I didn’t really take it as dismissive of political engagement, but I figured the statement “aside from elections there’s no way to hold a politicians feet to the fire” was fairly incomplete and ignoring the options available.

I don’t think an election, win or lose, would hold Ron’s feet to the fire enough to get a confession/publically address the reality of his policy decisions. My statement wasn’t a proposed strategy to acquire Ron’s confession, but a reminder of another mechanism available to every one of us that can be used to assert the dominance of the people over our elected officials, and can be implemented at any time, not just elections.

So I don’t really see how my inclusion of using “advanced negotiation techniques” against specific individuals has any less potential for success than an election (both in the case of Ron, and generally speaking).

I personally believe that now more than ever people need to be aware that the option of coming together with a common goal and implementing collective, non voting/election action is both available and an effective option - especially for younger people who rarely vote.