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Gerrymandering, voter ID, challenging voter registrations, disenfranchising felons, opposing mail-in voting, anonymous mailers threatening to arrest voters, closing polling stations in Democratic-leaning areas, challenging voters at the polls to gridlock the polling places, making the handing out of water to people waiting to vote (in red states - where it’s hot) illegal.
All the well-known cheating tactics of republiQans. Others are less well known. That’s one of the problems.
Democrats fall in love. Republicans fall in line.
Assuming the people here are being genuine, the people replying to you show how true it is.
If we absolutely destroyed the Republican party the Overton window would move left leaving the Dems as the right wing party and opening the door for others. But they can’t see the long term view.
My view is that we vote as far left as feasible, keep getting involved in primaries, keep being engaged, and once we stomp out the more dangerous threat we can duke it out. But we all think we know best and I can’t make anyone else take my view.
This cannot be emphasized enough.
Even AOC was not their choice, she did it herself and beat the Dem choice.
Not the point.
She was a random no name dem at the time who knocked on doors and undercut the old fart dem incumbent for her district.
The point is that any able bodied motivated individual with the charisma who also fits the requirements for the role, say, even a bartender, can oust the old farts in office.
I’m voting blue, and you should too
But if it’s a competition for engagement, why did we have to go with the least engaging candidate possible?
Because the system isn’t fixed yet.
Unfortunately, we have to engage in order to fix it. It won’t just fix itself so that we can participate with a clean ego conscience.
A union doesn’t get better treatment by continuing to work the machines that mangle them.
I dont have much of a better answer but I’m getting tired of hearing this.
Okay… But let’s walk it out… Say turn out is good enough to beat Trump this time… Biden gets in again… What’s the next step? How do we then get him and the Dems to fix the system? Probably not even that hard… Ranked choice, end dark money, end gerrymandering… The rest will likely sort itself out… So what? Do we call our elected reps and say, okay, this time I really mean it, you fix this dumpster fire or else… Else what?
(Just to keep this from getting derailed… I’m voting for Biden and so should everyone, especially in the swing states.)
But I’ve heard this song before… Over and over… Just vote like you’re told to this time, and then we’ll fix the system later… And like clockwork we’re right back here every 4 years… And god forbid anyone ever point out that we did this exact same dance last time, and we got them in, and shocker of all shockers, they didn’t fucking fix anything about the system. Shit, they didn’t even try.
So show me the Democrat’s plan to fix the system. Or I guess it is already “fixed”… How are they going to unfuck it?
This isn’t really true in this election. Usual caveats, I’m voting blue and all that.
But likely voter polls favor Biden more than registered voters. There’s straight up not a linear regression of people voting to democratic winners like this presents. It’s bad statistics.
People who don’t pay attention to politics at all are more likely to vote for Trump. I think that makes a lot of sense. People who pay attention aren’t as likely to vote for him as people who don’t really follow.
BassaForteIt is really only in recent headlines, but anyone who’s been paying attention has known about it since last year.
If they say they’re not aware of how shitty Trump is then they’re just as shitty as he is because they’re clearly lying to save face.
Or my guess is that they’re just really, really that gullible.
Azzu
Kaity
Match!!You need a thesis statement?
“Unlike . . . who” is not my reason for punching left.
Any other questions?
As to why anyone would punch left? Or just, at all?
If the former, it’s because we’re in an existential crisis as a country, and while the right-wing nutjobs are either asleep at the wheel or as batshit or corrupt as expected, the “left” (for our purposes here) are contributing to the right-wing’s efforts, and proudly.
If American democracy - the fate of not just the government but effects around the world - were a kitchen-on-fire, republiQans are cheering, Democrats are running in and out with a bucket of water to put it out, and “the left” as it appears to be defined here, is a petulant jerk at the table yelling “you suck at running!” every time the Democrat passes by.
That’s why. If someone is an American and a registered voter, and they don’t vote Democrat this election, they have no right - none at all - to consider themselves progressive. And no one here (well, no American registered voter, anyway) should need that explained.
Would love if dems fought this hard against the GOP.
Or had actual long terms othet than not being GOP…
Yes they fight so hard.
It’s why we got ACA instead of universal Healthcare. Almost got social security cuts, other cuts to social programs and right wings dream immigration bill in the form of an executive order by Biden.
Nice cherries ya picked there.
First of all, no, and second of all if Obama had pushed H4A in 2008 you wouldn’t have anything. “Progressives” - or whoever- forget about that and somehow come to the conclusion that, well, since we didn’t get the moon and a bag of chips these guys are just as bad as those guys.
So let me ask you if you think anyone is fighting hard in Washington. If no, then fair enough we can agree to disagree. If yes, who?
So who just filed articles of impeachment on Alito and Thomas?
Was it someone from the Green party? Perhaps a feisty Independent like Krysten Sinema? Y’know, someone who fights hard?
Hey, 2017-2020 I give you that. The Dems were worthless. But 2020-now I’ve seen a lot of good things happen. I want more. And the option - there is one option right now - and that option is not good things.
And crazy marge put in impeachment articles for biden. What’s your point?
Still waiting on any ethics push from senate.
What do you think they’ve done to fight since 2020?
After vaccination tiny push they stopped caring about covid. Ignored doing anything to investigate trump. Fucked up where they charged him in the secret document case.
We got what a super watered down IRA bill? Then sanctions on the materials that would be used to help lower carbon emissions.
Oh and still killed immigration by implementing the republican wet dream at the border.
So please tell me the fighting as I’m so fucking tired of our 2 useless right wing parties.
Are you saying you didn’t get everything you wanted so therefore they’re not fighting hard? Are you thinking they’re not saying we want free school lunches, we want to tax the rich, we want to support Ukraine, just - what floating listlessly in space? How does this get done without fighting hard, and who or what needs to be fought?
Oh I know you don’t need another list of accomplishments, so are you saying they got those super easy? Really? No fight needed eh. Right.
Have you ever gotten something approved by 20 people? 350 people? 65 Million people? Any idea how it actually plays out? It plays out that way for many reasons, not least of which is it’s hard to build consensus and easy to destroy it.
I get the dems are not rubber-stamping the gay space communism we so deserve, yes, I have many complaints for them, but calling them right-wing is ridiculous. And if you can’t see your way to not supporting the actual-no-foolin-seriously-this-is-fucked-up fascist party, okay.
Amazing how all your arguments and reasoning boils down to shut up and stop complaining about their shittyness while also trying to say it’ll all get better once they’re the only party.
Or is it just you don’t understand why a progressive space can see how shit the dems are. Better than Republicans but that is such a low bar we want better.
Also you are one of those who think we aren’t voting blue because we are critical of the party that says they are better.
His record is great, and the alternative is the end of democracy.
What more do you want
Give me a fucking break. You have to point to some random website to even try to defend this and even that says that it’s not really a word but language is fluid?
You’re only proving the point more.
Be “excited” about the prospect of trump.
Edit: /s or whatever. Vote blue or get trump.
Change starts from the bottom, not the top.
Young people aren’t voting = political parties seeing no reason to appeal to them.
Older generations vote, so politicians who appeal to older generations get promoted over ones who might otherwise have broad appeal.
Don’t complain about there being nothing but geriatric candidates if you’re only engaging in National level races and not taking part in local, regional and state elections that are spring boards for the younger politicians to rise up the ranks to get onto the national level.
You want to see change? Vote. In every election you’re eligible to vote in. And get all your friends and co-workers to do the same. Doesn’t matter if it’s for city council, school board or senate races. Just fucking vote.
Young people aren’t voting = political parties seeing no reason to appeal to them.
Older generations vote, so politicians who appeal to older generations get promoted over ones who might otherwise have broad appeal.
And that works great until the old farts start dying and the young people the party spent so long alienating don’t trust them for some fucking reason.
problematicPantherNot to defend dems strategy but look at 2010 for a prime example of what my post above was talking about. ACA is exactly what young voters wanted, what dems pushed for in 2008 and was exactly what GOP ran against in 2010. And in 2010, young voters didn’t show up, so all the congressional members who pushed it through got unseated by conservatives eager to rip it apart and stonewall anything else Obama did.
So yes, my point stands. It’s because young voters do not vote, especially not in midterm years between presidential elections that we aren’t getting politicians who appeal to the under 50-60 block. Because even when Dems go all out and give them everything they want, they still don’t show up at the polls to maintain momentum, and Dems lose a ton of ground. So can you blame them for making the choice between getting once in a generation power plays to change the status quo then go right back to letting GOP rip everything apart piecemeal and load the courts with conservative judges, or pick safer bet candidates who appeal to the ones who regularly turn out to vote even if progress only comes in bite sized changes they can slip through with aid of moderates and independents?
The math is there, you just have to look at the entire equation. GET OUT AND VOTE. EVERY ELECTION.