A couple of lefty people I know are pre-emptively being bitter and anticipating defeat in the New York City Mayoral election, expecting “vote blue no matter who” suddenly not to apply.

I’ll be fair and admit they have reason, but pre-surrendering is not how to win fucking anything ever.

Now, some may note – fairly enough – that “vote blue no matter who” is fundamentally about how legislative bodies are organised and deciding who has the power to set the agenda for bills and legislative voting. They’ll note that it’s not actually about every individual race, but instead is about deciding what gets moved forward in a legislature.

But while true, “vote blue no matter who” still matters this time, even though it’s a mayoral race, and even though this time it’s someone to the left of people who usually say that, rather than about someone to the right of people who usually hear it. And that is because it’s about the Overton window.

Here’s one way you might pitch it to your “centrist,” or “establishment,” or “conservative-leaning” Democratic friends who might otherwise vote Cuomo as an independent, or just sit this this one out:

“Okay, yeah, I know, you don’t like the word ‘socialist,’ and so you’ve already decided you don’t like Mamdani. You’re afraid of him winning, you’re afraid of how the mythical “centrist Republican” won’t come over if Democrats somewhere back a leftist.

“Thing is, that’s bullshit. I’m sorry, but it’s a lie. It just is. They do not care. We had a literal fascist insurrectionist running last election, and a Democratic campaign that spent half its time with dissident Republicans trying to get those so-called centrist Republicans to acknowledge reality and switch over. Did it work? Not one whit. These voters don’t exist, so stop trying.

“But even that’s not the real point.

“This isn’t about Mamdani. Not him in particular. I mean, even as mayor of NYC, he can’t do that much by himself. I think he’ll do some real good. It won’t be enough for me, but it’s a start. But for you, now… for you…

“For you, this election is about moving the Overton window back towards yourself.

“You may not have noticed, but right now, the Overton window is so far to the right that Elon Musk could do and did throw a literal Hitler-identical Nazi salute during the Presidential inauguration and still be welcomed into government. That’s insane. And fatal for a representative democracy.

“But we can push that window back to where you want it to be, and we do that by pushing to the left as hard as we can. Even if you don’t want to go there, even if you don’t want to go where I do, even if you’re ‘not comfortable’ with someone who calls himself a ‘socialist.’

“By electing him, we can make that position viable. Not dominant, not in charge, but viable. And doing _that_ pushes the middle of the window back to where you actually are. It makes you the middle position again.

“Right now, everyone not a fascist – which includes you – is ‘radical left.’ Rule of law? Radical left. Science? Radical left. Due process? Radical left. Social security and medicare? Radical left. Woman not the property of a man? Queer? Radical left. Which is, again, insane, but that is where we are right now.

“But if we start electing some real leftists, then suddenly, that window swings away from the right. You’ll be part of the Sane and Normal Centre again.

“In short: like always, this is strategy. Vote for him as ‘vote blue no matter who’ so that you won’t be the ‘radical left’ anymore, and so you can have an actual choice who you vote for again in the future.

“And that’s why, this time, it’s you who need to ‘vote blue, no matter who.'”

Posted via Solarbird{y|z|yz}, Collected.