this post was submitted on 10 Jul 2024
208 points (97.3% liked)

politics

19088 readers
4099 users here now

Welcome to the discussion of US Politics!

Rules:

  1. Post only links to articles, Title must fairly describe link contents. If your title differs from the site’s, it should only be to add context or be more descriptive. Do not post entire articles in the body or in the comments.

Links must be to the original source, not an aggregator like Google Amp, MSN, or Yahoo.

Example:

  1. Articles must be relevant to politics. Links must be to quality and original content. Articles should be worth reading. Clickbait, stub articles, and rehosted or stolen content are not allowed. Check your source for Reliability and Bias here.
  2. Be civil, No violations of TOS. It’s OK to say the subject of an article is behaving like a (pejorative, pejorative). It’s NOT OK to say another USER is (pejorative). Strong language is fine, just not directed at other members. Engage in good-faith and with respect! This includes accusing another user of being a bot or paid actor. Trolling is uncivil and is grounds for removal and/or a community ban.
  3. No memes, trolling, or low-effort comments. Reposts, misinformation, off-topic, trolling, or offensive. Similarly, if you see posts along these lines, do not engage. Report them, block them, and live a happier life than they do. We see too many slapfights that boil down to "Mom! He's bugging me!" and "I'm not touching you!" Going forward, slapfights will result in removed comments and temp bans to cool off.
  4. Vote based on comment quality, not agreement. This community aims to foster discussion; please reward people for putting effort into articulating their viewpoint, even if you disagree with it.
  5. No hate speech, slurs, celebrating death, advocating violence, or abusive language. This will result in a ban. Usernames containing racist, or inappropriate slurs will be banned without warning

We ask that the users report any comment or post that violate the rules, to use critical thinking when reading, posting or commenting. Users that post off-topic spam, advocate violence, have multiple comments or posts removed, weaponize reports or violate the code of conduct will be banned.

All posts and comments will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis. This means that some content that violates the rules may be allowed, while other content that does not violate the rules may be removed. The moderators retain the right to remove any content and ban users.

That's all the rules!

Civic Links

Register To Vote

Citizenship Resource Center

Congressional Awards Program

Federal Government Agencies

Library of Congress Legislative Resources

The White House

U.S. House of Representatives

U.S. Senate

Partnered Communities:

News

World News

Business News

Political Discussion

Ask Politics

Military News

Global Politics

Moderate Politics

Progressive Politics

UK Politics

Canadian Politics

Australian Politics

New Zealand Politics

founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] [email protected] 3 points 4 months ago (2 children)

Because it couldn't possibly be that we ALL need to compromise to make this work. Biden, as far as I'm concerned, did in fact meet us at least part way. Not even close to where I'd want but not nothing either. And in doing so probably alienated more conservative voters. So they didn't get everything they wanted and neither did we. But in the process we all got some of what what we wanted.

If "kids these days" can't figure out that democracy is fundamentally a compromise in which nobody is 100% happy then truly we're fucked.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 4 months ago (1 children)

When did megacorps, billionaires and insider trading political dynasties ever have to compromise?

[–] [email protected] 3 points 4 months ago (1 children)

When did megacorps, billionaires and insider trading political dynasties ever have to compromise?

For starters, some random examples would include state minimum wage laws, environmental regulations (e.g. banning drilling in the arctic, banning certain chemicals, etc), and labor protections generally.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 4 months ago (1 children)

You see, when most people think of "compromise", they think of meeting halfway... When liberals and their corporate owners think of "compromise" they think "I give an inch, you give a mile"

Young people still have some fight in them (and they're brains are still working on understanding long term consequences), so often times they see their great grandpa pacifying the rich and mostly ignoring them and they think, fuck that, I'd rather fight.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 4 months ago (1 children)

Which would be great if "fight" meant "run for office and vote". But really it means "shake fists angrily and complain online".

Go ahead folks, downvote me. But you know it's true and the date supports it.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 4 months ago (1 children)

Eh... Bernie got a shit ton of them out fighting for real... They just need a leader to fight for

[–] [email protected] 1 points 4 months ago (1 children)

Eh… Bernie got a shit ton of them out fighting for real… They just need a leader to fight for

Oh yes, they did a great job "fighting" by showing up at rallies and make noise. Lot's of fist shaking going on. But as soon as it came time to show up to vote a fuckload didn't.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 4 months ago (1 children)

But they WOULD have shown up to vote for Bernie. And all those blue no matter who Clinton voters also would have shown up. And we'd have had Bernie instead of Trump. Instead, Clinton spit in their faces, gaslit them, chased the right (who most of these people consider to truly be the enemy )and then still had the audacity to demand their vote.

But don't diminish the real fighting they actually did. They participated in one of the largest and most robust field programs US politics has seen since the civil rights movement. They knocked on millions of doors and spoke to millions of people. Often times not just pushing Bernie, but also pushing for downballot Dems as well. It's a level of engagement effort most campaigns never even attempt

[–] [email protected] 0 points 4 months ago (1 children)

But they WOULD have shown up to vote for Bernie.

Except they didn't. End of story.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 4 months ago (1 children)

No, the story ends with King Donald Trump.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 4 months ago (1 children)

No, the story ends with King Donald Trump.

Oh look, a non-sequitur. How unique and edgy.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 4 months ago (1 children)

The point is noone cares why the dems went towards the corporate right. Noone cares if Bernie got kneecapped or had no chance to begin with.

We can argue back and forth as long as we go crazy whether a more progressive administration would have been realistic.

The cold hard truth is a US dictatorship now is. It's not edgy, it's sad is what it is. Hillary got us Trump, and Biden will get us Trump.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 4 months ago (1 children)

The cold hard truth is a US dictatorship now is. It’s not edgy, it’s sad is what it is. Hillary got us Trump, and Biden will get us Trump.

LOL. I can't tell if it's that your are completely ignorant or just exaggerating because you think somehow that will make your point "stronger".

It doesn't. You just sound ridiculous.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 4 months ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 1 points 4 months ago (1 children)

The cold hard truth is a US dictatorship now is

The US is not a dictatorship. Full stop.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 4 months ago (1 children)

Not yet. But Trump might make it one. That's my point, electing someone that makes the US more equitable is unrealistic, but electing someone who will make it a dictatorship is not unrealistic.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 4 months ago

I don't think you have a point. Or if you do, it's fleeting and highly variable.

Good bye.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 4 months ago (1 children)

The people Biden needs to turn up, aren't paying attention. They're not not showing up because they're pissed. They're not going to show up because nothing about politics has caught their attention. They show up when something excites them. Dems know that, but still keep going for the least exciting candidates they can find. That's on the DNC and Biden.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 4 months ago (1 children)

They’re not going to show up because nothing about politics has caught their attention.

I mean I can somewhat relate. When I don't get chocolate ice cream and only vanilla is offered I also get pissed and refuse to eat any ice cream at all.

[–] [email protected] -1 points 4 months ago (1 children)

Especially if you were promised ice cream the last 4 times you agreed to come to the party, and once again you're being told "sorry, all the ice cream is for the Nazis. Best we can do for you is this cone full of dog shit. What do you mean you're leaving? Don't you know YOU'LL be the one letting the Nazis win?? How dare you not take this cone of shit and be happy!"

[–] [email protected] 1 points 4 months ago (1 children)

what is shit for you? Is your comfortable home not large enough? Is your TV only 65" instead of 75"? Is your car older than you'd like? Did you have to eat rice and beans more than once a month?

[–] [email protected] 0 points 4 months ago (1 children)

Shit for me is every 4 years being told "just vote for us this time and we'll fix the election system so this doesn't keep happening," and then not even attempting to fix it... But yes all that other stuff too I guess

[–] [email protected] 1 points 4 months ago (1 children)

Shit for me is every 4 years being told “just vote for us this time and we’ll fix the election system so this doesn’t keep happening,”

What though? What keeps happening? I'm trying to ask what specifically is so bad for you personally about Democratic Party administrations?

[–] [email protected] 1 points 4 months ago (1 children)

Well, costs keep rising while my pay stays the same. I'm in mental health care, so in general not enough is being done to help with the mental health crisis we're facing, and what is being done is clearly to increase pharmaceutical company's profits more than to help people, so that makes my job harder. The fact that at no point have the Dems ever actually tried to unfuck our election system so I have to go through this nonsense every few years. More than 100k in Student loans that I can't scrub with bankruptcy, thanks Biden. Medical bills that should be covered by single payer. And believe it or not, some people care about what happens to other people too... So there's the genocide which isn't actually a new thing, Dems have been supporting it for decades. The bullshit at the border. The drone wars killing innocent people everywhere. Education is fucked. Abortion rights are fucked. Dems never saw an increased military budget they didn't like, while they continue to allow social services to be cut. Billionaires haven't been taxed out of existence. On and on.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 4 months ago (1 children)

People tend to extrapolate that since some things are broadly fucked everything is fucked for them personally, forgetting that on a personal level for most people who would be posting on Lemmy, there are many things to be thankful for and many things that have gone right. The clear and obvious wealth disparity (for example) may be sickening and outrageous but that ends up usually being a question of degree, which is why I joke that that people are really complaining that their TV isn't big enough.

And then we shoot ourselves in the feet by assuming that because of this generalized feeling of "bad" and "unjust" that there is no path forward and that no progress has been made. This is factually incorrect and easy to disprove, but people get mired in the "this sucks" phase, leading to angry fist waving without action. tl;dr people love to complain but are too lazy and myopic to do anything about their complaints.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 4 months ago (1 children)

Eh... I'll agree to some extent... Though I think people are also deliberately restricted from taking meaningful action. And after 40 years of the center teaming up with the right instead of the left, when teaming up left would mean almost certain victory, I think many people are disillusioned and burnt out. They don't see a way of ever being represented, given the current system, so they've given up on the system. The only way for someone to get them off the couch is to come with a plan to change the system completely.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 4 months ago (1 children)

when teaming up left would mean almost certain victory

Except it demonstrably doesn't. If that were so Bernie would have won overwhelmingly in the primary. Pretty much all the polling and research suggests that the majority of US voters are pretty center or center-left, with dems being pretty evenly split between center/moderate and progressive. (Eg https://www.pewresearch.org/politics/2024/04/09/the-partisanship-and-ideology-of-american-voters/)

Saying "if we were just more left wing" completely ignores this reality. It's frankly nonsense.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 4 months ago (1 children)

If you take a look at this chart from the article you sent, it sums things up pretty well. Bernie vs Clinton was just the blue. If all the liberals voted and all the progressives voted, Clinton wins. Obviously not all registered voters voted in the primary, but it still would have been pretty close. Also I won't get into the fact that Clinton's minions absolutely had their thumb on the scale.

However if you recognize that pretty much all the reds always vote, and the light blues always vote, then that leaves progressives (dark blues) left to sway. Except it's just a matter of how many you can get to show up. IF they do show up, they vote blue. The Dems have to choose between dark blue and light red. They seem to think they can peel off more red than they could ever get dark blue. But they've never been able to peel off more than a percent or two... Meanwhile they basically tell the much larger group of dark blues to shut up and vote for them without ever actually courting them. In the end though... The difference between an R win and a D win comes down to how many progressives actually show up. That's it.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 4 months ago (1 children)

So let me get this straight. Somehow you think that if Clinton went left she'd gain more progressives but NOT lose conservatives/moderates/independents? That is just not the way it works. tl;dr they are trying to thread the needle.

The difference between an R win and a D win comes down to how many progressives actually show up

No, it comes down to how many voters vote for one or the other. As in all voters.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 4 months ago (1 children)

I think she/Biden/Dems would gain more progressives than they would lose conservatives/moderates/independents... absolutely. The types of people who vote for Clinton/Biden ALWAYS vote... And they sure as shit aren't going to vote for Trump or even stay home. They will vote for whoever is the Dem nominee every time. Which means a progressive would also get those votes. Maybe, big maybe, some of the more conservative Dems would choose Trump over Bernie, but I highly doubt it.

So everyone who would vote for Biden, would also vote for Bernie, but not everyone who would vote for Bernie would vote for Biden. The math isn't that hard.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 4 months ago (2 children)

I think she/Biden/Dems would gain more progressives than they would lose conservatives/moderates/independents… absolutely.

You think. Despite not having any data, not doing any real research and not being familiar with how campaigns are run.

So everyone who would vote for Biden, would also vote for Bernie

Pure speculation not borne out by the 2016 election results.

The math isn’t that hard.

You aren't doing math. You are going with your gut and guessing.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 4 months ago

The report you linked to shows what I'm saying. You should read it.

Do you really think there are millions of people out there thinking "well I'll vote for Biden, but it's a close call... If it wasn't Joe then I'd vote for Trump"? Who do you think is actually on the fence between Trump and Biden? No one... The fence is full of people deciding between showing up and not showing up. If we can get them to show up, they'll vote against Trump.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 4 months ago (1 children)

The 2016 primary has nothing to do with what's happening now (other than Clinton getting us into this whole mess with her arrogance and hubris).

The report you linked to shows what I'm saying. You should give it a read sometime. As I did... Weeks ago... Because I do plenty of research. I'm familiar with how campaigns are run.

You really think there's millions of people out there on the fence between Biden and Trump? Like "I know I'm going to vote, but I just can't decide who I like better, Trump or Biden".. or maybe you think there's tons of people who are like "I'll definitely vote for Biden because Trump is such a threat, but if it was someone like Bernie, no way, suddenly Trump doesn't seem like that much of a threat." That just doesn't exist. The people on the fence this election are deciding whether or not to show up at all. If they show up they'll vote against Trump, but the more they can believe in who they're voting for the more likely they are to actually show up.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 4 months ago

The report you linked to shows what I’m saying

No it doesn't. And instead of explaining why you think that you just keep goin on and on repeating the same speculation

Have a nice day.