Election Endorsement: Vote for Seth!

 

My thinking about electoral politics over the past few years has been focused on searching for strategies for breaking the grip of the orchestrated culture wars that both big capitalist parties have been promoting to keep working-class people in their thrall by getting us polarized along tribal partisan lines rather than uniting on a class-wide basis.

Because of the way we've been induced to demonize each other, the most promising tactics to change this picture are those that "tug sideways" -- those that don't appear to be coming from either the left or the right, and therefore don't provoke a reflexive tugging back from those on the other side. One project along these lines is the Forward Party, which has the slogan, "Not Left. Not Right. Forward," and which prioritizes fighting for political reforms like open primaries and ranked choice voting, as well as government transparency.

So I was very interested to hear the news that Philadelphia City Commissioner Seth Bluestein had declared himself a supporter of Forward. But not so surprised. Earlier, starting when I was actively involved with the Greens, I had had very positive experiences interacting with both him when he was a Deputy Commissioner, and his boss, then Commissioner Al Schmidt. In the spring of 2020, when only a few days before the primary I still hadn't received the mail ballot I'd applied for, I contacted Schmidt's office and that same weekend he came up to Northeast Philly, where I was living at the time, in a van to hand deliver me an emergency ballot, letting me go fill it out and seal it in a private location before returning to his van to watch as he dropped it in a portable ballot box he'd brought with him. This only reinforced the positive impression I already had of him and his deputy as hard-working public servants dedicated to helping all voters impartially.

Before hearing about Bluestein's announcement, I saw no reason to be interested in the City Commissioners race. In fact it's not competitive this year. No party is allowed more than two nominees, so it's practically guaranteed in this overwhelmingly blue town that the two Democratic incumbents will win. And since the Republicans only have one nominee this time, the contest for the minority party seat is also non-competitive. But casting a vote can perform an expressive function. By voting only for Seth, and not for the two Democrats who are just machine politicians -- especially if your other votes indicate Democratic leanings -- you can signal that you value the spirit of public service over blind partisanship. That's why I'm planning to vote for him, and if you're a Philadelphia voter I encourage you to do so too.