Yoshie Furuhashi wrote:
Isn't the point of politics on the left to change the world we live in, pushing against legal and institutional constraints?
Absolutely. But you've got to understand what you're up against. Non-party (since Nadder isn't running on a party ticket) campaigns for president are essentially doomed. They're a delusion, a waste of time. If you want to make change through electoral politics, you've got to organize a proper party, which takes a long time. It can be done, but don't pretend that your 1% base is up to the task.
Slavery, genocide of American Indians, disenfranchisement of women, Jim Crow, etc. were once perfectly legal and institutional.
The genocide never really stopped, and it took a civil war to end slavery, but the vote for women and ending Jim Crow were all done through large-scale organization that mostly worked within the existing structures of the U.S. legal system.
