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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Oh did I ruffle your feathers so you have to attack me? We did not have President Gore. You realllllyyyyyy don’t want to deal with this huh. You look to blame everything rather than admit the 3rd party voters cost Gore the election.
misguided policies Dems
Lol Everytime they go a little bit left they lose the election. I’m clued into how you deal with that now: you try to blame everything rather than admit the voters that didn’t show up.
I think I’m right on the money with that too, because you are clearly thinking about that exact word “blame”. I’m saying the voters didn’t show up, or they voted 3rd party, which costs the election. You can kinda say that’s blame but it’s not nearly the extent you go.
You’re running around everything (Gore, policies, funding to the point you call it a bribe lol) trying to blame everything on the system or the Dems or whatever.
Blaming voters for actually exercising their right to vote is wholly undemocratic.
Yeah not the same as “undemocratic”. This is why I think you’re fixated on blame, you’re now extending this to “undemocratic” so that you can blame me. Quite enlightening now that I see that.You can vote however you want. You tried something similar last time when you put words in my mouth.
What I’m saying that if you want things to go to the left, if you want your vote to be productive, if you want your vote to move policy to the left (over time), if you want your vote to move the Overton window, then this is what you do: you vote for the Dems. If you want things to move to the left, you give Dems consistent and overwhelming victories. Because when they lose they go to the center to find votes.
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.
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.
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.
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?
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.
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.
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.
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!
Lol they want to win elections, and that means voters.
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.
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.
Oh did I ruffle your feathers so you have to attack me? We did not have President Gore. You realllllyyyyyy don’t want to deal with this huh. You look to blame everything rather than admit the 3rd party voters cost Gore the election.
Lol Everytime they go a little bit left they lose the election. I’m clued into how you deal with that now: you try to blame everything rather than admit the voters that didn’t show up.
I think I’m right on the money with that too, because you are clearly thinking about that exact word “blame”. I’m saying the voters didn’t show up, or they voted 3rd party, which costs the election. You can kinda say that’s blame but it’s not nearly the extent you go.
You’re running around everything (Gore, policies, funding to the point you call it a bribe lol) trying to blame everything on the system or the Dems or whatever.
Yeah not the same as “undemocratic”. This is why I think you’re fixated on blame, you’re now extending this to “undemocratic” so that you can blame me. Quite enlightening now that I see that.You can vote however you want. You tried something similar last time when you put words in my mouth.
What I’m saying that if you want things to go to the left, if you want your vote to be productive, if you want your vote to move policy to the left (over time), if you want your vote to move the Overton window, then this is what you do: you vote for the Dems. If you want things to move to the left, you give Dems consistent and overwhelming victories. Because when they lose they go to the center to find votes.
I’ll double check to see what chain this is, I gave a history that you should read. Ah l’ll just give it https://lemmy.world/comment/10617871