Anything That Suggests Action Outside Electoral Politics Will Be Smeared. Full Stop.

 Force The Vote. General Strike(s). Marches. Protests. Rallies. Sit-Ins. Mutual Aid Programs. Ballot Initiatives. Phone Banking. Door-to-Door. 

When things like the above are done or advocated outside of electoral politics, when they are not connected to a candidate or political party...the knives will come out.

America is stuck in a Electoral Matrix: only by "participating" every two-to-four years can things "get done."

You want your pothole fixed? Vote. You want municipal broadband? Vote. You want a better health care system? Vote.

Thing is, voting is not how America accomplished what it has on behalf of it's people.

Samuel Gompers was president of the American Federation of Labor, not President of the United States. Margaret Fuller was not a mayor and Martin Luther King, Jr. was not a congressman. Throughout history, men and women like these three put pressure on politicians to change things. 

The Machine is too corrupt for the Idealistic Candidate; anyone running on improving the lives of the poor and working class will be smacked by political reality as soon as they are sworn in. 

But the fear of losing that cushy seat is enough to make a politician give ground to the will of the masses. Politicians aren't stupid; they know this.

Which is why they would prefer that Americans believe that the best way to get change is by electing doe-eyed change-makers instead of scaring the living daylights out of ones already in office.

The government would rather protests be regulated (if not outright banned). They're still upset about how the Black Panther's Breakfast Program made them look.  

Remember: those who support the system (whether because of the money, the access or the love of the sports-like entertainment factor) will not allow non-electoral ideas to gain much traction.