Calling it a gotcha that I "critique Biden policies after voting for him" is what's wrong with US politics today.
Voting for him doesn't mean I can't critique him—it's literally the best reason to be critical. It's called holding electeds accountable. It's how democracy works. And it’s how political parties work when they aren’t cults.
As he's only another flawed vessel it'd be weirdly improbable to find no feature of the man and his policies amenable to critique.
My critique prior to voting summed up as "net outcome better with this candidate than with the alternative."
I have strong quibbles with many details but I've not been disappointed with expected overall results.
The durable significance of this choice lies in shaping the federal judiciary. I wish we had more fodder for critique in that dept.
@Doug_Bostrom @QasimRashid Well, as someone who hopes that humanity isn't going to destroy itself by global heating, I've been bitterly disappointed with Biden.
Yes, Obama was worse: https://archive.thinkprogress.org/obamas-worst-speech-ever-we-ve-added-enough-new-oil-and-gas-pipeline-to-encircle-the-earth-e5e24a156910/
(Of course, the Republicans are even worse, but that's a given.)
I feel most people have just given up on a future for our ecosystem.
The biggest difference between the right and left, is that the left calls a wart a wart, and a crime a crime, instead of refusing to see it, or, worse, defending crimes and warts.
Joe ain't perfect. He's mostly sane, though, and these days, that means something.
@rkleim @QasimRashid @Popehat demanding silence from voters is the refuge of despots, not the disinfecting sunlight sought by defenders of a functional democracy.
If Biden can’t take criticism from even those who voted for him, he’s not fit for the job.
It’s so maddening. Nuance is derided. Even worse, it’s somehow bad to change one’s view after receiving new information.
As Colbert put it: “George Bush believes the same thing on Wednesday that he did on Monday, regardless of what happened Tuesday.”
(And oh how I miss the days when I thought Dubya was the nadir. Silly me.)
@GreenFire @QasimRashid Suppression/ lack of criticism & self-criticism is the questionable badge of "honor" of dicktatorial entities like the regimes of Putin, China's Xi, Kim Jong Un & other despots.
It's what distinguishes dicktatorships from the factual Rule of the People aka democracy.
Criticism empowers improvement & progress.
#DefendDemocracy #DefensiveDemocracy #Democracy #YourVoiceMatters #YouMatter #RaiseYourVoice
@GreenFire @QasimRashid You completely misunderstood (again), what I said, turning it upside down.
Organized suppression of criticism is a feature of dicktatorships & an offense to democracies.
Got it?
And no, I don't see any introspection with today's "Republicans".
#DefendDemocracy #DefensiveDemocracy #Democracy #Freedom #YourVoiceMatters #YouMatter
@ArenaCops @QasimRashid
You completely misunderstood (again), what I said, missing the point entirely.
You inferred that I support "dicktatorial[ sic] entities" because I express my opinion that it is not helping to get the Republicans out of power with such excessive criticisms of the Democratic Pary.
You're of course welcome to your opinion, but I think that the recent GOP slide towards dictatorial policies supports my contention that we should support Democrats' efforts.
@GreenFire @QasimRashid I wanna have the weed you're taking, dude.
You completely sailed past any understanding, that I'm a democrat.
And btw, when I'm posting the terms "dicktator", "dicktatorial" etc., that's no coincidental mistake.
So forget fucking trying to school or publicly shame me.
Try to get sober, maybe then you'll be able to understand, what I'm posting.
Especially my unmistakable & continuous support of democracy.
Thx for taking the time to reply.
@ArenaCops @QasimRashid
I see that you are determined to continue trying the same techniques that have continually failed of assuming that publicly criticizing Democrats is going to increase voter turnout. I know it's easier and less comfortable to try something different so I'll ignore your assertion that you are smarter and more capable of critical thinking than am I.
I have to assume that you are no more able to hold a discussion than are the Trumpers though so I'll ignore you from now on.
@QasimRashid I voted for Biden solely to fill that seat with somebody who wasn’t a fascist.
And I’ll do it again, if need be.
Biden seems like a nice enough guy and I think his intentions are good, but there are enough policy differences that I was never exactly enthused about voting for him.
In the real world sometimes we have to pick between two-suboptimal-but-unequally-bad choices.
That said, he has done some good in some areas. I can acknowledge that.
It's right up there with (as an American) "you can't be a patriot if you complain about America". A lot of people don't get that "America is an ideal and a promise not yet fulfilled. Me having complaints is me wanting to see it reach those ideals ...for EVERYONE, not just those with means to buy them".
@QasimRashid How retro of you.
In the US we have post-modern political parties: they sell legislation and influence to their donors, and they sell tribalism to their voters.
Ideology is now sucker bait.
I've lost the original attribution, but a quote that I love is "I vote so that I can choose who I'm fighting."
Anyone with any authority whatsoever, especially political authority, should be criticized by the people they have authority over. If I had power and could not be criticized, that would mean I was a tyrant. No one should want to be a tyrant.
As I pre-warned my DailyKos blog community when Obama was first elected: YOU will NOT LIKE every decision made by his administration whether forced by the GOP or as a policy.
I reminded them because Obama was so highly loved a disappointment meant a long, long fall unless they set reasonable expectations.
The big difference to see is between this and vote chilling self-comforting idiocy from people butthurt on Resetera that cringe suburban wine moms are out-progressiving them
@QasimRashid One of the biggest disconnects between the two major political parties is how Democrats seem to be happy to critique the Democratic POTUS. It's as if he's a representative and he was elected to perform a job and the electors who supported him can criticize his performance, instead of him being a sacred avatar of divine will beyond reproach.
My only concern is that while there are better potential POTUS candidates, how can we switch and not get that fascist back in the Oval Office?
It's the "perfect is the enemy of the good" conundrum.
Joe B. hasn't accomplished exactly every good thing (which, have you looked at Congress lately?). So leftists saying the Dem party can't get shit done, as if the GOP didn't exist.
How many of these whiners have actually run for public office?
If there are two busses, both going away from where I need to go, it doesn't mean I'm "unable to negotiate" if I take neither.
Nothing matters more than NOT killing our biosphere, yet D policies will kill our ecosystem just as fast as R policies.
Watch D and R charge toward the Collapse for 50 years is horrifying. Watching people root for their teams as they kill our planet is nauseating.
@QasimRashid 100%. It's why I care about all parties putting forward decent candidates, even the parties I never vote for.
Healthy democracies require accountability & public discourse.
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