Pluralistic: Voting is to politics as shopping is to boycotts (01 Oct 2026)

Blog · Watch/Read · (gathered 2026-10-05)

• Voting (“Big P” Politics) is largely ineffective without continuous “small p” politics (grassroots organizing, protests, community action), as voting rights themselves were won through collective struggle, not just ballots.
• Doctorow contrasts Obama’s strategy of “euthanizing” his grassroots “army” post-election to avoid accountability for compromises (e.g., bank bailouts, Gitmo) with the “Mamdani agenda,” which demonstrates how a progressive leader can nurture and co-govern with their base to achieve goals and be held accountable.
• The reduction of politics to individual acts like voting or “shopping” (instead of collective boycotts) is identified as a key part of the neoliberal project, designed to atomize individuals and dismantle collective power, echoing Margaret Thatcher’s “there is no such thing as society.”
• To achieve systemic change, we must ferociously defend both voting rights and, critically, grassroots organizing; without a mobilized base, politicians will continue to sell out the public without consequence.