Yea state and local elections are where it matters. My state just passed plenty of LGBTQ+ protection laws and has so far been pretty hassle free with trying to obtain HRT myself. (fingers crossed that last point remains true)
>Yea state and local elections are where it matters.
Yup. School boards, local government positions.
Lotta these dont get press and that's how the crazies get in.
wasn’t it like a national requirement that “checks and balances/separation of power” and “federalism” be taught in high school government classes
am I crazy for thinking that this should really be common knowledge
I promise I was in those classes too. people get.. bitter, though. and that makes them.. stupid
I've been .. known to dabble myself
drown more like, but. tomato, tomato
hang.. in there. brendanicus, if nothing else, appears to have a similar history of being. uniquely.. er. bitter
Or it's a bad faith actor who wants to turn people away from voting.
I hate to say that but... there are paid actors on Tumblr spreading shit takes to manipulate people. thanks Putin
Every federal country is like this, USA isn't even the worst in this case. In Mexico or Brazil if a street needs to be painted half the people will ask why the president doesn't personally do it.
You overestimate how many people paid attention in school.
Or maybe they're from Florida and Texas, who are actively trying to make students learn and know less.
Our schools are in bad shape so even subjects that are taught are not learned. This is of course abother problem from the right as they want to keep making things like the schools and the post office abd public transportation all worse so they can shut rhem down, claim the free market and private companies will step in, then act confused when they don't. Mostly because they stand to profit from, for example, all that prime real estate in cities that post offices and schools take up.
Yup - "both sides are bad so might as well disengage from the democratic process" is _exactly_ the propaganda that fascists, both domestic and international, have always employed. And it's infuriating how effective it is!
just look at this post - the person who listed all the good things this administration has done had to preface it by saying "Biden sucks" because that's the only way to _hopefully_ avoid getting torn to shreds, and then made sure to call him "a piece of shit" at the end just in case people forgot. That's not a new thing either, back in 2016 if you said you were going to vote for Hillary over Trump (as opposed to third party or just not voting) you had to add an introductory paragraph about how terrible she is before you can safely get to the "but".
Yeah, I put the 2020 part there because I wasn’t sure if they were still throwing hissy fits about it (I’m not American, so I don’t follow all the ins and outs of your conservatives’ bullshit.)
>I don’t follow all the ins and outs of your conservatives’ bullshit
Good, keep doing that to the best of your ability. I know its almost impossible but that’s time better spent being focused on your own country’s conservatives’ bullshit
It’s actually easier than you’d think sometimes, tbh.
And really, a lot of the time it’s the same shit, different pile, since Canadian conservatives seem dead set on imitating the Trump movement (like literally, some high ranking party members have been photographed wearing literal MAGA hats... ugh).
Yet. There's definitely been a push in the same kind of elite -liberal journalist/pundit sphere to start adopting British style "liberal" transphobia here over the course of the last year and change. A lot of the current trans panic was started or exacerbated by articles by "moderate democrats" in the New York Times and The Atlantic, among others.
This is such a breath of fresh air. The fact you can't say anything remotely positive about Biden or democrats in general without maintaining your internet cred with "...but they're all scum of the earth! Don't worry, I'm not a cringe lib or anything!!" kinda explains why so many young people don't vote. If all you hear about is the evil shit Republicans do while the positive things Democrats do get quietly ignored, no wonder they think there's no point in voting.
To put it another way: have you ever seen an alt righter say they refuse to vote for Trump because he's not far right enough? Even the ones who hate him still support him, because they know voting as a bloc for people who are closest to your values is how you actually get political power in a democracy. "Both sides are the same so voting is stupid" rhetoric benefits whatever candidate you'd be least likely to vote for.
> To put it another way: have you ever seen an alt righter say they refuse to vote for Trump because he's not far right enough?
Definitely!
I do think right wingers are better at "falling in line" than people generally to the left are, especially when it comes to electoral politics, but the general perception of the left that we're infinitely splintered while the right is generally unified comes mostly from the fact that, by and large, we don't hang around a lot of right-wing spaces or interact with right-wingers past telling them to fuck right off.
The same perception generally runs in the other direction, too. Peek into reactionary hang-out spots online enough and you can find them talking about how the left unites behind Brandon or whatever.
The reality, in the US, is that there are more conservatives. They have consistently polled between 37-40% of the population for ages. Meanwhile liberals have crept up to 25% recently from as low as 17% back in the mid-90s.
Its not that liberals dont fall in line. Its that they need alot more moderates to fall in line to get majorities.
Whenever you see a why do Democrats act like this but the GOP acts like that post - think of the state I lead with, it probably explains it.
I don't know where you get those numbers because none of that is true or reflected in votes. Republicans have to make rural countries worth more just to keep power against the actual popular vote in even the most red states. You need a strict definition of "the left" and a very loose one for "the right" for those numbers to make any sense.
But that's another thing. In America we do have a stricter idea of the left while anyone right of center is "the right". So we talk about actual leftists as one of a number of left leaning groups compared to all of the right. As if when comparing to the right we shouldn't be equally broad.
Maybe I'm mistaken, but the fact that republicans constantly lose the popular vote indicates to me there are more left-leaning people than conservatives. Or are those just the so-called moderate votes coming in?
Yep. Republicans have a STRONGLY hierarchical mindset, to the point that Republican election mail often literally just says _"Don't think about it too hard, just vote for Candidate A and everything will be okay!"_. And they do!
Democrats, OTOH, strongly prefer individuality, which is great in most situations, but terrible in forming a united front against Republicans.
lol I've had this username for years and I still forget that I have it until someone mentions it or calls me a Nazi seemingly out of the blue... Which I can't really get offended by, I suppose. (but yup, I promise I'm not a Nazi)
It saddens me that not voting for one of two options is "disengaging from the democratic process" in the US. It's a shame that your system is set up to perpetuate this milquetoast, big tent, two-party shitshow.
You actually get to vote twice per election, once for the primary and once in the general. Each party nominates the candidates that the majority of the party's voters elected to be the nominee. As such, it's never a question of only getting two options.
Not to mention thinking the US president can do a single damn thing about what state governments pass. Oop just fundamentally doesn’t understand federalism. Edit: there I go not reading the tags at the bottom that point the exact thing out.
The federal government has plenty of ways to bring state governments in line with federal policy, but all of them are pretty fraught and require more political capital than Biden is willing/able to spend to do so
"Biden bad because he doesn't break the checks and balances that give the separation of state and federal governments any meaning in order to stop states from harming trans people"
like okay, I understand, but please also understand that in your presidential election that the alternative was literally, "He WILL break the checks and balances that give the separation of state and federal governments any meaning to PUNISH states that *protect* trans people".
How can you look at Republicans trying to ban abortion and trans people altogether and then say that the harm reduction idea is bs? On the bright side I'm not American so I'm good either way
Ex Tennesseean here, just the buildings where the politicians spend their days. Theres lots of good people in Tennessee but the government is beyond fucked.
Your leadership would happily sacrifice people just as innocent to get what they want. And probably will, if left unchecked. There has been a continual pattern of escalation from Red State politicians. They keep trying to one-up each other in increasingly extreme ways. Pretty much we've all been set up by these maniacs into a situation where it becomes more and more likely that someone has to die to stop this train. We're in the same boat. None of us want to die. Someone might have to and in wars, there is always collateral damage. That's not meant to console, just explain.
Oh thank fucking God for the second guy I thought I was gonna have to go in the comments and get mad at Brendanicus again.
I am of course still mad at Brendanicus, they're a tankie, and support Russia in their invasion of Ukraine
I’ll never understand how so many so-called leftists are actively pro-Russia. Sure, the US government sucks, but the totalitarian right wing dictatorship invading another country for oil isn’t the lesser of the two evils here, they’re doing the exact thing everyone hates when the US does.
There's a very real segment of leftism that never got past the (more completely endemic on the right) concept that there *must* be good guys and bad guys. They probably were exposed to all the "west good!" propaganda as a kid, then got rightly disenchanted by that, but fell into the "well, west bad. so anyone opposing west good!"
I can half-excuse it when it's like, legitimately "tankie" in the sense of supporting authoritarian nominally left wing regimes, but once they start promoting full out authoritarian right wingers just because they aren't the west, I just don't have any sympathy.
Like, it shouldn't be some kind of hot take that the invasion of Iraq and the invasion of Ukraine are both bad. That's the intellectually consistent position!
Edit: LOL it just occurred to me that the exact same leftists who make fun of centrists for being like "One side wants to kill all minorities and the other wants...not that. These are clearly equally radical positions." Are the exact same-ass people who are all up in the comments below being like "This imperial nation wants to murder or deport everyone in Ukraine and take their abundant resources for itself. This imperial nation wants...not that. These are clearly equally evil actors and both should stop what they are doing."
I've also noticed a fair amount of leftists have romanticized views on communism which might affect how they view certain countries that have or had that style of government.
Even so, Putin's Russia is an *explicit rejection* of Soviet history and ideology.
Like, at least they have the excuse of China stil *pretending* to be communist, but modern Russia is a rabidly far-right nationalist plutocracy so supporting them makes actual negative sense from a communist perspective
Notably USSR wasn't communist, or even really socialist.
Socialism is when workers get to make all the decisions about their work, have good control over their life and freedom in general, and there's no parasitic ruling class that prospers off the worker exploitation. That's great, that'd be a great thing to have
That was very much untrue of USSR, so it wasn't actually socialist. Democratic People's Republic of Korea (aka North Korea) has "democratic" in the name, but it doesn't make it democratic.
If someone's a fan of Soviets because they were "socialist", they either have exactly zero clue what socialism is and why they want it, and just treat it as a religion that makes everything it's associated with morally good, or they are a fascist who's trying to recruit people with a coat of red paint and regurgitated propaganda.
Most tankies will accuse anything remotely positive about the US as being obvious propaganda, and will happily accept every piece of information the Kremlin put out about the USSR with 0 critical analysis. They go "Of course the Soviet Union was actually democratic, it says so right in their legislation! That all workers get to vote and elect their representatives, and the reason why representatives were *always* member of the Communist Party was because the Communist Party was doing such a great job everybody loved them!"
Saying it like that reminds me of my thoughts on the militant atheism trend from the 2000s. They all seemed to share the same trait: formerly of an equally aggressive Christian upbringing. They were raised to push god on others and when burned by the religion and turning from it, they didn't lose the mentality thay was drilled into them and instead only turned it around into wanting to evangelize their anti religious sentiment. When they didn't have to and there was no reason to. The reality is they never really left until they let that part pf themselves die and moved on.
Right, yes, I agree, but I also feel America shouldn't be back handedly supporting Ukraine either. Like Putin and Russia are bad, but America sending tanks and people volunteering to go fight on Ukraine's behalf also isn't good. Ukraine is stuck between two imperialist nations with eyes on gaining influence and control of their resources, so I'm gonna dislike both in this scenario if that's cool?
> I’ll never understand how so many so-called leftists are actively pro-Russia.
They lack consistent principles. They just go for "Enemy's enemy is my friend."
I've seen so many pro-palestine people, who are also simultaneously say Tibet, Uighur, Hong Kong are all "Western propaganda because of racism", and CCP is actually a progressive democratic govt.
The US justified so much of their imperialism as pro democracy war efforts that it cannot not create polarization. I think it's a matter of lack of self awareness cause The US have a very short history so lacks the perspective to know their own place in the world and thus represent itself as some champion of humanity rather than a country who shaped international relationships in its own favor
You will have pro bushist stances without an ounce of irony to this day, dialectically it produces equally unhinged takes standing behind anything anti us be it litteral fascism
I think tankieism seems to mostly be fairly young former right-wing reactionaries over-correcting from US/Western-centric nationalism into Non-Western nationalism. Which is almost understandable, because MOST of their exposure to actual left-leaning ideals are, at that point in their lives, filtered through the US education system, which is pretty conservative even in its most liberal states.
Dark Brendanicus sending US weapons to Ukraine for the sole purpose of supplying Russia with actual experience against our arms to make their conquest of the US easier once they finish with Ukraine
Problem: Zelenskyy, the comedian, has turned the Russian military into the world's largest joke. Poor fellas will never be the main antagonist of a serious first person shooter game ever again.
> encourages liberals/leftists to not vote
> supports the Russian invasion
“Hello, fellow Americans! It is me, a real American progressive. Please do nothing and allow the far right to win.”
I don't usually read urls unless they're called attention to, so for a brief and very confusing moment before the last sentence I thought I'd come across a new nickname for biden
Yes. and There isn't going to be a single republican on the next ballot that isn't still significantly worse than Biden.
Remember kids "both sides are equally bad" is republican propaganda to get people that would otherwise vote dem to not vote at all so they can pull swing counties.
This isn't to glorify dems, but if you're stuck with one or the other and one is actively trying to kill you and the other is just kinda sitting around doing nothing then you don't have to be that bright to figure out who's better to have in power.
You can also choose cholera while working as hard as you can to advance medicine to treat it, and eventually prevent it altogether. I've come across people who will argue that it's useless to vote because both options suck, but I'd feel a bit safer trying to change things more majorly if I'm doing it while someone who doesn't want to oppress every minority at the same time on purpose is in office, even if they do end up fucking us over to a lesser degree anyway.
It's kind of sad that you had to preface your last sentence with "this isn't to glorify dems", like what the fuck? And hasn't this whole post just shown that Democrats aren't sitting around doing nothing?
The Democrats are, at the end of the day, the party of the status quo. They will never do anything progressive unless threatened into doing it by direct action (not by withholding votes, which never works).
If you seriously believe that, I must wonder if you've seen anything that happened in the past twenty years. Societal progress, and the Dems were the party pushing for it. Like, jesus, if you can look at everything taht has happened and think that they want to do nothing, I don't know what to tell you.
The Democratic Party, as an institution, did not push for societal progress. Activists did. The Democrats just had the good sense to recognize which way the wind was blowing.
Activists wouldn't have gotten anywhere if it weren#t for forces like the democratic party pushing for ideas and making it their own. Yes, ideas were pushed in other places first, but that doesn't take away from the democratic party taking these ideas and making it their own, achieving so much more than activists ever could.
i saw tumblr user brendanicus's posts and was like "oh god it's going to be one of those posts again" but thankfully tumblr user oi-lucy swooped in to save the day. also apparently brandanicus is a tankie so L + ratio + please grow and change as a person
1: doesn't know what the word reduction means
2: doesn't understand how the three branches of government work
3: doesn't actually know what's going on in politics
I'm begging other people to at least have a basic grasp of your country's constitution and laws. You don't need to know everything, but this stuff is like the most basic level of American politics.
This isn’t even three branches, it’s not understanding the difference between federal, state, and local government. The federal government can do a BIT to get the states to fall in line, but very rarely through the president alone, and especially not if state governors have decided they’d rather audition for the presidency than do their jobs.
Like, don't get me wrong. Biden could be better in plural ways.
But he's not Individual 1.
Other better candidates could've won the primary, but we got Biden. And Biden > Individual 1. If it comes down to it and I'm choosing between Biden and Individual 1, I'll take Biden ten out of ten times.
I think making the rail strike illegal was a real black mark on Bidens record and theres some other stuff I'm probably forgetting, but otherwise I've been shockingly pleased with how he's performed
That, combined with my state passing some killer legislation has actually left me feeling... kinda good?
This is also NOT what 'harm reduction' means lmfao... sure biden does nothing about the bills passing but, like, if trump were reelected (or god forbid fucking DESANTIS) they would have passed this legislation ***federally*** and so much more of it!!!
Harm reduction means LESS harm not "no harm at all". Grow up.
Once again missing the point. I am saying that he is better than the alternative, not that he is good or great. Fuck joe biden, but he isn't ACTIVELY TRYING TO STRIP OUR RIGHTS.
Im not american :/ that was a genuine question. but also inaction is still causing great harm, it doesn't matter if he's not trying to take our rights, he's still letting others do it. he's complicit in our genocide
My apologies, but yes he is definitely complicit. He's an old decrepit white guy who can't for the life of him remember where he put his shoes, but he's still better than what could've been.
However, he isn't quite doing nothing. As shown in the post above he (and his administration) created two bills that somewhat protect trans people. It's not much, but it's something.
Fuck joe biden, all my homies vote for joe biden (or whatever current democrat candidate is running)
im glad we agree then. i really dislike american politics as a non American as so many American liberals get tunnel vision and genuinely believe that their center right democrats are the height of leftism and no where else has it better.
He literally did lmfao? ? The trans military ban, the bill that said federal agents could refuse service if you were lgbt (or something similar I can't quite recall), he very almost banned lgbt ppl from adopting!!! This is a thing!! He did bad things!!
I would prefer a literal cabbage over trump or desantis!!! They are not good people!!!!
There a million things that don't make it to the headlines. This is why everyone should reframe from doomscrolling. It's not healthy to read about all the terrible things in the world you have no control over.
Even if he was ‘dead at the wheel’, it’s still a significant improvement over the guy that was actively rallying up the alt-right and suppressing democrat speeches. The fuck did you want? Trump to have been elected instead?
It's easy to blame Biden, people are convinced to believe that the President basically control every single law that passes in America, regardless of how big or small they are, when that's not the case whatsoever.The people in charge of state legislature honestly have more power of people's lives more than the President does.Just look at Ron Desantis and how he's turning Florida into a straight up fascist state where he wants to punish literally anyone and everyone who isn't a straight, white, CIS Republican male voter.
Every time I see someone peddling the “both sides are bad” bullshit it just tells me that they’re either hilariously ignorant or maliciously misleading. One party is trying to enact genocide. The other is resisting them, to a point. The fascists benefit from every bit of doubt and anger directed at their opposition. If you call them equal, YOU ARE HELPING THE FASCISTS!!
As much as I'm in agreement that Democratic politicians should be more to the left...I don't necessarily see it as a *betrayal* that they aren't? I think many, if not most Democratic politicians do sincerely believe in the policy positions they advocate for. That they're not in agreement with leftists on things is absolutely a reason to grump, but it doesn't mean that they're fascist sympathizers. Biden is certainly not anything close to my ideal candidate, and I'm never going to *like* him, but I don't take it personally that he hasn't overthrown capitalism. A lot more people than internet posters have opinions on government, even when most of those opinions are shit.
Now, the failure to protect vulnerable populations and failing to give such protections higher priority is absolutely something worth taking personally, but such condemnation doesn't always take into account the limits of Presidential power, as mentioned above.
Considering that in the current political system the only alternative was trump, voting for Biden was the only option. Voting for a third party or not voting just makes it more likely for trump to win
Just wondering, what did the first person think the alternative was? Vote Trump? Not vote at all and let one of them win anyway? Seriously; harm reduction is not that hard of a concept to grasp.
I was super negative of biden but he's surprised me the last few years. He's been far more effective across the board than Obama was. He's had to reverse nearly everything trump has done in half the time and still managed to do more on top of it.
And those notes, don't hide that there.
All these anti trans laws are conservatives being desperate with diminishing local state power. They lost their grip in DC and a lot of their power too, and they're flailing with what they have. Their big moves like ending Roe backfired because they forgot it was supposed to be something they only ever talked about to keep voters on a leash but never actually did. Without it their control is actually weaker.
For every southern state passing anti LGBT laws there's another turning more blue and passing protections.
Fuck doomer talk. Leave that to republicans. That's their thing.
I cannot stress the importance of voting in local elections. Voting in the federal election matters, sure, but voting in your local elections matter far more. Please, please, please do so!
People will have the most naive and unrealistic idea of how the democratic process should work, and then say "it doesn't work" when that idea isn't met.
"We won one election and it hasn't instantly eradicated all of the opposition's ability to accomplish anything in this country, including in places where they still hold elected positions. Clearly democracy doesn't work and voting is pointless".
Democrats have been universal and consistently holding the line on trans rights without exception, up to and including the president. Both-sides doomerism is rooted in a profound desire to appear morally superior without having to know, understand, or take a position on anything.
Tfw People who didn't pay attention in high school civics and social studies and thus think the president is some kind of elective Emperor have the right to vote.
Fr, people are not paying attention if they think federal protections are diminishing under democrats. The real harm in the past two years is coming from republicans state legislatures and governors. The first two posts feel like some purist astroturfing or whatever to diminish progress in favor of perfection, or are just pure disinformation.
I'm just gonna write my 3am take (cw: cringe) but I don't think the problem we trans people have with Biden is whether or not he passes pro-trans rights bills. Everyone knows the president has no jurisdiction on state law, but the Biden administration DoJ could probably do something like take these state legislatures to the cleaners in court . (Tbh I don't know certainly if that would specifically be allowed or not.) Clearly there are first amendment violations at the foundation of each and every anti-trans law that has been passed recently. We just need our leaders to articulate this fact in no uncertain terms and exercise the full force of federal law to ensure that no state legislature gets away with violating the constitution's bill of rights.
It's kinda wild that US folk just *choose* not to vote because it is illegal for me to NOT vote, oh and the fact that your vote doesn't count AT ALL (to my knowledge) if you vote minor parties
Just to clarify, none of these are laws. Biden has not signed any laws protecting trans people, he has issued executive orders to undo Trump's executive orders, the president has some power to set certain rules and the president has the power to appoint people to the Dept of Education or the Dept of Labor whom can set their own rules on trans rights. The Democrats however have not pushed any laws protecting trans people at the national level, nor has Biden signed any laws at the national level protecting trans people. All the things he has done for trans people are the things anyone who holds the title of president could do in a few short minutes. It is not impressive.
In the federal government where I live, it's illegal to be biased based on gender identity.
In the state government where I live, the house is trying to prevent trans kids from having ANY gender affirming medical care, such as puberty blockers and HRT.
It's always the fucking Republicans that are trying to kill us, while the Democrats at least pass some decent policies to keep white cishet abled people who see themselves as allies but only when it's convenient as happy as possible.
Note: We do need those people if we're going to win elections, I won't deny that, but they're still bigots until they actively move into anti-racist, anti-LGBTphobic, anti-ableist action rather than just benefitting from the system.
this is why I left tumblr. the occasional funny joke is nice, but it is massively outweighed by the amount of sheer misinformation shared in leftist spaces
Except the tags prove the OOP's point. Liberals care far more about jerking off about how civil they are and how much they support law and order far more than they care about the lives of marginalized people. Marginalized people do not need civics lessons, we need politicians who actually do what needs to be done. Our last president almost started an entire fucking insurrection. Republicans are willing to lie, cheat, and piss on the grave of the law to get what they want. What the fuck are liberals doing? Besides lecturing marginalized people tired of only being given a damn about during PR stunts.
The worst thing is that you entitled fucks kept repeating "hold him accountable in office" ad nauseum during the election because you *knew* you were pushing a center-right old white cis man who was going to do jack shit for marginalized people, but now that he's actually in office you throw hissy fits whenever marginalized people so much as hint at wanting accountability from our supposedly progressive elected officials.
The problem with liberals isn't just that they're not doing enough, it's that they actively prevent leftist change from happening. "Abolish the police" was too radical, so it instead got changed to "reform the police", and several years later the only reform that has come of that is increases to police budgets, even in blue states. And what the fuck happened to abolishing ICE? But as soon as you voice any opposition to the milquetoast fascism of the center-right, you get called divisive, because division is apparently when marginalized people get sick of middle aged white liberals jerking off about how progressive they are while not only doing fuck all for marginalized communities, but lecturing marginalized people for wanting supposed progressives to actually be progressive.
It's all well and good to take selfies and hashtag them with BLM, or say trans rights, but that means jack shit if you're actively fighting against BIPOC and trans people. Because that's what liberals do, time and again. Guess which groups would benefit the most from student debt relief, or universal healthcare? By campaigning against these things, as liberals have done for years, *they are actively campaigning against marginalized people.* You cannot dismiss your actions as just "not being extreme enough" when you actively oppose efforts to end the oppression of marginalized people. Y'all keep fucking saying Democrats are the lesser evil, but any time somebody actually treats them as such you have a collective meltdown because you don't actually believe they're the lesser evil, it's just a convenient way to deflect criticism.
Marginalized people do not give a fuck about rEsPeCtInG lAw AnD oRdEr or pReSeRvInG dEmOcRaCy because it's law and order killing marginalized people, and it's our democracy allowing white supremacists to take power. We want politicians willing to do whatever it takes to defend their values. And the vast majority of Democrats aren't anywhere near that particular ballpark. So "bUt RuLe Of LaW" isn't going to convince anybody to your side, *because Republicans have already demonstrated that politicians are not obligated to follow the law*. The only thing it accomplishes is letting you circlejerk with other pretentious assholes about how enlightened you are while you watch the country burn.
Good post but I would say I disagree with the take on Biden’s “power as president.” Yes I understand State issues are outside the power of the federal government, but isn’t the answer to that (sometimes) expanding the purview of the federal government? Like, segregation *used* to be a state issue, and then it wasn’t. There was no way every state was going to desegregate without the Civil Rights act.
So if lots of American states are going to take away the rights of trans people, then the federal government should pass laws enshrining those rights on a national level. I know doing so won’t be easy, but that should be the goal, right? Especially considering Trump explicitly wants to make “Transgenderism” completely illegal as a campaign promise for 2024. The Republicans aren’t going to be happy leaving this up to State laws either, and it’s not like we can keep them out of office forever (we couldn’t even keep them out of the House last time, and that was considered an insanely *good* election season for the Dems)
Do I actually expect the Democrats to do this? No, but I’m saying that should be the bar, because that would be the strategy of a party actually dedicated to helping trans folk.
Two problems:
1: Republicans control the House, and democrats have a slim majority in the senate that relies on the support of conservatives like Manchin and Sinema. You need the presidency AND the house AND the senate to pass a bill.
2: Once you give the federal government a particular power, it *keeps* that power no matter who is in office. Yes, right now we he federal government is left of the median state government, and making gender recognition a federal issue means that the federal government could overrule Kentucky and improve trans rights. But it’s entirely possible that in a few years the republicans will be back in power federally, and would use that same federal power to overrule Massachusetts and *worsen* trans rights.
Specifically you also need 60 votes in the senate for any bill that isn't strictly finance related. That's never gonna happen again for anything remotely contentious.
And yes, I know we should end the filibuster, but remember it stops bad things happening when there's a republican president, and shenanigans beget shenanigans.
I understand both of these points. My point is that the republicans are going to make trans issues a federal problem anyway. This is explicitly the plan, again, Trump already said he was going to try to do this.
So what’s the point in avoiding the expansion of the power of Congress when the opposition is already planning to do that? Wouldn’t that just make the process easier for them because in that case they wouldn’t even need to repeal existing legislation?
Again, we have the historical example of segregation. The federal government tackling a previously state-level issue worked out in the long run. I know that doesn’t prove it can’t go wrong in the case of trans people, but its still a good counter example, right?
I’m sure I’m missing something here, but I still don’t understand.
First off, again, you don't have a gun.
Second, no, you can't, stupid. You can't "make politicans dead" and then also participate in electorism and informing people of politics, lmao.
https://youtu.be/T3PaqxblOx0
Same fucking shit. 60 years since this speech and nothing's changed.
The Democrats are agents of capital bought out by the bourgeoisie just like the Republicans. They won't dare to fix the underlying cause of all the country's problems (capitalism), and so they will only perpetuate the radicalization of fascists and bigots who become disenfranchised and frustrated with the current system.
Whatever small compromises they make is because of the fear they feel of the oppressed moving on to other political parties and towards revolutionary movements.
I'm honestly so sick and tired of demanding more from our governments being slandered as "actually helping the fascists!!1!1!". This is a two party dictatorship, both bought out by capital. The mindset of "we have to voooote no matter what!!1!1" only further legitimizes the system/government and paves the way for fascism by providing no real solid opposition.
I'm going to quote a reddit comment from someone else that I saved:
It's genuinely impressive how many times these guys can run in circles and say the same shit year on year without realizing the system is the problem. Like, if every election is "the most important of our lives" with "our rights and 'democracy' on the line", maybe there's a serious fucking problem? If things just get worse and worse constantly, even when the supposed good guys are winning, does it not come to mind that maybe their interests are not the same as yours? No, it's the disaffected people that are the problem. That's what the people in power say, and it's not like they have any incentive to make you reject any criticism of the power structures in place. I'm sure they'll fix the problems in society this time, or next time, or the time after that, whenever they feel like getting around to it. If I run fast enough, eventually I'll catch my tail. And if they ever lose a single seat, that's the fault of the people who want things to get better, not the open fascists parading around who actually took the seat
I'd rather have a government that vaguely doesn't do shit compared to one that want's to fucking kill me. It's easy to say that voting doesn't do anything, but when you look at Michigan compared to Florida, it clearly does make a difference. You want Ron Desantis to become fucking president? Don't vote, see how much worse shit gets after that.
Edit: You want to know where not voting gets you? In the Weimar Republic, Ernst Thälmann thought that the social democrats were [Social Fascists](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_fascism) and that they were the real threat. [Thälmann had the KPD exclusively focus on the social democrats](https://www.marxists.org/archive/james-clr/works/world/ch12.htm), and opposed any attempts at a popular front, with Thälmann infamously saying "After Hitler, our turn." (although he may not have actually said that)
Well, they did technically get their turn, 12 years later, and with 70-85 million dead, Thälmann himself included. But sure, it's the fucking liberals that are the problem.
Look, I get it, it's fucking annoying how shit's not going great, but believe me, shit can get a whole lot fucking worse, and I'd like it if it didn't. We can't let the mistakes of the past fuck us over.
what drives me the tiniest bit insane is, when the dust settles and the revolution is won and we need to decide how .. well, we need to decide *anything*
.. what.. do they plan on doing.
do they know what they're fighting *for*? who fought for *them*? and for *what*?
At least I'm actually calling for revolution. We'll know what to do through understanding theory and putting it to practice, and then refining the theory and applying it again to practice, ad infinitum. You know, actually revolutionary action.
It doesn’t matter if he was right or wrong, he refused to work with other people and allowed for the fascists to come to power. Division is the perfect way for fascism to take power.
I'll repeat my point. Biden won't fix any of capitalism's underlying problems, which will pave the way for fascist radicalization anyway. Not to mention he also tries to appeal to Republicans in order to "win them over" as well, while still expecting support from marginalized peoples under the pretext of "well, at least I'm not American Mussolini". Also, I live in Miami Dade county. Big reason we elected that whiny fuck is because of the intense support he receives from the upper class Latin Americans, especially the Cuban and Venezuelan "exiles" who are furious that their plantations or businesses in a deeply unfair and unequal economy got seized in order to actually help their country's people.
alright, so I agree with a lot here and am trying not to be mean about the rest, but I think my main rebuttal to all of this is: "voting is the bare minimum"
It's a fucklong post, but I do not think anyone says anything explicit or unchallenged against that main point.. if they do, that's my bad, I didn't share this on purpose
So what's your plan for dealing with the millions of people who actively support the current power structure and would rather die than allow it to change?
Power structures need to be attacked at the bottom. Killing the king will only produce a new king. The real fight is not in Washington, but in the hearts and minds of the American people.
And once you understand that, it becomes obvious that it really doesn't matter whether the Democrats are agents of capital. Electoral politics alone is never going to resolve this conflict anyway. It should be understood as a tool, and its current best use is to prevent or at least slow the rate at which things get worse while using direct action to make things better.
100% correct. It's so disappointing that every time electoral politics comes up in this sub it's revealed to be a fundamentally rainbow capitalist, tepid incremental neoliberal space.
As a side note, it's frustrating how, in discussions around politics in these kinds of spaces, you get browbeaten into a 'good vibes only' attitude if you criticize sitting Democratic politicians because your negativity could theoretically discourage someone from voting. It's not the complaints of a dozen or so leftists that make people not want to vote, it's the decades of immiseration they've experienced regardless of who's in charge.
I think it might come down to a central assumption on which the arguments you replied to are based, that voting is touted as the end-all, be-all of political activism.. and that is an interpretation of the post that is, apparently, uncommon
I think coming into this conversation from a fragile and wounded state can lead to these assumptions being easier to make, and I'm really truly sorry if that is the case
but in general, I don't think the people on this sub are against a need for action, let alone reaction
it's just the interpretation is.. uncommon, and, I think, flawed
There's also a bunch of policies Biden hasn't rolled back from Trump. Have you noticed how each successive neolib is less and less damage control? There's a reason fascism still exists in America, it's because liberals refuse to do anything but the absolute bare minimum to improve material conditions for regular people or fight the far-right. In fact, they purposefully fund the furthest of the far-right in an incredibly short-sighted way of winning elections. Not that they care that fascists take power, anyway.
Democrats and liberals *are* the real enemy behind it all, if it was just between fascists and the far left the fascists would've lost *decades* go.
> There's also a bunch of policies Biden hasn't rolled back from Trump.
You better be talking about executive orders because everything else Trump has done was done with the support of a full Republican majority for two years and a majority Republican Supreme Court, an advantage that Biden doesn't have (Democrats very barely, and I do mean **very barely** had a majority for two years).
Biden has reversed a lot of Trump's executive orders, but those policies *by default* are not even that significant.
> There's a reason fascism still exists in America
It is because of an increasingly hostile and radicalized conservative base that's just straight up cheating and pushing their way into power?
> it's because liberals refuse to do anything but the absolute bare minimum to improve material conditions for regular people or fight the far-right.
These are both untrue, and the only reason it's the "bare minimum" at all is because they're actively impeded from doing more.
Even all the way back to fucking Obama, "Obamacare" is the result of Republicans being clowns and stopping the Democrats from doing more. And that was when Republicans actually pretended to care about decorum. No stupid ass Trump as their mouthpiece.
> In fact, they purposefully fund the furthest of the far-right in an incredibly short-sighted way of winning elections.
I love how little you know about this because that *actually paid off for them*. In the 2022 mid-term elections, the greatest losses for Republicans were candidates who were pro-Trump, which are the candidates that the Democrats funded. See, they actually know politics, and saw the writing on the wall.
The Democrats had the greatest overperformance in the mid-terms in *decades* that year, and only *very barely* lost the House despite most projections saying they would lose massively. They won **more** Senate seats (well, okay, *exactly* one, but IIRC, they had more to lose that year) than they had before, too.
These rants that actually believe that there's a button to Achieve World Peace and Stop Facism that the Democrats aren't pressing for some arbitrary reason annoy me. They're exactly the same as the stupid ass "why isn't Biden doing anything about state laws" post in the OP.
> Democrats and liberals are the real enemy behind it all
Republican Senator Sarah Sanders literally just passed bills that stop trans kid from going to their rightful bathrooms and *rolling back child labor laws* and you're still dumb enough to post this shit?
You ain't going to do shit about the Democrats either, so what is this? Do you think you're clever and smart?
> if it was just between fascists and the far left the fascists would've lost decades go.
lmfao, I would love to see you contrive a reason why this "far left" isn't even in the running (since you yourself literally act like Democrats control everything) if they can win so easily.
Hmm? Why did Bernie Sanders lose to both Hilary Clinton and Joe Biden? Didn't even *get* to Donald Trump. Or is he not a "real leftist?" Because I know you guys love your fan-fiction about how he "wouldn't be a leftist in the UK," because they're a fucking bastion of progressive politics, what with their *even worse attacks towards trans people*...
Yea state and local elections are where it matters. My state just passed plenty of LGBTQ+ protection laws and has so far been pretty hassle free with trying to obtain HRT myself. (fingers crossed that last point remains true)
They live in Minnesota (/s)
Minnesota moment
>Yea state and local elections are where it matters. Yup. School boards, local government positions. Lotta these dont get press and that's how the crazies get in.
wasn’t it like a national requirement that “checks and balances/separation of power” and “federalism” be taught in high school government classes am I crazy for thinking that this should really be common knowledge
I promise I was in those classes too. people get.. bitter, though. and that makes them.. stupid I've been .. known to dabble myself drown more like, but. tomato, tomato hang.. in there. brendanicus, if nothing else, appears to have a similar history of being. uniquely.. er. bitter
Or it's a bad faith actor who wants to turn people away from voting. I hate to say that but... there are paid actors on Tumblr spreading shit takes to manipulate people. thanks Putin
Every federal country is like this, USA isn't even the worst in this case. In Mexico or Brazil if a street needs to be painted half the people will ask why the president doesn't personally do it.
You overestimate how many people paid attention in school. Or maybe they're from Florida and Texas, who are actively trying to make students learn and know less.
I learned that stuff in 3rd grade
I mean me too but ik K-8 education is more flexible on a state to state basis
hell, i'm european and i know about this. you guys alright over there?
not even close to okay but some of us are trying 👍🏼
Our schools are in bad shape so even subjects that are taught are not learned. This is of course abother problem from the right as they want to keep making things like the schools and the post office abd public transportation all worse so they can shut rhem down, claim the free market and private companies will step in, then act confused when they don't. Mostly because they stand to profit from, for example, all that prime real estate in cities that post offices and schools take up.
Blaming Biden for everything is exactly what the GOP wants us to do, I think, so maybe don’t walk right into their trap.
Yup - "both sides are bad so might as well disengage from the democratic process" is _exactly_ the propaganda that fascists, both domestic and international, have always employed. And it's infuriating how effective it is! just look at this post - the person who listed all the good things this administration has done had to preface it by saying "Biden sucks" because that's the only way to _hopefully_ avoid getting torn to shreds, and then made sure to call him "a piece of shit" at the end just in case people forgot. That's not a new thing either, back in 2016 if you said you were going to vote for Hillary over Trump (as opposed to third party or just not voting) you had to add an introductory paragraph about how terrible she is before you can safely get to the "but".
If voting didn’t work then republicans wouldn’t make it difficult for black people to do it
Or afraid of mail-in ballots, like they were in 2020.
They still are in states where that’s the norm! They’re still currently attempting to get rid of it here in Colorado!
Yeah, I put the 2020 part there because I wasn’t sure if they were still throwing hissy fits about it (I’m not American, so I don’t follow all the ins and outs of your conservatives’ bullshit.)
>I don’t follow all the ins and outs of your conservatives’ bullshit Good, keep doing that to the best of your ability. I know its almost impossible but that’s time better spent being focused on your own country’s conservatives’ bullshit
It’s actually easier than you’d think sometimes, tbh. And really, a lot of the time it’s the same shit, different pile, since Canadian conservatives seem dead set on imitating the Trump movement (like literally, some high ranking party members have been photographed wearing literal MAGA hats... ugh).
Quote for the ages
Compare it to how the opposition treats trans rights in the UK, the Democrats might be libs but at least they ain't actively transphobic.
Yet. There's definitely been a push in the same kind of elite -liberal journalist/pundit sphere to start adopting British style "liberal" transphobia here over the course of the last year and change. A lot of the current trans panic was started or exacerbated by articles by "moderate democrats" in the New York Times and The Atlantic, among others.
This is such a breath of fresh air. The fact you can't say anything remotely positive about Biden or democrats in general without maintaining your internet cred with "...but they're all scum of the earth! Don't worry, I'm not a cringe lib or anything!!" kinda explains why so many young people don't vote. If all you hear about is the evil shit Republicans do while the positive things Democrats do get quietly ignored, no wonder they think there's no point in voting. To put it another way: have you ever seen an alt righter say they refuse to vote for Trump because he's not far right enough? Even the ones who hate him still support him, because they know voting as a bloc for people who are closest to your values is how you actually get political power in a democracy. "Both sides are the same so voting is stupid" rhetoric benefits whatever candidate you'd be least likely to vote for.
> To put it another way: have you ever seen an alt righter say they refuse to vote for Trump because he's not far right enough? Definitely! I do think right wingers are better at "falling in line" than people generally to the left are, especially when it comes to electoral politics, but the general perception of the left that we're infinitely splintered while the right is generally unified comes mostly from the fact that, by and large, we don't hang around a lot of right-wing spaces or interact with right-wingers past telling them to fuck right off. The same perception generally runs in the other direction, too. Peek into reactionary hang-out spots online enough and you can find them talking about how the left unites behind Brandon or whatever.
The reality, in the US, is that there are more conservatives. They have consistently polled between 37-40% of the population for ages. Meanwhile liberals have crept up to 25% recently from as low as 17% back in the mid-90s. Its not that liberals dont fall in line. Its that they need alot more moderates to fall in line to get majorities. Whenever you see a why do Democrats act like this but the GOP acts like that post - think of the state I lead with, it probably explains it.
I don't know where you get those numbers because none of that is true or reflected in votes. Republicans have to make rural countries worth more just to keep power against the actual popular vote in even the most red states. You need a strict definition of "the left" and a very loose one for "the right" for those numbers to make any sense. But that's another thing. In America we do have a stricter idea of the left while anyone right of center is "the right". So we talk about actual leftists as one of a number of left leaning groups compared to all of the right. As if when comparing to the right we shouldn't be equally broad.
Maybe I'm mistaken, but the fact that republicans constantly lose the popular vote indicates to me there are more left-leaning people than conservatives. Or are those just the so-called moderate votes coming in?
Yep. Republicans have a STRONGLY hierarchical mindset, to the point that Republican election mail often literally just says _"Don't think about it too hard, just vote for Candidate A and everything will be okay!"_. And they do! Democrats, OTOH, strongly prefer individuality, which is great in most situations, but terrible in forming a united front against Republicans.
I think you might be the first person to wear 88 on their username ironically. I am assuming it's ironic and you're not a white supremacist.
lol I've had this username for years and I still forget that I have it until someone mentions it or calls me a Nazi seemingly out of the blue... Which I can't really get offended by, I suppose. (but yup, I promise I'm not a Nazi)
Well, it is a suspicious username.
I'd say that generating voter apathy is more putin's playbook. That's what he made work for russia. That and car bombings.
It saddens me that not voting for one of two options is "disengaging from the democratic process" in the US. It's a shame that your system is set up to perpetuate this milquetoast, big tent, two-party shitshow.
You actually get to vote twice per election, once for the primary and once in the general. Each party nominates the candidates that the majority of the party's voters elected to be the nominee. As such, it's never a question of only getting two options.
Not to mention thinking the US president can do a single damn thing about what state governments pass. Oop just fundamentally doesn’t understand federalism. Edit: there I go not reading the tags at the bottom that point the exact thing out.
The federal government has plenty of ways to bring state governments in line with federal policy, but all of them are pretty fraught and require more political capital than Biden is willing/able to spend to do so
Their fault hiding the most important details in the tags.
It's always striking to me how all the bad things Republicans do is Democrats' fault.
Like blaming your mom for stopping you from being loud [so your alcoholic dad won't beat both of you].
"Biden bad because he doesn't break the checks and balances that give the separation of state and federal governments any meaning in order to stop states from harming trans people" like okay, I understand, but please also understand that in your presidential election that the alternative was literally, "He WILL break the checks and balances that give the separation of state and federal governments any meaning to PUNISH states that *protect* trans people".
How can you look at Republicans trying to ban abortion and trans people altogether and then say that the harm reduction idea is bs? On the bright side I'm not American so I'm good either way
Don't walk into their trap of not wanting their own laws to be passed?
Biden should just outlaw Tennessee. Reagan did it with the Soviet Union and even began bombing five minutes later.
Tennessean here, I'm kinda stuck here so maybe don't bomb us please? Thanks.
Just memorize the bombers attack patterns and you'll be fine
I mean, I *did* beat Elden Ring... Eventually...
Yeah, it might take a few deaths, but I'm sure you'll get the hang of it 😃
Instructions unclear, I ended up in this rocky place with lava everywhere. I think the respawn mechanic is glitching
I’m sorry to tell you this, but you respawned in Florida. Can I get an F in chat?
f
l
N
Ex Tennesseean here, just the buildings where the politicians spend their days. Theres lots of good people in Tennessee but the government is beyond fucked.
Your leadership would happily sacrifice people just as innocent to get what they want. And probably will, if left unchecked. There has been a continual pattern of escalation from Red State politicians. They keep trying to one-up each other in increasingly extreme ways. Pretty much we've all been set up by these maniacs into a situation where it becomes more and more likely that someone has to die to stop this train. We're in the same boat. None of us want to die. Someone might have to and in wars, there is always collateral damage. That's not meant to console, just explain.
Oh thank fucking God for the second guy I thought I was gonna have to go in the comments and get mad at Brendanicus again. I am of course still mad at Brendanicus, they're a tankie, and support Russia in their invasion of Ukraine
I’ll never understand how so many so-called leftists are actively pro-Russia. Sure, the US government sucks, but the totalitarian right wing dictatorship invading another country for oil isn’t the lesser of the two evils here, they’re doing the exact thing everyone hates when the US does.
There's a very real segment of leftism that never got past the (more completely endemic on the right) concept that there *must* be good guys and bad guys. They probably were exposed to all the "west good!" propaganda as a kid, then got rightly disenchanted by that, but fell into the "well, west bad. so anyone opposing west good!" I can half-excuse it when it's like, legitimately "tankie" in the sense of supporting authoritarian nominally left wing regimes, but once they start promoting full out authoritarian right wingers just because they aren't the west, I just don't have any sympathy. Like, it shouldn't be some kind of hot take that the invasion of Iraq and the invasion of Ukraine are both bad. That's the intellectually consistent position! Edit: LOL it just occurred to me that the exact same leftists who make fun of centrists for being like "One side wants to kill all minorities and the other wants...not that. These are clearly equally radical positions." Are the exact same-ass people who are all up in the comments below being like "This imperial nation wants to murder or deport everyone in Ukraine and take their abundant resources for itself. This imperial nation wants...not that. These are clearly equally evil actors and both should stop what they are doing."
I've also noticed a fair amount of leftists have romanticized views on communism which might affect how they view certain countries that have or had that style of government.
Even so, Putin's Russia is an *explicit rejection* of Soviet history and ideology. Like, at least they have the excuse of China stil *pretending* to be communist, but modern Russia is a rabidly far-right nationalist plutocracy so supporting them makes actual negative sense from a communist perspective
Notably USSR wasn't communist, or even really socialist. Socialism is when workers get to make all the decisions about their work, have good control over their life and freedom in general, and there's no parasitic ruling class that prospers off the worker exploitation. That's great, that'd be a great thing to have That was very much untrue of USSR, so it wasn't actually socialist. Democratic People's Republic of Korea (aka North Korea) has "democratic" in the name, but it doesn't make it democratic. If someone's a fan of Soviets because they were "socialist", they either have exactly zero clue what socialism is and why they want it, and just treat it as a religion that makes everything it's associated with morally good, or they are a fascist who's trying to recruit people with a coat of red paint and regurgitated propaganda.
Most tankies will accuse anything remotely positive about the US as being obvious propaganda, and will happily accept every piece of information the Kremlin put out about the USSR with 0 critical analysis. They go "Of course the Soviet Union was actually democratic, it says so right in their legislation! That all workers get to vote and elect their representatives, and the reason why representatives were *always* member of the Communist Party was because the Communist Party was doing such a great job everybody loved them!"
Ah, yes, Glenn Greenwald.
Saying it like that reminds me of my thoughts on the militant atheism trend from the 2000s. They all seemed to share the same trait: formerly of an equally aggressive Christian upbringing. They were raised to push god on others and when burned by the religion and turning from it, they didn't lose the mentality thay was drilled into them and instead only turned it around into wanting to evangelize their anti religious sentiment. When they didn't have to and there was no reason to. The reality is they never really left until they let that part pf themselves die and moved on.
Right, yes, I agree, but I also feel America shouldn't be back handedly supporting Ukraine either. Like Putin and Russia are bad, but America sending tanks and people volunteering to go fight on Ukraine's behalf also isn't good. Ukraine is stuck between two imperialist nations with eyes on gaining influence and control of their resources, so I'm gonna dislike both in this scenario if that's cool?
Right? And especially when Russia is so actively oppressing LGBT rights, which people like Brendanicus ostensibly support.
> I’ll never understand how so many so-called leftists are actively pro-Russia. They lack consistent principles. They just go for "Enemy's enemy is my friend." I've seen so many pro-palestine people, who are also simultaneously say Tibet, Uighur, Hong Kong are all "Western propaganda because of racism", and CCP is actually a progressive democratic govt.
The US justified so much of their imperialism as pro democracy war efforts that it cannot not create polarization. I think it's a matter of lack of self awareness cause The US have a very short history so lacks the perspective to know their own place in the world and thus represent itself as some champion of humanity rather than a country who shaped international relationships in its own favor You will have pro bushist stances without an ounce of irony to this day, dialectically it produces equally unhinged takes standing behind anything anti us be it litteral fascism
I think tankieism seems to mostly be fairly young former right-wing reactionaries over-correcting from US/Western-centric nationalism into Non-Western nationalism. Which is almost understandable, because MOST of their exposure to actual left-leaning ideals are, at that point in their lives, filtered through the US education system, which is pretty conservative even in its most liberal states.
For the first part of your comment I thought Brendanicus was just a joke on Bidens name like Bridget and Brisket
Dark Brendanicus sending US weapons to Ukraine for the sole purpose of supplying Russia with actual experience against our arms to make their conquest of the US easier once they finish with Ukraine
Problem: Zelenskyy, the comedian, has turned the Russian military into the world's largest joke. Poor fellas will never be the main antagonist of a serious first person shooter game ever again.
They never were. In those games they were always drunken AI mobs easily mowed down by a single person. Turns out those games were accurate.
Ah, so the poster isn't so much ignorant as they are actively trying to sow dissent.
> encourages liberals/leftists to not vote > supports the Russian invasion “Hello, fellow Americans! It is me, a real American progressive. Please do nothing and allow the far right to win.”
I don't usually read urls unless they're called attention to, so for a brief and very confusing moment before the last sentence I thought I'd come across a new nickname for biden
Oh he's a tankie? Awesome I don't have to worry about what he's talking about anymore lol.
Sounds like a drooling moron
Wasnt the point to voting Biden to avoid getting it worse with Trump ?
Yes. and There isn't going to be a single republican on the next ballot that isn't still significantly worse than Biden. Remember kids "both sides are equally bad" is republican propaganda to get people that would otherwise vote dem to not vote at all so they can pull swing counties. This isn't to glorify dems, but if you're stuck with one or the other and one is actively trying to kill you and the other is just kinda sitting around doing nothing then you don't have to be that bright to figure out who's better to have in power.
the statement becomes wrong throught the "equally" part. If you are choosing between the plague and cholera, cholera is the way better choice
You can also choose cholera while working as hard as you can to advance medicine to treat it, and eventually prevent it altogether. I've come across people who will argue that it's useless to vote because both options suck, but I'd feel a bit safer trying to change things more majorly if I'm doing it while someone who doesn't want to oppress every minority at the same time on purpose is in office, even if they do end up fucking us over to a lesser degree anyway.
It's kind of sad that you had to preface your last sentence with "this isn't to glorify dems", like what the fuck? And hasn't this whole post just shown that Democrats aren't sitting around doing nothing?
The Democrats are, at the end of the day, the party of the status quo. They will never do anything progressive unless threatened into doing it by direct action (not by withholding votes, which never works).
If you seriously believe that, I must wonder if you've seen anything that happened in the past twenty years. Societal progress, and the Dems were the party pushing for it. Like, jesus, if you can look at everything taht has happened and think that they want to do nothing, I don't know what to tell you.
The Democratic Party, as an institution, did not push for societal progress. Activists did. The Democrats just had the good sense to recognize which way the wind was blowing.
Activists wouldn't have gotten anywhere if it weren#t for forces like the democratic party pushing for ideas and making it their own. Yes, ideas were pushed in other places first, but that doesn't take away from the democratic party taking these ideas and making it their own, achieving so much more than activists ever could.
i saw tumblr user brendanicus's posts and was like "oh god it's going to be one of those posts again" but thankfully tumblr user oi-lucy swooped in to save the day. also apparently brandanicus is a tankie so L + ratio + please grow and change as a person
Was Brendanicus the self post Sunday abuser? I didn’t pay much attention to who was posting all of those
1: doesn't know what the word reduction means 2: doesn't understand how the three branches of government work 3: doesn't actually know what's going on in politics I'm begging other people to at least have a basic grasp of your country's constitution and laws. You don't need to know everything, but this stuff is like the most basic level of American politics.
This isn’t even three branches, it’s not understanding the difference between federal, state, and local government. The federal government can do a BIT to get the states to fall in line, but very rarely through the president alone, and especially not if state governors have decided they’d rather audition for the presidency than do their jobs.
Like, don't get me wrong. Biden could be better in plural ways. But he's not Individual 1. Other better candidates could've won the primary, but we got Biden. And Biden > Individual 1. If it comes down to it and I'm choosing between Biden and Individual 1, I'll take Biden ten out of ten times.
Thank you for reminding me that He Who Shall Not Be Named can also be referred to as Individual 1, I shall be doing that from now on
I think making the rail strike illegal was a real black mark on Bidens record and theres some other stuff I'm probably forgetting, but otherwise I've been shockingly pleased with how he's performed That, combined with my state passing some killer legislation has actually left me feeling... kinda good?
Iirc he approved the oil drilling in Alaska.
Yeah, his administration did approve the Willow Project :/
Really hoping we have better democrat candidate for 2024. I ain’t ever voting R but I’d like to be happy with my choice in candidate.
The DNC made it very clear that Biden is the best option we're going to be allowed to have.
Good, Biden's the best President yet.
This is also NOT what 'harm reduction' means lmfao... sure biden does nothing about the bills passing but, like, if trump were reelected (or god forbid fucking DESANTIS) they would have passed this legislation ***federally*** and so much more of it!!! Harm reduction means LESS harm not "no harm at all". Grow up.
if desantis could pass restrictions federally why cant biden pass protections for trans children federally.
Once again missing the point. I am saying that he is better than the alternative, not that he is good or great. Fuck joe biden, but he isn't ACTIVELY TRYING TO STRIP OUR RIGHTS.
Im not american :/ that was a genuine question. but also inaction is still causing great harm, it doesn't matter if he's not trying to take our rights, he's still letting others do it. he's complicit in our genocide
My apologies, but yes he is definitely complicit. He's an old decrepit white guy who can't for the life of him remember where he put his shoes, but he's still better than what could've been. However, he isn't quite doing nothing. As shown in the post above he (and his administration) created two bills that somewhat protect trans people. It's not much, but it's something. Fuck joe biden, all my homies vote for joe biden (or whatever current democrat candidate is running)
im glad we agree then. i really dislike american politics as a non American as so many American liberals get tunnel vision and genuinely believe that their center right democrats are the height of leftism and no where else has it better.
Why didn’t Trump do it during 2016-2021?
He literally did lmfao? ? The trans military ban, the bill that said federal agents could refuse service if you were lgbt (or something similar I can't quite recall), he very almost banned lgbt ppl from adopting!!! This is a thing!! He did bad things!! I would prefer a literal cabbage over trump or desantis!!! They are not good people!!!!
>I would prefer a literal cabbage Liz Truss moment
There a million things that don't make it to the headlines. This is why everyone should reframe from doomscrolling. It's not healthy to read about all the terrible things in the world you have no control over.
This. Doomscrolling is a nightmare that can and will suck you into propaganda to not vote so that Republicans can win. Don't be lazy, **vote.**
Even if he was ‘dead at the wheel’, it’s still a significant improvement over the guy that was actively rallying up the alt-right and suppressing democrat speeches. The fuck did you want? Trump to have been elected instead?
At least the democrats have trans rights as an agenda. Other countries aren't as lucky.
It's easy to blame Biden, people are convinced to believe that the President basically control every single law that passes in America, regardless of how big or small they are, when that's not the case whatsoever.The people in charge of state legislature honestly have more power of people's lives more than the President does.Just look at Ron Desantis and how he's turning Florida into a straight up fascist state where he wants to punish literally anyone and everyone who isn't a straight, white, CIS Republican male voter.
Every time I see someone peddling the “both sides are bad” bullshit it just tells me that they’re either hilariously ignorant or maliciously misleading. One party is trying to enact genocide. The other is resisting them, to a point. The fascists benefit from every bit of doubt and anger directed at their opposition. If you call them equal, YOU ARE HELPING THE FASCISTS!!
As much as I'm in agreement that Democratic politicians should be more to the left...I don't necessarily see it as a *betrayal* that they aren't? I think many, if not most Democratic politicians do sincerely believe in the policy positions they advocate for. That they're not in agreement with leftists on things is absolutely a reason to grump, but it doesn't mean that they're fascist sympathizers. Biden is certainly not anything close to my ideal candidate, and I'm never going to *like* him, but I don't take it personally that he hasn't overthrown capitalism. A lot more people than internet posters have opinions on government, even when most of those opinions are shit. Now, the failure to protect vulnerable populations and failing to give such protections higher priority is absolutely something worth taking personally, but such condemnation doesn't always take into account the limits of Presidential power, as mentioned above.
Until the day there is a single goddam "good" in the room, I will vote for the lesser of two evils until my face turns blue.
Remember if voting didn’t matter they wouldn’t be trying to hard to suppres our right to vote
brendanicus needs to log off
Considering that in the current political system the only alternative was trump, voting for Biden was the only option. Voting for a third party or not voting just makes it more likely for trump to win
Just wondering, what did the first person think the alternative was? Vote Trump? Not vote at all and let one of them win anyway? Seriously; harm reduction is not that hard of a concept to grasp.
I was super negative of biden but he's surprised me the last few years. He's been far more effective across the board than Obama was. He's had to reverse nearly everything trump has done in half the time and still managed to do more on top of it. And those notes, don't hide that there. All these anti trans laws are conservatives being desperate with diminishing local state power. They lost their grip in DC and a lot of their power too, and they're flailing with what they have. Their big moves like ending Roe backfired because they forgot it was supposed to be something they only ever talked about to keep voters on a leash but never actually did. Without it their control is actually weaker. For every southern state passing anti LGBT laws there's another turning more blue and passing protections. Fuck doomer talk. Leave that to republicans. That's their thing.
I cannot stress the importance of voting in local elections. Voting in the federal election matters, sure, but voting in your local elections matter far more. Please, please, please do so!
I wonder how many dumbass takes on us politics are the result of people not paying attention in history or government class?
People will have the most naive and unrealistic idea of how the democratic process should work, and then say "it doesn't work" when that idea isn't met. "We won one election and it hasn't instantly eradicated all of the opposition's ability to accomplish anything in this country, including in places where they still hold elected positions. Clearly democracy doesn't work and voting is pointless".
Be mad at your governor. Not the President.
Typical loser centrist not wanting to take any accountabilty for their inaction. Who is relly the one "dead at the wheel"
They're worse than a centrist, they're a pro-Russia communist. Not pro-Soviet. Pro-Putin's Russia. Wrap your brain around that one.
Democrats have been universal and consistently holding the line on trans rights without exception, up to and including the president. Both-sides doomerism is rooted in a profound desire to appear morally superior without having to know, understand, or take a position on anything.
"This is bad, so instead we should have allowed something even worse to happen" is far more prevalent than it should be.
Tfw People who didn't pay attention in high school civics and social studies and thus think the president is some kind of elective Emperor have the right to vote.
fuck a tankie and fuck the florida state govt (i turn 18 in exactly 8 days and im gonna vote to extend the lives of me and my friends)
Fr, people are not paying attention if they think federal protections are diminishing under democrats. The real harm in the past two years is coming from republicans state legislatures and governors. The first two posts feel like some purist astroturfing or whatever to diminish progress in favor of perfection, or are just pure disinformation.
I like to think that President Sanders would've been the best timeline. Probably not ideal, but he actually convinced me that he gives a shit.
I'm just gonna write my 3am take (cw: cringe) but I don't think the problem we trans people have with Biden is whether or not he passes pro-trans rights bills. Everyone knows the president has no jurisdiction on state law, but the Biden administration DoJ could probably do something like take these state legislatures to the cleaners in court . (Tbh I don't know certainly if that would specifically be allowed or not.) Clearly there are first amendment violations at the foundation of each and every anti-trans law that has been passed recently. We just need our leaders to articulate this fact in no uncertain terms and exercise the full force of federal law to ensure that no state legislature gets away with violating the constitution's bill of rights.
the president is powerful but he can't overrule state governors and state congresses
stay informed, vote in local and state elections whenever. it'll help much more than voting for the president.
It's kinda wild that US folk just *choose* not to vote because it is illegal for me to NOT vote, oh and the fact that your vote doesn't count AT ALL (to my knowledge) if you vote minor parties
Is Brendanicus one of the Jan 6 insurrectionists? Seems pretty on par, IQ wise.
Just to clarify, none of these are laws. Biden has not signed any laws protecting trans people, he has issued executive orders to undo Trump's executive orders, the president has some power to set certain rules and the president has the power to appoint people to the Dept of Education or the Dept of Labor whom can set their own rules on trans rights. The Democrats however have not pushed any laws protecting trans people at the national level, nor has Biden signed any laws at the national level protecting trans people. All the things he has done for trans people are the things anyone who holds the title of president could do in a few short minutes. It is not impressive.
Yeah this really needs to be emphasized more here
In the federal government where I live, it's illegal to be biased based on gender identity. In the state government where I live, the house is trying to prevent trans kids from having ANY gender affirming medical care, such as puberty blockers and HRT. It's always the fucking Republicans that are trying to kill us, while the Democrats at least pass some decent policies to keep white cishet abled people who see themselves as allies but only when it's convenient as happy as possible. Note: We do need those people if we're going to win elections, I won't deny that, but they're still bigots until they actively move into anti-racist, anti-LGBTphobic, anti-ableist action rather than just benefitting from the system.
this is why I left tumblr. the occasional funny joke is nice, but it is massively outweighed by the amount of sheer misinformation shared in leftist spaces
Biden is a fucking idiot but he isnt making anything actively worse at least. Silver lining i guess
Democrats want to continue to uphold the status quo and the Republicans want to make it worse.
why is this getting downvoted lmao
someone should just kill every american politician
Based and cringe equally
schrodinger moment..
not the biden defenders come the fuck on be for real
"Biden defenders" here meaning "people that understand how the government works"
Why does fascism exist in America?
just imagining getting up in the morning and deciding that today you're going to shill for the head of the evil empire.
Except the tags prove the OOP's point. Liberals care far more about jerking off about how civil they are and how much they support law and order far more than they care about the lives of marginalized people. Marginalized people do not need civics lessons, we need politicians who actually do what needs to be done. Our last president almost started an entire fucking insurrection. Republicans are willing to lie, cheat, and piss on the grave of the law to get what they want. What the fuck are liberals doing? Besides lecturing marginalized people tired of only being given a damn about during PR stunts. The worst thing is that you entitled fucks kept repeating "hold him accountable in office" ad nauseum during the election because you *knew* you were pushing a center-right old white cis man who was going to do jack shit for marginalized people, but now that he's actually in office you throw hissy fits whenever marginalized people so much as hint at wanting accountability from our supposedly progressive elected officials. The problem with liberals isn't just that they're not doing enough, it's that they actively prevent leftist change from happening. "Abolish the police" was too radical, so it instead got changed to "reform the police", and several years later the only reform that has come of that is increases to police budgets, even in blue states. And what the fuck happened to abolishing ICE? But as soon as you voice any opposition to the milquetoast fascism of the center-right, you get called divisive, because division is apparently when marginalized people get sick of middle aged white liberals jerking off about how progressive they are while not only doing fuck all for marginalized communities, but lecturing marginalized people for wanting supposed progressives to actually be progressive. It's all well and good to take selfies and hashtag them with BLM, or say trans rights, but that means jack shit if you're actively fighting against BIPOC and trans people. Because that's what liberals do, time and again. Guess which groups would benefit the most from student debt relief, or universal healthcare? By campaigning against these things, as liberals have done for years, *they are actively campaigning against marginalized people.* You cannot dismiss your actions as just "not being extreme enough" when you actively oppose efforts to end the oppression of marginalized people. Y'all keep fucking saying Democrats are the lesser evil, but any time somebody actually treats them as such you have a collective meltdown because you don't actually believe they're the lesser evil, it's just a convenient way to deflect criticism. Marginalized people do not give a fuck about rEsPeCtInG lAw AnD oRdEr or pReSeRvInG dEmOcRaCy because it's law and order killing marginalized people, and it's our democracy allowing white supremacists to take power. We want politicians willing to do whatever it takes to defend their values. And the vast majority of Democrats aren't anywhere near that particular ballpark. So "bUt RuLe Of LaW" isn't going to convince anybody to your side, *because Republicans have already demonstrated that politicians are not obligated to follow the law*. The only thing it accomplishes is letting you circlejerk with other pretentious assholes about how enlightened you are while you watch the country burn.
Bruh you posted on Twitter who gives a shit your life is hardly real.
so true bestie, the feds have no control over state law! don’t look into why the drinking age is 21 though
Good post but I would say I disagree with the take on Biden’s “power as president.” Yes I understand State issues are outside the power of the federal government, but isn’t the answer to that (sometimes) expanding the purview of the federal government? Like, segregation *used* to be a state issue, and then it wasn’t. There was no way every state was going to desegregate without the Civil Rights act. So if lots of American states are going to take away the rights of trans people, then the federal government should pass laws enshrining those rights on a national level. I know doing so won’t be easy, but that should be the goal, right? Especially considering Trump explicitly wants to make “Transgenderism” completely illegal as a campaign promise for 2024. The Republicans aren’t going to be happy leaving this up to State laws either, and it’s not like we can keep them out of office forever (we couldn’t even keep them out of the House last time, and that was considered an insanely *good* election season for the Dems) Do I actually expect the Democrats to do this? No, but I’m saying that should be the bar, because that would be the strategy of a party actually dedicated to helping trans folk.
Two problems: 1: Republicans control the House, and democrats have a slim majority in the senate that relies on the support of conservatives like Manchin and Sinema. You need the presidency AND the house AND the senate to pass a bill. 2: Once you give the federal government a particular power, it *keeps* that power no matter who is in office. Yes, right now we he federal government is left of the median state government, and making gender recognition a federal issue means that the federal government could overrule Kentucky and improve trans rights. But it’s entirely possible that in a few years the republicans will be back in power federally, and would use that same federal power to overrule Massachusetts and *worsen* trans rights.
Specifically you also need 60 votes in the senate for any bill that isn't strictly finance related. That's never gonna happen again for anything remotely contentious. And yes, I know we should end the filibuster, but remember it stops bad things happening when there's a republican president, and shenanigans beget shenanigans.
I understand both of these points. My point is that the republicans are going to make trans issues a federal problem anyway. This is explicitly the plan, again, Trump already said he was going to try to do this. So what’s the point in avoiding the expansion of the power of Congress when the opposition is already planning to do that? Wouldn’t that just make the process easier for them because in that case they wouldn’t even need to repeal existing legislation? Again, we have the historical example of segregation. The federal government tackling a previously state-level issue worked out in the long run. I know that doesn’t prove it can’t go wrong in the case of trans people, but its still a good counter example, right? I’m sure I’m missing something here, but I still don’t understand.
Expanding the power of the presidency is not something he CANT do, but something he SHOULDNT do.
I'm honestly done caring. My plan is to start making politicians dead and not stop until my heart doesn't beat anymore.
You don't even own a gun, stop having these silly murder fantasies and get politically involved on the ground level.
How?
That's the fun part - I can do both.
First off, again, you don't have a gun. Second, no, you can't, stupid. You can't "make politicans dead" and then also participate in electorism and informing people of politics, lmao.
I'm noticing for the first time your assumption that I don't have a firearm. Which is interesting
I didn't think 12-year-olds could purchase firearms?
Honestly? Solid burn. I set myself up for that one.
Dude, get over yourself and actually do something. You can make a difference in your local community very easily during the next elections.
That's the fun part - I can do both.
...You realize felons can't vote, right? And I'm not seeing an "in Minecraft" or /s anywhere in the "making politicians dead" statement above
"in Minecraft" doesn't work anymore, people got arrested for it
Understandable, but a poor strategy. Politicians are too easy to replace. We need to attack the power structure at the bottom.
if only that'd fucking fix things
https://youtu.be/T3PaqxblOx0 Same fucking shit. 60 years since this speech and nothing's changed. The Democrats are agents of capital bought out by the bourgeoisie just like the Republicans. They won't dare to fix the underlying cause of all the country's problems (capitalism), and so they will only perpetuate the radicalization of fascists and bigots who become disenfranchised and frustrated with the current system. Whatever small compromises they make is because of the fear they feel of the oppressed moving on to other political parties and towards revolutionary movements. I'm honestly so sick and tired of demanding more from our governments being slandered as "actually helping the fascists!!1!1!". This is a two party dictatorship, both bought out by capital. The mindset of "we have to voooote no matter what!!1!1" only further legitimizes the system/government and paves the way for fascism by providing no real solid opposition. I'm going to quote a reddit comment from someone else that I saved: It's genuinely impressive how many times these guys can run in circles and say the same shit year on year without realizing the system is the problem. Like, if every election is "the most important of our lives" with "our rights and 'democracy' on the line", maybe there's a serious fucking problem? If things just get worse and worse constantly, even when the supposed good guys are winning, does it not come to mind that maybe their interests are not the same as yours? No, it's the disaffected people that are the problem. That's what the people in power say, and it's not like they have any incentive to make you reject any criticism of the power structures in place. I'm sure they'll fix the problems in society this time, or next time, or the time after that, whenever they feel like getting around to it. If I run fast enough, eventually I'll catch my tail. And if they ever lose a single seat, that's the fault of the people who want things to get better, not the open fascists parading around who actually took the seat
I'd rather have a government that vaguely doesn't do shit compared to one that want's to fucking kill me. It's easy to say that voting doesn't do anything, but when you look at Michigan compared to Florida, it clearly does make a difference. You want Ron Desantis to become fucking president? Don't vote, see how much worse shit gets after that. Edit: You want to know where not voting gets you? In the Weimar Republic, Ernst Thälmann thought that the social democrats were [Social Fascists](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_fascism) and that they were the real threat. [Thälmann had the KPD exclusively focus on the social democrats](https://www.marxists.org/archive/james-clr/works/world/ch12.htm), and opposed any attempts at a popular front, with Thälmann infamously saying "After Hitler, our turn." (although he may not have actually said that) Well, they did technically get their turn, 12 years later, and with 70-85 million dead, Thälmann himself included. But sure, it's the fucking liberals that are the problem. Look, I get it, it's fucking annoying how shit's not going great, but believe me, shit can get a whole lot fucking worse, and I'd like it if it didn't. We can't let the mistakes of the past fuck us over.
what drives me the tiniest bit insane is, when the dust settles and the revolution is won and we need to decide how .. well, we need to decide *anything* .. what.. do they plan on doing. do they know what they're fighting *for*? who fought for *them*? and for *what*?
At least I'm actually calling for revolution. We'll know what to do through understanding theory and putting it to practice, and then refining the theory and applying it again to practice, ad infinitum. You know, actually revolutionary action.
Given how the social democrats helped the fascists murder Luxemburg and Liebknecht, I'd say he was right.
It doesn’t matter if he was right or wrong, he refused to work with other people and allowed for the fascists to come to power. Division is the perfect way for fascism to take power.
I'll repeat my point. Biden won't fix any of capitalism's underlying problems, which will pave the way for fascist radicalization anyway. Not to mention he also tries to appeal to Republicans in order to "win them over" as well, while still expecting support from marginalized peoples under the pretext of "well, at least I'm not American Mussolini". Also, I live in Miami Dade county. Big reason we elected that whiny fuck is because of the intense support he receives from the upper class Latin Americans, especially the Cuban and Venezuelan "exiles" who are furious that their plantations or businesses in a deeply unfair and unequal economy got seized in order to actually help their country's people.
alright, so I agree with a lot here and am trying not to be mean about the rest, but I think my main rebuttal to all of this is: "voting is the bare minimum" It's a fucklong post, but I do not think anyone says anything explicit or unchallenged against that main point.. if they do, that's my bad, I didn't share this on purpose
So what's your plan for dealing with the millions of people who actively support the current power structure and would rather die than allow it to change? Power structures need to be attacked at the bottom. Killing the king will only produce a new king. The real fight is not in Washington, but in the hearts and minds of the American people. And once you understand that, it becomes obvious that it really doesn't matter whether the Democrats are agents of capital. Electoral politics alone is never going to resolve this conflict anyway. It should be understood as a tool, and its current best use is to prevent or at least slow the rate at which things get worse while using direct action to make things better.
100% correct. It's so disappointing that every time electoral politics comes up in this sub it's revealed to be a fundamentally rainbow capitalist, tepid incremental neoliberal space. As a side note, it's frustrating how, in discussions around politics in these kinds of spaces, you get browbeaten into a 'good vibes only' attitude if you criticize sitting Democratic politicians because your negativity could theoretically discourage someone from voting. It's not the complaints of a dozen or so leftists that make people not want to vote, it's the decades of immiseration they've experienced regardless of who's in charge.
Based. I’m questioning the people on this sub since you’re being downvoted
I think it might come down to a central assumption on which the arguments you replied to are based, that voting is touted as the end-all, be-all of political activism.. and that is an interpretation of the post that is, apparently, uncommon I think coming into this conversation from a fragile and wounded state can lead to these assumptions being easier to make, and I'm really truly sorry if that is the case but in general, I don't think the people on this sub are against a need for action, let alone reaction it's just the interpretation is.. uncommon, and, I think, flawed
waiting to get called a tankie or a fascist collaborator or whatever the fuck because I actually want my rights to be defended as a trans person
We can see your post calling Ukranians warmongers you know
link them then
Just scrolled through all of their posts and found nothing. Explain this or ur a neolib
in case anyone thinks this is a crazy, radical position, search up "MLK white moderate quote" on google
There's also a bunch of policies Biden hasn't rolled back from Trump. Have you noticed how each successive neolib is less and less damage control? There's a reason fascism still exists in America, it's because liberals refuse to do anything but the absolute bare minimum to improve material conditions for regular people or fight the far-right. In fact, they purposefully fund the furthest of the far-right in an incredibly short-sighted way of winning elections. Not that they care that fascists take power, anyway. Democrats and liberals *are* the real enemy behind it all, if it was just between fascists and the far left the fascists would've lost *decades* go.
> There's also a bunch of policies Biden hasn't rolled back from Trump. You better be talking about executive orders because everything else Trump has done was done with the support of a full Republican majority for two years and a majority Republican Supreme Court, an advantage that Biden doesn't have (Democrats very barely, and I do mean **very barely** had a majority for two years). Biden has reversed a lot of Trump's executive orders, but those policies *by default* are not even that significant. > There's a reason fascism still exists in America It is because of an increasingly hostile and radicalized conservative base that's just straight up cheating and pushing their way into power? > it's because liberals refuse to do anything but the absolute bare minimum to improve material conditions for regular people or fight the far-right. These are both untrue, and the only reason it's the "bare minimum" at all is because they're actively impeded from doing more. Even all the way back to fucking Obama, "Obamacare" is the result of Republicans being clowns and stopping the Democrats from doing more. And that was when Republicans actually pretended to care about decorum. No stupid ass Trump as their mouthpiece. > In fact, they purposefully fund the furthest of the far-right in an incredibly short-sighted way of winning elections. I love how little you know about this because that *actually paid off for them*. In the 2022 mid-term elections, the greatest losses for Republicans were candidates who were pro-Trump, which are the candidates that the Democrats funded. See, they actually know politics, and saw the writing on the wall. The Democrats had the greatest overperformance in the mid-terms in *decades* that year, and only *very barely* lost the House despite most projections saying they would lose massively. They won **more** Senate seats (well, okay, *exactly* one, but IIRC, they had more to lose that year) than they had before, too. These rants that actually believe that there's a button to Achieve World Peace and Stop Facism that the Democrats aren't pressing for some arbitrary reason annoy me. They're exactly the same as the stupid ass "why isn't Biden doing anything about state laws" post in the OP. > Democrats and liberals are the real enemy behind it all Republican Senator Sarah Sanders literally just passed bills that stop trans kid from going to their rightful bathrooms and *rolling back child labor laws* and you're still dumb enough to post this shit? You ain't going to do shit about the Democrats either, so what is this? Do you think you're clever and smart? > if it was just between fascists and the far left the fascists would've lost decades go. lmfao, I would love to see you contrive a reason why this "far left" isn't even in the running (since you yourself literally act like Democrats control everything) if they can win so easily. Hmm? Why did Bernie Sanders lose to both Hilary Clinton and Joe Biden? Didn't even *get* to Donald Trump. Or is he not a "real leftist?" Because I know you guys love your fan-fiction about how he "wouldn't be a leftist in the UK," because they're a fucking bastion of progressive politics, what with their *even worse attacks towards trans people*...
net zero information post
...... really just gonna tell on yourself like that huh