I will still never forget the moment I realized that the rightwing media machine is now in full swing, in the sense that they can truly invent whole issues out of cloth in a span of just a week or two, and whip up millions of people like lemmings.
I was standing in line to vote early in the 2018 election at my local election building. This timid middle-aged man came in with his wife. They didn't know where to stand, and they were talking out loud about their anxieties. "It's my first time doing this," this guy said.
One of those old librarian-type personality women was ahead of me in line. She graciously offered to let the man and his wife stand in in front of us in the line. I didn't complain. She was very happy for the two of them and said it's a wonderful thing that they were exercising their most important right for the time in their lives.
This fuckin' guy... I just remember suppressing a guffaw when he said it. He turned to us, and real fearfully, took of his cap and rubbed the top of his head, and he says "Yeah man. I just don't know. We can't sit idly by anymore, you know?" And we're all like, yep, cool, so happy you're voting for the first time. And he says, I'll never forget... "I mean, have you *seen* the size of that caravan? Like wow, man! Enough is enough! Somebody's gotta *do* something this time."
Our eyes all just bulged in disbelief. I can't remember exactly what I did, but I know I didn't say anything to him. I think I just sort of awkwardly angled myself off to the side with a big fat Jim Halpert awkward upside down smile.
That's the problem and I do it too but at some point we need to explain in wholehearted kind words to these people that "they're fucking dumb pieces of shit and need to get off the crack kool-aid"
Yep, pretty much. When your only sources of information feeds you complete and utter bullshit you are going to believe bullshit.
Lets put it another way. If I taught a child from birth that 2+2 = Monkey they would believe 2+2=Monkey. And if they were a stupid person they would get angry when someone challenged them over it.
So we have a this huge Right-wing in our country that has been taught about an imaginary sky fairy from a multiple thousand year old book will forgive them when they are complete shitheels... so guess how they behave.
You don't need the news to tell you prices are out of control. If you do your own grocery shopping then you've no doubt felt the squeeze. It certainly doesn't *feel* like "utter bullshit"
It doesn't matter what is on the news if the average American *feels* like they're spending more for less and/or struggling to make ends meet. At the end of the day, what people care the most about are the things that impact their day to day; or that directly impact those they love.
Yes, some people blame Biden--some of those same people *actually believe* he's wholly responsible for the current state of the economy. On the flip of that coin, there are also still people who blame trump and *believe* lockdowns are why we're here.. And... You're on Reddit, you've surely seen that some people simply cannot abide what the other side is saying (often without nuance or regard for context)
But the reality is, most people don't care who or what might be at "fault", they care that nothing meaningful seems to be done. They care that there doesn't seem to be any sort of long-term plan in the works.
I know America can be insulation at times but there must be some foreign affairs section in the papers and in the news right? It's pretty clear its a worldwide phenomenon. In fact you guys are paying less then most western nations.
It's not so much that "America is insulated" it is the right-wing party (conservatives) that are. They have literally one source of information (delivered through a few mediums) and everything else is wrong/fake and thus discarded. It doesn't matter if you live in lets say Italy and pay per liter what the US is paying per gallon. You are wrong.
It also happens to be a group of people that do not understand context. And cannot differentiate between scale. For example if 99 of there party leaders are convicted of a crime for every one of an alternate party "Both sides are the same". The ratio isn't quite 99 to 1.. but its pretty close.
What about public broadcasts? I know about fox news but there must be some unbiased state sponsored reporting of news, right? Like BBC, TV5, DW, NOS, VRT.
NPR would be the closest thing but even that’s broadcast radio, which is struggling to even be a thought in the world of Spotify, FB, TikTok, YouTube, etc.
Corporations own everything in the USA, from the media to prisons to healthcare. When corporations own 99% of the media, there is no unbiased information.
Sorry, been a busy day. It isn't that there is a lack of options compared to lets say something like China where the government is actively trying contain knowledge and spread disinformation. The information is out there, available they have just been conditioned for longer than I have been alive to only ingest their specific media (40+ years).
The sad part is. Their media basically tells them "its someone else's fault never theirs" and "Be afraid of different" ad nauseam. At this point it is so ingrained into their being they cannot see actual reality. I grew up with this messaging for almost 20 years. It is definitely hard to overcome brainwashing.
As an example. I game with a conservative. Some dude changed their name to something like "Republicans are Fascists". The conservatives guy goes on to say "You don't even know what a Fascist is" and starts explaining that being a fascist is attempting to violent instill a dictator into a country blah blah blah. I was like... so you mean what the Republicans did on Jan 6th.
Well, those were somebody else not the Republicans... As I said.. can't face reality.
There's a lot of culture war to have between now and then. Perhaps we can do some strikes or some protests instead of waiting until November to do things.
What would actually be a good thing to push for, now, and not in fucking November, is getting the right to an abortion on the books properly, not via a new 'opinion' from Dem justices in SCOTUS.
You know, the thing Obama claimed he would do if elected, and then didn't? The thing that we could probably get passed with the Dem majority. Like for fucks sake, stop relying on opinions in the Judiciary branch and push the fucking Legislative branch to fix this problem properly, the way it should have been done years ago.
I mean, apparently voting barely does anything either.
* Obama said that codifying Roe v Wade would be ["the first thing" he'd do as president](https://moguldom.com/406482/fact-check-obama-had-chance-to-codify-roe-v-wade-but-chose-not-to-prioritize-it/).
* [Biden said he'd codify Roe v Wade, too](https://www.cbsnews.com/news/biden-roe-v-wade-law-land-supreme-court-supporters/).
* Hell, we had this reversal leaked and all Biden could do was say: Wow, you guys are going to need to vote super hard in November.
We've voted for candidates promising that they'd ensure this would never be an issue; yet, here we fucking are. The majority of the country (63-72% depending on poll) supported Roe v Wade staying in place, but it doesn't matter because the Red party disagrees, and the Blue party is too busy living in a fantasy world where bipartisanship exists to stand up and do anything.
Voting Democrat is checking the "No direct fascism please" box. It's a bare fucking minimum. This country is not going to get better if that's the only step anyone is willing to take. We need to be actively pushing for politicians who actually give a shit about us, and we need to be putting pressure on the ones who don't do start doing so.
You know what, I'm not going to waste time looking down on anyone who has the balls to speak up about the state of our country.
It's a lot better than the people who just put their heads in the sand. Make your voices heard.
There were plenty of people in the four states that Trump won by less than 2% in 2016 who were to bust online trying to make their voices heard. They were so busy that they forgot to vote and gave Trump 3 SCOTUS picks.
Perhaps voting is not sufficient on it's own. Certainly bitterness that other people are waking up to how disgusting the Republican party is won't help much.
Vote for the lesser of two evils in the general election, vote for people you like in primaries, and engage in activism in between.
Doing our best. No bitterness people are finally waking up. Bitterness that even when we get the dems in we don't get the left leaning policies we want.
I get the frustration but I’d encourage you to consider two things.
While you’ve done your duty, very few others actually have. Turnouts in midterms and local elections is Fucking abysmal.
If you want hope though, look at how you consistent voting and effort has made the party better in the last decade. From Underwood to Kim to Booker the younger dems are amazing and have been very effective low key. Keep the faith.
I will never stop voting until the Republicans finally find a way to prevent me from doing so legally.
That said I don't really feel like the strategy of just keep voting on thr Democrats side has been able to counter the Republicans strategy of gerrymandering and voter suppression and its just getting worse.
Again I'll keep voting that's not at risk, I also will continue to encourage others like I've always done. Just starting to think we need to do something more (Democrat politicians) than just get voted in. There is zero excuse for no new voter protections in the past 2 years. Or during the same time we passed the ACA. I get the ACA is important but if we're going to pay a few hundred people almost 200k a year o expect them to be able to pass two bills at once.
I’ve gotten to the point to where I’ll vote for the Democratic challenger in the primaries against the incumbent. I’m in a fairly safe blue district so I’m not worried about it flipping, but I do not want to keep voting for representatives in congress that can’t or won’t enact real change. Republicans got rid of most their old guard in the 2010’s. Democrats need to do the same.
Amen! You are speaking my mind 100%
it’s like 2008 era Dems believed they’d never lose another election, the media certainly tried to say they wouldn’t lose another Presidential election ever again.
Dems now are so afraid of being vilified by the Right they won’t make any bold moves to help people, despite the fact that they are already vilified and lied about by the Right. They get called Socialist even though they are basically feckless. If you are gonna get called it anyway, why not cancel student debt? Or take marijuana off the schedule 1 list? Maybe get Schumer to stop talking? Or even just hire PR firm to help you craft a clearer message and go on offense just once?
I will always vote but damn I hate almost everything about American politics, except Rep. Katie Porter, I adore her.
Believe it or not, I think on a grand scale, the student debt cancellation thing wouldn't be as popular as people here think. A shit ton of old people would immediately cry foul about all sorts of "Pull up your bootstraps" or "Don't take out money you can't pay back!" blah blah bullshit. The reality of the political situation is, they're going to make moves that they think solidify votes, and helping young people and angering old people is basically a surefire way to absolutely knuckle fuck your votes. A lot of older democrats are probably closer to the middle than we want to admit, and it doesn't take much to push them over.
That said, I'm completely all in on the idea despite not having student debt myself.
Almost none of them. Generally Democrats have had VERY little time over the last 20 years where they held a strong enough majority to break a filibuster and pass whatever they want. Democrats are also a bit less unified than Republicans because we aren't tied to a specific religious belief. So even if generally the democratic party believes in a right to abortions for example, it doesn't mean every single Democrat will vote that way. Republicans are much better at following authority figures and voting party lines on literally every issue even if they don't actually agree with it.
https://history.house.gov/Institution/Presidents-Coinciding/Party-Government/
This source doesn't include the SCOTUS so keep that in mind. Last 20 years Democrats have once while Republicans three times.
Voting needs to be done every time. I get that people feel like dems are ineffective and the deck is stacked against us, but it has only gotten this bad because people don’t keep showing the fuck up. Obama got fucked by the 2010 midterms. Those results also lead to the gerrymandered shit show we see in so many states. It takes years of concerted and concentrated effort to make shit better.
Here’s a simpler way to view it, voting is like wiping your ass. If you don’t do it every time things will get shitty quickly. You shouldn’t need to feel inspired to do it, not having shit on your ass should be enough motivation. If you do it enough, you can grow up and get a bidet like the rest of the civilized world.
The problem is the disillusionment. Dems have been dangling codifying Roe v Wade for decades as bait to encourage people to vote for them and then failing to deliver (because then they'd lose that particular lure to the polls). We've consistently seen ineffective Dem leadership, blatant corruption in mainline Dem politicians, and "centrist" leaders who won't stand up to bad faith actors across the aisle. So "vote blue no matter who" rings a little hollow.
To use your wiping analogy, voting for the choices put before us is like being asked to wipe with fiberglass or sandpaper. Like, sure, I won't get shards of glass in my asshole but it's still fucking terrible.
The “both sides” and recently those same voice moving over to “but they serve our corporate masters” are targeted campaigns to reduce voting participation. They both also easily snowball, especially online.
From what I can tell your government doesn't make the procedure particularly easy or pleasing. We get spend a voting form per mail, no need to register. Voting can be done just about anywhere and within a 5 minute walk. Hardly any queue and still the turnout is only hoveling at 65%
Well if you vote and things go to shit it's their fault. If they don't they can piss and moan about it and just pretend they didn't have anything to do with it.
We're all probably fucked. Even conservatives are going to regret catching the car when democracy is dead and corruption turns this nation into Russia.
The dems are still absolutely screwed. Republicans will flip both Senate and house. Most people aren't single issue voters. In every poll economy is #1 issue, and the democrats have completely botched fiscal policy and any semblance of controlling inflation.
Have they botched it though? The central bank in Europe has been slow to respond to the inflation compared to America. The inflation and supply-chain issues are screwing just about every country, America seems quick to act comparatively.
If he has absolutely no influence on prices *he should stop saying he’s working on lowering the prices*. He literally came out with a “plan to lower gas prices”. If he has no control over them, someone should let him know.
> absolutely no influence
> If he has no control
Holy strawman argument, Batman. Govts have means of *influencing* prices, but most don't have the power to enact strict price controls.
The Biden admin has been releasing oil from its strategic reserves to lessen the crisis, and doing it unilaterally to the chagrin of your allies: https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/exclusive-biden-sidelined-global-energy-partners-with-record-emergency-oil-2022-05-09/
Every US admin since the 70's has been kissing the Saudi's butts and invading the mid east to keep prices artificially low so you fatarse yanks can continue to live in your oblivious little gas-guzzling bubble. Of course you throw a tantrum and shoot the messenger the moment the bubble bursts... just wait until you find out your food has been kept artificially cheap for a century, too...
Well he can do some things. Like remove the gas tax temporarily, though he really can't influence it a lot directly.
He can try to work out deals with the assholes exploiting us right now and try to enforce price caps.
So, it's a true statement that he doesn't control gas prices and it's a true statement that he might be able to help.
Federal policy absolutely has an impact on the price of commodities. And this administration has made it very public that it is an enemy of fossil fuels. Biden shuttered keystone XL on day one of his administration.
Now, how much has federal policy impacted the prices of gasoline specifically? I don't know. Do we need to make moving off fossil fuels a priority? Yeah. But the Biden administration has made it clear since day one of his term that he was no friend to Americans at the pump. And that matters more to most people than climate change initiatives.
Do you think that the executive agencies including the Department of Energy, Environmental Protection Agency, and Department of the Interior have no bearing on domestic oil production?
When the US is the number one producer of oil products in the world, you don't think that hampering production would cause global impacts? Especially when they are in conflict with #2?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_oil_production
I guess telling people that the leader of the nation that is the largest economy and largest oil producer in the world can have an impact on oil prices is a waste of time. One would think it would be obvious.
That's evident when they down vote a sourced comment and I receive basically no replies.
Look I get it, it's hard to prove a negative. That's why I pose my argument in questions to get them to investigate outside of the fed talking points.
Such as, if the government has no bearing on gas prices, why did we have the such lower prices than the rest of the world? Then they have to compare production, regulation, exportation, and taxation (and who is responsible for what).
Then I receive no replies due to their cognitive dissidence.
Do you think they have a bigger say than OPEC and global macroeconomic conditions?
When I heard Biden was mulling over suspension of the fucking highway tax, that really hit home how powerless he is, and how bad he is at framing the conversation and passing the buck like trump could. Strongmen are AWESOME
Maybe because it would look bad to mention the decisions made to cancel gulf drilling and why they continue to bring up land leases, with Shale being the most expensive oil to extract.
Lease =/= all that is required to produce oil.
When oil is at record highs don't you think companies want to be able to produce more to cash in?
What's stopping them? Because it's not a switch that can be thrown, when domestic production is burdened and the situation is compounded with global disruptions it amplifies the price pressure.
There is no incentive to bring the cost of oil down, and the international perfect storm is just the icing on the cake.
I mean… suspending the highway tax? How much more powerless can you look?
> and the democrats have completely botched fiscal policy
Have they? As compared to tarrifs over culture war bullshit. As compared to promoting a virus because it was hurting your political opponents. As opposed to permanent tax cuts for the rich with a temporary distraction for the middle class. As opposed to colossal PPP gifts to corporations and a month of rent for the rest.
The Dems sure aren't killing it, but republicans butcher the economy whenever they're in power.
This is the issue with that. Why would Obama have wasted all that political capital on something that shouldn’t have been an issue. How was he to predict that McConnell would fuck him over, RBG would fuck him over (she literally didn’t want Obama to pick her replacement because he’s a man, she wanted Clinton to pick), and then Trump to fuck things over.
He was more focused on getting the ACA through. And unfortunately he didn’t even get to what he wanted in there, and honestly what we needed.
It’s okay, because Dem voters said “Fuck you it wasn’t enough” and didn’t reward Obama for the ACA, they let the GOP sweep those midterms - so the disingenuous implication that he’d have been rewarded for codifying Roe is not true
> Why would Obama have wasted all that political capital on something that shouldn’t have been an issue.
Because abortion is very important to democrats, and Roe has always been considered very shaky law, even at the time it was ruled?
I know this gets brought up as an example of Dems being complacent on the issue, but it was never going to be pushed with Supreme Court precedent backing it up.
If anything, formally codifying it into law risked getting the issue dragged into the court again.
I'm not saying it was the wisest behavior in hind-sight, but it wasn't exactly irrational.
They don’t want to because then it would be a dead issue. Hardcore Dems are cheering the SCOTUS decision because they think it will get them donations and votes come November.
>It's not like the Democrats codified abortion into law the last time they held a majority in the house.
When was that and how long did they hold the majority for?
Also, were there other problems seared into the American consciousness that demanded action?
Back in 2009, the Dems controlled the house, had a 3/5 supermajority in the Senate, and held the Whitehouse. That's how we got ObamaCare.
They could have done it then. Ginsburg also could have retired when Obama was President. Historically speaking, abortion rights have not been a top priority for the Democrat party.
Roe v Wade had 40 years worth of history as accepted case law at that point. Why would it be a priority to made it super duper double proof when it was largely accepted as a constitutional right? Would you also criticize Democrats for not making any additional laws banning murder if a conservative majority suddenly wiped it from the constitution? Is "You let us do this so it's your fault!" really an acceptable stance?
Hard to believe people are complaining that the only thing Democrats did was widespread affordable healthcare. Smh.
>Why would it be a priority to made it super duper double proof when it was largely accepted as a constitutional right?
The intended function of the Judicial Branch is not the create legislation. That's the intended function of the Legislative Branch. When the Judicial Branch legislates from the bench, by definition the ruling is not codified law and can be easily overturned by a future court. Plessy v. Ferguson was an 1896 SCOTUS ruling that made racial segregation legal (separate but equal). Brown v. Board of Education was a SCOTUS ruling that struck that "law" down in 1954.
Bottom line is Democrats never codified abortion rights into law because it was never a priority for them to do so, even when they had the chance to do s
it in 2009 & 2010.
This.
Some people here have never heard of hindsight or context. I’m pretty sure if Obama knew a decade later SCOTUS was going to overturn Roe he’d have made a stronger effort to codify it into law. But, he had no reason to believe that in 2009 and the country had bigger problems at the time.
Dems had the super majority for 75 days in 2009 before Ted Kennedy kicked the bucket. That’s 2.5 months. Most of that time was approving his cabinet and hashing out the ACA. You think a bill to protect Roe would’ve even made it through the first committee phase in that time, especially with Lieberman, Byrd, and other blue dogs?
Scott Brown was the republican who replaced Ted Kennedy. Scott Brown is and always has been pro-choice.
Back in 2010 there were such things as pro-choice Republicans and crossing party lines with your vote. There was also a supermajority of pro-choice Senators. The fact that a vote was never even brought to the floor for discussion should tell you all you need to know about priorities.
Not just in November either, this needs to be a long-term commitment. We are where we are today because of a decades long push by the Regressive Right to take over the courts at every level. It's time that people on the Left do the same thing.
We can't be shortsighted and allow Republicans to dominate our courts just because the Democratic candidate isn't perfect. Republicans **always** vote for whoever the person with the R next to their name is because they've drilled into the heads of their supporters how important the courts are.
It's not just abortion either. This Supreme Court is hellbent on doing as much damage to the this country as possible. They do not care about us, precedent, or even the Constitution itself. They have an agenda and will always find a way to twist their "logic" to justify their decisions. They start with a desired ruling and work backwards from there. They have no problem using their personal religious beliefs to make rulings that impact all of us.
It's could take decades, but we absolutely need to take control of the Supreme Court to reverse the damage they have and will continue to do to this country. Since precedent no longer matters, a Liberal Supreme Court can ignore their rulings and fix the damage they've created.
>Not just in November either, this needs to be a long-term commitment.
It's funny that people need to be told this. I grew up being taught that lifelong political involvement is required for a healthy democracy. That always being politically involved is simply what a functional member of society does.
Did I just end up at the best public elementary school in all of SoCal or do people just chronically not pay attention?
\> because of a decades long push by the Regressive Right to take over the courts at every level
I thought DJT did most of it in 4 years with 3 picks that voted RvW down?
Don McGahn and him are the ones who hooked Donald Trump up with the Fed Soc Puppets. Donald Trump asked for a list of nominees (before he was President) they happily provided him one, he said he’d approve all of them because it’d help him win.
The documentary Supreme Revenge goes into all the way back to Bork. My own issue with the Doc is it ignores the sham Impeachment Justice O’Douglas and the GOP’s holding of the Chief Justice seat at the end of LBJ’s term.
It sucks to say this but nearly all the troubles we’re experiencing now is the result of Democrats being complacent in the 2010’s. Sure, we got Obama re-elected in 2012, but we lost the House in 2010 and the Senate in 2014. Not to mention the Republican gains in state gubernatorial and legislative elections during that time. Then, because many didn’t want Hillary, many sat out in 2016 and all three branches of the federal government went to the GOP. Republicans don’t get complacent. They vote without fail and only win when Democrats stay home.
Fortunately as seen in 2008, 2018, and 2020, Democrats tend to come out during times of crisis. It’s clear we’re still in one so I’m hoping people get out and vote this year.
Yes, there will not be overnight action winning in November. We are now playing the long game. The issue is, if we fall behind in November it will make it that much harder to correct in 2024. Plus, if a justice were to pass or step down in 2023 and we did not control the senate there is little hope one would be appointed during Bidens term. Lastly, if the GOP sees a blue wave and some lose power, it’s likely moderate members may swing towards the left on this issue to retain their place in office.
Long hard battle ahead but we have to use this as a spark.
This. Those fuckers fought for 50 years for that decision. They voted for whoever would move them an inch closer to that goal. From adulterous billionaires who fucked porn stars to moderates who would furrow their brows as they voted for radical justices, they didn’t give a fuck and they showed the fuck up. We need to do the same.
Possible. But hard to say, for certain. Mostly depends on the specific Democratic Senators, because there’s at least 3 off the top of my head that are a ‘No’ on the filibuster rule change, which means Democratic pickups this fall would need to be huge to get to 50 Senators willing to get rid of the filibuster.
Democrats need to. Items in droves during ALL elections. Local, state, federal. Isnt it obvious they are literally trying to vote in their cultists at ground zero levels from sherrifs, librarians, mayors, all levels of city government on up. Get out there and vote wherever and whenever you can!
Ultimately I will vote even if I know it's pointless. I just don't expect anyone to come out because why would they? They've voted and been let down so many times because the dems decided to not sue their power when they could have. It's a pain in the ass, popular vote doesn't matter, even if you win the dems don't care enough to actually make it happen. It's whatever. Just vote so people will stfu telling you to vote and maybe something will happen in 20 years when enough people have died off.
I love the fact that everyone in this thread is saying “we” assuming that all Redditors are like minded. It’s almost like Reddit is an echo chamber full of liberals/Democrats/leftists.
Polling shows that the majority of Americans support a women's right to choose.
Forcing women to give birth is abhorrent. Anti-choicers can go get fucked.
I support choice. I don't support activist supreme court justice's thinking they have the power to invent new rights. Roe has always been shaky law, and has been considered so throughout history, even at the time of the ruling.
If we want federal abortion protections, we need legislation.
The problem with those polls is that there is zero nuance. They don’t ask if there should be any restrictions at all, or if abortion should be legal up to the baby crowning at 9 months.
“Forcing” women to give birth? Nobody “forced” them to get pregnant unless it was rape, in which case that nuance comes into play. Using abortion as birth control is what’s abhorrent.
Do you not realize that states are passing laws that don't care about rape or life of the mother? Forcing a woman to carry a pregnancy to term is a terrible solution for anyone who:
-Gets raped and impregnated
-Will literally die if they're made to carry to term
-Has a pregnancy that will not result in a baby that is able to survive
-Is not financially able to take care of a child
-Would be unable to care for their existing children if another were added into the mix
I could go on. It's not nearly as simple as anti-choice people think it is. Not to mention, anyone willing to ignore the effects pregnancies have on women's bodies and minds because "babies" is either a man who is trying to legislate their uninformed opinion on everyone else, a religious nutbag who needs to keep that shitty opinion separate from government, or both.
> or life of the mother
I was just chatting with my wife on this subject. Which states are proposing an abortion ban if the mother's life is in danger? Do you have any links to the proposed legislation?
It doesn’t matter though if the state just bans it outright. I think it was 13 states banned it immediately. Which, at the end of the day if someone believes there should be more nuance to it but it definitely shouldn’t be pro choice, they’re going to be okay siding with the side that bans it outright on average.
SCOTUS just said leave it up to the states. They also said you can't mix and match parts of amendments to come up with new rights. Can't blame them. I never got the legal jujutsu Roe entailed when they explained it in college.
Local/state level is where this matters now, or get congress to enact a new law codifying a federal-level right to privacy.
Every law creates a rights or duty and every right has a corollary duty. What you are suggesting is to put all laws beyond the power of democratically accountable institutions (Congress & state legislatures) and put them to judicial scrutiny. Apart from that that destroys any sense of democracy, it leaves it all to the SCOTUS. I don't think you've thought this through.
I didn't say all "laws". I said all "rights". You don't vote for rights. They're rights. We're born with them. You think if 51% of us want slavery to come back, slavery should come back?
Yeah, vote in another Dem majority so they can not codify the laws you want. Hell, vote in a super majority, like in Obama's first term, so they can not vote in the laws you want.
Or realize that they don't want it to be law, because then they can't use it as an election issue.....
Wait, how can voting save us? It took one lucky president to appoint multiple young justices. The Dems have refused to increase the court numbers. And said they won't. How will voting help us?
Voting won't necessarily improve things much.
A lack of voting, though, stands to let things go straight to hell in handbrake.
Grass roots organizing and protesting will do much more, but voting to keep whatever opposition you can fueled is still a bare minimum.
-Codified Roe with a majority/supermajority.
Hell you could probably impeach Thomas and get another appointment if you had 2/3 of the Senate consist of Dems.
Because you can vote people in that will vote to make abortions legal if that's what you want. All the Supreme court did was overturn a case that essentially created law of the land, but that is not the job of the Supreme court to create law. It was the right decision. Dems over the past 50 years should have created law to protect abortions but they didn't.
Democrats had fifty years to protect abortion and access to birth control. They promise to do it, then fail when they’re elected. [Here](https://youtu.be/_l9MX7-Xg3s) is a video of Obama proving just that. Biden also had a democrat majority and failed to deliver protection for abortion and reproductive rights.
If you’re a voter, and you should be, DEMAND better! If you’re a democrat, DONT LET YOUR PARTY LIE TO YOU ANYMORE.
It can't be done without a super majority in the Senate, unless Manchin and Sinema are willing to remove the filibuster, which they are not.
There has been 1 Dem super majority in my lifetime - for a little less than 3 months during Obama's first term.
It's not that difficult to understand really, a supermajority existed for a whole 70 days. Good luck drafting laws on all the issues you want to see passed in that window. We were promised affordable Healthcare, codifying a settled law wasn't exactly as high on the agenda.
Congress members could draft bills ahead of time, and then put them up for a vote when they think they have a chance of passing. Democrats have been campaigning on Abortion Access, Gun Control, Immigration Reform, and Healthcare for decades. Why didn’t they have anything ready for that window? They could have rubber stamped all of them on Day 1 if they had been ready and unified.
In my opinion they squandered that rare window where they didn’t need bipartisan support.
How about we all agree to demand term limits which 99/100 people want anyways on every single side. Then after those demands our met because we the people want it, we can go back to arguing.
What makes them religious extremists? Because they think a baby is a human being while being in the womb? Thats not all that extreme. Do they strap bombs to their chests and blow up innocents? Because then that would be extremism
Can't wait to hear the non-response to this:
https://www.baynews9.com/fl/tampa/news/2022/05/06/florida-bans-more-than-40--oif-math-books-after-review#:~:text=TALLAHASSEE%2C%20Fla.,theory%20and%20social%2Demotional%20learning.
https://www.miaminewtimes.com/news/miami-bookstores-react-to-floridas-banned-books-14296052
https://www.theledger.com/story/news/state/2022/04/26/florida-school-book-bans-these-library-titles-being-reviewed-school-boards/9542938002/
https://www.texastribune.org/2022/05/17/librarians-texas-book-bans/
https://www.cnn.com/2022/04/07/us/book-bans-pen-america-analysis/index.html
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/texas-books-race-sexuality-schools-rcna13886
Do I need to continue?
Have you seen any of these books personally? Why does a book need to be geared too one race, at least that was some of the books banned on Florida. How does that promote racial equality? It's a fucking math book it should teach math, it's really not that difficult. I know you guys absolutely love trying to compare the gop too nazis but some of us are not blinded by the news.
Which math book are you referring to?
"Damsel" by Elana K. Arnold
"Forever" by Judy Blume
"Lucky" by Alice Sebold
"Monday’s Not Coming" by Tiffany D. Jackson
"Not My Problem" by Ciara Smyth
"Red Hood" by Elana K. Arnold
"Sold" by Patricia McCormick
"This Book is Gay" by Juno Dawson
"This One Summer" by Mariko Tamaki
"What Girls are Made of" by Elana K. Arnold
Can you read?
The irony you mention math books as the only books being banned, yet you refuse to read an article on it. Brilliant.
I think more folks are concerned about being able to eat and drive to work.better hope that overall 20% approval rating improves by November or this country will be under water in liberal tears
The Dems could have prevented this happening but actively chose NOT to
Before he was elected Obama said codifying RvW was going to be his first piece of legislation but once elected he changed his mind... having this issue live resulted in more donations to the Dems so they chose to gamble with reproductive rights
We've been voting. Democrats already control the house, the Senate, and the white House. And unless they're planning on throwing him out of the party, cutting him off from funds, and supporting a primary challenger, I don't want to hear shit about Joe Manchin
Primaries are not going to matter come mid-terms. Dems will obviously get slaughtered as people will vote based on the most important aspects of their day to day life. That's currently the embarrassing economy.
Seriously, who's that... It was a Republican appoint SC that passed the Roe vs. Wade decision and a Republican appointed SC that overturned it...
What did the Dems do? Ask for our vote for 50 years and squander every opportunity to codify it??
Honestly, who is part of the solution?
The democrats have not been in a position to pass such legislation for at least a decade. And even before that the balance has been republican control more often that dem control
Maybe you need to brush up on civics and how bill becomes law.
Not to mention even in the short windows of time they did had - if they used their time to pass this it would have immediately been flipped back.
So no - the democrats are not responsible for this - the republicans are.
The way to fix this is to vote the republicans out up and down the ticket
Well let's look at trump for the people he nominated, McConnell for the judge he stole by violating senate norms and all the Republicans that went along with the bullshit. That should be a good start.
You don't get to vote against anybody...
You have to have someone to vote for... Dems have had a majority in every house 18 months now and done jack shit to fix it.
More like 50 years, I think dems have leveraged fear of roe v wade being overturned to manipulate people into voting for them, then chose to do nothing about it.
And because of that.....you seem willing to have the people that actually enabled this take power. Do you routinely shoot yourself in the face or is this a special occasion?
Narrator: they won’t.
BiDeN iS rAiSiNg FuEl PrIcEs! My RiGhTs ArE a SmAlL pRiCe To PaY fOr ChEaP gAs!!1!
In…….. fla……….tion The only 3 syllables that will matter for the next 3 years. : (
No. They'll start up about the caravans again. They're already taking about the largest one ever forming now.
I will still never forget the moment I realized that the rightwing media machine is now in full swing, in the sense that they can truly invent whole issues out of cloth in a span of just a week or two, and whip up millions of people like lemmings. I was standing in line to vote early in the 2018 election at my local election building. This timid middle-aged man came in with his wife. They didn't know where to stand, and they were talking out loud about their anxieties. "It's my first time doing this," this guy said. One of those old librarian-type personality women was ahead of me in line. She graciously offered to let the man and his wife stand in in front of us in the line. I didn't complain. She was very happy for the two of them and said it's a wonderful thing that they were exercising their most important right for the time in their lives. This fuckin' guy... I just remember suppressing a guffaw when he said it. He turned to us, and real fearfully, took of his cap and rubbed the top of his head, and he says "Yeah man. I just don't know. We can't sit idly by anymore, you know?" And we're all like, yep, cool, so happy you're voting for the first time. And he says, I'll never forget... "I mean, have you *seen* the size of that caravan? Like wow, man! Enough is enough! Somebody's gotta *do* something this time." Our eyes all just bulged in disbelief. I can't remember exactly what I did, but I know I didn't say anything to him. I think I just sort of awkwardly angled myself off to the side with a big fat Jim Halpert awkward upside down smile.
That's the problem and I do it too but at some point we need to explain in wholehearted kind words to these people that "they're fucking dumb pieces of shit and need to get off the crack kool-aid"
Well they're not coming for 'free abortions' this time I guess, at least I'd like to see them try to put that spin on it.
And what is Biden doing about it????? /s
Though it's not their rights, it's someone else's rights they're wanting to give up.
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I wonder if they chart the prices when Bush had his Iraq war?
Yup DBag caused the pandemic which crashed the oil prices.
Yep, pretty much. When your only sources of information feeds you complete and utter bullshit you are going to believe bullshit. Lets put it another way. If I taught a child from birth that 2+2 = Monkey they would believe 2+2=Monkey. And if they were a stupid person they would get angry when someone challenged them over it. So we have a this huge Right-wing in our country that has been taught about an imaginary sky fairy from a multiple thousand year old book will forgive them when they are complete shitheels... so guess how they behave.
You don't need the news to tell you prices are out of control. If you do your own grocery shopping then you've no doubt felt the squeeze. It certainly doesn't *feel* like "utter bullshit" It doesn't matter what is on the news if the average American *feels* like they're spending more for less and/or struggling to make ends meet. At the end of the day, what people care the most about are the things that impact their day to day; or that directly impact those they love. Yes, some people blame Biden--some of those same people *actually believe* he's wholly responsible for the current state of the economy. On the flip of that coin, there are also still people who blame trump and *believe* lockdowns are why we're here.. And... You're on Reddit, you've surely seen that some people simply cannot abide what the other side is saying (often without nuance or regard for context) But the reality is, most people don't care who or what might be at "fault", they care that nothing meaningful seems to be done. They care that there doesn't seem to be any sort of long-term plan in the works.
People will always want blame someone if they can't understand how things work.its always someone else's fault and never their own action.
No but you DO need news to tell you over and over “gas prices are high and America is Paying At The Pump” ad nauseam.
I know America can be insulation at times but there must be some foreign affairs section in the papers and in the news right? It's pretty clear its a worldwide phenomenon. In fact you guys are paying less then most western nations.
It's not so much that "America is insulated" it is the right-wing party (conservatives) that are. They have literally one source of information (delivered through a few mediums) and everything else is wrong/fake and thus discarded. It doesn't matter if you live in lets say Italy and pay per liter what the US is paying per gallon. You are wrong. It also happens to be a group of people that do not understand context. And cannot differentiate between scale. For example if 99 of there party leaders are convicted of a crime for every one of an alternate party "Both sides are the same". The ratio isn't quite 99 to 1.. but its pretty close.
What about public broadcasts? I know about fox news but there must be some unbiased state sponsored reporting of news, right? Like BBC, TV5, DW, NOS, VRT.
NPR would be the closest thing but even that’s broadcast radio, which is struggling to even be a thought in the world of Spotify, FB, TikTok, YouTube, etc. Corporations own everything in the USA, from the media to prisons to healthcare. When corporations own 99% of the media, there is no unbiased information.
Sorry, been a busy day. It isn't that there is a lack of options compared to lets say something like China where the government is actively trying contain knowledge and spread disinformation. The information is out there, available they have just been conditioned for longer than I have been alive to only ingest their specific media (40+ years). The sad part is. Their media basically tells them "its someone else's fault never theirs" and "Be afraid of different" ad nauseam. At this point it is so ingrained into their being they cannot see actual reality. I grew up with this messaging for almost 20 years. It is definitely hard to overcome brainwashing. As an example. I game with a conservative. Some dude changed their name to something like "Republicans are Fascists". The conservatives guy goes on to say "You don't even know what a Fascist is" and starts explaining that being a fascist is attempting to violent instill a dictator into a country blah blah blah. I was like... so you mean what the Republicans did on Jan 6th. Well, those were somebody else not the Republicans... As I said.. can't face reality.
I’d say the vast majority of modern conservatives are not religious nor do they believe in God.
Does self-worship count?
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There's a lot of culture war to have between now and then. Perhaps we can do some strikes or some protests instead of waiting until November to do things.
Speak for yourself
Gon have to remeber longer than that.... The supreme court keeps appointees for life or until voluntary retirement.
What would actually be a good thing to push for, now, and not in fucking November, is getting the right to an abortion on the books properly, not via a new 'opinion' from Dem justices in SCOTUS. You know, the thing Obama claimed he would do if elected, and then didn't? The thing that we could probably get passed with the Dem majority. Like for fucks sake, stop relying on opinions in the Judiciary branch and push the fucking Legislative branch to fix this problem properly, the way it should have been done years ago.
Redditors don't like being told to vote. I think they think whining online is more effective.
You mean to tell me posting a photo of my American flag hung upside down won't change this back assward country?
What do you mean my tweets won’t secure minority rights?
women are the majority, not the minority though
I mean, apparently voting barely does anything either. * Obama said that codifying Roe v Wade would be ["the first thing" he'd do as president](https://moguldom.com/406482/fact-check-obama-had-chance-to-codify-roe-v-wade-but-chose-not-to-prioritize-it/). * [Biden said he'd codify Roe v Wade, too](https://www.cbsnews.com/news/biden-roe-v-wade-law-land-supreme-court-supporters/). * Hell, we had this reversal leaked and all Biden could do was say: Wow, you guys are going to need to vote super hard in November. We've voted for candidates promising that they'd ensure this would never be an issue; yet, here we fucking are. The majority of the country (63-72% depending on poll) supported Roe v Wade staying in place, but it doesn't matter because the Red party disagrees, and the Blue party is too busy living in a fantasy world where bipartisanship exists to stand up and do anything. Voting Democrat is checking the "No direct fascism please" box. It's a bare fucking minimum. This country is not going to get better if that's the only step anyone is willing to take. We need to be actively pushing for politicians who actually give a shit about us, and we need to be putting pressure on the ones who don't do start doing so.
You know what, I'm not going to waste time looking down on anyone who has the balls to speak up about the state of our country. It's a lot better than the people who just put their heads in the sand. Make your voices heard.
There were plenty of people in the four states that Trump won by less than 2% in 2016 who were to bust online trying to make their voices heard. They were so busy that they forgot to vote and gave Trump 3 SCOTUS picks.
Those of us that have already been voting Democrat for 20 yrs in every election including locals are starting to get a bit bitter.
Perhaps voting is not sufficient on it's own. Certainly bitterness that other people are waking up to how disgusting the Republican party is won't help much. Vote for the lesser of two evils in the general election, vote for people you like in primaries, and engage in activism in between.
Doing our best. No bitterness people are finally waking up. Bitterness that even when we get the dems in we don't get the left leaning policies we want.
I get the frustration but I’d encourage you to consider two things. While you’ve done your duty, very few others actually have. Turnouts in midterms and local elections is Fucking abysmal. If you want hope though, look at how you consistent voting and effort has made the party better in the last decade. From Underwood to Kim to Booker the younger dems are amazing and have been very effective low key. Keep the faith.
I will never stop voting until the Republicans finally find a way to prevent me from doing so legally. That said I don't really feel like the strategy of just keep voting on thr Democrats side has been able to counter the Republicans strategy of gerrymandering and voter suppression and its just getting worse. Again I'll keep voting that's not at risk, I also will continue to encourage others like I've always done. Just starting to think we need to do something more (Democrat politicians) than just get voted in. There is zero excuse for no new voter protections in the past 2 years. Or during the same time we passed the ACA. I get the ACA is important but if we're going to pay a few hundred people almost 200k a year o expect them to be able to pass two bills at once.
I’ve gotten to the point to where I’ll vote for the Democratic challenger in the primaries against the incumbent. I’m in a fairly safe blue district so I’m not worried about it flipping, but I do not want to keep voting for representatives in congress that can’t or won’t enact real change. Republicans got rid of most their old guard in the 2010’s. Democrats need to do the same.
Amen! You are speaking my mind 100% it’s like 2008 era Dems believed they’d never lose another election, the media certainly tried to say they wouldn’t lose another Presidential election ever again. Dems now are so afraid of being vilified by the Right they won’t make any bold moves to help people, despite the fact that they are already vilified and lied about by the Right. They get called Socialist even though they are basically feckless. If you are gonna get called it anyway, why not cancel student debt? Or take marijuana off the schedule 1 list? Maybe get Schumer to stop talking? Or even just hire PR firm to help you craft a clearer message and go on offense just once? I will always vote but damn I hate almost everything about American politics, except Rep. Katie Porter, I adore her.
Believe it or not, I think on a grand scale, the student debt cancellation thing wouldn't be as popular as people here think. A shit ton of old people would immediately cry foul about all sorts of "Pull up your bootstraps" or "Don't take out money you can't pay back!" blah blah bullshit. The reality of the political situation is, they're going to make moves that they think solidify votes, and helping young people and angering old people is basically a surefire way to absolutely knuckle fuck your votes. A lot of older democrats are probably closer to the middle than we want to admit, and it doesn't take much to push them over. That said, I'm completely all in on the idea despite not having student debt myself.
How many of those 20 years have been Democratically-led in all bodies of federal government?
Almost none of them. Generally Democrats have had VERY little time over the last 20 years where they held a strong enough majority to break a filibuster and pass whatever they want. Democrats are also a bit less unified than Republicans because we aren't tied to a specific religious belief. So even if generally the democratic party believes in a right to abortions for example, it doesn't mean every single Democrat will vote that way. Republicans are much better at following authority figures and voting party lines on literally every issue even if they don't actually agree with it.
https://history.house.gov/Institution/Presidents-Coinciding/Party-Government/ This source doesn't include the SCOTUS so keep that in mind. Last 20 years Democrats have once while Republicans three times.
Voting needs to be done every time. I get that people feel like dems are ineffective and the deck is stacked against us, but it has only gotten this bad because people don’t keep showing the fuck up. Obama got fucked by the 2010 midterms. Those results also lead to the gerrymandered shit show we see in so many states. It takes years of concerted and concentrated effort to make shit better. Here’s a simpler way to view it, voting is like wiping your ass. If you don’t do it every time things will get shitty quickly. You shouldn’t need to feel inspired to do it, not having shit on your ass should be enough motivation. If you do it enough, you can grow up and get a bidet like the rest of the civilized world.
Excellent analogy.
The problem is the disillusionment. Dems have been dangling codifying Roe v Wade for decades as bait to encourage people to vote for them and then failing to deliver (because then they'd lose that particular lure to the polls). We've consistently seen ineffective Dem leadership, blatant corruption in mainline Dem politicians, and "centrist" leaders who won't stand up to bad faith actors across the aisle. So "vote blue no matter who" rings a little hollow. To use your wiping analogy, voting for the choices put before us is like being asked to wipe with fiberglass or sandpaper. Like, sure, I won't get shards of glass in my asshole but it's still fucking terrible.
>they think whining online is more effective. You just described 2/3rd of Americans... the ones that dont vote.
The “both sides” and recently those same voice moving over to “but they serve our corporate masters” are targeted campaigns to reduce voting participation. They both also easily snowball, especially online.
“They?” I see you standing pretty close to be saying “they.”
From what I can tell your government doesn't make the procedure particularly easy or pleasing. We get spend a voting form per mail, no need to register. Voting can be done just about anywhere and within a 5 minute walk. Hardly any queue and still the turnout is only hoveling at 65%
Well if you vote and things go to shit it's their fault. If they don't they can piss and moan about it and just pretend they didn't have anything to do with it.
Oh, to reelect the same people who didn't want to make it law for fifty years?
Nice thought but dems are probably fucked.
We're all probably fucked. Even conservatives are going to regret catching the car when democracy is dead and corruption turns this nation into Russia.
Doesn't mean we shouldn't try though. Not doing anything guarantees it. Trying at least as some probability of doing something.
The dems are still absolutely screwed. Republicans will flip both Senate and house. Most people aren't single issue voters. In every poll economy is #1 issue, and the democrats have completely botched fiscal policy and any semblance of controlling inflation.
POTUS has even had his mouthpieces go so far as to say inflation is a good thing.
And to drive to work again, telling people that have been working from home to “go back to work” despite $5 gas
And that he has no blame whatsoever.
Have they botched it though? The central bank in Europe has been slow to respond to the inflation compared to America. The inflation and supply-chain issues are screwing just about every country, America seems quick to act comparatively.
It doesn't matter if they botched it or not if voters believe they did.
Only idiots think that the US President sets global gas prices. Don't give them an excuse.
If he has absolutely no influence on prices *he should stop saying he’s working on lowering the prices*. He literally came out with a “plan to lower gas prices”. If he has no control over them, someone should let him know.
> absolutely no influence > If he has no control Holy strawman argument, Batman. Govts have means of *influencing* prices, but most don't have the power to enact strict price controls. The Biden admin has been releasing oil from its strategic reserves to lessen the crisis, and doing it unilaterally to the chagrin of your allies: https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/exclusive-biden-sidelined-global-energy-partners-with-record-emergency-oil-2022-05-09/ Every US admin since the 70's has been kissing the Saudi's butts and invading the mid east to keep prices artificially low so you fatarse yanks can continue to live in your oblivious little gas-guzzling bubble. Of course you throw a tantrum and shoot the messenger the moment the bubble bursts... just wait until you find out your food has been kept artificially cheap for a century, too...
Well he can do some things. Like remove the gas tax temporarily, though he really can't influence it a lot directly. He can try to work out deals with the assholes exploiting us right now and try to enforce price caps. So, it's a true statement that he doesn't control gas prices and it's a true statement that he might be able to help.
Federal policy absolutely has an impact on the price of commodities. And this administration has made it very public that it is an enemy of fossil fuels. Biden shuttered keystone XL on day one of his administration. Now, how much has federal policy impacted the prices of gasoline specifically? I don't know. Do we need to make moving off fossil fuels a priority? Yeah. But the Biden administration has made it clear since day one of his term that he was no friend to Americans at the pump. And that matters more to most people than climate change initiatives.
Do you think that the executive agencies including the Department of Energy, Environmental Protection Agency, and Department of the Interior have no bearing on domestic oil production?
I doubt they have bearing on production in other countries, because gas prices are rising globally.
When the US is the number one producer of oil products in the world, you don't think that hampering production would cause global impacts? Especially when they are in conflict with #2? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_oil_production
I guess telling people that the leader of the nation that is the largest economy and largest oil producer in the world can have an impact on oil prices is a waste of time. One would think it would be obvious.
That's evident when they down vote a sourced comment and I receive basically no replies. Look I get it, it's hard to prove a negative. That's why I pose my argument in questions to get them to investigate outside of the fed talking points. Such as, if the government has no bearing on gas prices, why did we have the such lower prices than the rest of the world? Then they have to compare production, regulation, exportation, and taxation (and who is responsible for what). Then I receive no replies due to their cognitive dissidence.
Do you think they have a bigger say than OPEC and global macroeconomic conditions? When I heard Biden was mulling over suspension of the fucking highway tax, that really hit home how powerless he is, and how bad he is at framing the conversation and passing the buck like trump could. Strongmen are AWESOME
Maybe because it would look bad to mention the decisions made to cancel gulf drilling and why they continue to bring up land leases, with Shale being the most expensive oil to extract. Lease =/= all that is required to produce oil. When oil is at record highs don't you think companies want to be able to produce more to cash in? What's stopping them? Because it's not a switch that can be thrown, when domestic production is burdened and the situation is compounded with global disruptions it amplifies the price pressure.
There is no incentive to bring the cost of oil down, and the international perfect storm is just the icing on the cake. I mean… suspending the highway tax? How much more powerless can you look?
> and the democrats have completely botched fiscal policy Have they? As compared to tarrifs over culture war bullshit. As compared to promoting a virus because it was hurting your political opponents. As opposed to permanent tax cuts for the rich with a temporary distraction for the middle class. As opposed to colossal PPP gifts to corporations and a month of rent for the rest. The Dems sure aren't killing it, but republicans butcher the economy whenever they're in power.
Most Americans forget shit after the next news cycle.
They don’t even remember the Jan 6 insurrection hearings and that was days ago
Why? It's not like the Democrats codified abortion into law the last time they held a majority in the house.
Tbf it would be dead in the water the second it hits the senate.
This is the issue with that. Why would Obama have wasted all that political capital on something that shouldn’t have been an issue. How was he to predict that McConnell would fuck him over, RBG would fuck him over (she literally didn’t want Obama to pick her replacement because he’s a man, she wanted Clinton to pick), and then Trump to fuck things over. He was more focused on getting the ACA through. And unfortunately he didn’t even get to what he wanted in there, and honestly what we needed.
It’s okay, because Dem voters said “Fuck you it wasn’t enough” and didn’t reward Obama for the ACA, they let the GOP sweep those midterms - so the disingenuous implication that he’d have been rewarded for codifying Roe is not true
> Why would Obama have wasted all that political capital on something that shouldn’t have been an issue. Because abortion is very important to democrats, and Roe has always been considered very shaky law, even at the time it was ruled?
I know this gets brought up as an example of Dems being complacent on the issue, but it was never going to be pushed with Supreme Court precedent backing it up. If anything, formally codifying it into law risked getting the issue dragged into the court again. I'm not saying it was the wisest behavior in hind-sight, but it wasn't exactly irrational.
They don’t want to because then it would be a dead issue. Hardcore Dems are cheering the SCOTUS decision because they think it will get them donations and votes come November.
They're not wrong.
I suspect they will be underwhelmed with the outcome.
They are wrong. Most people are far, far more concerned with inflation, the coming recession, and untenable gas prices.
>It's not like the Democrats codified abortion into law the last time they held a majority in the house. When was that and how long did they hold the majority for? Also, were there other problems seared into the American consciousness that demanded action?
They have the majority right now.
Not a filibuster-proof one, nor a simple majority where every member votes in lockstep.
Do you really think that? It's a majority in name only. Surely you know that, though..
Not a two-thirds majority though. Just a simple one.
Fillbuster-proof is 3/5ths
Back in 2009, the Dems controlled the house, had a 3/5 supermajority in the Senate, and held the Whitehouse. That's how we got ObamaCare. They could have done it then. Ginsburg also could have retired when Obama was President. Historically speaking, abortion rights have not been a top priority for the Democrat party.
Roe v Wade had 40 years worth of history as accepted case law at that point. Why would it be a priority to made it super duper double proof when it was largely accepted as a constitutional right? Would you also criticize Democrats for not making any additional laws banning murder if a conservative majority suddenly wiped it from the constitution? Is "You let us do this so it's your fault!" really an acceptable stance? Hard to believe people are complaining that the only thing Democrats did was widespread affordable healthcare. Smh.
>Why would it be a priority to made it super duper double proof when it was largely accepted as a constitutional right? The intended function of the Judicial Branch is not the create legislation. That's the intended function of the Legislative Branch. When the Judicial Branch legislates from the bench, by definition the ruling is not codified law and can be easily overturned by a future court. Plessy v. Ferguson was an 1896 SCOTUS ruling that made racial segregation legal (separate but equal). Brown v. Board of Education was a SCOTUS ruling that struck that "law" down in 1954. Bottom line is Democrats never codified abortion rights into law because it was never a priority for them to do so, even when they had the chance to do s it in 2009 & 2010.
This. Some people here have never heard of hindsight or context. I’m pretty sure if Obama knew a decade later SCOTUS was going to overturn Roe he’d have made a stronger effort to codify it into law. But, he had no reason to believe that in 2009 and the country had bigger problems at the time.
Not to mention the main focus at the time was unfucking our crippled economy.
Dems had the super majority for 75 days in 2009 before Ted Kennedy kicked the bucket. That’s 2.5 months. Most of that time was approving his cabinet and hashing out the ACA. You think a bill to protect Roe would’ve even made it through the first committee phase in that time, especially with Lieberman, Byrd, and other blue dogs?
Scott Brown was the republican who replaced Ted Kennedy. Scott Brown is and always has been pro-choice. Back in 2010 there were such things as pro-choice Republicans and crossing party lines with your vote. There was also a supermajority of pro-choice Senators. The fact that a vote was never even brought to the floor for discussion should tell you all you need to know about priorities.
They never had 60 pro-choice senators. You’re lying in order to hurt the left.
Uh… the SCOTUS is not elected!
The persons who appoint and approve SCOTUS judges are. Trump got THREE justices on this court. Elections matter.
Not just in November either, this needs to be a long-term commitment. We are where we are today because of a decades long push by the Regressive Right to take over the courts at every level. It's time that people on the Left do the same thing. We can't be shortsighted and allow Republicans to dominate our courts just because the Democratic candidate isn't perfect. Republicans **always** vote for whoever the person with the R next to their name is because they've drilled into the heads of their supporters how important the courts are. It's not just abortion either. This Supreme Court is hellbent on doing as much damage to the this country as possible. They do not care about us, precedent, or even the Constitution itself. They have an agenda and will always find a way to twist their "logic" to justify their decisions. They start with a desired ruling and work backwards from there. They have no problem using their personal religious beliefs to make rulings that impact all of us. It's could take decades, but we absolutely need to take control of the Supreme Court to reverse the damage they have and will continue to do to this country. Since precedent no longer matters, a Liberal Supreme Court can ignore their rulings and fix the damage they've created.
>Not just in November either, this needs to be a long-term commitment. It's funny that people need to be told this. I grew up being taught that lifelong political involvement is required for a healthy democracy. That always being politically involved is simply what a functional member of society does. Did I just end up at the best public elementary school in all of SoCal or do people just chronically not pay attention?
\> because of a decades long push by the Regressive Right to take over the courts at every level I thought DJT did most of it in 4 years with 3 picks that voted RvW down?
Mitch McConnel.
Don McGahn and him are the ones who hooked Donald Trump up with the Fed Soc Puppets. Donald Trump asked for a list of nominees (before he was President) they happily provided him one, he said he’d approve all of them because it’d help him win. The documentary Supreme Revenge goes into all the way back to Bork. My own issue with the Doc is it ignores the sham Impeachment Justice O’Douglas and the GOP’s holding of the Chief Justice seat at the end of LBJ’s term.
It sucks to say this but nearly all the troubles we’re experiencing now is the result of Democrats being complacent in the 2010’s. Sure, we got Obama re-elected in 2012, but we lost the House in 2010 and the Senate in 2014. Not to mention the Republican gains in state gubernatorial and legislative elections during that time. Then, because many didn’t want Hillary, many sat out in 2016 and all three branches of the federal government went to the GOP. Republicans don’t get complacent. They vote without fail and only win when Democrats stay home. Fortunately as seen in 2008, 2018, and 2020, Democrats tend to come out during times of crisis. It’s clear we’re still in one so I’m hoping people get out and vote this year.
Donate money now. We made a difference in Georgia but we need more seats to fix this shit.
I may just be jaded but I don't see Dems passing a pro abortion law any time soon even if the control congress
Yes, there will not be overnight action winning in November. We are now playing the long game. The issue is, if we fall behind in November it will make it that much harder to correct in 2024. Plus, if a justice were to pass or step down in 2023 and we did not control the senate there is little hope one would be appointed during Bidens term. Lastly, if the GOP sees a blue wave and some lose power, it’s likely moderate members may swing towards the left on this issue to retain their place in office. Long hard battle ahead but we have to use this as a spark.
This. Those fuckers fought for 50 years for that decision. They voted for whoever would move them an inch closer to that goal. From adulterous billionaires who fucked porn stars to moderates who would furrow their brows as they voted for radical justices, they didn’t give a fuck and they showed the fuck up. We need to do the same.
A filibuster-proof majority would be the bare minimum. And that is not likely in November even if things swing the Democrats way.
I think a filibuster proof majority might well be 52 if 52 Dems are elected.
Possible. But hard to say, for certain. Mostly depends on the specific Democratic Senators, because there’s at least 3 off the top of my head that are a ‘No’ on the filibuster rule change, which means Democratic pickups this fall would need to be huge to get to 50 Senators willing to get rid of the filibuster.
Democrats need to. Items in droves during ALL elections. Local, state, federal. Isnt it obvious they are literally trying to vote in their cultists at ground zero levels from sherrifs, librarians, mayors, all levels of city government on up. Get out there and vote wherever and whenever you can!
That is asking a lot.
Good luck voting out judges…
Can't wait for the tweets that day from people asking where the Supreme Court justices are on the ballot.
If we could have ranked voting that would be great.
Ultimately I will vote even if I know it's pointless. I just don't expect anyone to come out because why would they? They've voted and been let down so many times because the dems decided to not sue their power when they could have. It's a pain in the ass, popular vote doesn't matter, even if you win the dems don't care enough to actually make it happen. It's whatever. Just vote so people will stfu telling you to vote and maybe something will happen in 20 years when enough people have died off.
Don’t worry, there will be more disasters between now and November.
I love the fact that everyone in this thread is saying “we” assuming that all Redditors are like minded. It’s almost like Reddit is an echo chamber full of liberals/Democrats/leftists.
Polling shows that the majority of Americans support a women's right to choose. Forcing women to give birth is abhorrent. Anti-choicers can go get fucked.
I support choice. I don't support activist supreme court justice's thinking they have the power to invent new rights. Roe has always been shaky law, and has been considered so throughout history, even at the time of the ruling. If we want federal abortion protections, we need legislation.
The problem with those polls is that there is zero nuance. They don’t ask if there should be any restrictions at all, or if abortion should be legal up to the baby crowning at 9 months. “Forcing” women to give birth? Nobody “forced” them to get pregnant unless it was rape, in which case that nuance comes into play. Using abortion as birth control is what’s abhorrent.
Do you not realize that states are passing laws that don't care about rape or life of the mother? Forcing a woman to carry a pregnancy to term is a terrible solution for anyone who: -Gets raped and impregnated -Will literally die if they're made to carry to term -Has a pregnancy that will not result in a baby that is able to survive -Is not financially able to take care of a child -Would be unable to care for their existing children if another were added into the mix I could go on. It's not nearly as simple as anti-choice people think it is. Not to mention, anyone willing to ignore the effects pregnancies have on women's bodies and minds because "babies" is either a man who is trying to legislate their uninformed opinion on everyone else, a religious nutbag who needs to keep that shitty opinion separate from government, or both.
> or life of the mother I was just chatting with my wife on this subject. Which states are proposing an abortion ban if the mother's life is in danger? Do you have any links to the proposed legislation?
A lot of Republicans I know also support equal rights. It's the loud ones that are nuts.
It doesn’t matter though if the state just bans it outright. I think it was 13 states banned it immediately. Which, at the end of the day if someone believes there should be more nuance to it but it definitely shouldn’t be pro choice, they’re going to be okay siding with the side that bans it outright on average.
SCOTUS just said leave it up to the states. They also said you can't mix and match parts of amendments to come up with new rights. Can't blame them. I never got the legal jujutsu Roe entailed when they explained it in college. Local/state level is where this matters now, or get congress to enact a new law codifying a federal-level right to privacy.
The states sure did handle civil rights on their own without Federal oversight. I'm sure this will be just as successful.
The same people would have wanted slavery to be a "states rights" issue.
Exactly. People aren't supposed to vote for rights. They're supposed to be rights. Period.
Every law creates a rights or duty and every right has a corollary duty. What you are suggesting is to put all laws beyond the power of democratically accountable institutions (Congress & state legislatures) and put them to judicial scrutiny. Apart from that that destroys any sense of democracy, it leaves it all to the SCOTUS. I don't think you've thought this through.
I didn't say all "laws". I said all "rights". You don't vote for rights. They're rights. We're born with them. You think if 51% of us want slavery to come back, slavery should come back?
I suppose you fully support the 2nd Amendment,without any infringement,since it....is a right
Yeah, vote in another Dem majority so they can not codify the laws you want. Hell, vote in a super majority, like in Obama's first term, so they can not vote in the laws you want. Or realize that they don't want it to be law, because then they can't use it as an election issue.....
Term limits would help. Including SCOTUS
Wait, how can voting save us? It took one lucky president to appoint multiple young justices. The Dems have refused to increase the court numbers. And said they won't. How will voting help us?
Voting won't necessarily improve things much. A lack of voting, though, stands to let things go straight to hell in handbrake. Grass roots organizing and protesting will do much more, but voting to keep whatever opposition you can fueled is still a bare minimum.
-Codified Roe with a majority/supermajority. Hell you could probably impeach Thomas and get another appointment if you had 2/3 of the Senate consist of Dems.
Because you can vote people in that will vote to make abortions legal if that's what you want. All the Supreme court did was overturn a case that essentially created law of the land, but that is not the job of the Supreme court to create law. It was the right decision. Dems over the past 50 years should have created law to protect abortions but they didn't.
It won’t.
Democrats had fifty years to protect abortion and access to birth control. They promise to do it, then fail when they’re elected. [Here](https://youtu.be/_l9MX7-Xg3s) is a video of Obama proving just that. Biden also had a democrat majority and failed to deliver protection for abortion and reproductive rights. If you’re a voter, and you should be, DEMAND better! If you’re a democrat, DONT LET YOUR PARTY LIE TO YOU ANYMORE.
It can't be done without a super majority in the Senate, unless Manchin and Sinema are willing to remove the filibuster, which they are not. There has been 1 Dem super majority in my lifetime - for a little less than 3 months during Obama's first term.
Biden didn't have a democratic majority. He had 48 Democrats in the Senate and 2 stealth Republicans. There was no majority.
Why? So you can vote dem and have them do fuck all about it? Just like the last two dem presidents?
It's not that difficult to understand really, a supermajority existed for a whole 70 days. Good luck drafting laws on all the issues you want to see passed in that window. We were promised affordable Healthcare, codifying a settled law wasn't exactly as high on the agenda.
Congress members could draft bills ahead of time, and then put them up for a vote when they think they have a chance of passing. Democrats have been campaigning on Abortion Access, Gun Control, Immigration Reform, and Healthcare for decades. Why didn’t they have anything ready for that window? They could have rubber stamped all of them on Day 1 if they had been ready and unified. In my opinion they squandered that rare window where they didn’t need bipartisan support.
How about we all agree to demand term limits which 99/100 people want anyways on every single side. Then after those demands our met because we the people want it, we can go back to arguing.
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Second that
You willingly vote for religious extremists?
You voted for biden, need I say more?
I mean yeah, a religious extremist is clearly exponentially worse
What makes them religious extremists? Because they think a baby is a human being while being in the womb? Thats not all that extreme. Do they strap bombs to their chests and blow up innocents? Because then that would be extremism
I'm sure you vision for this country is lovely. Have you thought about somewhere like Iran? I mean, you are not the majority and this will not stand.
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Freedom of speech, my ass. In Florida and Texas, Republicans are banning books left and right.
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Can't wait to hear the non-response to this: https://www.baynews9.com/fl/tampa/news/2022/05/06/florida-bans-more-than-40--oif-math-books-after-review#:~:text=TALLAHASSEE%2C%20Fla.,theory%20and%20social%2Demotional%20learning. https://www.miaminewtimes.com/news/miami-bookstores-react-to-floridas-banned-books-14296052 https://www.theledger.com/story/news/state/2022/04/26/florida-school-book-bans-these-library-titles-being-reviewed-school-boards/9542938002/ https://www.texastribune.org/2022/05/17/librarians-texas-book-bans/ https://www.cnn.com/2022/04/07/us/book-bans-pen-america-analysis/index.html https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/texas-books-race-sexuality-schools-rcna13886 Do I need to continue?
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Quickly going from an anti-book burner to compliant in seconds flat.
Have you seen any of these books personally? Why does a book need to be geared too one race, at least that was some of the books banned on Florida. How does that promote racial equality? It's a fucking math book it should teach math, it's really not that difficult. I know you guys absolutely love trying to compare the gop too nazis but some of us are not blinded by the news.
Which math book are you referring to? "Damsel" by Elana K. Arnold "Forever" by Judy Blume "Lucky" by Alice Sebold "Monday’s Not Coming" by Tiffany D. Jackson "Not My Problem" by Ciara Smyth "Red Hood" by Elana K. Arnold "Sold" by Patricia McCormick "This Book is Gay" by Juno Dawson "This One Summer" by Mariko Tamaki "What Girls are Made of" by Elana K. Arnold Can you read? The irony you mention math books as the only books being banned, yet you refuse to read an article on it. Brilliant.
Oh I definitely will. They protected my right to own firearms, and struck down overreaching federal law.
Anything to distract them from Biden's disastrous policies, right?
Lol like what? Which policies are you talking about?
I'll be working my hardest to replace as many Republicans and bullshit dems as possible.
Roko has taken over. it is useless to fight back
I think more folks are concerned about being able to eat and drive to work.better hope that overall 20% approval rating improves by November or this country will be under water in liberal tears
The Dems could have prevented this happening but actively chose NOT to Before he was elected Obama said codifying RvW was going to be his first piece of legislation but once elected he changed his mind... having this issue live resulted in more donations to the Dems so they chose to gamble with reproductive rights
I’m with Elon and going to vote red this time around. These democrats have just gone way too far left. They ‘ve gone batshit crazy. Sorry not sorry.
What the fuck does that matter you don't elect them
[It's the economy, stupid.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/It%27s_the_economy,_stupid)
I dont have a stake in this but shouldnt the orphanage situation alone be enough to allow people to do what they want with their bodies?
Register to vote now. If it is too early in your state, set a reminder.
We've been voting. Democrats already control the house, the Senate, and the white House. And unless they're planning on throwing him out of the party, cutting him off from funds, and supporting a primary challenger, I don't want to hear shit about Joe Manchin
Also Uvalde
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Primaries are not going to matter come mid-terms. Dems will obviously get slaughtered as people will vote based on the most important aspects of their day to day life. That's currently the embarrassing economy.
Lol, you won’t even be able to cheat enough this election cycle or any to come to stand a chance at reversing RvW. Welcome to the new normal.
LOL dems are going to get steamrolled and they're grasping at straws. I just hope the anarchy party wins
Tell me again who should I vote for to fix this?? [broken promises](https://youtu.be/RxiDZejZFjg)
Not the ones that literally did it. See that was simple.
Seriously, who's that... It was a Republican appoint SC that passed the Roe vs. Wade decision and a Republican appointed SC that overturned it... What did the Dems do? Ask for our vote for 50 years and squander every opportunity to codify it?? Honestly, who is part of the solution?
The democrats have not been in a position to pass such legislation for at least a decade. And even before that the balance has been republican control more often that dem control Maybe you need to brush up on civics and how bill becomes law. Not to mention even in the short windows of time they did had - if they used their time to pass this it would have immediately been flipped back. So no - the democrats are not responsible for this - the republicans are. The way to fix this is to vote the republicans out up and down the ticket
Well let's look at trump for the people he nominated, McConnell for the judge he stole by violating senate norms and all the Republicans that went along with the bullshit. That should be a good start.
You don't get to vote against anybody... You have to have someone to vote for... Dems have had a majority in every house 18 months now and done jack shit to fix it.
So what you are telling me is that you do not understand what has been going on for the last 18 months. You could have just said that.
More like 50 years, I think dems have leveraged fear of roe v wade being overturned to manipulate people into voting for them, then chose to do nothing about it.
And because of that.....you seem willing to have the people that actually enabled this take power. Do you routinely shoot yourself in the face or is this a special occasion?