• PedroG14@lemmy.ml
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    22 days ago

    Oh no, another PugJesus meme post! Let me prepare myself for the out of touch opinion that he needs to express so much everyday: 🛏️😪

  • PhlubbaDubba@lemm.ee
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    22 days ago

    And at every other time of the political cycle they will be on and on about how they’re the only ones who really take the threat of fascism in this country seriously.

    • PugJesus@lemmy.worldOP
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      22 days ago

      I mean, they claim that now, even as they say “It doesn’t matter if a literal fascist gets in power; support for anti-fascist coalitions is unforgivable!”

      • mozz@mbin.grits.dev
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        22 days ago

        In the run-up to the 1932 German elections, the left-wing party was still calling the establishment-left party the “main” enemy, and fighting them in the streets and siphoning support away from them by running their own candidates in three-way elections that also included Hitler. A few years later, most of them were dead, since they were the very first of his targets, long before the Jews.

        • OBJECTION!@lemmy.ml
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          22 days ago

          The heroic SPD, who shoveled two million conscripts to their deaths in the pointless meat grinder of WWI (which killed 20 million, all told) and violently suppressed opposition to it in the name of “national unity.” Yes, I can see the resemblance.

          By the way, the 1932 German Presidential election had three candidates: the nefarious communist candidate Ernst Thälmann, Adolf Hitler, and Paul von Hindenburg. The winner was not Hitler, it was Hindenburg, who then proceeded to appoint Hitler as chancellor. If only the KPD hadn’t split the vote between Hitler and the guy who would appoint Hitler, the guy who won anyway might have won and, uh, done exactly what he did, which is appoint Hitler chancellor and enable him to rise to power.

          Obviously, the lesson to take away from this is that the people who tried to stop both world wars were on the wrong side of history, and the people who supported the guy who appointed Hitler chancellor in order to stop him from coming to power were right about everything and worthy of emulation.

            • OBJECTION!@lemmy.ml
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              22 days ago

              The KPD weren’t around when that was signed, on account of how Hitler murdered them. Because he correctly identified them as his chief ideological enemies.

              As for the pact itself, it was signed after Stalin unsuccessfully attempted to form a unified front against Hitler with Britain and France. The latter two signed many agreements with Hitler, such as selling out Czechoslovakia, in the hope that he would stay focused on fighting the communists. Nobody was eager to get involved in a second world war.

              • PugJesus@lemmy.worldOP
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                22 days ago

                Because he correctly identified them as his chief ideological enemies.

                Curious, since their feuding with the SPD was instrumental in the rise of the Nazi Party, and that their puppetmasters cozied up to the Nazis at the first opportunity. Almost like it was just a power struggle with few actual ideological scruples involved.

                • OBJECTION!@lemmy.ml
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                  22 days ago

                  Curious

                  It is curious. So curious, in fact, that your whole conspiracy collapses in the face of it.

                  since their feuding with the SPD was instrumental in the rise of the Nazi Party

                  It takes two to fued. Maybe the SPD should’ve tried not shoveling millions of people into a pointless war, or not killing KPD leaders who opposed it, or throwing their weight behind the only candidate who actually was neither Hitler or aligned with Hitler, or not saying the communists were just as bad as the fascists (you know, like you’re doing now).

          • mozz@mbin.grits.dev
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            22 days ago

            The heroic SPD, who shoveled two million conscripts to their deaths in the pointless meat grinder of WWI (which killed 20 million, all told)

            Yep, 100% accurate (and, a roughly-accurate analogy I think with modern Democrats doing insane things like supporting Israel)

            and violently suppressed opposition to it

            Er… which suppression are you talking about? I’m a little out of my depth on it but the only suppression I’m aware of came after the KPD started a violent rebellion against them. But like I say I’m not that well aware of it, can you tell me?

            By the way, the 1932 German Presidential election had three candidates: the nefarious communist candidate Ernst Thälmann, Adolf Hitler, and Paul von Hindenburg. The winner was not Hitler, it was Hindenburg, who then proceeded to appoint Hitler as chancellor.

            Once he won his 1932 term Hindenburg had Brüning as chancellor, then Papen, then Schleicher, amid a massive amount of infighting, and then after all that was Hitler. The vague picture I have is that infighting including but not limited to KPD vs. everyone else, strikes, street battles, and general chaos was a big part of what was making German politics nonfunctional and created the conditions where Hindenburg eventually had to work with Hitler.

            Certainly the moderates in the Reichstag had to work with either the KPD or the Nazis, numerically, in order to get anything done, since none of those three factions had a majority. I’m out of my depth to say exactly how it played out or whose fault it all was. But I’m pretty confident in saying that “Hindenburg was secretly Hitler-friendly and got behind him instantly as soon as he was in office” is oversimplified, if that’s what you’re saying. For one thing, he’d been in office already for 7 years before that, and he had to die before the Nazis actually took over – it doesn’t seem to me like him in office was the key to Nazi takeover.

            Would it have turned out different if it was 64% Hindenburg, instead of 51% Hindenburg and 13% Thälmann? And likewise with loyalties in the Reichstag? I’m sort of implying that it might have, but honestly I have no idea. And I likewise have no idea whose “fault” it was between the SPD and KPD that they were both pretty consistently at each other’s throats. I just know that part of the way it played out was rabid opposition to Hindenburg and the SPD from the left, rather than unification from them as the only alternative to Hitler, and that against that backdrop Hitler was able to make it work.

            Obviously, the lesson to take away from this is that the people who tried to stop both world wars were on the wrong side of history, and the people who supported the guy who appointed Hitler chancellor in order to stop him from coming to power were right about everything and worthy of emulation.

            I didn’t say they were on the wrong side of history, and I don’t think they were. I do think that their treatment of the SPD as “the real enemy”, and pursuit of “what we want in a perfect world” with no attention to “what’s the best outcome we can actually achieve” or “what will be the actual real outcome of chasing our perfect vision” is, in my opinion, part of what let Hitler come to power and got most of them killed a couple years later.

            • OBJECTION!@lemmy.ml
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              22 days ago

              Er… which suppression are you talking about? I’m a little out of my depth on it but the only suppression I’m aware of came after the KPD started a violent rebellion against them. But like I say I’m not that well aware of it, can you tell me?

              When a government gets millions of people killed for no reason, using violence against that government is completely justified.

              And I likewise have no idea whose “fault” it was between the SPD and KPD that they were both pretty consistently at each other’s throats.

              It was the SPD’s fault, for the whole, you know, “war that killed 20 million people” thing.

              • mozz@mbin.grits.dev
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                22 days ago

                When a government gets millions of people killed for no reason, using violence against that government is completely justified.

                Got it, I understand what you’re saying. Sure. Like I say, you’re not really wrong in this.

                However, you could say, getting so bent out of shape when they use violence against you back against your rebellion that you’re still holding a grudge about it more than a decade later, even to the point of refusing to work with them against someone who’s going to get 75 million people (and nearly 100% of your particular political party) killed, seems shortsighted. That’s more my point than anything about “justified” or the right side of history.

                • OBJECTION!@lemmy.ml
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                  22 days ago

                  Right, except that as established, the SPD were the ones who chose to back the guy who made Hitler chancellor. So it’s really more like, should they have backed the people who already got 20 million and a bunch of people from your party killed, so they can support the guy who’ll support the guy who’s going to get 75 million and virtually everyone in your party killed?

                  Your claim that Hindenburg winning by a wider margin could have possibly prevented Hitler’s rise to power is a counterfactual, even long after the fact, there’s no way to know if that’s true. I could just as easily say that the SDP could’ve thrown their weight behind Thälmann and that might have stopped Hitler, and maybe it would have, or maybe it wouldn’t. One way or another, the differences between the SDP and KPD were not one-sided, and those differences began over a disagreement where the SDP were clearly in the wrong and got millions of people killed for nothing.

        • PugJesus@lemmy.worldOP
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          22 days ago

          And the same pattern repeats today, with MLs calling everyone else ‘social fascists’ or like terms and crying “After Hitler Trump, us!”, while playing the victim if they’re ever called out on it.

  • elliot_crane@lemmy.world
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    22 days ago

    You better watch out PugJesus, I just got accused of being a bot in another thread for having this point of view 😂

    • PugJesus@lemmy.worldOP
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      22 days ago

      I’m used to tankie whinging about how they can’t support fascist regimes without being called out.

        • PugJesus@lemmy.worldOP
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          22 days ago

          It doesn’t matter. They don’t believe in democracy, much less convincing people. They’re vanguardist fascists, after all.

        • empireOfLove2@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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          22 days ago

          The response was probably “<admin> banned elliot_crane” from .ml + hexbear, and the ban conveniently didn’t federate to .world’s modlog

          • elliot_crane@lemmy.world
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            22 days ago

            lmao I wouldn’t be surprised if that happened a long time ago… I’ve been calling out this shit for months.

  • someguy3@lemmy.world
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    22 days ago

    Pretty much just had this conversation. The point was if you want further left, then you gave to give Dems consistent victories. Because when they lose they go to the center to find votes. Remember Dems have only had all 3 (house, Senate, presidency) for 4 years of the last 24 years.

    • snooggums@midwest.social
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      22 days ago

      And during those four years they only had a super majority that could overcome the GOPs automatic use of the filibuster for a very short period of time when Independents caucused with the Dems, and even then there were some holdouts that watered down the best parts of what they were able to get through.

    • njm1314@lemmy.world
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      22 days ago

      The greatest expansion of Rights in American history came in a period where Democrats had a very strong string of victories. From FDR to LBJ Democrats dominated in this country, it was also the period in which basically everything we consider the Cornerstone of our nation was developed. It’s also the period that the conservatives are trying to roll back as hard as humanly possible.

      • eldavi@lemmy.ml
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        21 days ago

        that’s at a time when democrats were republicans and republicans were democrats; things change and so do political parties and whitewashing like this suggests either shallow understanding or willful misrepresentation.

        • Eldritch@lemmy.world
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          21 days ago

          Democrats were never Republicans or vice versa. Prior to 1964 both parties had a diverse balance of Bigots. Democrats having a large contingent of racist southern Dixiecrats. Republicans had also long been the party of fascists and Nazi sympathizers. What happened post 1964 was not a party or ideological switch per se. Democrats just ditched the bigots courting a much bigger potential voting block. Republicans having lost the chance to court the same voting block instead courted the bigots fleeing the Democratic Party. It was a concentration of bigots. Not a change of ideology.

        • njm1314@lemmy.world
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          21 days ago

          It absolutely wasn’t. This is a time when the new deal was created. This is the time when the American middle class was created. Social Security. Civil Rights Act. Voting Rights Act. All during this period thanks to the Democrats. The Republicans who left the Democratic party are those that left because they didn’t like what the Democratic party was doing. The idea that both parties completely swapped places one day is an infantile understanding of that scenario.

            • njm1314@lemmy.world
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              21 days ago

              So I’m you’re confused your argument is that FDR did not Implement all the programs he implemented?

              • eldavi@lemmy.ml
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                21 days ago

                oic now; i think i can understand our disconnect now.

                the democrats of the 1930’s have less in common with the democrats of today than they have with the republicans of today. pretending otherwise is either shallow understanding or willful misrepresentation.

                • njm1314@lemmy.world
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                  21 days ago

                  You think the Democrats of FDR’s time have more in common with Republicans of today whose sole purpose is the dismantling of everything FDR did?

                  Talk about willful misinterpretation.

    • MegaUltraChicken@lemmy.world
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      22 days ago

      Remember Dems have only had all 3 (house, Senate, presidency) for 4 years of the last 24 years.

      And when you take it to a filibuster-proof majority they have had even less control than that.

        • a lil bee 🐝@lemmy.world
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          22 days ago

          And we got the ACA, one of the most positive, transformative laws of the last two decades. Did it go as far as we wanted? Nope, but it has changed lives for the better across the country. 4 months.

    • mozz@mbin.grits.dev
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      22 days ago

      Well said sir

      Left wing people walked away from the Democrats after 1968, and they had every righteous reason to. Did the Democrats suddenly start embracing actual leftism as a result? Did a viable third party emerge? Did non electoral activism (much more powerful at the time, like a massive nationwide movement) finally take hold and upend the system to bring about real, sustained change?

      Not exactly. We went, in that time, from “great society” and 1-income families who owned their home and sent kids to college, and the civil rights act and all that stuff, to Reagan -> Clinton -> Bush and the fuckin apocalypse that’s brought us the current corporate hellscape. The reality of working life in today’s America would be unrecognizable to most (white) people in the 1960s. The Democrats, after 24 years of losing elections (ironically enough, losing them by fielding leftist candidates like McGovern, McCarthy, and Carter), finally tacked hard to the right and started being contenders again, but we lost a lot of ground and we’re only just now even starting to undo the damage. The party of JFK and Carter became the party of Clinton and Obama.

      I actually think modern left wing people are aware of how terrifying Trump is, and would vote for Biden even if he wasn’t a significant step up from the low bar that is the modern Democrats. But yes, the drumbeat of MAGA folks and the occasional confused leftist saying that if we just stop voting then everything will find a way to work itself out is certainly a thing that exists.

      • someguy3@lemmy.world
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        22 days ago

        (ironically enough, losing them by fielding leftist candidates like McGovern, McCarthy, and Carter),

        And when Gore and Hillary Clinton stuck their head a little bit left, they lost. And people wonder why Dems go to the center to find voters.

        • mozz@mbin.grits.dev
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          22 days ago

          I have no particular love for either of the Clintons but I’m still sad about Gore. Between the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, real action on climate change before it was too late, and the underregulation that led to the 2008 financial crash, the whole fuckin world would be different if he’d been allowed into office after he won the election.

          • someguy3@lemmy.world
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            22 days ago

            Just think how much further left we’d be if Hillary won. Instead Trump won and the Overton window went off the cliff.

            How’d those protest no-votes go?

        • crusa187@lemmy.ml
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          20 days ago

          Gore won, and Hillary didn’t lose because of her views on climate change.

          Dems are bad at politics, so they “go to the center” chasing republicans. They simply don’t realize they’re already a right wing party, and are chasing the extremist republicans towards far right fascism. Or more likely, they just don’t care so long as the corporate donor money keeps flowing in.

          • someguy3@lemmy.world
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            20 days ago

            Oh we had president Gore? I must have missed that. Thanks 3rd party voters!

            Dude, Dems constantly lose Congress. They’ve had control of all 3 house Senate presidency for 4 years of the last 24 years. Or 6 years for the last 44 years. That’s the math. So they go to the center to find votes. They don’t go center just because, they go there to find votes.

            • crusa187@lemmy.ml
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              20 days ago

              Unfortunely no, you’re once again incorrect.

              Gore won the election, as was proven in numerous FL recounts. However, Fox News, among other mainstream corporate media orgs, had already called the election for GW Bush. This was actually the basis the corrupt Supreme Court used to give the presidency to Dubya in Bush v Gore, and the rest was history.

              The Dems shifting to the right doesn’t have anything to do with finding votes - it’s all about finding the money. As you rightly point out, Dems are terrible at politics and lose elections when they shouldn’t. I mean just consider how reprehensible the Republican policies are, it’s so bad that Rs don’t even campaign on their platform, choosing instead to resort to divisive culture war distractions to motivate their voting base.

              In the late 70s / early 80s, Dems realized they were losing because they were being massively outspent by republicans who had been courting big business, offering them deregulation in exchange for campaign financing. In over 96% of elections, the candidate who spent more on advertising won. Dems decided their only chance to remain relevant was to become a fundraising organization instead of an actual representative political party - thus, their policies became much more conservative in order to appease corporate donors and get the money flowing into their coffers too. Of course, they never raise as much as republicans, so this strategy is flawed to its core, but this is the reality of the modern day DNC, why it is in fact a controlled opposition party, and why they consistently fail to motivate any significant number of voters. Because they aren’t chasing voters - they’re chasing money.

              • someguy3@lemmy.world
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                20 days ago

                Oh so we had president Gore? We can talk all day about recounts, but we did not have president Gore. You realllllyy don’t want to deal with that huh. Probably because of the next part: it was the third party voters that cost Gore the election. Thanks 3rd party voters!

                The Dems shifting to the right doesn’t have anything to do with finding votes - it’s all about finding the money.

                Lol they want to win elections, and that means voters.

                As you rightly point out, Dems are terrible at politics

                Lol I didn’t say that. At this point, well we’ll see what else I’ll bother replying to.

                At the end of the day, the election is won by VOTERS. All this refusing to vote in protest and voting 3rd party in protest that I see so often is what costs Dems elections. And the hilarious part is, these protest votes and protest no-votes end up being wildly counter productive. They give the election to Bush and Trump, and guess what happens to the Overton window when that happens? The whole thing moves right.

                So we’re down to: What do you, the informed left wing (I assume) voter do to move things left? What you can do is vote Dems. Give them consistent and overwhelming victories. Because when they lose they go to the center to find, wait for it, VOTES.

                • crusa187@lemmy.ml
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                  20 days ago

                  I think your reading comprehension may be hampered by your fixation on a 2 party system. Gore won the election, but had the presidency stolen from him by the media and Supreme Court.

                  In the recent elections which have had some of the highest turnout of voters over the time period we’re discussing, at most an abysmal 38% of eligible voters voted.

                  Perhaps consider that it’s the misguided policies Dems maintain in order to pursue those delicious legal bribe monies, as opposed to 3rd party candidates trying to do the right thing, that are costing the Dems election results. Blaming voters for actually exercising their right to vote is wholly undemocratic.

                  So, as an informed left wing voter who wishes to see more progressive policies enacted, I would pressure the Dems from the left to abandon those conservative policy positions if they want my vote. I would then vote for someone else if they maintain policies inconsistent with my beliefs. That’s how democracy works.

    • Clent@lemmy.world
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      21 days ago

      Yep. If we want far left, we need to do what the far right did. Vote consistently and persistently for wing candidates and then vote for the extreme when they chance a run.

      Anyone pretending this is bad is a short sighted fool at best. We will never magically get left wing extremists. They need a foundation of left wing to build off and that means compromise and frankly if you’re against this compromise you’re not a leftist, you’re an idealist idiot that will be played.

      • Saint_La_Croix_Crosse@midwest.social
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        21 days ago

        Except that is the opposite of how the Right works. Contrary to what Liberals tell themselves, Republican voters need to be wooed, Democrat voters fall in line. If a national Republican candidate isn’t anti-abortion, the evangelicals might not show up, if they aren’t anti-tax and anti-welfare, they loose “business Republicans”, and they need to scaremonger about things such as immigration to rile up other parts of their base. That is why you don’t have every Republican presidential candidate saying things like “Look, we have to appeal to moderate Democrats. That is why we have to expand welfare, access to abortion, and make it easier for immigrants to come in. If you believe in conservative values, he is still the lesser evil than the Democrat, despite being pro-welfare and immigration, and you only have two choices”

        • Clent@lemmy.world
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          21 days ago

          Your reality bubble is incompatible with the rest of the world’s. Republicans need to be placated. There is no need to follow through. They always blame others.

          Your attempt at casing the democrats as the same thing is the basis for bothsideism. All you need to do is respond with some whataboutism to determine the thickness of your bubble

          • Saint_La_Croix_Crosse@midwest.social
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            21 days ago

            It’s not both sides-ism. I am saying that the Republicans can’t guilt-trip their voters, so they aren’t constantly moving to the left and having platforms that their voters hate, relying on their only appeal being lesser evilism. It is because the Democrats need to constantly move right for their donors, and can in some respects ignore the wishes of their base through the logic of “lesser evils” that Biden can continue building Trump’s border wall, try to outflank Trump on the right on immigration, and continue to support genocide, when 4 years ago, liberals could understand these policies are fascist.

    • Maggoty@lemmy.world
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      22 days ago

      That’s some abused spouse logic. Keep rewarding the people abusing your trust? Maybe they’ll recognize you this time? Maybe the reason they always go to the right is because they don’t think the left will stop voting for them. Maybe they just don’t care. Either way it makes no sense to reward that behavior.

      • someguy3@lemmy.world
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        21 days ago

        Maybe the reason they always go to the right is because they don’t think the left will stop voting for them.

        Maybe it’s because Dems have had all 3 (house, senate, presidency) for a measly 4 years of the last 24 years. If you want to go back further then it’s 6 years out of the last 44 years. That’s right, Dems have had control for a measly 6 years out of the last 44 fucking years.

        When they don’t have control of all 3 (house, senate, presidency), they need to negotiate with the GOP to pass anything. And you wonder why they have to meet in the middle when they don’t have power? The GOP even shut down the government under Obama.

        And when they lose elections (do the math, they’ve lost control for 20 years out of the last 24 years. Or 38 years out of the last 44 years.) when they lose elections, they go to the center to find votes. Because that’s where the voters are. Every time they try to move a little left (Gore, Hilary Clinton) they lose. So what does the next guy do? He goes to the center because that’s where the votes go.

        You desperately need to learn what’s going on.

        So what do you do if you want things to go left? Give Dems consistent and overwhelming victories. Let them know that they can go left without losing like Gore and Hilary Clinton did.

        • Maggoty@lemmy.world
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          21 days ago

          So we should vote for them because they’re out of touch with so much of the country that they’re ineffective?

          • someguy3@lemmy.world
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            21 days ago

            If you want the Dems to move left, you do that by giving them consistent and overwhelming victories. Not 4 years out of the last 24 years. Not 6 years out of the last 44 fucking years. I just went through the chronology with somebody else in this exact chain, take a look. https://lemmy.world/comment/10617871

            • Maggoty@lemmy.world
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              21 days ago

              You still haven’t said anything to explain this theory of them moving left if the left votes for them no matter what. Why would they worry about satisfying a voting block that automatically votes for them?

              • someguy3@lemmy.world
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                21 days ago

                Lol yes I did. I see you didn’t read what I linked. Every now and then they try to move left, and whenever they do they lose the election. So guess what? Next election they move to the center to find voters. So guess what you can do? Make Dems win consistently and overwhelmingly so they don’t lose when they go left.

                They’ve lost 20 years out of the last 24 years, and you’re surprised they go to the center to find votes? Lol.

                • Maggoty@lemmy.world
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                  21 days ago

                  You brought up 2 centrist politicians as examples of moving left. That’s not an argument.

        • Saint_La_Croix_Crosse@midwest.social
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          21 days ago

          Clinton was not a move to the left! The Clinton wing is the right wing of the Democrats. Both Clintons, are the prime example of the Democrats being the Republican party of 8 years ago. And Gore would have been a continuation of Bill. Trump being the other candidate is the only reason she isn’t seen as a right wing candidate. A lot of her liabilities, particularly with battleground states, in 2016 was her being the champion of every right wing policy an appreciable amount of Democrats signed on to.

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            21 days ago

            Ok let’s go through this chronologically.

            Bill Clinton: When you run against an incumbent (Bush senior) you run from the center. You have to run center when running against an incumbent, so that’s what he did.

            Gore: After the population hopefully warmed up with Bill Clinton, he stuck his head out left with climate change. And bam he lost the election. Thanks 3rd party protest voters!

            Obama: So guess what Obama learned from Gore? Don’t stick your head out. He ran on vague “hope”, hoping the ambiguity would be enough considering Bush’s disastrous wars. And he won.

            Hillary Clinton: After the population hopefully warmed up with Obama, she stuck her head out just a tiny itty little bit with the Map Room to fight climate change. And guess what happened? Bam she lost. Thanks protest non-voters!

            On to Biden. Just like Obama learned from Gore, Biden learned from Hillary that you don’t stick your head out left. And he was running against an incumbent, so once again when you do that you run center. He’s actually been governing more from the left, but he ran center.

            And you’re amazed that they don’t run an extreme left platform? Every time they stick their head out a little itsy bitsy tiny bit left they lose. And the next guy learns to go to the center to win.

            So how do you get them to move left? By giving them victories. Consistent and overwhelming victories. Because when they lose, like they’ve lost 20 years out of the last 24 years, they will go to the centre to find votes.

            • Semi-Hemi-Lemmygod@lemmy.world
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              20 days ago

              Those are extremely simplistic takes for why Gore and Clinton lost. If memory serves me right climate change didn’t have much to do with either and it had more to do with people feeling they were out-of-touch wonks. Bush was “the guy you could have a beer with” even though he didn’t drink.

              And they run to the center because there are actually voters there. The left is noisy online but there’s not enough of us spread out far enough to move the needle. America is not a progressive country, and we need to get used to that.

              • someguy3@lemmy.world
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                20 days ago

                Simplistic because I’m not going to bother to write more. From what I know Gore was a decent step left, not just climate change. By 2016 there was enough attention on climate change that was the step left.

                And they run to the center because there are actually voters there

                This is what I say ad nauseum. But I think there are enough left voters people to move the needle. The problem is they don’t vote in protest, or they vote 3rd party in protest. They’re waiting to fall in love with a big left candidate, and I’m saying that’s going to magically appear, you need baby steps (which they don’t like so they protest).

                This is the whole “Dems fall in love, Republicans fall in line”. Those Republicans show up every time and they move the needle because of that.

                • Semi-Hemi-Lemmygod@lemmy.world
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                  20 days ago

                  I’ve given up believing there’s enough that can move the needle, because even if they all voted for decades they’re crammed into high population states and districts so their power is diluted to ineffectiveness.

                  Unless we get a mass migration to low population states of lefties this is going to be how our politics works.

                  Of course when I bring this up the reaction is “But there’s nothing to do there!”

    • Dagwood222@lemm.ee
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      22 days ago

      It didn’t work in 1968. It didn’t work in 1980. It didn’t work in 1984. It didn’t work in 1988. It didn’t work in 2000. It didn’t work in 2016. It didn’t work in 2020…

      • djsoren19@yiffit.net
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        22 days ago

        Yeah because they’re an idiot. If you actually want to get leftists in power, the answer is to start sharpening your knives. Replace Dems with leftists in your local elections. Organize for ranked choice voting and electoral reform. Work alongside your local labor unions to generate support for pro-labor, non-establishment politicians for Senators and House Representatives.

        We can keep the Democrats in power until the time comes, but there’s no hope for the party. It’s far more likely for the Dems to cannibalize the Republican party after the MAGA movement explodes than for them to ever reform into a serious leftist party. If we want one, we’ll have to make it ourselves.

        • Dagwood222@lemm.ee
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          22 days ago

          The Left needs to study up on what the Moral Majority did back in the 1970s.

          Both Parties have local clubhouses where they decide local matters; who is going to run for dog catcher and should we put a STOP sign on Main Street? If the normal turnout for a meeting was twenty people, the Moral Majority would show up with 50. It didn’t cost them an arm and a leg, and they quietly stole power from big shots like Nelson Rockefeller.

          start actually showing up where it will make a difference

          • djsoren19@yiffit.net
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            22 days ago

            Bingo. If you’ve made it this far in the thread and are wondering what you, one person behind a keyboard, can do, it’s to start going to your local town hall meetings, and to start bringing friends. The first thing you’ll notice is that basically no-one is there. If you suddenly show up as a consistent group of 10-15, local politicians will start taking you seriously.

            If you don’t have any friends, going to local protests are a great way to make them! There’s still a few going on in solidarity with Palestine I think, but there’ll always be more!

        • someguy3@lemmy.world
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          22 days ago

          I’m afraid you missed my whole point. Dems can’t go left when they keep losing elections. When they lose elections, they go to the center to find votes.

          If you want Dems to go left, given them consistent and overwhelming victories.

          • djsoren19@yiffit.net
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            22 days ago

            and you’re missing the point of those dates, which is all the victories the Dems have been given. Despite them, they’ve always gone consistently further and further right while winning elections, because the only thing that actually motivates the Democratic party are corporate donors. It’s why the party cannot be saved; it’s as beholden to corporate interests as the right.

            • someguy3@lemmy.world
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              21 days ago

              What are you on about. 1968 was Nixon. 1980 was Reagan. 1984 was Reagan. 1988 was Bush senior. 2000 was Bush junior. 2016 was Trump. I don’t know why they included 2020.

              Dems have only had control of all 3 (house senate presidency) for 2009-2011 and 2021-2023. They have had control for 4 years of the last 24 years. If you include Bill Clinton, then it’s 6 years of the last 32 years. If you go back further then it’s 6 years of the last 44 years. Those are the victories Dems have been given and it’s next to nothing. You desperately need to get your facts straight.

              The next lesson: When they don’t have control of all 3 (house, senate, presidency), they need to negotiate with the GOP to pass anything. And guess what, the GOP doesn’t want anything to pass so they block everything. That’s why Dems need all 3 to get anything done. And they’ve only had it for 6 out of the last 44 years.

  • OBJECTION!@lemmy.ml
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    22 days ago

    “Pro-democracy conservatives” in an antifascist coalition, y’all crack me up sometimes.

    • Wrench@lemmy.world
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      22 days ago

      Eh. This describes my Dad, I guess. Life time “fiscal conservative” that voted Republican his entire life except 2016 and on. Possibly 2008 too, he was outraged at Palin and the Tea Party.

      They exist.

      But he was never a republican for the social conservatism side of things. Never watched Fox News or Rush Limbaugh or any of that garbage. And votes blue down ticket too because he accepts that the entire party is corrupted now.

      • Asafum@feddit.nl
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        22 days ago

        This is exactly why I can respect older, actual, conservatives and not the hate/fear driven fox viewers like my own father…

        The older conservatives generally came to their conclusions in some ways “on their own” while current magas are just being emotionally manipulated and propagandized like crazy…

        Obligatory: I FUCKING HATE PROPAGANDISTS!

    • mozz@mbin.grits.dev
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      22 days ago

      Some Republican Secretaries of State, Mike Pence, military leaders, conservatives in the Justice Department, and similar not-real-inspiring-politically people were some of the most important ones who put the brakes on Trump’s previous attempt at a for-real fascist takeover. Without them, I think there is an excellent chance that it would have worked, and we’d be currently living in a society which doesn’t have functioning elections or protections for political speech in media or on the internet.

      I do understand that our elections and our media right now are not fully free. But that doesn’t mean every point on that spectrum is the same. People on the left sometimes like to say Reagan or Bush or Trump 1 or Obama or Biden are so oppressive that it all might as well be fascism, but people who lived through real totalitarian rule further down on the spectrum would tell you that no, no it is certainly not.

    • ChonkyOwlbear@lemmy.world
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      22 days ago

      Check out The Bulwark. It’s basically a bunch of people who still consider themselves conservatives but exclusively vote Democrat because Republicans are insane and/or fascists.

      • SkyezOpen@lemmy.world
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        22 days ago

        And mad props to them for going against the cult. They’re still moist likely regressive assholes, but they’re principled regressive assholes and I can respect that.

        • ChonkyOwlbear@lemmy.world
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          22 days ago

          It’s really interesting to see their insight on politics. I get the impression I wouldn’t really like any of them in person, but their sense of humor about the time they spent working on GOP campaigns is endearing.

    • AbsentBird@lemm.ee
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      21 days ago

      Biden supports a ceasefire. The only people resisting a ceasefire are Netanyahu and the Republican party.

      • zbyte64@awful.systems
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        20 days ago

        Biden has been improving his position, but he needs encouragement. That is why I say there are Democrats not in picture: a bunch of us are still protesting and writing. The letter responses have improved from “we need to take out Hamas” to “we we’re working with coalitions to get aide in”.

      • VinnyDaCat@lemmy.world
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        21 days ago

        He supports a ceasefire only if his Israeli overlords accept it. He won’t attempt to use any leverage such as our munitions supply to Israel to attempt to force it though.

        Still far better than the orange man who would outright assist Israel with exterminating Palestine.

  • bad_news@lemmy.billiam.net
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    22 days ago

    Yes, the true mark of anti-fascism is support for a party that doesn’t allow democratic elections to pick their candidates and supports ethnic cleansing.

    • MetaCubed@lemmy.world
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      22 days ago

      When there is not enough popular support for the “best party”, and revolutionary overthrow is non viable, then the “true mark of anti-fascism” is knowing when to vote for the least bad party and then continue campaigning and canvassing to pressure for better policy and candidates

      Its disgusting and it feels terrible, but (speaking broadly) if the progressive voter base leaves the a country’s primary “left leaning” party, then the party will reach instead for center right voters to fill that gap, driving the party further right.

      I won’t tell you prescriptively who to vote for, but please, give it some thought in good faith

    • m0darn@lemmy.ca
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      21 days ago

      My understanding of the comic is:

      The complainer is holding a MAGA hat so extrapolating that he actually is a MAGAT, he is letting the mask slip and admitting that MAGARepublicans are fascists, and people willing to vote for Biden are opposed to fascism.

      Is it your position that people willing to vote for Biden are fascists?

  • masquenox@lemmy.world
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    21 days ago

    Wtf would you know about antifascism?

    Did you notice how antifa did not show up to protect your precious Wall Street shills on Jan 6th? Wanna take a guess why?

    Stop trying to co-opt antifa to protect your garbage status quo, liberal.

  • intensely_human@lemm.ee
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    21 days ago

    Absolutely. Remember everyone: some of the people wearing your colors are only pretending to be on your side.

    Don’t evaluate sources for loyalty; evaluate ideas for validity.

    Know your own values, and get good at thinking critically. Then double check everything that you think, and that others are saying, to find out if there are any bugs or malicious code, changing outcomes away from what it should be per your values.

    • madcaesar@lemmy.world
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      21 days ago

      Yup.

      I fully support a cease fire, but I also put ZERO blame on Biden for what another democratic country does.

      People blaming Biden for Israel are either trolls or massive morons that do not understand geopolitics.

      • JimSamtanko@lemm.ee
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        21 days ago

        Exactly this. And they’re beyond reasoning with. Best to just ask them who has a better chance to win in November and watch them squirm out of the conversation.

        It’s a lot easier to call them out for what they are this way than it is to argue with them.

      • Doom@ttrpg.network
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        20 days ago

        People really put America in the center of everything and act like they must do everything while also being angry at them for being the international police.

        Russia has a hand in Israel and the middle eastern conflicts as does China and India and Saudi Arabia. Why is Joe Biden responsible for everything? Congress is more responsible if anything deserves scrutiny.

        Calling him Genocide Joe because of another country’s actions just exposes someone’s stupidity and inability to view situations as complexly as they actually are.

        That said fuck Israel and Bibi can suck my turds I’d toss a brick at that fascist fuck if given the chance.

  • Semi-Hemi-Lemmygod@lemmy.world
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    22 days ago

    I’ve never voted in an election where I wasn’t voting for policies I disagree with.

    These kids need better civics education so they know we don’t get nice things in America.