There’s a couple of levels to this. On one level, I think conservatives do - in fact - deliver some promises. If you like twelve lane highways and ranch style suburban homes and ground beef that’s cheaper by the pound than broccoli? Good news. When Republicans take office, you can consistently bank on getting a couple hundred dollars worth of tax cuts, as part of their multi-billion dollar tax cut package. If you’re in a religious organization the party favors, you can expect all sorts of kickbacks via Faith Based Initiatives and Parochial Charter School Vouchers. If you’re a bigot, your governor will inflict all sorts of misery on minorities and the LGBT community. Police will parade through the streets in giant military convoys, showing off all their latest gear paid for with inflated budgets.
On another level, I think they get a certain amount of psychic agony inflicted on them while Democrats are in office. Right-wing news functionally terrorizes their own viewers until their guys win, and this creates a kind of pavlovian response. If you don’t want to see wave after wave of disturbing images on the TV, elect Republicans.
I think Democrats are mastering the latter, while neglecting the former. And that’s why you’ve got folks on Lemmy shitting themselves in horror over a future Trump administration, without really having anything tangible to look forward to under a second Biden term.
That’s not the reason democrats are barely leftist in 2024- lobbyists funding both wings of the government are. Socialist policies take away power from the corpocracy, so companies put tons of money into making sure that’s only a remote possibility -i’d argue there’s even been a consistent effort across the aisle to keep discussion as limited as possible to two specific issues: gun control and abortion. Look into the ratchet effect it perfectly describes the situation as I see it.
It’s a confluence of several issues. Lobbyists are only one of them. Fickleness, purity testing, apathy, all play a part too, and those are completely within your control.
Plus Leftists just aren’t the majority. Most people are moderates. Y’all refuse to believe that.
So leftists are just suppose to omit they’re own political philosophies and fall in line because moderates are the majority?
Fickleness, purity testing, apathy, all play a part too, and those are completely within your control.
No thats the DNC’s fault. You don’t get to complain about voter turn out because ppl don’t want to vote for a war criminal or that they have no faith in a system that actively fucks them and their way of life
Don’t you see the democracy is already doomed? Being forced to vote for a candidate is not a voluntary choice. Your voice is mute - it’s not a democracy.
you’re starting to sound like a spoiled child, like the ones you were complaining about. use your words, make arguments. show that you have the capacity for actual thought
the left is simply not large enough to win a primary
Quite a bit of what left-leaning voters advocate for is initially very popular. Medicare-for-All has a broad base of support. Rent control is very popular. Increasing Social Security payouts is an untapped political goldmine. The anti-war movement remains a large and largely neglected constituency.
What left-leaning candidates traditionally lack isn’t popularity, but money. What made Sanders such a powerful primary opponent in 2016 and 2020 was his prodigious fundraising abilities. He wasn’t wildly out of line with Mike Gravel or Ralph Nader on the issues, but he commanded 100x their war chests thanks to the outpouring of social media coordinated campaign funding.
Compared to guys like Steve Forbes or Ron Paul or Michael Bloomberg - who also brought enormous volumes of cash to the table - Sanders was able to offer a platform constituents in his own party were quick and eager to rally around.
Our system is one of coalition building.
A coalition requires seats at the table. Which leftists are getting a seat at the Biden table? Not Rashida Talib. Not Cori Bush. Not even Elizabeth fucking Warren.
Coalitions imply equity. What Democrats are demanding isn’t a coalition, its a coronation. Biden wants his voters to bend the knee. (Trump, too). And the folks who buck his commandments aren’t enticed back into the fold with concessions. They’re treated as pariahs and scapegoats and fifth columnists, to explain his plummeting poll numbers.
The left actually demands politicians earn their vote. Politics isn’t supposed to be a team sport in the US. The entire reason we have elections so often is to make sure the voters approve of their representatives. That means voting out of team loyalty is a subversion of the system. And the charge of being fickle and lazy is undemocratic propaganda.
Why is the compromise always to be a good little voter and vote for us regardless of the heinous shit we’re up to cuz the other option is Hitler wins? That isn’t a compromise. A compromise is when both sides give up something they want. What have the dems given up? Said that Israel has maybe gone a little bit too far? Whoopty-fucking-do.
I’m tired of compromising with people who won’t compromise. We just lurch to the right over and over whenever there’s a fight. They never worry about compromising with me ever.
If y’all actually voted, Democrats would care about you more. The Left is fickle and the DNC knows it.
Didn’t Bernie Sanders win the California primary in 2020? Seems like he’d need a lot of leftist voters to pull that off.
Once bitten, twice shy
Meanwhile, on the Right: “once bitten, BITE HARDER”. So they win elections while you run away.
There’s a couple of levels to this. On one level, I think conservatives do - in fact - deliver some promises. If you like twelve lane highways and ranch style suburban homes and ground beef that’s cheaper by the pound than broccoli? Good news. When Republicans take office, you can consistently bank on getting a couple hundred dollars worth of tax cuts, as part of their multi-billion dollar tax cut package. If you’re in a religious organization the party favors, you can expect all sorts of kickbacks via Faith Based Initiatives and
ParochialCharter School Vouchers. If you’re a bigot, your governor will inflict all sorts of misery on minorities and the LGBT community. Police will parade through the streets in giant military convoys, showing off all their latest gear paid for with inflated budgets.On another level, I think they get a certain amount of psychic agony inflicted on them while Democrats are in office. Right-wing news functionally terrorizes their own viewers until their guys win, and this creates a kind of pavlovian response. If you don’t want to see wave after wave of disturbing images on the TV, elect Republicans.
I think Democrats are mastering the latter, while neglecting the former. And that’s why you’ve got folks on Lemmy shitting themselves in horror over a future Trump administration, without really having anything tangible to look forward to under a second Biden term.
That’s not the reason democrats are barely leftist in 2024- lobbyists funding both wings of the government are. Socialist policies take away power from the corpocracy, so companies put tons of money into making sure that’s only a remote possibility -i’d argue there’s even been a consistent effort across the aisle to keep discussion as limited as possible to two specific issues: gun control and abortion. Look into the ratchet effect it perfectly describes the situation as I see it.
It’s a confluence of several issues. Lobbyists are only one of them. Fickleness, purity testing, apathy, all play a part too, and those are completely within your control.
Plus Leftists just aren’t the majority. Most people are moderates. Y’all refuse to believe that.
So leftists are just suppose to omit they’re own political philosophies and fall in line because moderates are the majority?
No thats the DNC’s fault. You don’t get to complain about voter turn out because ppl don’t want to vote for a war criminal or that they have no faith in a system that actively fucks them and their way of life
I’m complaining right now, so I think I do.
You’re all a bunch of spoiled children. It would be sad if it weren’t for the fact that it’s dooming our democracy.
Don’t you see the democracy is already doomed? Being forced to vote for a candidate is not a voluntary choice. Your voice is mute - it’s not a democracy.
All you “democracy bad” fucks should go back to Russia. Fuck you. We don’t want you in our countries.
you’re starting to sound like a spoiled child, like the ones you were complaining about. use your words, make arguments. show that you have the capacity for actual thought
or don’t, nobody really cares
The issue is the left is simply not large enough to win a primary. The reason Bernie wasn’t nominated is simple: not enough votes.
Our system is one of coalition building. You either join the least bad coalition for your interests or you have no influence at all.
Quite a bit of what left-leaning voters advocate for is initially very popular. Medicare-for-All has a broad base of support. Rent control is very popular. Increasing Social Security payouts is an untapped political goldmine. The anti-war movement remains a large and largely neglected constituency.
What left-leaning candidates traditionally lack isn’t popularity, but money. What made Sanders such a powerful primary opponent in 2016 and 2020 was his prodigious fundraising abilities. He wasn’t wildly out of line with Mike Gravel or Ralph Nader on the issues, but he commanded 100x their war chests thanks to the outpouring of social media coordinated campaign funding.
Compared to guys like Steve Forbes or Ron Paul or Michael Bloomberg - who also brought enormous volumes of cash to the table - Sanders was able to offer a platform constituents in his own party were quick and eager to rally around.
A coalition requires seats at the table. Which leftists are getting a seat at the Biden table? Not Rashida Talib. Not Cori Bush. Not even Elizabeth fucking Warren.
Coalitions imply equity. What Democrats are demanding isn’t a coalition, its a coronation. Biden wants his voters to bend the knee. (Trump, too). And the folks who buck his commandments aren’t enticed back into the fold with concessions. They’re treated as pariahs and scapegoats and fifth columnists, to explain his plummeting poll numbers.
The left actually demands politicians earn their vote. Politics isn’t supposed to be a team sport in the US. The entire reason we have elections so often is to make sure the voters approve of their representatives. That means voting out of team loyalty is a subversion of the system. And the charge of being fickle and lazy is undemocratic propaganda.
Democracy is about compromise. By refusing to compromise you’re ceding power to the worst option.
Why is the compromise always to be a good little voter and vote for us regardless of the heinous shit we’re up to cuz the other option is Hitler wins? That isn’t a compromise. A compromise is when both sides give up something they want. What have the dems given up? Said that Israel has maybe gone a little bit too far? Whoopty-fucking-do.
I mean you laid it out right there
Compromise requires both sides. And supplying a genocide isn’t compromise.
“Not genocide” is not an option.
I’m tired of compromising with people who won’t compromise. We just lurch to the right over and over whenever there’s a fight. They never worry about compromising with me ever.
That’s democracy. When a large portion of voters want fascism, you have to compromise with fascists.