• WrenM
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    7 months ago

    The voters aren’t wrong. It’s the non-voters that are wrong. Democracy should never be collateral for a protest…

    EVER.

    • @[email protected]
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      57 months ago

      TBF if we lived in a democracy there would be no protest, because most people want the progressive policies over which they were protesting.

      • @[email protected]
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        27 months ago

        But electoralism has less to do with policy than narrative. Most people vote against progressive policies because the prevailing narrative paints them as tyrannical government overstep, and like it or not “socialism” is a scary word to the very people who would benefit most. You don’t win by being right, you win by convincing people to vote for you. The ones campaigning on progressive policies are bad at that

    • @[email protected]
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      67 months ago

      Despite everyone on Lemmy saying otherwise, people didn’t stay home because of the genocide. Most Americans don’t give a fuck about what’s happening in the next town over, let alone in Gaza. They stayed home because they weren’t given a convincing self-serving reason to make the effort to vote.

      • WrenM
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        7 months ago

        The threat of trump should have been enough reason to vote. Because we were at eleventh hour of the life of our democracy. Yet these smug, entitled protest voters stayed home and let trump win America.

        It’s their fault.

        • @[email protected]
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          17 months ago

          You’re right, it should have. But I don’t think the vast majority of the 15 million-ish people who stayed home were protesting. I think they were low-information voters who didn’t see a compelling reason to get out and vote. And yes, it is their fault.

          • @[email protected]
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            17 months ago

            The idea that no voters changed from blue to red is nuts. 10 million (so far) less votes over all don’t mean the same people:

            1. Where alive this time
            2. Voted the same
            3. Voted at all

            The idea that it is “low-information” voters is also suspect as the race was between Trump (who I doubt any US citizen has NOT heard of) and the status quo. They might have just not seen a compelling reason to vote, a thing that people can chose to do.

            You can place blame on people staying home, but in my opinion if the DNC exists in four years (in even slightly the way it is now) you will have more people sitting it out next time (if there is one). We are watching the inevitable end to any two party political system.

    • @[email protected]
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      67 months ago

      I’m gonna take a wild take and say the rich and powerful who direct the campaign are at fault for the campaign failing.

      You are literally saying “all they had to do was appease these people and they’d win” and somehow it’s the fault of millions of random people rather than the few individuals unwilling to make that concession.

  • @[email protected]
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    227 months ago

    Cool, so, we’ll see the voters in the primaries going forward, right? Unlike in 2016 and 2020, when they nominated said garbage candidates?

      • @[email protected]
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        7 months ago

        Being a low-information voter doesn’t make your takes correct.

        But sure, you saw an emotionally cut video online, so now you’re convinced the DNC stole the primary from the rightful winner.

          • nickwitha_k (he/him)
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            17 months ago

            Is it because you didn’t register? Because everyone that I know got a ballot for the primary. And there was more on it than just the presidential pick.

            • @[email protected]
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              17 months ago

              Nah I got my ballot and voted in it. California’s vote just rarely matters in primaries even on super Tuesday since we’re on PST

              • @[email protected]
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                7 months ago

                California primaries occur on March 5th my incredibly high information friend.

                How does that prevent you from voting in primaries, again?

                • @[email protected]
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                  7 months ago

                  By the time I vote in the presidential primary there is typically one name on my ballot.

                • missingno
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                  137 months ago

                  It means that their vote doesn’t count. I also live in a state that has one of the very last primaries, after the race is already over anyway. By the time I voted for Bernie, he had already dropped out of the race. My vote meant nothing.

  • @[email protected]
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    7 months ago

    This is maddening. It will never stop. The democrats refuse to campaign on progressive policies, which are incredibly popular among the entire electorate (yes, also among republicans, see the recent ballot measures in Missouri on paid sick leave and higher minimum wage, for example), instead opting to position themselves as “republican light”. They completely capitulate to republican messaging on pretty much every issue (border wall, fracking, pro war, etc), and predictably lose to the people who invented this messaging. And then comes the worst part: angry libs start blaming the electorate instead of the people who lost. It’s not the lack of the dems even mentioning universal health care, no it’s the trans people. It’s not the genocide that the current democratic regime is committing, no it’s probably actually latino voters. It’s not the fact that the Harris campaign asks us to pretend everything is hunky spunky with the economy, offering nothing to relieve the 80% of the population who live paycheck to paycheck. Noooo you know what it’s actually white women and muslims faults. You fucking morons.

    Can’t wait for the 2026 anti-transgender dem ticket, and the anti gay marriage ticket in 2028. It’s gonna be great.

    • @[email protected]
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      47 months ago

      California couldn’t get minimum wage, rent control, health care, it even slavery, One state moving progressively is not winning the federal election

      • @[email protected]
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        17 months ago

        The point that I’m making is that across the board, progressive policies are popular. And that does win elections, just look at Obamna’s and Sanders’ campaigns. That one state was just one extreme example of this fact.

    • @[email protected]
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      7 months ago

      then comes the worst part: angry libs start blaming the electorate instead of the people who lost

      I feel like even calling them “angry libs” gives them some measure of undeserved credibility. Let’s call them “fucking crybaby closet fascists” because that’s what they are.

      Try some lefty moves or keep losing Dems.

    • KillingTimeItself
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      47 months ago

      (yes, also among republicans, see the recent ballot measures in Missouri on paid sick leave and higher minimum wage, for example)

      this IS true, but it is not true among left leaning candidates. Just look at florida. People are way too functionally stupid to do anything in line with what they actually want.

      I believe there is even some older data to support this, something along the lines of “people like welfare they don’t know they’re paying for, but when they know they’re paying for it, they don’t want to”

      It’s not the fact that the Harris campaign asks us to pretend everything is hunky spunky with the economy,

      as far as economic measures go, it is. Inflation is still fucking people over, but the popular sentiment sort of lags the economy. But just because inflation is brutal on goods, doesn’t mean that inflation is high, or that the economy is “struggling” it’s just that people don’t feel good about rising tides. Until they start to lower. (which they can’t do)

      it’s just a human psych thing.

      • @[email protected]
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        17 months ago

        as far as economic measures go, it is. Inflation is still fucking people over, but the popular sentiment sort of lags the economy. But just because inflation is brutal on goods, doesn’t mean that inflation is high, or that the economy is “struggling” it’s just that people don’t feel good about rising tides.

        80% of people live paycheck to paycheck. Don’t bullshit me.

        • KillingTimeItself
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          7 months ago

          yeah, and nothing changed that, people are still living paycheck to paycheck.

          Now if you can find stats of MORE people living paycheck to paycheck (which do exist) that would be more convincing, but even then the underlying truth is still that it’s going to take time for things to improve, as well as inflation can’t be undone. So prices are at a new normal.

          • @[email protected]
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            7 months ago

            So the fact that “more stats abt people living paycheck to paycheck” would convince you strongly, strongly indicates that I’m not explaining myself well enough. I’m not under the impression that if I did communicate effectively you would magically be convinced. And that’s not necessarily my goal, but I would like to be able to have a productive convo with you, so I’m gonna give it another shot.

            Here’s two facts that I’m convinced of:

            • if a consistent set of policies/campaign promises enjoy massive popular support across the aisle, then making such positions a core part of your campaign and your efforts when elected will give you a much higher chance of getting elected
            • progressive policies (i.e., paid sick leave, parental leave, union-strengthening laws, universal health care, antitrust legislation, increasing solvency of social security, and so on (note that I do not mention culture war stuff)) enjoy broad popular support, across the aisle, in all states

            If you believe these facts (and you don’t need to), then an unavoidable conclusion is that if Harris would’ve run a progressive campaign, she would’ve had a much higher chance of winning.

            The weakness in my argument is the two facts I mentioned. They require evidence. I’ve given a smidge of evidence for the second fact (the smoking gun of the ballot measures in Missouri). A better way to go about it is to find some policy oriented polls targeting a good cross section of the electorate which show that people (R, D, and I) generally support progressive policies (think paid sick leave, think universal health care).

            The first fact is much harder to prove, but I would argue that common sense gets you a long way here. But for a more empirical approach, look at the Sanders and Obamna campaigns and the fairly broad and enthusiastic support they enjoyed.

            The reason I think I wasn’t explaining myself well enough is because the stats you’re asking for do almost nothing to support my argument. At best, they’re indirect, weak, evidence of the second fact. It shouldn’t convince you if I find you some stats about the working homeless and paycheck-to-paycheck livers.

            EDIT: I feel like I understand a bit better where your response is coming from. You think that I’m arguing in favor of the effectivity of progressive policies, rather than the popularity. I happen to believe both, but we’re talking about why the dems lost, and in a democracy, the popularity of policies is what matters un such discussions, not their effectivity. Again, it’s a bit off topic, but for the effectivity you could look at the rate of homelessness and paycheck-to-paycheck situations in more progressively legislated and often poorer countries in western Europe. You’ll find that aside from popular (which is what matters here), these policies are also crazy effective.

    • @[email protected]
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      57 months ago

      It’s absolutely absurd how no one mentioned how regressive Harris’s platform actually was.

      Zero mention of universal healthcare. She acted like that concept doesn’t even exist. America needs healthcare in the worst way. My girlfriend has diabetes and it’s so rough to pay for it all.

      She also basically sprinted backwards in terms of fighting climate change. I couldn’t believe what I was hearing when she was debating with Trump and they were both yelling over each other about who was more pro fracking. Fucking insanity.

      Not to mention that her border policy was even harsher than what Trump wanted in his first term. Does anyone else not remember how outraged we all were about the kids in camps being separated from their parents? But when a Democrat does it all of the sudden it’s a good thing? Fuck that.

  • @[email protected]
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    857 months ago

    If Kamala was a garbage candidate, what does that make Trump?

    For bonus points, how is it not the voters fault considering any rational answer to the above question? You may open your book to look up topical issues like peace, climate, genocide, rights, hate, juvenile bullying, criminal bullying, felony conviction, bigotry (don’t miss misogyny relating to to “garbage candidate”, see above), and tariffs.

    • @[email protected]
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      27 months ago

      Trump won. Sadly this means he was the better candidate. Which damning for the Democrats because he’s dog shit.

    • @[email protected]
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      267 months ago

      Turns out, lecturing the voters doesn’t make them want to vote for you. Everything you said is correct, but those weren’t the concerns that resonated. To quote Bill Clinton’s strategist in 92, “it’s the economy, stupid.” Yeah, the economy is doing great right now, but you have to ask, “for who?”

      • @[email protected]
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        47 months ago

        It’s not the economy, it’s a popularity contest when the majority of the electorate stop choosing candidates based on what they do and have done and instead only pay attention to what they say or choose based on uninformed vibes.

            • @[email protected]
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              17 months ago

              Now you’re going to try and nit pick to back peddle? The economy was the star of the show and Kamala didn’t have an easy to understand answer. The messaging, as always, was piss poor from the democrats.

      • @[email protected]
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        57 months ago

        I agree that right now, our economists have a terrible way of defining a “good economy”. They have praise for a set of numbers such as the stock market rates, which have almost no connection to the well-being of common people.

        We need more medians and fewer averages; not to measure wealth when it’s spread among the extremes.

    • missingno
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      577 months ago

      If Kamala was a garbage candidate, what does that make Trump?

      The guy who told voters what they wanted to hear. “I know you’re upset at the world, and I’m going to make it great again.”

      The best Kamala could do was “I won’t do anything differently from the Biden administration.”

      • @[email protected]
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        17 months ago

        If that’s all it takes, I can do that. Apparently following through doesn’t matter. Though TBF, who actually follows through on most of what they say? 🤷

      • @[email protected]
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        307 months ago

        It is utterly wild to me that Biden had to withdraw from the race because he was so unpopular and the Harris team was like, let’s just tie ourselves as snugly to that man as possible. Real brain geniuses on that team. I just read she was relying on a ex uber exec. And it all made sense.

        • defunct_punk
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          197 months ago

          Definitely a catch-22. Throw Biden under the bus and you’ll come across as two-face and people will wonder why you went along with the administration in the first place. Support Biden and his detractors will see no reason to vote for you either.

          Having said that, the answer to “what would you do different?” should have never been “id put a Republican in my cabinet.” I think the last 3 weeks of Harris’s campaign is going to go down as one of the biggest fumbles in political history.

          • RubberDuck
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            97 months ago

            Nah, the outcome of the elections was probably determined a year ago. And the fact the billionaire class threw their weight behind Trump, made sure she never had a real chance.

            • @[email protected]
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              57 months ago

              It was determined in 2020. Biden only beat Trump because of covid-19, and was never going to solve the fundamental economic problems that are causing unrest.

              • RubberDuck
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                47 months ago

                And this made it arguably worse cause now they had 4 years to prepare between shifts.

            • @[email protected]
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              57 months ago

              She didn’t have a chance as soon as she gave up trying to convince her base to vote FOR her. Biden got ten million more votes because he lied about reforming the cops, dealing with Covid, not doing genocides in the Middle East, etc. Harris could have fucking lied about those things and won.

              • RubberDuck
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                47 months ago

                Well. And the fact that Biden apparently lied about something that would really kick off in the future shows he had clairvoyance.

                But yeah the Dems where not trump, and gave up on arguing things like migration, conceding these points to Trump. And constantly blaring the economy is great while many Americans are hurting bad shows sanders was right. They abandoned the working class. The working class then thought… well at least maga will do something… let’s hope this time it trickles down.

                I’ll just wonder how the electorate will fare under trump… I fear worse.

    • @[email protected]
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      7 months ago

      Ok…

      Weird this hasn’t come up before for you.

      But different people have different standards.

      For Republican voters, it’s usually just the letter by someone’s name.

      Dem voters have always had higher standards than Republican voters.

      For bonus points, how is it not the voters fault

      Because the entire point of a candidates campaign is to get votes. And Kamala and her campaign couldn’t even beat fucking trump.

      For all those reasons you just listed he’s terrible, Kamala still couldn’t beat him.

      What metric do you think a candidate and their campaign should be judged by except number of votes?

      Bonus points:

      Why don’t you think a shit tier opponent wouldnt make it easier? And how can a candidate who can’t beat trump not be considered “garbage”?

      • FaceDeer
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        187 months ago

        People insisting “no, Kamala Harris was the better candidate!” Are exactly the people this meme are calling out.

        Clearly she wasn’t. That doesn’t mean she was a worse human being than Trump. That’s a hard standard to beat. But she was a worse candidate because she lost the election to him, which is the one thing you need to do in order to be the better candidate.

        • @[email protected]
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          17 months ago

          If I had a 95 meter head start on Usain bolt in the 100m, I could probably beat him. That doesn’t make me a better runner.

            • @[email protected]
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              17 months ago

              Nah, but he had some serious advantages. Dems would do better to talk about why voters gave him preference on things like the economy. And of course, voters would do better to vote their self-interest

              • FaceDeer
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                17 months ago

                Dems should do better to talk about why they didn’t focus on the economy, when that’s what the electorate wanted them to focus on. It’s not their job to tell the electorate what’s more important to them.

        • @[email protected]
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          47 months ago

          Since the election I’ve written comments the length of essays attempting to explain what you just put so succinctly. “She was a worse candidate because she lost the election to him, which is the one thing you need to do” 100% this.

          For what it’s worth, I do try to make the distinction between her and her campaign. She might have been the winning candidate had her campaign made different decisions, but at the end of the day, she’s responsible for her campaign. They can’t force her to say anything she doesn’t want to.

          I think there’s a lot of people talking past each other because they don’t agree on what the purpose of being a candidate is. We might think it’s getting elected, others might think it’s being the best representation of the party. Obviously, she wasn’t option 1, but some people may think she was better because they are libs who agree with her ideologically and are somehow still under the delusion that Rs represent state rights, “godliness”, and fiscal responsibility. They see Trump and think “how can people say he’s a better representative of Rs than Kamala is of Ds” and the answer is that they have no idea what Rs want and are incapable of recognizing the broad spectrum of people that normally vote D. I hope people can rid themselves of that kind of thinking because it’s obviously not serving them or the party. Either recognize that candidates need to be ELECTED to mean anything, or be prepared to be in this same position for the foreseeable future.

    • defunct_punk
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      7 months ago

      what does that make Trump?

      The 47th POTUS.

      topical issues like peace, climate, genocide, rights, hate, juvenile bullying, criminal bullying, felony conviction, bigotry

      Every single one of those issues was put to measure last week and came up short to “the economy.” Idpol has been the Dem’s running charge since Occupy and has netted them exactly (1) election since Obama’s win as incumbent. It’s just not the winning strategy in national elections.

      • RubberDuck
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        57 months ago

        None of those issues mattered because the US system showed everyone it did not matter.

        The system had 4 years to enact any form of consequences and there where none. That MUST mean trump was right and it was all lies and nonsense aimed at discrediting him.

        And Trumps campaign ran on idpol this time… is she black? Illegal mexicans in prison getting sex changes, kids getting sex changed… you know, the counter to dem IdPol. They pulled it into the extreme and the Dems took the bait… they did not push back.

        With the blatant lies of the magas and their fragile egos… I think the only thing that might have made a difference is call trump fat and stupid, bully him to his face and see if you can make him throw a tantrum or make him cry. Same with Vance… are you wearing eyeliner? Would you not be more comfortable on a couch?

        • defunct_punk
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          87 months ago

          Exactly. Milquetoast old white man got the most votes of any president ever. Work with that.

          The COVID situation was so specific that it 1) will never happen again, so don’t count on it, and 2) let a single-issue candidate win.

  • @[email protected]
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    227 months ago

    If the only reason you voted for trump as a form of ‘punishment’ towards dems, then yea that is on the voters. You should be voting for what helps you. Not to be a petty idiot.

    • NoLifeGamingOP
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      77 months ago

      People vote for single issues all the time. Sometimes its abortions, the economy, etc. But God forbid people seem disgusted at rewarding genocide and voting for harris. People saw no other option other than to either punish them by voting for the other, 3rd party or not voting at all. I dont blame them.

    • @[email protected]
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      87 months ago

      So the action plan is what? Cull the voters? Breed better voters?

      The first job of a politician is to reach and convince voters. Harris had a billion dollars and didn’t do it. Yes, the voters made bad choices, but blaming the voters is not a way forward. There is no escaping that we have to figure out what Harris could have done better. More precisely, shitlibs need to figure it out because progressives already know and have been screaming it from the rooftops for decades.

      • @[email protected]
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        67 months ago

        “Jill made bad choices. I blame Bob because he didn’t convince Jill to make a good choice.”

        This is such circular fucking reasoning. Apparently it’s literally impossible for a voter to make a stupid decision, because all blame will circle back to the candidate for “Not being convincing enough”.

        • @[email protected]
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          87 months ago

          Here is what you are missing. The point of finding fault is to do better next time. Anything else is just bitching. Yes, the voters got it wrong. Next cycle we will have the same voters and a different candidate. Pretending Harris was a good candidate just invites the same outcome.

          Maybe you think the voters are just unreachable. I think that’s nonsense.

          • @[email protected]
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            37 months ago

            I agree; and I personally believe that the fault is with all the voters. All the voters need to do better next time.

            There is potential to put yourself in an unmovable situation when you deny the capacity for individuals to find fault in, and correct, themselves. When they’re all “special snowflakes incapable of fault, for whom the horrible and evil politicians must serve to attain their vote” you may set yourself up for either a failing relationship, or lies. Contrary to what one might expect, saying “I’ve heard the opinions of others, and I think I was wrong about X” is not a social death sentence. I’ve said it online before, and others need to be ready to do the same.

            Maybe JFK expressed that thought better than I can.

    • Comrade Spood
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      157 months ago

      That doesn’t sound like a very democratic process to begin with cause all the power is in the delegates who can just choose whoever they want and not follow the desires of the voters. Which is how pretty much the whole system works to begin with, so its pretty rotten even at the very bottom

        • Comrade Spood
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          27 months ago

          Trust me I know. I’m saying voting in the primaries wouldn’t change anything. The only fix is to destroy the systems that let this happen in the first place. Capitalism and government

  • 🇰 🌀 🇱 🇦 🇳 🇦 🇰 🇮 🏆
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    7 months ago

    Who here actually votes in more local elections? Have you voted for the mayor or council members of your city? Sheriff? Literally any office lower than governor, senator or president of the entire country?

    The top problem (garbage candidates) is literally caused by the bottom one (voters). There is garbage at the top, because nobody cares enough about the bottom.

    Then again, it’s not like Trump was ever a politician before running for president…

    • Dem Bosain
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      167 months ago

      I am deep in MAGA country (Trump won this county with 70%). All of my local elections are single person.

      • 🇰 🌀 🇱 🇦 🇳 🇦 🇰 🇮 🏆
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        7 months ago

        Before I moved to another city, I seriously thought about running for comptroller in the small town I was in because literally nobody was currently in the position and nobody was running for it. It would have been like a guaranteed win. But then I’d actually have to do the job, and I don’t even know what a comptroller does. Though I suppose it’s not that important, since we didn’t have one. lol

    • NoLifeGamingOP
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      7 months ago

      I do vote in my local elections. I think the problem is actually too much money in politics. The oligarchs support and donate an infinite amount of money to campaigns. That leaves genuine candidates with nothing and little exposure.

      I think we should severely limit how much they can donate to campaigns as well as having ranked choice voting, which can help people vote for candidates they like without “throwing” their vote away.

      However, the democrats didn’t put up kamala against others in a primary for us to vote for. She was simply selected. Moreover, the last time Bernie ran, the democratic party basically sabotaged him. There are deep issues that we need to solve.

      • @[email protected]
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        77 months ago

        There are deep issues that we need to solve.

        None of which will be solved by either party in its current form. Grinding out Democratic Party primary victories is the only shot progressives have in our current system. You can’t change the system without supplanting one of the parties. There is no “going around the DNC” option. We have to take that shit by force.

  • @[email protected]
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    7 months ago

    Little bit of A, lotta bit of B.

    Trump was the most garbage candidate in every way in the history of our country.

    He basically coasted to victory.

    Double-standards for days.

    • @[email protected]
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      97 months ago

      If candidate 1 is garbage, and candidate 2 loses to candidate 1, what does that say about candidate 2?

      • @[email protected]
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        47 months ago

        That the electorate has been primed to applaud fascistic tendencies as long as they are not called “fascist” by a 24/7 deluge of propaganda networks. The caricature of Harris painted in a phalanx of right-wing disinformation channels looks worse than the picture they painted of Trump. Reality has not had as much impact on this election as one would hope.

        • @[email protected]
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          37 months ago

          Yep. Garbage in, garbage out.

          Idiocracy is a documentary.

          Though I’ll say it shouldn’t come as a surprise that voters vote against their own interests when the waters of truth are so muddied by the rich and powerful.

  • Guy Ingonito
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    317 months ago

    Perfection is the enemy of progress.

    I can tell that many people in these comments have given up on every artistic skill they’ve ever tried to learn because their attempts were never good enough right out of the gate.

    • @[email protected]
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      117 months ago

      Great way to put it. People use the excuse of bad candidates to dodge personal responsibility and duty. Also the people complaining about candidates are very rarely doing anything about it or stepping up, they just sit at home and wait for it to just materialize

  • KillingTimeItself
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    97 months ago

    makes me happy seeing politically intelligent people in the thread here.

    These type of threads always suck for the first few days to a week though lmao.

    • @[email protected]
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      97 months ago

      That’s not how this works. It is not a voters duty to vote for a candidate. The voter does not owe a candidate votes.

      Giving someone your vote is like giving them your personal political power. That’s why the popular vote works.

      The responsibility is on the party to put forth appropriate candidates that reflect the will of the people. It is up to them to sell themselves to us, not the other way around.

      In a democracy, all power is derived from the will of the people. They work for us. Not the other way around.

      It is up to the party to deliver appropriate candidates that will accurately reflect the will of the people.

      • @[email protected]
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        117 months ago

        When you live in a shit 2 party system and the choice is between Trump and absolutely anything else - you vote to prevent Trump !!

        I’m a European lefty, so I’m probably left of Bernie. Like him I’d have held my nose and voted blue.

      • WrenM
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        7 months ago

        Under normal circumstances with two evenly opposed candidates, I’d 100% agree with you, and I think you’d be hard-pressed to find many others that wouldn’t.

        But we were just given a desperate eleventh hour opportunity to save our democracy against a man who blatantly admitted he will be a dictator. That he would use America’s military against her citizens. That he wants to help Israel “finish the job.”

        …and now, because of smug and arrogant third party/protest voters that cry mind-bogglingly arrogant nonsense such as;

        It’s not a voters duty to vote!

        we get trump. And with that, many… MANY people will lose their rights. All because your entitlement seems to have no limits and no concern for those that will be hurt in the next decade or two.

        So, please. Do me a favor and at least take a bow and collectively own what you all have done. It was a hell of an effort to not act when you were needed.

    • @[email protected]
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      87 months ago

      Since we are asking questions, why are you taking bullets for the DNC after making the exact same mistakes again. You wanna talk personal responsibility, where is the responsibility expectation for the multi billion dollar campaign.

  • @[email protected]
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    97 months ago

    I would have fought tooth and nail to vote for Bernie Sanders.

    As it stood, we moved during the voting period. The wife and I were registered neither in our home state or our new state and couldn’t vote. Where we moved was deep red and it wouldn’t have mattered, but I would have liked to give a formal middle finger to the dipshit-elect.

    • @[email protected]
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      67 months ago

      I don’t understand this “we need old people out of politics” while demanding Bernie Sanders. It’s hypocrisy to just want YOUR old guy in power. I like his ideas but they need to come from someone younger does he not have a protoge or something? There’s just something about Sanders that will turn off more people than gain I think. And if you can’t gain the support of even the Democratic party you can’t possibly win.

      • @[email protected]
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        17 months ago

        Age was never a factor to me.

        Bernie is, for America, VERY left of status quo democrats. I’d like to see that, even for four years.

        • @[email protected]
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          17 months ago

          But that movement can’t even win a nomination let alone the presidency. You guys can’t win without allies and you’ve alienated them all this election. The far left Bernie Bros went full bigot and racist election

  • @[email protected]
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    487 months ago

    If voters bear no responsibility, do you really believe in democracy, or are you thinking about this as an issue to be solved by authority?

    The self-righteousness of this discussion is a problem. Politics requires some humility, which we seem to be short of.

    • @[email protected]
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      207 months ago

      You are misunderstanding how the system is supposed to work.

      We have a responsibility to vote, but no candidate is owed a vote.

      The government is meant to execute the will of the people. That’s why we live in a democracy. That means that the government is supposed to work for you. The politicians are supposed to essentially be public workers that are hired via votes of the citizens.

      These public workers are supposed to be a reflection of the will of the people. If they don’t match what we want, then they don’t win.

      No one is owed our votes. They are supposed to earn it.

    • @[email protected]
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      167 months ago

      None of the people clamoring for a better candidate are stepping up, or getting out there to get it done. They just want someone in power to do it, which is counter productive.

      • @[email protected]
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        7 months ago

        While claiming to be anarchists, socialists, progressives, leftists, whatever. I get the sour grapes, I do, but the reality is that you’re going to have to get off your couch and actually organize if you want something better than the corporate handout candidates the DNC is going to give you.

        For all of the awful things about Trump, it’s really difficult to deny that he spent much more time and energy building a political movement than any other candidate since Obama.