I almost ate this piece of propaganda, but the INGSOC logo prevented it. Good thing this manipulators left stuff on plain sight sometimes.
So I think a lot of folks don’t know the context this comic was written in and how misleading the message is.
This is an attack comic on a recently created 3rd party, the Forward party, created by Andrew Yang. There are several pillars to this party’s mission, such as UBI and Campaign finance reform, but the core of the party is the ranked choice vote.
If you aren’t familiar with ranked choice vote, Here is a great video explanation , but essentially it gives voters the ability to vote for multiple candidates and removing the entire “voting 3rd party is throwing your vote away” situation. If the forward party is successful to getting this passed in every part of our government, it would fully upend the two party system.
This comic is pointing at Andrew Yangs slogan in his 2020 run for president as well as for the forward party- “not left, not right, forward”. What he is trying to do is tap into the discontent found in a majority of Americans. Most voters would like to see choices beyond Dems and the GOP and these voters are all across the political spectrum.
Someone like my father, a former Republican who is disillusioned with the party but is still heavily free market, and myself who believes more in regulation and strong institutions both agree on the issue of RCV because we are in the same boat of feeling like we aren’t actually represented in our government.
I’d say this comic is a perfect example of “if you ignore the details of a philosophy and redefine it’s rhetoric, you can make it stand for anything you want”.
TL;Dr this comic is trying to convince you that the Forward party is the exact opposite of what it really is by ignoring any nuance.
Edit: Here is a video explaining the positions of the forward party. Keep a critical eye while watching it as I’m not trying to sell you on the party, but at least for you to be aware of it’s existence.
I think most voters would like to see this work on a state level before they throw their federal votes away. Get rid of gerrymandering in one state and they would probably get a lot of momentum.
The comic isn’t ignoring the details or redefining the Forward Party’s rhetoric at all. The message, which I agree with, is that the party’s platform doesn’t promise any fundamental change to the underlying system, but rather is intended to address glaring problems that represent a risk to the longevity of the system.
It’s a bit like the new deal, which was intended to take the steam out of the US labor movement (and succeeded). The goal, ultimately, is the short-term appeasement of those who have been disillusioned with the current system in order to preserve the greater status quo (capitalism).
Knowing basically nothing about anything that’s relevant here, so pardon any ignorance, but it does sound to me like anything that moves the US towards a true multi-party system would be a pretty fundamental change?
To our democracy, sure, but not to our economic system. As long as our economic system is capitalist our democracy will always be beholden to the ultra rich, even if it is multi-party. Campaign finance reform is good, but nowhere near enough to eliminate the influence of capital on the political process.
When you understand that the only two sides are THE RICH versus THE POOR then you are like the guy putting on the glasses and seeing the truth which is stated on that podium: “Nothing Will Fundamentally Change”
So, before he puts the glasses on he is thinking about Democrats versus Republicans but then he sees the truth. The truth is that since the invention of money there has always just been two sides of the rich versus the poor. Everything else is a distraction to prevent an uprising.
