• disguy_ovahea@lemmy.world
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      5 months ago

      We need more Democrats in Congress for that. A third of the Senate and all of the House are up for election in November. Attendance at the polls is crucial for down-ballot candidates just the same as presidential.

      Vote in November, or be ready to accept what a Republican President, Congress, and SCOTUS decide for you.

      • meep_launcher@lemm.ee
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        5 months ago

        The thing that stinks is

        A) the electoral college makes it so only 4 or 5 states really matter

        B) there’s an amnesia about trump from the never trump republicans. My dad is conservative but didn’t vote trump. He thought he was an asshole. Now my dad talks about how Biden is crooked, and the only reason people hate trump is because, and his words, “orange man bad”.

        C) puritanical leftists have valid reasons to not like Biden, but they are willing to blow up the system as they always have. I say puritanical because I know there are pragmatic leftists who exercise restraint in their actions.

        In 2020, the suburban vote was a critical win for Biden. I’m hoping for the best, but I’m starting to sit with the fact that Trump has a decent, if not likely, chance of winning in 2020.

        • Wahots@pawb.social
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          5 months ago

          C) is the one that is gonna be the razor’s edge on this stuff. Reasonable people will vote for Biden, but it’s the people that don’t feel like voting will matter or people who are dying on the hill of a single issue who are potentially going to fuck us and the entire rest of the world by not voting.

          I plan on voting for Biden because it’s the right thing to do for all Americans and our allies, and I really don’t want to be a tailgunner if Trump breaks up NATO and all the men get drafted for a world war to save Europe or Asia-Pacific again. Preventing assholes domestically and abroad from destroying peaceful countries would be nice.

          • go_go_gadget@lemmy.world
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            5 months ago

            is the one that is gonna be the razor’s edge on this stuff. Reasonable people will vote for Biden

            Funny, because whenever we say “Biden should have done Y not X” you all say “If he hadn’t then moderate democrats and some Republicans won’t vote for him.” They vote for him because they get what they want. Yet somehow we’re unreasonable when we refuse to vote for him when we don’t get what we want.

            You’re trying to hold leftists to a higher standard and it’s bullshit.

            • disguy_ovahea@lemmy.world
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              4 months ago

              It’s the exact same standard. Do you really think all votes for Trump are going to be from supporters? Most will be from Republicans who don’t want a Democratic President.

              There’s a saying- Democrats need to fall in love, Republicans need to fall in line. It’s that mentality of inaction that causes us to regress as a nation every time a Republican takes office.

              In response, Democratic candidates move closer to center to capture more of the active voters, having the exact opposite effect that is intended by abstention.

              • go_go_gadget@lemmy.world
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                4 months ago

                It’s the exact same standard.

                If it were the same standard then excusing Biden for catering to moderate voters because otherwise they’d abandon him would never happen. Either your reading comprehension is shit or you’re just plain lying. Moderate Democrat voters are getting everything they want. Leftists are getting bread crumbs and talking about abstaining from voting. You should be going after Moderate Democrat voters for being greedy. Not telling leftists they need to shut up and be grateful they’re getting bread crumbs.

        • disguy_ovahea@lemmy.world
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          5 months ago

          The Electoral College has nothing to do with congressional elections.

          The rest of your points can be addressed by providing information to those who are misinformed or disenfranchised. Abstaining may not be a vote for Trump, but it’s a refusal to stand in his way.

          • meep_launcher@lemm.ee
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            5 months ago

            Right they’re talking about Congress. There’s still issues with districting though.

            • disguy_ovahea@lemmy.world
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              5 months ago

              You vote for your Senators and House Representatives directly. The Electoral College has nothing to do with that.

              Each state has two Senate seats, voted on statewide. Districting does not affect that vote.

              Districting issues may make some votes less likely to make a difference in the House vote in specific districts in Republican states. That’s all the more reason to get as many Democrats to vote as possible.

              The average Democratic voting representation for congressional elections is less than 50%. We constantly complain about the repercussions of our own inaction.

      • go_go_gadget@lemmy.world
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        5 months ago

        We need more Democrats in Congress for that. A third of the Senate and all of the House are up for election in November. Attendance at the polls is crucial for down-ballot candidates just the same as presidential.

        What guarantees can you give us they won’t “fumble” the ball like they did during Obama’s presidency? If they do will you finally acknowledge the fucking problem?

        • disguy_ovahea@lemmy.world
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          5 months ago

          There’s none, other than the guarantee that Republicans will take the ball as far as they can in the opposite direction if we don’t vote. When was the last time a team won a game by walking off the field?

          • go_go_gadget@lemmy.world
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            4 months ago

            There’s none

            Thanks for admitting that Democrat politicians are corrupt pro-corporate trash. Come up with a winning strategy and I’ll come back to the field.

          • jaemo@sh.itjust.works
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            4 months ago

            Man! I love when people reduce the nuanced complexities of modern politics to a team sport. That’s just such a great way to reframe any issue to an us or them context.

            And, when you get right down to it, that’s really what this world needs: more acceptance and enforcement of norms that pit half of us against the other half.

            Ah! Progress!

            • disguy_ovahea@lemmy.world
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              4 months ago

              I agree that polarization is a real problem. The only reason I continued to use the analogy from the previous commenter was to maintain consistency in conversation.

              However, there are only two parties that are capable of winning this election. Believing otherwise is distraction, not progress.

              • jaemo@sh.itjust.works
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                4 months ago

                You are sadly correct. My comment was not meant, in particular, to call you or your habits out, but a cynical snipe at all of us. Apologies if it came across negative, cos that’s also not gonna help any 🤝

                • disguy_ovahea@lemmy.world
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                  4 months ago

                  No worries. I didn’t take it personally. My justification was for the sake of clarity, not defense. I appreciate the apology, even though it wasn’t necessary. Have a good one!

    • deweydecibel@lemmy.world
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      5 months ago

      He can’t do that.

      People keep saying the things Biden have been doing are weak, half measures, but they have no idea what he’s actually capable of doing without Congress.

      He literally tried to wipe away a significant amount of student debt. He tried to fulfill that promise without Congress. The Supreme Court stopped it.

      • greenskye@lemm.ee
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        5 months ago

        Honestly I think the entirety of the last 10 years of complete government failure should be tied back to the almost totally non-functional legislature.

        The president can’t pass laws. The supreme court would matter far less, if we weren’t trying to creatively reinterpret ancient laws and applying them to technology and culture that didn’t even exist at the time they were written. Instead of updating and clarifying any of those laws, the supreme court has been allowed to effectively make policy by continually shifting interpretations of a static and obsolete set of laws that Congress should have updated 20 years ago. Several times courts have effectively changed policy by saying ‘the law doesn’t mean that, go write an actual law for that, don’t just make shit up’ and then Congress just doesn’t react at all.

        If you look back at history, constitutional amendments were relatively regular up until recently. Can anyone imagine our current government passing an amendment for anything at all? Even the most minor tweak would be impossible in this Congress. Several of our major ‘wins’ were mere court cases and like we found out with abortion, what the court gives, the court can take away. Anything about our current day to day life that exists solely based on a court ruling we should be fighting to codify into law, but we all seem to recognize how futile that task is.

      • go_go_gadget@lemmy.world
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        5 months ago

        Funny how often Democrats try to do things that will definitely fail but then with things they actually can change there’s always some bullshit excuse.

        We don’t have medicare for all or something similar because Democrats refused to make it happen during Obama’s term. That combined with the kid gloves they took to the financial sector during the financial crisis disillusioned a lot of people. Most Democrat politicians are corrupt pro-corporate trash.

        • Eldritch@lemmy.world
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          4 months ago

          Because there wasn’t support for it. Sure it has pretty broad public support. But our elected officials don’t. It’s not a bullshit excuse. It sucks but it’s true. And acting like a child certainly won’t fix it.

          • go_go_gadget@lemmy.world
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            4 months ago

            Because there wasn’t support for it. Sure it has pretty broad public support. But our elected officials don’t. It’s not a bullshit excuse.

            Those elected officials were Democrats. You’re just proving my point. When the power is out of their hands you’re like “Omg they want to and if you just vote harder they’ll totally do it!” but then when the power is in their hands you just shrug and say “They didn’t support it.”

            Yes, I know they don’t support it. That’s why I’m not voting for them.

            • Eldritch@lemmy.world
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              4 months ago

              And that’s why they aren’t voting for it. No one is proving your point. And no it’s not just Democrats. Whatever conspiracy pit you frequent, you need to get out.

              • go_go_gadget@lemmy.world
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                4 months ago

                Are you a bot? It seems like you just lost the entire context of the conversation. Let me remind you.

                Me:

                We don’t have medicare for all or something similar because Democrats refused to make it happen during Obama’s term.

                You:

                Because there wasn’t support for it.

                Me:

                Yes, I know they don’t support it. That’s why I’m not voting for them.

                You:

                And no it’s not just Democrats.

                Are you following along now Siri?

                  • go_go_gadget@lemmy.world
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                    4 months ago

                    Buddy, I just spelled it out for you: We don’t have medicare for all or something similar because Democrats refused to make it happen during Obama’s term. This was the Democrats fault.