Movement-building shapes policy and creates change, not electoral politics
2016 broke election debates’ prior role in fostering democracy and public education about voting, but activist movement-building work can fill these gaps & advance progressive policy
A new stage — the educate & debate stage — of this never-ending election season is finally upon us. As of today there is a little over a month left — just 34 days — until Election Day .The first of three presidential debates between now & then (plus one vice presidential debate next Wednesday, October 7th), is today. Set to be moderated by “Fox News Sunday” anchor Chris Wallace, live from Cleveland OH, round one of three airs tonight at 9pm ET.
I know most people don’t get super geeked about debates, so bear with me here, because I really, really do. I [usually] love this part of election season. Debates are what democracy is all about: a way to foster a nation of voters who make educated, informed choices on how to cast our ballots in support of a candidate’s plans to tackle the issues impacting our lives. Debates are about translating candidates’ positions on issues into public policy, and I’m a policy person on an Elizabeth Warren had me at “I have a plan for ALL of that” scale. I value and vote for candidates based on their plans — for policy that outlines tangible steps to tackle injustice — just like the kind of policy candidates usually aim to highlight in national election debates. This used to be my favorite election stage — a hopeful time to begin planning — for turning demands into action.
Not anymore.
Hillary Clinton “won” all three debates in 2016 by offering us detailed policy and expertise based on her decades of public service, only for none of it to make a difference. Only for her to lose to a man who spent his time on the debate stage lying and stalking Clinton around the stage like the predator we know that he is — like many men intimidated by women who are more intelligent than them, Trump resorted to attacking Clinton’s appearance and personality rather than discussing policy in 2016s’ debates. Now, emboldened by the power he abuses from the office he holds, he’s sure to be even more brazen in his lack of not just any kind of explanation about how his policies will respond to voter’s issues, but also in his blatant lies & lack of any policy plans whatsoever.
Before our national political discourse was stripped of substance and integrity, national election debates afforded us a rare opportunity to have a genuine national conversation — to collectively discuss and engage with candidates’ plans to tackle the issues that affect all of us every single day. In 2016, however, truth became a commodity traded and sold for personal and political gain, and without collective agreement on what’s a fact vs. what’s not, any hope for a return to prior post-debate discourses is no longer a possibility. In our current crisis-stricken nation, the type of national engagement of a debate could offer us has never felt more urgent than it does today — a policy-centered, fact-based debate would offer an opportunity to discuss actual plans to fix the multivalent set of crises that befall us at this crucial moment. But that’s not going to be tonight’s story.
But hope is not lost; if Biden wins & we keep movement-building going then our nation’s future story will be shaped by us
It’s up to us to write & shape policy and then educate/mobilize others to support it and to join our fight. It’s up to us to start conversations that will help folks understand how protest demands can be translated into policy. This is good. And nothing new.
It’s always been the people, though, who truly drive change in this country. We’re already doing this work. We’ve been organizing our communities from home, in the streets, and more people are coming together in solidarity against systemic injustices now than any other moment in my 27 years of living memory. Once unthinkable movement demands have never been more front and center in our broader cultural discourse and are being written into policy. Many who have been involved in activism and movement-building work long before Trump have framed 2020’s uprising for Black lives as a potential watershed moment, and I agree — the pandemic has made visible what many were privileged enough to ignore for a long time and exposed long-standing and deep-rooted systemic issues in our nation and revitalized my hope for true solidarity across movements and differences. Solidarity is our only way forward.
As movement leader and assistant professor of African American Studies at Princeton University Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor argues in this excellent article, the Supreme Court has a history of siding with conservatism and regression rather than embracing human rights — every major advancement of progress towards justice in US history has come from the bottom up, from the people. Change comes from the movement. Not to say that #SCOTUS or national elections don’t matter, but we the people matter more — our ability to come together to organize and mobilize to demand change is our biggest strength in the long-term fight to reclaim our collective power:
Our culture — the media, the educational system — tries to crowd out of our political consciousness everything except who will be elected President and who will be on the Supreme Court, as if these are the most important decisions we make. They are not. They deflect us from the most important job citizens have, which is to bring democracy alive by organizing, protesting, engaging in acts of civil disobedience that shake up the system.
Neither candidate has championed the progressive policies we so urgently need, but movement leaders have — while Biden backs the same old reforms that have already failed to fix policing (instead, by pouring money into policing and militarizing officers, they may have made things worse) defined by ongoing violent racism, The Electoral Justice Project of the Movement for Black Lives has a plan. The Breathe Act is already written and backed by Progressive Democratic “Squad” members Ayanna Pressley & Rashida Tlaib and it is exactly the kind of policy change we need to begin to reimagine our justice system and how to meet the needs of our communities outside of criminalizing and punishing paradigms.
Not only have M4BL created the best piece of policy I’ve ever read in terms of what its potential transformative impact, they have also gotten two Congressional backers for it already, and are demanding Congress to take action. Today, the day of the first presidential debate, is also “Breathe Day,” a day of action to support the advancement of this unprecedented and potentially transformative agenda.
Featuring national movement leaders including Patrisse Cullors and thinkers like Michelle Alexander, M4BL describes today as:
a day of unapologetically Black programming on the day of the first Presidential debate. Breathe Day is a time and place for discussing Black issues and how the Breathe Act will Defund the Police and create a future for all of us to thrive…we’re unveiling exclusive Breathe Act art, providing tools on how to have conversations about Defunding the Police, and collectively demanding Congress take action.
This brilliant strategic scheduling choice — to demand, today, that this policy and this issue is not swept under the rug — gives me hope for our collective ability to create transformative change and a more just future. Biden has already proven he can be moved to the left with his existing policy agenda, but we plan to move him even further, because that’s what a social movement does.
Movements shape policy and change, not electoral politics, we just have to stay with the fight. This is a movement, not a moment. While tonight’s debate may make it feel like progressive change will never happen, it will — it already is — and our collective pressure can keep this momentum going beyond November to potentially initiate real change, but only if we elect Biden.
But first, vote or our hope — for us to keep building momentum to push Biden towards more progressive policy change — is dead in the water
Let’s be clear: voting is a moral and civic duty in this current moment, especially for white women (53%….) who are working to call other white folks in to the side of justice this time around. Voting is the most fundamental part of a democracy, and this election is the chance for us to speak with a loud and clear collective voice to say, enough is enough, to publicly repudiate their policies, and to hold Republicans accountable at the ballot box by electing Democrats up and down the ballot. Then we can hold them accountable when they’re in office, so the progressive policies we need are heard & moved forward.
If lefista can reframe the election like this for ourselves then it could do wonders for Biden’s chances — most Leftist discourse I have been reading is still just criticizing Biden, and hey, I am with you. I was devastated too when he became the nominee. But not voting is a privilege — it truly is — because some folks’ lives literally depend on the outcome of the election, and far too many folks are disenfranchised and unable to vote at all. I know what that feels like — this will be my first time voting for president.
I am an immigrant and an activist. I spent years working in movement spaces and participating in every form of civic engagement I could, but I was always unable to vote because I couldn’t afford to pay for my citizenship. It was demoralizing and painful — especially in 2016 — to have no opportunity to use my voice to cast a vote. So I made it a priority — I saved up money for nearly five years before I could pay all the fees and am now a naturalized citizen.
Did I want Joe Biden to be my first vote? Not a chance. But he will be. And I can’t wait to vote because it’s not about him — it’s about me — it’s about us and how our collective participation and collaboration can and will wield power beyond this November. If you are eligible to vote, please don’t take that for granted. Don’t sit out because Biden is a moderate —(and again, I am very much with leftist critiques of Biden but also very much against how young white leftists in particular are adamantly saying they’re not voting, and/or continuously rehashing the same critiques of Biden’s policies). Is the Democratic party also extremely problematic? Absolutely, as is our two-party political system, and as is how much power corporate wealth wields over American politics. But actively disreegarding a tangible step towards changing those things — and towards not having Trump in control of the executive branch & not having Mitch McConnell in control of the legislative branch of our government — is useless to all of us. Especially to the millions whose lives are quite literally at stake in this election. The stakes are far too high to be complacent and Republicans want that — they want us to stay home. To give up. But we can’t. If we stay home, they win and I mean that in every sense of the word (not to mention how Republicans are deceiving folks into believing the election is rigged already with more lies, but that’s a whole other post).
Voting matters — all of our voices matter — & it’s a harm reduction tactic we must use alongside many other more revolutionary strategies for change. It’s a step. Not an end. Change happens over time. But only if we demand it. And our most powerful way of doing so right now is to cast our ballots against those who cause our communities harm.
This election won’t fix anything magically, or overnight. Voting can’t and won’t fix all of the crises that plague our nation. But not voting could damn us all.
And as Stacey Abrams put it on a recent Supermajority Zoom call:
“There are no saviors running to save our country. But there are good people of good intent who will do the work if we let them. This election is not about being energized by any oen candidate — it’s about being energized about our power to shape the future of this country.”
That’s my focus in this election & during today’s debate — how these moments can lead to progressive power brought by people-led movements holding our leaders accountable and demanding systemic change.
