All of this makes them stronger than ever and by that, I mean than if they take the power now, it will actually be easier for them to keep it, to abuse us and break everything, than it would have been 15 years ago.
So if you want to convince me to vote Macron, you have to explain me how the situation is different. Because right now, based on french history, it seems to me we are reproducing the exact same scheme and, usually, when you do the same thing, the outcomes are the same too.
@eliotberriot tl;dr: even a small fringe force can push things towards a gradually worse place if people won't offer a better alternative. Defending the status quo means slowly giving up, noone wants to hear how things will stay the same, people want to hear how things will improve and if the only ones selling a brighter future are quacks / bullshit salesmen then everyone loses.
@szbalint Just like you, I don't think voting is the only step of the process. In fact, it's probably the most useless.
For example, buying stuff from big companies that use tax evasion, or products of delocalisations has probably a lot more impact on our society than any vote.
A system that ends up with Macron and Le Pen as "choices" is inherently flawed. We have to break that circle.
Also, what if Macron is just more gasoline on that burning house?
@eliotberriot I remember some people voted for Trump or advocated for Trump (Žižek etc) not because they believed in him but to burn down the status quo and to provoke a counter-reaction.
That usually doesn't work out. Incompetence just lowers the standards, it doesn't discredit itself and it sticks around for a long time.
Didn't work in Hungary, Greece, Turkey, US.
We have to fix an imperfect system and that means being tactical. Start from Macron and then improve.
@szbalint you can do that if you believe you can change the system from the inside.
At that point, I don't think it is still possible. Sometimes, you have to build something better and attract people from the previous system until it collapses.
Also I'm not advocating for Le Pen. I don't want her and her party to be in charge, in any way.
@eliotberriot I'l try to be short: you're uncomfortable that the alternative is between the status quo/elites and a bad "alternative".
I think that's because people treat voting as the only step in the process. Vote for Macron and then do something to present a better alternative and encourage people to work on a better alternative.
Getting into politics is about as appealing as joining a death march, but ignoring it is like ignoring a house fire. Don't just vote.