Realistically, we'll be voting for the lesser evil in four years. One of the difficulties in having a viable candidate who doesn't embrace capitalism and white supremacy is that radical leftists, the ones who want to abolish all that, don't really believe in leaders and whatnot. It's more about autonomy, workers controlling the means of production, etc.
Yes, and this is all very nice in theory. I'm not disagreeing with that, and I never will.
But the only way to that society is through revolution. It's not through playing a bit part in the great sham of voting. Voting for a third party candidate isn't cheating the system, it's just playing into the system in the most irresponsible possible way. The only way to cheat the system is to dismantle it, and I don't see anyone doing that, mostly because overthrowing a military power like the US is practically impossible without a massive organized effort and outside help. Most people, even if they're not happy with everything in the US, are at least basically comfortable, and so they're content to ignore the plights of everyone less fortunate than them to preserve their own comfort. So that massive organized effort is not going to exist anytime soon.
Unless you are willing and able to arm yourself and rise up against corruption, you're stuck trying to do the best you can with the system you have. And voting for a third party candidate does nothing but express a message of dissatisfaction to people who don't care.
"The proposed bill would allow police to charge protesters who “block transportation and commerce, cause property damage, threaten jobs and put public safety at risk” with a class C felony."
Sounds fair to me. I've been on many, many protests in the past. We never did stupid crap though, like blocking roads and interstates or any other dangerous activity.
So your activism didn't make that big of an impact, and you want to punish those whose activism did? That... kind of undermines the purpose of activism, doesn't it?
The point is to try and change things with the power you do have. Blocking roads and causing chaos might not even be enough - we would need absolute insurrection to actually change anything - but it's a lot closer to the revolution we need than just yelling about issues is. It at the very least sends a very aggressive message to those in power and makes them a little nervous, which is better than nothing.
And like Spang said, laws like this will almost certainly be used as an excuse to crack down on nonviolent protests, so it's more than just preventing dangerous behavior.
