this post was submitted on 02 Mar 2024
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submitted 8 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) by [email protected] to c/[email protected]
 

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[–] [email protected] 49 points 8 months ago (1 children)

I question if you're American. No American I've ever met says "USA". It's always "US" or "Americans". USA is only said as a chant of pride.

[–] [email protected] 15 points 8 months ago (4 children)

I swear I'm American (and it doesn't matter to me because hopefully the debate > my identity), but what would you clock me to be? Am I European or Canadian or something?

[–] [email protected] 17 points 8 months ago (3 children)

I had an American tell me that I couldn't be from the UK because I said I was British and "Nobody says that"

🀷

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[–] [email protected] 33 points 8 months ago (22 children)

Lol, this thread is the shitshow you could expect it to be. The fact that the american "left" is so divided will give the victory to Donnie Trumpo. A message from Canada: Please vote for Biden (cant believe I'm saying that), just this time. We know he's a POS, but your other option could break your country for decades, and we dont wish that to you.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 8 months ago

I don't care much for Biden, but I gotta admit, all the policies that could make a significant difference keeps getting blocked by...the republican congress! So yeah, not blaming Biden for the failure of policies and will vote for him

[–] [email protected] 8 points 8 months ago

The fact that the american "left" is so divided will give the victory to Donnie Trumpo.

The thing is that the American right is equally or more divided than the left.

Lots of Haley voters out there who will sit this one out or maybe even vote Biden. More than enough to balance the dissatisfaction with Biden among lefties.

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[–] [email protected] 30 points 8 months ago

Just in general?

Support FOSS as a creation of digital public goods. Even more so aiming with decentralized networks or user facing projects.

Partipate at municple level for sure. At lot of those positions go unchallenged and the meetings tend to have open comment period to influence them. Its also where ~70% of interaction with the state actually happens.

Help out local unions during strikes (boycotts, donations, spread positive awareness, etc).

Garden plant exchanges or anything that can help people avoid HAVING to buy things to live.

I really like volunteering at Habitat for Humanity, only things I feel like I can afford to do to help with the housing crisis. Pushing for laxing of zoneing laws, more human centric urban planning (public transport, bikes, walking routes), and better legal support cooperative housing are great to me, but also all long long term. I also am trying to my funds situated to try and set up a community land trust to try and great a bulwark against investment housing and landlordism, but that's mid term.

I do some volunteering to with our local coopertivly owned maker space too. It really gives people access to tools that many can't get access to otherwise for a very low monthly rate.

[–] [email protected] 27 points 8 months ago (3 children)

Join a radical and wildly unregulated militia.

[–] [email protected] 12 points 8 months ago (2 children)

I feel like everyone should do that. Left or right. Keeps your government afraid.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 8 months ago (1 children)
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[–] [email protected] 6 points 8 months ago

Hot take: A well armed populace is important for keeping the power of the state in check, and a well armed state is important so that it can't be easily overthrown without a majority taking up arms against it

Basically, domestic mutually assured destruction will keep everyone playing by our agreed upon rules

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[–] [email protected] 21 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago) (9 children)

I am progressive and over 50 and except for a couple of times in local races, have never had the opportunity to vote FOR anyone, only against people.

So my vote for Biden is only to cancel our someone's vote for Trump. Same as every election. Lesser evil is always the better choice, and always so far the only choice.

Oh I realized I didn't answer the question. I am countering the NIMBY assholes fighting an apartment development in our neighborhood, giving away some of the stuff I grow in the garden, but mostly have influenced our children (and there are a lot of them) so all are quite left leaning, inquisitive and thoughtful.

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[–] [email protected] 20 points 8 months ago (1 children)

I keep thinking that left-leaning Americans need to make a shadow party, shadow Democrats. They recruit people to join, they push for more progressive Democrat candidates, and try to push the more conservative candidates out. Then, when all the effort is done, they vote Democrat at the polls. In the current model, there is no way to succeed as a third party until one of the other parties collapses. So the only real options for change are: take over an existing party, wait for a party to collapse, or change the model (which requires a major nationwide effort to implement).

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[–] [email protected] 15 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago) (4 children)

I DO NOT SUPPORT Biden, my vote is not FOR Biden it is for Not Trump. But I know Gaza is why there are MANY people who will refuse to support Biden. I agree with them, but I think these people haven't quite done the math.

You can have an old, out of touch fuck face who represents MUCH of what is wrong with mainstream American culture and wants to double down on a bunch of it, sustain some of it's most toxic parts, while allowing for JUST ENOUGH progressive cultural change (especially the sort that doesn't really change anything) to keep enough of the base engaged with him to keep him (and MOSTLY people like him) in power.

Or you can have a bunch of maniacs who literally want to create Handmaids Tale and are working hard to push us in that exact direction.

Those are the choices. That's it. Don't think of it as "Do I support this one or that one?"

Think of it as:

I can push the button for static, toxic status quo, or I can push the button for Handmaids. Not pushing a button is the same as pushing Handmaids. Also, there are a bunch of little green "Feel Good About Yourself And Win A Participation Trophy By Voting For A Third Party Candidate Who Actually Represents Your Actual Values" buttons, but pushing one of them is the same as pushing Handmaids.

If you're hoping to motivate people to action with the horrifying reality of four more years of Trump (by protest refusing to support Biden)... it's like headbutting a goat. The goat doesn't care, or change it's behavior and it hurts you WAY more than it hurts the goat. In this case, the Right is WAY better organized, unified and prepared to go full fascist then the Left is to get together and demand real change. If you're unfamiliar with Leonard Leo or the 2025 project, I can point you at some podcasts to give you some nightmare fuel. There's nothing like them on the Left, no one throwing that kind of money at being that organized to create political and social change on so many different levels.

tl;dr: I STRONGLY feel like Biden does not deserve my support, and Gaza is a big part of my reasoning, but a non-vote is too close to a vote for Fascist Hellscape.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 8 months ago (3 children)

I made these points (less eloquently) to my mom this week, and was disturbed to find that she stopped caring about what I thought the second she figured out I was going to vote for Biden. I completely agree that we can’t let Trump win, but the Democrats are going to keep experiencing disasters if they can’t find a candidate that people want to vote FOR instead of just pointing out the catastrophe we need to vote AGAINST.

I’m more depressed this election cycle than I have ever been before. The future looks grim.

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[–] [email protected] 10 points 8 months ago

I'm breaking ground on my second guillotine factory on Tuesday.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 8 months ago (2 children)

why specify leftists that will vote for biden? or leftists at all?

[–] [email protected] 24 points 8 months ago (25 children)

I made another post asking how people who wouldn't vote were planning on doing direct action, and I got criticized for not asking about the people who were... so I made this post.

I can't win

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[–] [email protected] 6 points 8 months ago (1 children)

people need to get out of online twitter activism. biden has been one of the most progressive presidents since fdr despite the fact that he has a do nothing congress and right wing partisan court

[–] [email protected] 5 points 8 months ago (15 children)

Being progressive for a liberal is not being a leftist, ie a Socialist. Biden has done very little to move that bar.

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[–] [email protected] 6 points 8 months ago

Biden is a neoliberal centrist. If leftists vote for him it is because they have no other choice. It is why his support is so weak at the grass roots. And so strong amongst the capitalist elites. His far right opponent is a racist and crook, but runs a strong populist game. Those are our only two choices.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 8 months ago (4 children)

Wait, leftists want to vote for Biden? That dude is a conservative in progressive sheep's clothing.

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