Without A Real Vision, We're Fucked

Who’s Getting Fucked

Everybody, but especially Black people

How You’re Getting Fucked

“A shared vision is not an idea…it is rather, a force in people’s hearts…at its simplest level, a shared vision is the answer to the question ‘What do we want to create?”
-Peter Senge

1. Our politics is built on negativity and avoiding the truth, so much so that politicians don’t have to explain what a better future looks like and feels like. We let them get away with just saying that things will be worse if their opponent is in power, and accept it as sufficient.
2. As a result, we don’t even know what better looks like, which is what they want. Because if we could actually visualize a better life, then we demand better and take it from them.
3. When we vote to keep things from getting worse, instead of voting for gaining concrete things we want instead, we give up our leverage in demanding better from our leaders, and ultimately end up demoralized and the status quo remains in place.

How You Can Stop It

1. Know what better looks like. Here’s an example.

   • Healthcare
     • In other developed countries, the poorest citizens can go to the doctor even if they just have the sniffles.
     • Their family’s healthcare coverage isn’t tied to their jobs, which means they have to take less shit from their employers because getting fired doesn’t equal dying.
     • Medical debt isn’t a thing in other rich countries, think about that.
   • Guns
     • In other developed countries, kids aren’t killed by guns every day.
     • In the U.S., rates of death from firearms among ages 14 to 17 are now 22.5% higher than car accidents. Middle and high school age children are now more likely to die as the result of a firearm injury than from any other single cause of death.
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2. Default to forward.

   • Vote for the politician who is least worst option available to you, and then make their lives a living hell by constantly demanding more for yourself and your neighbors.
   • No politician is perfect, and many are downright lacking, but usually there’s an objective difference between which option will fuck you less.
   • Pick that one and then push them forward!
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3. Avoid the “it could be worse” trap.

   • Practice saying exactly what you do want instead of what you hate or don’t want.

   “As a citizen, I want everyone in the country to have access to a doctor and affordable prescriptions whether they have a job or not.”

   “As a Black person, I want to feel safe, comfortable, and at ease getting pulled over by a police officer. I want to feel that my life is valued by my country. I want to feel loved by my country. I want to feel like I belong in my country.”

4. Don’t stop making noise

   • Once you can clearly articulate what you want, demand that shit relentlessly from the people in charge.
   • The power dynamic changes when they know you’ll punish them by voting for someone else if they fuck up.
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5. Don’t let them tell you shit’s not politically possible.

   • It’s conveniently possible for corporations and the rich people who own them to avoid thousands of millions of dollars in taxes every year, but you still have to put off going to the doctor because you got laid off and can’t even afford Obamacare.
   • If the people we elect can’t do it, we’ll elect someone else. Political office isn’t a tenured position, it’s a job and we’re their fucking boss – let’s act like it.