mekka okereke Jul 26, 2023

The criticism of Ice Cube coming from many white folk, vs Black folk, is different in important ways.

When Biden stresses "Bipartisanship" and says that he will work with people from both parties to get things done for the American people, he's praised. If I criticize his centrism, y'all yell at me.🤷🏿‍♂️

When Ice Cube says we don't know who's going to win the election: if it's Dems I'll work with them, if it's GOP I'll work with them, to get things done for Black people...y'all call him a fool.🤡

Show threadmekka okereke Jul 26, 2023

I disagree with Ice Cube's tactic (as do most Black voters), but he has not "turned right wing," and he is not "unaware that he's being used by right wingers"

He's making the very specific point that most Democrats take the Black vote for granted. They expect Black folk to work harder than everyone to elect Dems, and then do nothing to prioritize the issues most important to Black people. Because they say, "What're you gonna do, vote GOP? Ha ha! They hate you even more!!! You have no choice!"

Show threadmekka okereke Jul 26, 2023

Biden wants to *increase* police funding. Even after we've all seen how ineffective that is at anything but increasing the harm experienced by Black men and boys.

Governor Hochul wants to *bring back* prison labor and reinstate cash bail, to resupply the required prison slavery workforce. Even though she knows how racist and harmful that is to Black folk. This is cartoonishly evil and racist. Slavery in NYC.

Progressive candidates that run on anti-racism are *kneecapped* by centrists.

Show threadBen Rosengart
@mekkaokereke Dems wanna be the party of Black people without taking any arrows for them. It's one big reason I feel I have no party (though I always vote Dem).
Jul 29, 2023 at 8:42pmWeb
Show threadDeirdre Saoirse MoenJul 29, 2023

@fivetonsflax @mekkaokereke That is beautifully stated.

I'm definitely more progressive than the Dem party, but am still registered that way (because primary voting is also important).

Show threadBen RosengartJul 29, 2023

@deirdresm @mekkaokereke Thank you.

Like you, I am also a registered Dem so I can vote in primaries. Being "without a party" is more a *feeling* than a bureaucratic reality for me.

Show threadDeirdre Saoirse MoenJul 29, 2023
@fivetonsflax @mekkaokereke I figured that's what you meant.
Show threadMcNullaJul 29, 2023
@fivetonsflax @mekkaokereke
I don’t vote for Dems as much as I vote against GOPs.
Show threadHawkwinter :firefish:Jul 29, 2023
@mcnulla @fivetonsflax @mekkaokereke

And they're banking on there being no third option.
Show threadMcNullaJul 29, 2023
@Hawkwinter @mekkaokereke @fivetonsflax
They are right.
Show threadHawkwinter :firefish:Jul 29, 2023
@mcnulla @mekkaokereke @fivetonsflax

Here in Canada, there is sortof a third option. And they're who I vote for. They never win federally, but they almost always come in third, and have enough seats that whoever wins out of the two big ones frequently needs the co-operation of either the other big one or the third option, and the more seats they get, the more effectively they're able to bargain for policies they run for even if they don't actually win.

It's far from perfect, it's no Norway Proportional Representation landscape, but it's a bit better than the situation in the USA.
Show threadHawkwinter :firefish:Jul 29, 2023
@mcnulla @mekkaokereke @fivetonsflax

[My other post wasn't bragging. I'd like to see us all get governments that actually represent the citizens - again like Norway, but I don't know how the hell to get there.]
Show threadvyJul 30, 2023
@Hawkwinter @mekkaokereke @fivetonsflax @mcnulla Norway has powerful racist parties with a lot of popular support.
Show threadHawkwinter :firefish:Jul 30, 2023
@vy @mekkaokereke @fivetonsflax @mcnulla

That I did not know. All I knew about was the power of each party being strictly limited by the amount of support they have, and that they have a many-parties proportional representation system rather than some variety of first-past-the-post.

Which to me, seems to be a prerequisite to having actual representation.
Show threadvyJul 30, 2023
@Hawkwinter @mekkaokereke @fivetonsflax @mcnulla There is no magical fix for popular support for racism and authoritarianism.
Show threadHawkwinter :firefish:Jul 30, 2023
@vy @mekkaokereke @fivetonsflax @mcnulla

True. But with a PR system and many parties that are made to cooperate, if the people move away from it, they'll have no voice in government, right?

Whereas with the system here in Canada (which I understand to be almost the same as the one in the US), you have only a couple choices, and if you don't like any of them, too bad for you.
Show threadvyJul 30, 2023
@Hawkwinter @mekkaokereke @fivetonsflax @mcnulla The US system has many problems: the gerrymandering of congressional districts, the electoral college and senate system give disproportionate power to rural voters (California and Wyoming have the same number of Senators), the difficulty of voting and impediments to voting, the Supreme court gutting of voting rights protections etc. . First past post and two parties is really a minor problem given all that.
Show threadHawkwinter :firefish:Jul 30, 2023
@vy @mekkaokereke @fivetonsflax @mcnulla

We don't have proportional weights to representative seats either; but I don't think we have the voter suppression you guys do, and gerrymandering isn't a thing here anymore. I understand that one was solved in the 1960s for us.

I know here, there's a lot of PR support for the NDP across the country, but it's diffuse and not concentrated to key areas, and so the number of seats they get are minimized as a result.

Our current PM got elected on a lie of electoral reform that would follow the advice of an independent commission. He didn't like what the commission said (he wanted ranked ballot, not mixed-member proportional rep) - so he then 'took it back'.
Show threadklausfiend has movedJul 29, 2023
@mcnulla @fivetonsflax @mekkaokereke this has pretty much been my voting strategy since 2016, it's hard to communicate the "you're the least worst option right now" feeling to Dems in a way that lands.
Show threadMaggie MaybeJul 29, 2023
@mcnulla @fivetonsflax @mekkaokereke That’s how I used to do it to until the dems decided to genocide people like me for capitalism. Now I vote against both those OLD bastards.
Show threadMcNullaJul 30, 2023

@maggiemaybe @mcnulla @fivetonsflax @mekkaokereke

Every vote against the Dems is a vote for GOP, like it or not.

I’m not sure which group you saw the Dems doing to kill you, I don’t recall seen it that. You are welcome to inform me.

I’ve seen what GOP is doing to marginalized groups and I won’t accept it.

Show threadSpicewallaJul 30, 2023

@mcnulla

That's called "negative partisanship" and its the main reason Ds are able to win elections.

FWIW, Rs have been doing negative partisanship for decades, it is their entire strategy. Turn on fox and all it is is sneering at Ds.

If Ds want to win more elections, they need to embrace it too. Fear of what the Rs will do is the only way to get disengaged people off the sidelines to vote for Ds.

@fivetonsflax @mekkaokereke

Show threadvyJul 30, 2023
@fivetonsflax @mekkaokereke This argument is pretty infuriating. The Democrats are a coalition party attempting to navigate an electorate made up of way too many racists, way too many irresponsible people, and way too many people under the influence of a harmful media. They are no better than what that gives us. Diane Fienstein is dragging herself to Senate Committee meetings on her deathbed in order to let Biden & Schumer move forward a record setting number of Black and progressive judges
Show threadmekka okereke Jul 31, 2023

@vy @fivetonsflax

Then... be infuriated.

Sit there and stew. Go full Rumplestiltskin. Stomp a hole in the ground and fall in it. Get madder and madder.

Show threadvyJul 31, 2023
@mekkaokereke @fivetonsflax The Republicans in Texas, where I live have taken control of the largest school district in the state, in Harris County, and just fired all the librarians and are converting the libraries to disciplinary centers. Maybe you and Iced Tea and the DSA Revolutionary Cadres can step up and fix things since Democrats don't care. Send Sylvester Turner a note , he probably could do with some education.