• LucidNightmare@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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    3 days ago

    The problem, in my mind:

    republicans/regressives (read nazis) actually get in line and vote for the R next to any name that they’ve heard in the last week (if not just because it has an R), which means that they actually get shit done (making things worse, but they all get behind it is my point).

    On the other hand, democrats/leftists/progressives all sit here and fight one another because of reasons, some good, and some just a little silly in the grand scheme of things. This group doesn’t know how to effectively work together to slowly and surely get to the same end goal.

    The differences here are why regressives are able to rat fuck an entire nation, collectively, because they don’t bicker with each other, their allies, about the smaller details.

    The democrats/leftists/progressives are too busy trying to fight hundreds of different problems/battles that would all be solved (eventually, mind you, not right away like we wish it would be) by banding together and keeping the movement momentum going AFTER winning the election.

    For an example, gaza and trans rights issues. Both VERY valid issues, and they should be discussed. What happened was those same groups focused way too much on the smaller details instead of the big picture. What SHOULD have happened was we voice our concerns on the issues, vote for the person (at this time, Harris) who had the highest chance of those issues being solved, and then keeping the fire going by continuing to press these concerns to THAT administration.

    Look at it this way, even though it is too late: if Kamala had won, you’d be able to sit there and protest any actions that weren’t being made towards your/your groups issues, and if we could all get on the same god damned page, you would have more allies who are more at ease with the current admin who could protest with you, because things aren’t dire enough for them to focus on them and theirs (read fuck you, got mine). Under the orange buffoon, you can now get deported for protesting anything, let alone trans rights and gaza genocide. So, those allies you could’ve had are now being deported, killed, or arrested, and that makes others scared to protest with you.

    TL;DR: Allowing the nazis to win because democrats/leftists/progressives can’t see the bigger picture, and choose to focus on their own issues only (or at the very least, make it their highest priority when we should know that’s not how it works, unfortunately) is the reason we have the orange shitler in office right now. This group is trying to fight 100 different battles, while regressives lock step and take away all the good we had achieved, instead of banding together and just doing the literal bare minimum (vote in the “neo-lib”). Full stop.

    @[email protected] is right, whether you like it or not.

    • sobchak@programming.dev
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      3 days ago

      The establishment Dems are only “allies” on some issues, and cannot be counted on for keeping their stances on those issues or actually doing much about them at all. For the most part, both parties are captured by and depend on corporations and the wealthy. Most politicians have no principles, because the profession attracts and rewards the kind of people who don’t. Newsom is obviously being set up to be the next presidential candidate, and it already seems he’s beginning to throw trans people under the bus (and is actively hostile to the poor and homeless). I do agree that harm reduction should be practiced; it’s necessary, but not sufficient. Getting involved in progressive Democrat candidate campaigns, and voting in primaries is probably the best way forward electorally. It will likely take decades to right the ship though.

      • korazail@lemmy.myserv.one
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        3 days ago

        It’s almost like you read Lucid’s message, decided to type up a reply, but then missed the fucking point. These establishment dems are only ‘allies on some issues’ because we keep fighting amongst ourselves on what the top priority is instead of getting anything useful done.

        Yes, we have “dems” that are not solid on issues we/you/I think are important, but the result is that when we don’t vote for them, the much worse regressive party wins and makes things shittier for everyone.

        I do agree that the solution is to get involved. Start local and engage with your local democratic org. Help support or find people to run for office with your opinions, but - and this is crucial - when someone better than a republican is on the ticket, fucking vote for them, even if they are not your perfect politician.

        If you are not involved in local org politics, you can use our favorite mantra: vote blue no matter who. By doing so, you are ceding your opinion to the people who have more at stake or are more invested, but at least you are not letting evil win by default.

        • sobchak@programming.dev
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          3 days ago

          I understood the point, but had a particular issue with labeling the Dems as allies. I like to think of it as more as choosing your opposition. They mostly do not align on the issues that I align with, even the glaring social issues of respecting the trans minority, or funding genocides.

          Edit: All issues are important. Someone with a consistent moral compass would align with almost everyone on all issues. At the very least they could get behind the poor and homeless, because most of us are just an accident or disease away from being the same. Woman rights are another issues that everyone should be on board with, because half the population are women, and everyone else has a close relationship with at least one woman.

    • rumba@lemmy.zip
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      3 days ago

      is right, whether you like it or not.

      Absolutely correct.

      But, let’s ponder a little devil’s advocate, Mind you, I’m not saying this is right, but there are hard questions.

      Is the path out of this whole situation continuing to bunt? If we keep choosing the better of the two options while steadily losing ground, are we not still going to lose ground? Do we believe we’re getting back all that ground because the left finally finds and backs someone who is willing to fight for what we need? Will they ever put someone, even truly moderate, out there, or will it be forever the less genocidal candidate?

      If we continue to support them, will the left bring us left, or are they going to stay on the tit of the right and keep throwing us under the bus with concessions to fundamental moral questions?

      Is this all miserable enough for us to agree to back a third party?

      I voted blue because I don’t want that moral blood on my hands. But are we just arranging deck chairs?

      • InternetCitizen2@lemmy.world
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        3 days ago

        If we keep choosing the better of the two options while steadily losing ground, are we not still going to lose around?

        You can’t win the [class] war if you don’t live to fight another day. Still I would say 3rd party is better than non-voting.

      • korazail@lemmy.myserv.one
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        3 days ago

        Become more involved. Do you know your mayor?

        If you are not helping pick the candidates on the ballot, then you just need to pick the lesser evil. If you want to do more than that, then be part of the decision of WHO ends up on the ballot, because that process has already started.

        There’s a significant hurdle to run for even the mayoral office: it doesn’t pay well relative to a corporate job, and doesn’t have the same job security. People can only run for the decision-making positions when they already have enough wealth to be comfortable without a “real job.” Help find or select people with your values and we can take this back.

        If you are mad at your options, the solution is not to give up, but to make better options.

        • rumba@lemmy.zip
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          3 days ago

          the solution is not to give up, but to make better options.

          There’s no lack of attempts at this. The deck isn’t just stacked, it’s designed not to let outsiders in, so you get insiders-only. From the entire party, how many insiders are even marginally close to what we’re asking for? Anyone who would even consider anti-corruption would never see the light of day on the nominations. Hell, we more of less have an entire party (green) that’s more or less there to make sure no one else gets close.

          • stickly@lemmy.world
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            3 days ago

            The problem isn’t the lack of attempts, it’s that attempts are hyper focused on narrow avenues of change. People are either all in on the rigged game or highly improbable home runs.

            Forcing change strictly through grinding election cycles is as absurd as opt-out accelerationism and magic-wand general strikes. In reality, political action in 2025 requires more legwork on all fronts than ever before.

            It does require harm reduction voting, but it also requires building up the social structures that have been lost (or sabotaged) in the last 100+ years. You need to form a union, join a mutual aid network, organize protests and boycotts and every other coordinated action of all shades of legality.

            Obviously it’s more than any one person can do alone, but every person making those connections makes the social web stronger and easier to build on for the next. The first step that 90% of people on here need to do is step away from the digital echo chamber and spend more time in real political world.

        • rumba@lemmy.zip
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          3 days ago

          Do you know your mayor?

          There’s no mayor in my unincorporated town. The nearest mayor to me is a rather large city 30 minutes away, that presides over 500,000 people, and getting time with him is more than a little challenging. The best I have are delegates and representatives, and let’s stay, we don’t see eye to eye on social issues. The next closest delegate was an anti-vaxing doctor. They don’t really care a lot about what I have to say; they have enough idiots around to keep themselves ensconced.

    • okgurl@lemmy.world
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      3 days ago

      so true, I don’t enjoy voting blue. I hate the libs and am certainly not a lib, but I think harm reduction is important and I think it’s certainly true that protesting under the orange regime is. alot more life threatening for someone like me than under Kamala or Biden. That’s not to say that they will actually listen or take action but I’m more confident they won’t deploy the national guard and Marines to my city and I think that’s worth voting for

    • Zabjam@feddit.org
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      3 days ago

      This is not mine and unfortunately I don’t remember where I heard it:

      Fascists are the leftist second biggest enemy, with the first place going to leftists that 99% agree with them.

    • DarkFuture@lemmy.world
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      3 days ago

      Thank you for referring to them as regressives. I’ve been trying to normalize that for years. They are not conservatives anymore, if they ever were. They want to take our society backward.

      You’re right about regressives working together to achieve their end goal. But it’s because they’re in a cult. They’re brainwashed. The left is not. Certainly not even remotely to the same degree. So we argue amongst ourselves. And in a way that’s a strength. Cultist groupthink usually doesn’t lead to good places. But yeah, if the left doesn’t learn to groupthink on the macro issues, then we’re just going to keep losing to fanatics.

      The people that chose not to vote or flush their vote down the drain with a 3rd party are fools who couldn’t see the big picture and what was really at stake. And now we’re paying for their foolishness. Hopefully in the future they can learn from their mistake, but I’m not holding my breath. They seem to care more about their perceived moral superiority than the wellbeing of our nation and its citizens.

      • InternetCitizen2@lemmy.world
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        3 days ago

        I think leftists spoiling their ballot or 3rd party would be better than just not showing up. It gives solid statistics about how the big tent party needs to pivot. Libertarians :throw up emoji: are a good example of this working and shifting the overton window in their favor.

      • LucidNightmare@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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        3 days ago

        I’m staunchly in the camp of “If we are not moving forward in our country, we are doing something wrong” progressives, and still voted for Kamala because she was the only option at the MOMENT for people like me who can see the bigger picture and that small victories can lead to major victories.

        They have been regressives since reagan at the least!

        I’m okay with cult think as long as it is a cult that is dedicated to giving poor people food and healthcare and a living wage! Sign me the fuck up!

    • InternetCitizen2@lemmy.world
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      3 days ago

      I don’t think the tankies are wrong to fee grossed out, but that is just the nature of [class] war. Perhaps they should realize that they are indeed fighting in one and stop abandoning strategic parts of it (like showing up to elections local, state, and federal)

    • InternetCitizen2@lemmy.world
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      3 days ago

      @[email protected] This is a big part of what I am saying. Its find that you have criticisms with the approach, but you never mention an alternative; which is why I personally say that tankies are not serious people. Not voting has weakened our position greatly. Not voting means we have not grown the progressive wing in the DNC or even spun out a 3rd party. And I do mean this on local, state, and federal levels.

      Its rather privileged of you to wait for a perfect candidate when you are not cold, hungry, and under siege. But [class] war is uncomfortable and your unwillingness to fight makes you a bad ally. I have said it before. Elections are just one front in the battle and abandoning it has been a strategic blunder.

      Its fine to critic, but if you don’t have an alternative or proposed amendment then you are just not serious about materially achieving goals.

      • dastanktal@lemmy.ml
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        3 days ago

        No I completely disagree and don’t think that electoralism would do anything other than delay the inevitable rise to Fascism in the United States.

        Stop pointing out this line of logic it’s not convincing.

        The Democrats had 8 years under Obama to do literally anything to affect the status quo and failed to do so with massive push from the progressive crowd. Then we try it again with Bernie in 2016 where the Democrats made it very very clear he was not welcome.

        Then we try it again in 2020 where Joe Biden promptly ignored the majority will of most voters.

        It is not the job of the voters to Rally around a party that can’t figure itself out, it is the job of the party to energize those voters into acting the way they need to.

        This is something that Communists recognize about their own party, why is this so hard for liberals to understand it.

        You were giving yourself a handicap and saying there’s nothing you can do about it. Frankly that’s bullshit and there’s plenty to do other than sit around and waste your time in political organizations that solely focus on electoralism that aren’t going to do a damn thing to make our lives better or save us from fascism.

        • isolatedscotch@discuss.tchncs.de
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          3 days ago

          lol. lmao even.

          It is not the job of the voters to Rally around a party that can’t figure itself out, it is the job of the party to energize those voters into acting the way they need to.

          yeah the DNC has long figured itself out, why do you think they are catering to centrists/moderate right wingers? because y’all won’t vote them short of a perfect candidate (which doesnt exist)

          • piefood@feddit.online
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            3 days ago

            Voters: “Please stop bombing children”, “Please stop backing a genocide”, “Please stop handing out our taxes to your rich friends”, “Please stop making healthcare the number one reason for bankruptcy”, “Please stop sending people to torture prisons”, “Please make minimum wage a livable wage”

            “short of a perfect candidate”

            I think you might have a warped view of what “perfect” means. We just want someone who isn’t a monster.

          • dastanktal@lemmy.ml
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            3 days ago

            Yep that’s absolutely been the response that we saw with Bernie Sanders in 2016 and that we’re seeing with Zohran right now in New York.

            Y’all need to pick up a book and watch something other than the mainstream media. It’s rotting your brain and it shows.

        • InternetCitizen2@lemmy.world
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          The Democrats had 8 years under Obama to do literally anything to affect the status quo and failed to do so with massive push from the progressive crowd. Then we try it again with Bernie in 2016 where the Democrats made it very very clear he was not welcome.

          And the somewhat balnaced nature of the house/senete/SC made it more difficult for trump to act in 2016. Hence my point that it does matter. Cannot build your community if you don’t have some say in these things. And you won’t because you dont vote.

          • dastanktal@lemmy.ml
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            3 days ago

            It was an extremely common problem in the Obama Administration for them to embrace civility politics and back down to people like McConnell who single-handedly fucked the American people. Obama and the Democrats allowed that to happen.

            Yes Trump was slowed down in 2016 by the Supreme Court but you know who could have used the four years to jump in and really hit the ground running the way Trump did in 2024? Biden in 2020 where he could have done something to actually slow Trump down and utilize some of the broad Powers the Supreme Court gave the office of president. He’s being somewhat slow down by this Supreme Court but this time he’s had four years to properly prep. Something the democrats should have done.

            Oh and before you go well they wouldn’t let Biden use those Powers that’s also kind of the point. If you put that shit on the court record you’re then making the Supreme Court quite literally spell out that it’s not okay for the Democrats to do but it’s okay for the Republicans to do.

            Once again you have no idea how I voted and the way I’m talking I could have easily have voted for PSL or the green party. If you want to know just ask.

            • InternetCitizen2@lemmy.world
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              3 days ago

              Once again you have no idea how I voted and the way I’m talking I could have easily have voted for PSL or the green party. If you want to know just ask.

              And going 3rd party would still be better than not voting.

                • InternetCitizen2@lemmy.world
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                  3 days ago

                  Becuase it brings hard numbers about what the big tent could have done to win some seats. Libertarians have had good success in showing that if their 1% had been listened to the Rs could have picked up more seats. And the Rs have listened. They have shifted policy closer to what they want to see way more than we have to what we need.

                  We cannot know what that 38% wanted, but we do know more about that 1.1%. All we know is that there is a huge amount of possible allies that we are not getting involved one way or another. https://www.reddit.com/r/dataisbeautiful/comments/1grcztm/voter_distribution_in_us_2024_presidential/

                  • dastanktal@lemmy.ml
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                    3 days ago

                    Great then we are in agreement in this case. If people want to vote for third parties fine if people want to vote for the Democrats fine I don’t have a problem with that. My only issue is spending a lot of time harping on electoralism as the force that will save the United States. You’re right I would much rather people vote third party because it does do exactly what you want and shows the Democrats the type of policies we want but I’m pretty sure they’re already aware of the type of policies we want they just don’t want to give them to us judging by their reaction in New York.