In many places, including the US and the UK, neither of those are true.
Votes are one of many “real” origins of power. To ignore the others is stupidity.
There are other origins of power but votes are special because they control the law.
Which protests are not ignored?
All origins of power will align when citizens coordinate their votes before an election.
It’s a bit Leninistic. If voting is a race among teams, a state is created that stands atop the citizens.
If citizens debate before the election about what they want and coordinate their votes, then the state represents their will.
No votes do not control the law. They elect the government, who controls the law,
The government can be influenced by various means. Voting is but one of them.
Nobody cares if you do not like other methods, such as strikes and protests, they are still effective. And the owning class already uses other methods, such as lobbying and outright bribery, so to constrain oneself to methods that don’t work is voluntary surrender.
Pretty much every civil rights and liberation movement around the world has been accomplished through a diversity of strategies, which almost always include protest.
Please pull your head out and observe reality.
One is in the past, the other is present.
I am arguing for using lobbying as citizens.