Why do American voters dodge personal responsibility better than bullets?
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.
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.
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.
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So you want Trump to deport migrants? You want Trump to suppress votes? You want Trump to arrest teachers, doctors, disloyalists and other malcontents?
Seriously do you liberals understand the meaning of words you use, or deep down do you know that Trump is a fascist the same way Biden is.
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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.
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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.
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Tired old rhetoric? What you want, me to spice it up with a random new position every time? Switch stances at random so you can feel some kinda satisfaction?
Man I can hear the laugh.
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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
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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
It can be both.
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.
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.
Trump won. Sadly this means he was the better candidate. Which damning for the Democrats because he’s dog shit.
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?”
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.
Exit polling overwhelmingly disagrees with you. The number one stated reason was the economy.
Which economic policy did they report was the deciding factor?
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.
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.
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.”
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.
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.
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.
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.
And this made it arguably worse cause now they had 4 years to prepare between shifts.
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.
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.
Much worse. Everything Trump has talked about is inflationary and anti worker.
The constant liar who told voters what they wanted to hear.
You can complain about that all you want, but the fact that Bitcoin is reaching new record highs tells me that your average person would rather be conned than be told the truth.
One of these days, the repeatedly record-breaking highs are going to teach those idiots a lesson.
It’s at these levels because cyrpto firms were the largest interest group funneling cash into the 2024 election. it remains nothing more than a bigger fool scam, but this time with the US government’s seal of approval.
Do you disagree that the SEC has been doing an good job with crypto under the Biden administration?
You and I both know he’s a con artist who won’t fix anything. But when voters don’t feel like the establishment is listening to them, that’s when they become desperate enough to fall for a con artist. Because at least the con artist made them think there was hope.
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? 🤷
If Kamala was a garbage candidate, what does that make Trump?
47th President of the USA?
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”?
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.
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.
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.
Do you think Trump was unbeatable?
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
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.
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.
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?
Even then, Bidens win was despite that, not because of it.
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.
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…
I am deep in MAGA country (Trump won this county with 70%). All of my local elections are single person.
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
comptrollers are like the field miniboss of accounting.
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.
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.
Cool, so, we’ll see the voters in the primaries going forward, right? Unlike in 2016 and 2020, when they nominated said garbage candidates?
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.
I’m in California I don’t even get to vote in primaries.
I’m in California I don’t even get to vote in primaries.
what.
California primaries occur on March 5th my incredibly high information friend.
California primaries occur on March 5th my incredibly high information friend.
How does that prevent you from voting in primaries, again?
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.
By the time I vote in the presidential primary there is typically one name on my ballot.
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.
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
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.
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.
(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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
California couldn’t get minimum wage, rent control, health care, it even slavery, One state moving progressively is not winning the federal election
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.
Money… the big donors won’t let them
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.
If candidate 1 is garbage, and candidate 2 loses to candidate 1, what does that say about candidate 2?
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.
That the voters are braindead
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
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.
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
This, but unironically.
Trump was so bad that in a sane world a desiccated cat turd shoukd have beat him
The fact Harris lost doesn’t mean shes a bad candidate, it means we don’t live in a sane world.
Yeah I agree, it’s the voters who are wrong. Can’t wait to see how this strategy pans out next cycle!
I mean, yes, the over 70 million voters who voted for Trump absolutely are wrong. That they’re mostly too willfully fucking stupid to understand that may speak to a failure in Harris’ messaging, but nevertheless does not absolve them of the guilt of being willfully dumb as fucking rocks.
Being right doesn’t automatically make you popular.
Apparently it does on the right.
Honestly, the voters voted in a way that made sense, given the information they had, which was either nothing - complete and utter lethargy, or a hyper-partisan distortion of reality reinforced by a multi-billion dollar propaganda industry backed by, among many others, the literally richest man on the planet in addition to an entire network of propaganda stations blasting disinformation 24/7. The voters being wrong is intentional and has been in the making for decades.
They did vote in a way that makes sense. The Harris campaign offered nothing in the way of economic relief, while committing genocide. That’s an insanely bad proposition. Stop blaming voters and look at your dogshit candidates.
Be honest: you claim that Harris offers no economic relief because you yourself never bothered to look up her actual policies and you’ve been told that she has none. It’s wild to even compare anything she’s proposed to Trump’s economic policies and conclude that she offers the general populace less when all Trump has done is to massively shift wealth from the bottom to the top and will most likely continue to do just that.
Name them.
Opposing price gouging alone would be a step that aims to prevent corporations from conspiring to drive costs up at will for everybody who doesn’t profit off price-gouging. Compare and contrast that to Trump’s biggest achievements, massive tax cuts for the ultra-rich and getting his cronies the commission to build a tiny fragment of a wall that Mexico yet has to pay for, and everybody who’s not rich enough to own a TV station should be on her side.
Go to her fucking policy page and read them. They’re still there. Off the top of my head, additional support for parents, anti-gouging laws limiting price hiking, tax incentives for creation of more housing supply, among others that were expressly mentioned by her and can still be found on hee campaign page.
You understand we’re talking about messaging here, and that most of the electorate does not read the policy pages. I guess you don’t actually otherwise I wouldn’t have to write this. The electorate sees the ads, the debates, and if they’re really engaged, maybe the interview. Compare those with Obamna’s interviews and so on. His were inundated with references to health care and the like. Hers with quaint stories about how she was a small business when she was growing up or some shit, and maybe uncritical support for apartheid.
Here’s the thing; if, “go to her policy page,” is your answer, you’re proving their point. There was some stuff in her platform that I actually really liked, but I didn’t hear about it for a while, and I’m terminally plugged into politics. What I heard a lot about when I listened to her stumping was middle-class shit like small business credits and first-time homebuyer’s assistance. For Americans living paycheck to paycheck, you might as well be offering them a butler subsidy. The stuff that would have helped the poorest Americans, like grocery price control, was on the sidelines when it needed to be the center of the campaign.
Trump offered less than nothing in the way of economic relief and he will accelerate the genocide. The voters didn’t vote in a way that makes sense, and that is Harris’s fault.
Harris had concrete plans to tackle many, though not all, of the issues people actually care about. People voted for the man openly stating he will make those issues worse.
It’s blatantly the fault of the voters. Until you people can get your heads out of your asses and join us in reality nothing will change.
No she hasn’t.
Right, so you expect me to believe that your own wilful ignorance is also her fault?
‘No it isn’t’ without any citations is the laziest response ever and earns you my ‘disregard opinions’ tag next to your username
Two things:
- that’s literally what you did, assert some claim about her campaign without providing any evidence
- you’re asking me to prove a negative
If you have any leg to stand on, it shouldn’t be hard to come up with a concrete example of what you mean.
Housing Affordability:
- Construct 3 million new housing units over 4 years
- Provide up to $25,000 in down payment assistance for first-time homebuyers
- Expand the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit
- Create tax incentives for builders constructing starter homes for first-time buyers
- Establish a $40 billion innovation fund to support local housing supply solutions[1][2]
Tax Relief and Economic Support:
- Expand the child tax credit, including $6,000 for newborns and $3,600 per child for middle/lower-income families
- Restore the Earned Income Tax Credit for those earning under $63,398
- Pledge not to raise taxes on anyone earning less than $400,000 annually
- Expand a startup tax deduction from $5,000 to $50,000 for small businesses[1][3]
Healthcare Costs:
- Expand the $35 monthly insulin cap to all Americans (not just seniors)
- Implement a $2,000 cap on out-of-pocket prescription costs
- Work with states to abolish medical debt
- Expand Affordable Care Act subsidies[1][3]
Climate and Clean Energy:
- Invest in emerging clean industries, focusing on steel and cement production
- Expand tax credits for affordable, energy-efficient housing
- Accelerate implementation of the Inflation Reduction Act’s climate provisions[4]
Worker Protections:
- Support passage of the PRO Act to strengthen unions
- Expand paths to good jobs without college degrees
- Prioritize economic development nationally[4]
All topics that have been of significant concern to voters. Just not enough for them to turn out.
Citations: [1] What We Know About Kamala Harris’ Policy Agenda Before … - Forbes https://www.forbes.com/sites/alisondurkee/2024/09/10/what-we-know-about-kamala-harris-policy-agenda-before-tonights-debate/ [2] Harris Campaign Releases Plans to Lower Housing Costs https://nlihc.org/resource/harris-campaign-releases-plans-lower-housing-costs [3] Harris has proposed a slew of economic policies. Here’s a look at … https://www.pbs.org/newshour/economy/harris-has-proposed-a-slew-of-economic-policies-heres-a-look-at-whats-in-them [4] Kamala Harris’ New Economic Plan Is a Win for Climate, Clean … https://www.evergreenaction.com/blog/kamala-harris-new-economic-plan-is-a-win-for-climate-clean-energy-manufacturing-and-the-middle-class-14 [5] Biden-Harris Administration Announces $6 Billion to Transform … https://www.energy.gov/articles/biden-harris-administration-announces-6-billion-transform-americas-industrial-sector [6] FACT SHEET: Biden-Harris Administration Announces New … https://www.whitehouse.gov/ostp/news-updates/2024/10/16/fact-sheet-biden-harris-administration-announces-new-commitments-to-bolster-innovative-and-clean-construction-materials-across-the-united-states/ [7] Kamala Harris reaches agreement on transition planning with Biden … https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/international/world-news/kamala-harris-reaches-agreement-on-transition-planning-with-biden-administration-no-word-on-trump-yet/articleshow/113606134.cms [8] Kamala Harris’ Economic Platform: What We Know - Forbes https://www.forbes.com/sites/alisondurkee/2024/10/14/what-to-know-about-kamala-harris-economic-agenda-as-she-announces-new-proposals-for-black-men/
Truth. We definitely need to nominate better voters next cycle.
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.
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.
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.
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.
None of this really addresses my question.
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Imagine taking that many words to say you like being a slave and don’t believe there will ever be a different world.
Unpopular opinion: Kamala was a solid candidate.
Biden was headed to a humiliating defeat. Another couple debates, and maybe he loses NY and CA and we have a Dukakis- or Mondale-level annhilation. Kamala stepped in and ran a solid campaign on very short notice. Trump didn’t even have time to come up with a good nickname for her! She kicked his ass in their only debate, and he was literally too scared to do it again.
In the end, she lost by a couple hundred thousand votes in 3 states. She was wrong about Gaza and the economy, but PA, MI, and WI are credibly winnable in future elections. Kamala was not a garbage candidate.
But it’s not the voters fault! America had no choice but to vote for the rapist misogynist xenophobic fraudster traitor con man failed businessman because the woman had a nasally voice!
Honestly, yes. Kamala was the way better choice of the two. Biden kinda fell off for me the moment he did the railroad strike stuff.
But I’m not living in the US, so my point is kinda moot.
Biden got those striking workers everything they wanted. He just didn’t scream about it like Trump would have, which was a huge mistake.
The result was a compromise, in parts due to a blockage of the republicans. It was good, but it would have been so much better if they could have continued to hold the distribution of wares hostage. It could have been really awesome for workers as a reason to do the same.
I get that Biden did that to stump broad civil unrest in the whole US, btw. That would have put a lot of people on the streets demanding change. While destroying untold sums.
I think you are partially right. For starters… this was not short notice by any standard. She ran a “solid” campaign.
I’d argue the campaign was flawed because the whole premise was flawed… moving to the right does not help the democratic party. And the risk the Dems now face is that never trumpers join the democratic party and complete the transition of the US electoral system to a choice between maga (Christo fascism) and republican.
If the democratic party had an inkling that the victory of Trump would be as big as is now being said… running Kamala was a doomed endeavor… she was tainted by the Biden years.
What was solid about her? She lost to Trump of all people.
Ask Fox News, they will do their best to give you a fair and balanced assessment of her policies and-
sorry, couldn’t get through that sentence with a straight face.
I hope you realize this but Harris ended up in a humiliating defeat.
Unpopular opinion: Kamala was a solid candidate.
If that is an unpopular opinion then the statement is definitionally false.
This statement implies popularity = good, universally.
In the 1800s, slavery was popular. Hence, should a candidate have run on preserving slavery?
No it doesn’t. A candidate needs a lot of qualities to be “good”. One of those qualities is the ability to be popular on election day. An unpopular candidate isn’t a good candidate. A popular candidate might be.
