It occurs to me, as I read this, that this is why attitude and framing and permission structures matter: the field is slanted against Dems. Rural states slant the Senate (and the Presidency). Gerrymandering slants the House (always has, not just recently). Republicans have been working very hard to suppress Democratic voters, and in elections where the margins are a fraction of a percentage point (or a couple of hundred actual votes), a fraction of a percentage point suppressed matters.
Looking backwards (a. k. a. “conservatism”) is always easier than looking forwards. There’s only one past, but there are many futures. Which one do we pick? That’s why liberals are always so chaotic and fragmented.
So, the field is slanted. Which is why I can say that a vote for a third-party candidate or a decision not to vote is a vote for Republicans.
Which is why the statement that “I won’t vote for any party that supports genocide” or “a pox on both their houses” or “I don’t care about the general; I’m going to vote for a far-left candidate in the primary, even if they can’t win” is such bullshit. All of that is a vote for the direction of the slant. There is no neutral.
Duh. But also: your talk that influences somebody else in that direction is also problematic. Stop it.
I don’t know why I didn’t come to this realization and start making this argument a few decades ago.
«I’ll go a step further and say that telling people “we’re f*cked,” or “the House is gone,” or “what’s the point?” right now is abetting the enemy. That is exactly what they want you to do! MAGA has always been excellent at depressing turnout via sowing division, killing morale, and using skewed polls. They love that Democrats are throwing their hands up right now. They are counting on it. Because they are still likely to lose in November, but if we give up, then maybe, just maybe they’ll have a chance!»
Here, Read This 