Maybe Democrats could have tried doing literally anything that people wanted
“Wow you wanted the Democrats to do popular polices? You must be a Republican!”
Everyone wants something. At least they’re getting it now right?
Oh this again? Democratic Party: has our Neo liberalism, refusal to enact progressive policy, and backing of a genocide alienated progressive voters? Disenfranchised voter: damn it we told you a thousand times yes! Democratic Party: No it’s the voters who are wrong.
Hey, hey, marketing yourself as Fascism Lite: Low Sodium as opposed to Fascism Original Recipe has to work at some point, right?
Yes, stop thinking and just follow the herd! That’s surely the solution! \s
Thankfully I live in a state where my vote doesn’t matter at all. jfc.
How many years can the libs keep this up?
How many years can the libs keep this up?
Until the collapse of society. (Three)
This is definitely a liberal take. I don’t agree with those who didn’t vote for Kamala, but removing responsibility from people running her campaign when there are obvious glaring issues such as retracting all populist messaging and appealing to non-existent right wingers voting against Trump was a real stinker to say the least. It’s okay to blame politicians who didn’t win for not winning.
God, this is the take I want to see. I’ll take criticism of my voting habits, but it should be proportional to my power. Democrats have more culpability.
proportional to my power
This is the thing that always kills me. My vote was 100% worthless. Completely performative, just throwing paper to the wind. My state was one of the few that actually went for Harris, my state governor is one of the few actually fighting against Trump, my city has so far done an excellent job fighting back against him, and none of the races were even really close. I’m sure there are many other people, in the other firm blue states just like mine, who couldn’t stomach voting for genocide when they know their vote is just a gesture.
Yep, I live in California. Local ballots are more important for my state than anything federal level, and I still voted for Harris.
I live in the worst part of California where its rural so Republicans win 60% of the vote, and state-wide Democrats win 60% of the vote. Props and city level are the only places I have a meaningful change, especially since my “city” has 5000 people.
So if I vote aginast the Republicans running for the House, my one vote didn’t change much there as the redneck hillbillies who think California is communist are a voting bloc that can’t be swayed, and they never need ot worry about re-election. I still vote for the Democrat, but last elections had two Republicans for the seat, one was backed by Trump, one was backed by Trump’s aids and cabinet officials.
You got a fascist elected. Hope your moral purity was worth it
100%
Non-contributing rage bait. The Democrats were wrong. The Democrats still are wrong. And the Democratic presidential candidate was infinitely better than her opposition.
Nuance motherfucker do you speak it.
Nuance motherfucker do you speak it.
“If they dislike my party, they must support the other party, nothing else exists, right?”
“If you dislike pancakes that must mean you LOOOOVE waffles right?”
No bitch thats a brand new sentence wtf is you talking about.
In a two party system, especially when there’s no clear “I don’t like either” option then yes, nothing else exists. When you don’t vote you’re not saying “I don’t like either party” you’re saying “I don’t care which party wins”. If you don’t care which party wins then you’re in support of both parties.
And it’s telling that so many people didn’t care whether the dictator or Democrats won, isn’t it? If you’re making the case between yourself and a megalomaniac, and the majority of Americans shrug and go about their day, what the hell are you doing wrong?
Yes but in discussing politics we are not relegated to the same limitations we have in voting. Thus there is no contradiction between voting down-ballot Democrat, then going home and tweeting “I hate Dick Cheney and the Democrats.”
OP makes a clownish commentary on this. If someone did not vote blue who probably should have, shame on them, but the Democrats are still wrong.
Yes, political discussions are not as limited in options as voting and there absolutely should be a political discussion about the Democratic party. They suck, have sucked and will continue to suck, unless they change.
And I agree that there’s no contradiction. I’d even go as far as to say there was no contradiction in voting for Harris and then tweeting “the democratic candidate sucks”, because you have to vote for someone and Trump (clearly) was the worse option.
My point was rather that if you dislike a party and you don’t vote for them then you are in support of the other party, even if you don’t vote at all. The nuances get kicked out when it comes to voting.
My point was rather that if you dislike a party and you don’t vote for them then you are in support of the other party, even if you don’t vote at all
And that is a dog shit point. An easy example: California. Nobody who didn’t vote in CA supported Trump by not voting, unless you don’t know how elections work
Stop trying to blame those not at fault you weird authoritarian
Just because the electoral college is a stupid thing doesn’t mean I’m not right. Had it been a popular vote those non-votes would’ve mattered.
Had it been a popular vote those non-votes would’ve mattered.
Why yes, if it was a completely different situation then it’d be a completely different situation
10/10 you dolt
ok fair but not relevant to my own point post it somewhere relevant next time if you want me to support lol
Ever heard of third parties? I’ve voted Green Party since I could vote. There is the Libertarian, Reform, Constitutional, and several other parties.
Yeah, they’re the non-vote parties. FPTP voting always devolves down to 2 parties, see Duverger’s Law. Even if by some miracle a 3rd party wins (and continues winning) they will eventually kick one of the previous 2 parties out and take their place as the new party in the 2 party system. In practice if my memory doesn’t fail me voting 3rd party hasn’t mattered for over a century because the 2 main parties are so entrenched, so voting for 3rd party is more or less throwing away your vote.
This is a problem with decision hierarchies. Usual election - if both parties have policies I can’t support, then I vote for 3rd party knowing it’s a protest vote.
HOWEVER : if the consequences of the election mean that a dictator and malignantly evil person (and their cronies) may get into power then the FIRST consideration MUST be that he doesn’t get into power. So you vote for the most likely way that the calamity can be stopped.
It’s shit, believe me, I know, but them’s the breaks. The problem has been that people have treated this as ‘election as usual’. The fact that sane people are still arguing over this is concerning.
!!A malignantly evil dictator has overtaken your government and is overtaking your country. You need to work together with the other sane people in order to stop this calamity.!!
Their job is literally to get elected…
Yeah that is the level of self awareness that created this bullshit. Fuck the Democrats. To be clear I voted for Harris but t Still think the Democrats suck
Imagine posting this meme when just today the DNC have announced their “new” leadership and it’s just the same as the old leadership, and they’ve done absolutely nothing to push back against Trump this whole time.
Just like they would have done nothing when Trumpists did a violent coup if the voting results were different.
Liberals only differ from fascists in degree, not the kind of ideology they follow.
they’ve done absolutely nothing to push back against Trump this whole time.
What do you mean? Didn’t you see their tiny signs last night? That’ll sure show him!
Fascism cannot stand against the power of color coordination. (And friendship. Have we tried using the power of friendship?)
I think they were even instructed to be “quiet”. And they all just fucking fell in line.
Imagine posting this meme when just today the DNC have announced their “new” leadership and it’s just the same as the old leadership, and they’ve done absolutely nothing to push back against Trump this whole time.
“But maybe next DNC chair you’ll get a progressive! Vote for us and we’ll give you what you want next time.”
don’t vote and you never have to vote again.
Literally voted for Harris, ya goober.
Degree of minorities murdered matters.
See you might have voted for Harris but people who go online and read comments like “Fuck the Democrats” and “Democrats are Centrists” didn’t. People didn’t vote for Harris because of shit like your comment.
Oh yeah, I’m sure it had nothing to do with people like you yelling at people that they’re monsters for even slightly criticizing the DNC and Harris campaign.
It gave us Trump, twice, consequentially there is very real death and suffering on their hands.
People didn’t vote for Harris because her campaign sucked ass, it’s her and her staff who failed to convince people to vote for her, not people who voiced their dissatisfaction with her proposed policy. They need to do better, and if they do, then people excercising their freedom of speech on the internet won’t sway votes away from the party. Idea that people shouldn’t be allowed to complain about the genocide because it voices loudly the dissatisfaction over the party actions and that may lead to lower voter turnout is flawed to it’s core. Those comments are the symptom of the problem, the sign that there is something wrong with the way they directed the campaign, not the source of it. You will get nowhere by silencing the dissidents, you need to take away their reasons to complain, not their means. Until Dems learn this lesson, they won’t win elections again, not with the antiestabilishment vibes and lack of trust towards the government that are prevailent im USA. Not only this messaging of censure won’t work, it will only piss off the electorate and alienate them further. Before the elections I have assumed that this campaign to shame people into voting was a psy op, but it seems like it’s actually their position on the matter, which definitely makes me think they’re controlled opposition at this point. They can’t actually think this kind of messaging helps them in any way, right? This arrogant approach is specifically why Republican electorate hates them. If they want to win, like, ever, they need to work on that.
I’m sorry their message didn’t vibe with you but the Harris policy stances were all on point, minus that shit Walz had to say about Israeli borders. But the vast majority of Americans seemed unaware of the policy stances being on point because of the constant whinging of people online about how they don’t trust her.
Here is an idea, buy Twitter, Meta, Google, WaPo, and TikTok and start propagandizing like the GOP had on their side. She’d probably win by 20 Mil minimum. That’s how fucking easy it is to trick the USA, not even any politics involved, just fuck with the kid’s vibe feeds and watch them destroy themselves. Even talking with you lowers my faith in humanity.
The idea someone would not vote because they read “Democrats are Centrists” online is funny to me.
Liberals have any respect for people’s intelligence challenge: impossible
Millions of people who voted for Biden in 2020 did not show up to vote for Harris in 2024. Trumps numbers hardly changed at all.
It really is that simple, no enthusiasm among the left due to infighting and degrading our candidate.
no enthusiasm among the left due to infighting and degrading our candidate.
First, the democrats are not “the left”. Don’t even pretend. Dick Cheney is on their side and they lauded that, ffs.
Second, we all did our damnedest to bite our tongues over your pro-cop, pro-israel bae, but everyone is well aware she was a piece of shit candidate. “Infighting” isn’t what cost the democrats the vote. “Pushing forward another intensely bad choice and then running a bad campaign that failed to win anyone over” did. You left people stuck between an insane choice and a miserable one. Should they have chosen misery? Sure, but don’t parade around acting like everyone should have proudly accepted the miserable one. That’s the attitude that has cost your country everything. The democrats are continuing to prove they just have no idea how to lead themselves or act in any meaningful way in the face of fascism.
If you’re fighting against the Democrats then you’re promoting fascism. We live in a first past the post 2 party system.
You can have progressive reform or fascism, stop choosing fascism.
Call me when the democrats actually do something to fight fascism then. I predict you’ll continue to side with them as they continue to sit on their asses whining “it’s not allowed!” while your country invades mine. Cut a liberal and a fascist bleeds.
If a Democrat’s billion dollar war chest can’t stand against an anonymous online person saying “Democrats are centrists” maybe they shouldn’t be centrists.
What about a hundred million anonymous online persons?
I voted for those assholes up and down. They still suck.
I voted for Kamala. My parents and grandparents did as well. I do not feel that the democrats were/are doing jack shit to court new voters. The party itself expects to just be the status quo and have people vote for it. Whether people want to admit it or not, the point of being a progressive party is to be… how do I put this… PROGRESSIVE.
Oh yeah, make no mistake, the Dems are fucked.
It’s just that in '24 we had an option between “continue having a flawed democracy” and “put a literal fascist in power”, and a lot of us are still sore over folks who insisted that choosing the latter was some form of leftism. They weren’t a major force in the general electorate, but here on Lemmy, they were certainly loud, so a lot of bad feeling remains.
The only argument for voting trump while thinking “left” that I can think of, is that all that anger and chaos leads to a big reform of the political landscape where there is a way for a more social system in the end
But I’d consider that an extremely risky move…
That’s literally the accelerationist/anti-electoralist religious doctrine. And I say “religious doctrine” because they keep insisting that people will rise up if they assist in the sacrifice of enough LGBTQ+, POC, and other vulnerable people, despite there being absolutely no evidence in history of that ever occurring, even under brutal totalitarian dynasties that lasted hundreds of years.
They don’t care about the sacrifices. They may say they do but you really can’t if you advocate for accelerationism.
But I’d consider that an extremely risky move…
So we all get to discover in real time!
True that 😂
You clearly don’t understand leftist thought. Voting for a cop, a warmonger and a complicit child-kidnapper is incompatible with many leftists’ beliefs and values. Continued aversion to actually listening to criticisms of the Dems and DNC from the left is why your beloved party is crashing and burning.
You clearly don’t understand leftist thought. Voting for a cop, a warmonger and a complicit child-kidnapper is incompatible with many leftists’ beliefs and values.
“But she said she wasn’t Trump so she’s clearly the only person to ever consider voting for!”
You clearly don’t understand leftist thought.
No, I absolutely do. They preferred the fascist to working with the dreaded ‘shitlibs’, just like Thalmann.
Nazi punks fuck off.
Call me a Nazi all you like, it doesn’t make me a Nazi. In fact, you moralists should take that log out of your eye and actually look at the world your status-quoism has generated
Hey, cool, you have ADHD too? We can go to RFK’s concentration camps together. I’m sure our Healing Through Labor™ will be successful.
Ooooh! Count me in as a qualifying candidate. I’ll drop my Vyvanse off in the bins outside the gates and partake in the Healing Through Labor™ right beside you, my Brother In- wait… what was I just saying?
Can’t believe our only hope for mitigation of the damage is that the administration is so incompetent that they trick over their own dicks in the process of trying all of their horrors.
It’s not going to be pretty either way.
Call me a Nazi all you like, it doesn’t make me a Nazi.
No? You just welcomed in fascism because it pleased your prejudices and preconceptions. Sounds pretty indistinguishable from most Nazis to me.
In fact, you moralists should take that log out of your eye and actually look at the world your status-quoism has generated
“Wow, the world is bad. We should make it worse.”
Brilliant plan. Millions of LGBT Americans and tens of millions of Ukrainians thank you for your ardent support of fascists taking power. I’m sure those dying for lack of supplies from USAID are thrilled as well, as well as poor Americans who can’t afford the massive increases in costs of living and are already living paycheck-to-paycheck, and the crackdown on unions.
What a brave leftist world you’ve helped create. Maybe if you lick fascist boots a little more, it’ll become even better.
I also find it amusing that I’m getting called a ‘moralist’ because I advocated the utilitarian option. What fucking insanity.
Millions of LGBT Americans
You’re talking to one, and no, the Democrats have backstabbed us at every opportunity. Especially at trans issues, which they love to capitulate on as a bargaining chip for getting their capitalist donors more money.
Maybe if you lick fascist boots a little more, it’ll become even better.
If you walk outside and throw a brick in the face of a cop, you can talk to me about what it means to be a bootlicker.
I also find it amusing that I’m getting called a ‘moralist’ because I advocated the utilitarian option.
You advocate for action based upon a spook? Sorry, that makes you a moralist. You decided that “maximizing utility” was the moral choice, and that again makes you a moralist. Perhaps you should write a sternly worded lever-pulling manifesto to send to your congressman?
You’re talking to one, and no, the Democrats have backstabbed us at every opportunity. Especially at trans issues, which they love to capitulate on as a bargaining chip for getting their capitalist donors more money.
Would you like to remind me about the state of LGBT rights in this country in 2024 compared to 1990?
Soaking in fascist circles seems to sap your connection to reality.
If you walk outside and throw a brick in the face of a cop, you can talk to me about what it means to be a bootlicker.
lmao, you ushered in fascism, bro, and you’re sitting here justifying it besides. Saying “You aren’t attacking enough cops!” to others isn’t going to cure you of your bootlicking position.
You advocate for action based upon a spook?
Jesus fucking Christ.
Sorry, that makes you a moralist. You decided that “maximizing utility” was the moral choice, and that again makes you a moralist.
Jesus. Fucking. Christ.
Very, very well put. I voted for Kamala as well, and this is what I’m trying to scream from the rooftops. The democrats seem to see the current populist moment as an excuse to phone it in. It keeps blowing up in the face, and they keep saying “oh well, I guess we need to move right / let the voters learn their lesson”
That’s literally the program which benefits their donors.
The party itself expects to just be the status quo and have people vote for it.
When the alternative was Trump and Project 2025, that’s exactly what most should have voted for.
But stopping DEI was more important than Social Security for the majority of voters
Peope can’t afford their bills and the Democrats were out there saying the economy is stronger than ever. They had no intention of helping people and you are shocked that people didn’t go out to vote. If it’s damned if you do, damned if you don’t, most people will chose the latter
They should at least have voted third party… I think many people should have voted third party… Why do so few people vote third party?
If they are too apathetic to vote for dems, they certainly won’t go out of their way to make a statement and vote third party.
Which kinda defeats the purpose of a vote in my opinion 😅
because voting third party is useless and only helps trump to win since you’re wasting your vote
Still better than not voting at all. Would not give the same signal if republicans win with 40% of votes VS winning with more than 50% of votes.
Additionally, if the regular voting base for third parties grows, it exponentially makes more sense voting third party.
It is like driving backwards away from a really near wall where you parked sideways against it: you have to get just a bit closer to the wall with your nose, but as soon as the tail starts to get away from the wall, the distance grows exponentially faster over time.I think best for US would be alternative conservative parties besides republicans.
In a first past the post voting system like america has, third parties will never get a significant amount of votes. Even if they would get like 5%, which would be a lot for a third party (10 times the amount of the green party in 2024), it would make no difference whatsoever on the election outcome. Sure the winning party might have a smaller margin on the popular vote, but that’s totally irrelevant since you can win the election without a majority on the popular vote anyway.
Then 5% of the population has wasted their vote, and if they’re smart they won’t repeat that mistake by the next election and make their vote actually matter. I don’t think the exponential thing works because people who voted third party will probably regret their decision as it leads to a win for the greater evil party.
I agree that if you do not live in a swing state, your vote doesn’t really matter anyways and voting third party might make sense. However in general, voting a third party only makes sense when at least 1/3 of the population does the same, which is never gonna happen.
The only way for America to get out of this two party competition, is to change the voting system and make it actually proportional like a real democracy. Obviously neither of the parties will ever change the system because it benefits them, so that change might require some significant events to happen…
Well, you are right 😌 I’m just too optimistic, but that is a personal trait that I know I have 😸
It was stronger than under Trump. Everyone forgot they had to fight for toilet paper under Trump.
Only an absolute moron would believe that the economy was better in 2024 than in 2019 for your average person. You can’t blame the poor economy on Biden, but you can absolutely blame the DNC for not spputing off reforms to help people.
You are one of those who forgot how bad it was. So many millions were in danger of eviction that moratoriums had to be passed.
Exactly. Moratoriums were passed. Absolutely nothing was done the past 2 years as prices for everything skyrocketed. People remember that sort of thing. Literally the forst thing Biden did was break his promise and give out stimulus checks that were nowhere near what he campaigned on.
He was able to bring inflation down, but the impacts were felt far and wide. As for stimulus checks those were written and voted on by Congress. Congress was Republican during Bidens presidency. He did sign executive orders to speed up the dispersal and to expand SNAP to try to help families. But if the people who fund the stimulus check (Congress) don’t fund it, there is nothing to give out.
The economy recovered such that people were able to pay their rent despite the increases. Moratoriums ended yet mass evictions didn’t happen. People were doing far better than under Trump.
I could be wrong about this: But I increasingly feel that the major issue for most of these people was economic instability - not making enough to make ends meet. But, out of a feeling of humiliation around saying “im poor” the message instead targets points of blame; either to potentially spare more dollars for themselves, or just genuinely to lash out at a world that’s succeeding without them.
Doesn’t make the approach of their message in any way valid or okay. I’m just explaining that they needed an answer to their struggles. Trump gave them an elaborate lie about it, which to them was better than nothing.
The democrats are a liberal party which is why they got almost 49% of the vote instead of under 1%.
Dems didn’t need new voters. They just needed the same folks that voted for Biden in 2020 to show up in 2024.
Too bad they were too racist and sexist to vote for a black woman.
Lot of those people who voted in 2020 weren’t Democratic voters. They voted for the Democrats that one time and then the Democrats failed to retain them. That’s on the Democrats. I don’t know how many times people can say it. It’s a candidate and the party’s job to earn people’s votes. Earn them. There is literally no other way to do it. Democrats refuse to do that that’s why they lose.
Here I thought that 4 years of competent leadership, a booming economy, and some significant legislative victories would earn votes.
Silly me. Clearly the voting populous wanted extreme leftist policies. Explains why Trump won.
What world are you living in where you think the economy of the last 4 years has been booming? Every indicator that isn’t the Dow Jones indicates that the economy has been absolutely fucked for the last 4 years.
The real one?
Where 6 million more people in the US were employed than before the pandemic.
Where inflation in the US was lower than that of peer western countries.
Where the number of people using food stamps decreased.
Where wages went up almost 20% over 4 years.
Where GDP grew by some 14% over 4 years.
Where the S&P 500 increase by 43% over 4 years.
By what reasonable metric would you consider the economy fucked?
Have you tried to actually find a job in the last 2 years? It’s almost impossible despite loads of “we’re hiring!” sighns that are offering less than they were 2 years ago
Most Americans do not care what inflation in the UK or Germany is. They care what it looks like here, and when most Americans were living paycheck to paycheck before Biden took over, inflation hits them even harder.
Maybe average income has gone up that much the last 4 years, but most people’s income has been essentially flat for the last 4. The majority of Americans make less than $30 an hour, which is inadequate to live on nearly anywhere in the country.
GDP is great if you have stocks and bonds. It’s meaningless to your average person who is barely able to put anything into a 401(k).
the point of being a progressive party is to be… how do I put this… PROGRESSIVE.
Their policies are progressive. They have a voting history proving they vote progressively. Joe Biden was an EXTREMELY progressive president.
Yeah, the Dems should advertise better. But Americans should also not be braindead stupid assholes and do some goddamn homework.
We had two options. A fascist regime or something 1 trillion times better. We shit the bed and went with fascism. That’s not the Democrat’s fault. That’s dipshit American’s fault.
Yeah their policies are so progressive that the dick Chaney family endorsed them. Biden was so progressive that as soon as the supreme court repealed Roe v. Wade, he made an EO to protect the rights of women. Oh and of course how can we forget that he made college and vocational schooling free for everyone, and secured the rights of trans Americans to literally just fucking exist.
oh wait. no wait he didn’t do any of that. in fact I think he might’ve just held up the status quo of the time.
“NO NO, IT’S THE DEMOCRATS WHO ARE WRONG”
I heard that’s the reason people picked Guaranteed Fascism from the BINARY CHOICE already from the graphic.
-
They ought to be progressive!
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They’re totally progressive! It’s wonderful! ❤️🇺🇲
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Um no they’re not and here’s why.
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Well ya only have one choice so shut up!
— why we lost
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Yeah their policies are so progressive that the dick Chaney family endorsed them.
Yeah, I’m sure it had nothing to do with Liz Cheney being outed by the Republican party for showing opposition to their cult leader. I’m also sure it had nothing to do with the Cheney family recognizing their party had been taken over by said cult leader and his cult and being pretty upset about the threat that poses the country. I’m sure the Cheney family only endorsed Democrats because they genuinely believe in progressive policies. Lol.
Biden was so progressive that as soon as the supreme court repealed Roe v. Wade, he made an EO to protect the rights of women.
HE LITERALLY DID. Trump undid them as soon as he became president because LEGISLATING VIA EO’S IS FUCKING STUPID. The only way to make something stick is via legislating through Congress, and that requires A LOT more sway than Biden and Democrats had in this divisive ass country.
Oh and of course how can we forget that he made college and vocational schooling free for everyone
Nope, but he forgave student loans for a shit ton of people despite Republican AND Supreme Court obstruction at every turn.
You need to understand that YOU ARE PART OF THE PROBLEM. You clearly have ZERO clue what you’re talking about, and yet here you are, spreading misinformation on the internet. And, judging by your upvotes, people are taking your misinformation at face value, thus perpetuating the spread of misinformation, leading us to where we are now.
Do your homework before you post, or don’t post.
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“I do not feel that the democrats were/are doing jack shit to court new voters.”
This sentence structure obfuscates your meaning.
they were not doing Anything and are still not doing Anything.
hope that clears it up
they were not doing Anything
Their voting history and Biden’s accomplishments disagree with that statement.
are still not doing Anything.
They do not control either house of Congress, the presidency, or the Supreme Court. Voters made sure of that.
Neither did the GOP during Obama’s presidency. They still managed to obstruct and block anything of value. Curious isn’t it.
What’s curious is your lack of understanding of how our government works.
You’re completely ignoring the fact that Republicans were able to obstruct because they gained House, and then Senate, majority during Obama’s terms. Democrats do not have majority in either chamber of Congress right now. So your comment is senseless.
Actually, I guess you’re not ignoring. You’re simply unaware, because you don’t know how things work. And yet you’re being upvoted by others who also don’t know how things work.
EDIT: 6 downvotes as of right now and not a single one of them had the balls or brains to counter what I said. In other words, 6 individuals ignorant of how our government works and completely fine with that. Holy fuck, we really need mandatory civics classes in our schools. So many people with no clue how things work. I guess that’s why a felon rapist traitor is our president.
They were able to water down the ACA into near uselessness without any majority. At the start it was a Republican vision of healthcare, and they still watered it down because brown man bad. I do understand that they gained power in the midterms which allowed them to do even more obstruction but to claim that Democrats could have just done ANYTHING they wanted because they had the 3 branches is patently false. And yet… Here we are. Dems are largely rolling over and letting the GOP run roughshod over the gov. Not utilizing the abomination of the filibuster for any good, still confirming cabinet members, still treating with traitor and conmen.
For those keeping score, this isn’t my sockpuppet account. But I feel we could be drinking buddies until we argued about my programming style or something; then it’s war.
When your opponent is everything Mr Trump is, one would think
- economy slowly improving from covid
- protect human rights
- hold the line for the Supreme Court
- keep democracy safe
- … so we can at least talk about other stuff
would be enough. That was enough. It’s a no-brainer IN A BINARY CHOICE.
We live in a post-truth society. Let that really sink in for a moment. Take it literally and think what that means. With modern social media, we have unleashed technology we were not remotely prepared for.
I’m still waiting for whatever the hell is supposed to happen after electoral politics has failed us, because it has.
I was told by people pushing for people to not bother voting in 2024 that voting was meaningless and that Trump would be no different than Harris. People told me that the solidarity of grassroots organization was the only way to see any real change, and that we had to reject the DNC at all costs. Well, we rejected it. What now?
PS: I don’t even mean this sarcastically or to win internet points – that are even more meaningless than on reddit – on this site. I’m actually asking, what are we doing now that this happened?
If you’re genuinely asking some basic actions for a broad and general audience looking for political engagement:
A lot of states have initiatives and referendums citizens can bring to a vote in elections. There may be a grassroots organization working on an issue you may align with. (Especially vote reform groups looking to introduce alternatives to how we elect our government.)
Following this: Don’t be a stranger to your local government. At least learn who they are if you don’t. Your state reps and senators, your federal rep and senators, your kids’ school superintendent, the elected sheriff. Vote in the primaries, the odd years, the midterms, the big presidential tickets. And this isn’t ‘just vote’ advice. I mean vote for politicians pushing policies you agree with, regardless of party or incumbency. Don’t be afraid to third party in a primary (if you can).
Join community groups and socialize in meatspace. There may be community centers and libraries around you with things to engage with. As much as online spaces can help people feel connected or a shared or safe place, the politics and governance is maintained on the meatspace level of your neighbors. Your district is likely gerrymandered but it’s worth finding out where you stand in the whole tapestry of American governance. (This one can be a huge hurdle, and I understand. Most of my community are military so progressives get like 200 votes per 10,000 pure military industrial zionism. I barely amount to this advice myself, FWIW.)
Join community groups and socialize in meatspace.
This is probably what I’m most interested in, but I find it to be a drag to even locate. I’ve gone to meetup groups and even helped organize a meetup group before but everything about them seemed pretty worthless. It could just be my particular circumstances or my particular location, but it seems like it’s difficult to find any regular community group, and then any – even sporadic – activity outside of work mixers, happy hours, ticketed events, and concerts.
At one point I took a look around the area for mutual aid groups and found only one – and this was mid-pandemic when they were getting a lot of attention and hype – and it didn’t even appear to be active anymore. I think the web link I got was dead or something.
My working theory of why this country is so far off the rails is multifaceted, but one big aspect is that meatspace is deader than myspace.
It certainly can be. And I share the sentiment as I have found it hard myself. I now have a family and kids so that takes up all my time but that in and of itself plugs me into a lot of interactions that I otherwise would have avoided.
So much of our society is built around childrearing though so I am pretty railroaded into following my own advice. But when I was younger I sought out events at local hobby shops: things like open D&D groups, card game tournaments, etc. I highly recommend it, if that’s your thing at all (and your mileage may vary significantly.) But it doesn’t always have to be direct political action to connect with members of your community.
Broadcasts from the future:
Wednesday, November 8, 2028: The democrats, running a Mike Pence and Mitt Romney ticket, have just lost to the a copy of Grok 3 trained on the transcripts of all of Donald Trump’s, uh, speeches, and its running mate, Eye Fuckskulls, the modern leader of the Aryan Brotherhood. After having a completely fair primary in which their super delegates all reported that they would vote for Pence on day one, and all the other candidates, each having won one or two states, dropped out and pledged their votes to Pence after he won the absolutely critical state of New Hampshire, the democrats were sure of their chances with this centrist ticket. Many democrats expressed befuddlement that they lost ground in every demographic, although some strategists see a glimmer of hope in that they managed to pick up sixteen disaffected Republican voters nationwide. Some voters seemed to think that the democrats didn’t make a case for why they should vote for Pence and Romney instead of Grok/Fuckskulls, but democrats disagree. “It’s hard to know for sure, but my guess is that it’s time to move past unpopular far left policies like only executing 100 detained immigrants a day, annexing only half of Canada, and limiting involuntary Tesla Factory labor to only the poorest Americans” said one democratic strategist.
“Stupid fucking leftists, progressives, and non-voters, Pence/Romney ‘Atheist Genocide But We’ll Say Sorry While Doing It 2028’ was the best chance we had at restoring the republic, the damage that Grok and Fuckskulls will do is immeasurable. I guess they’re just going to have to learn to vote blue no matter who in 2032!” Yelled another exasperated democrat on the TrumpNet ™, America’s isolated and heavily censored internet network.
I really enjoyed reading this, thank you for the satirical sci-fi of the bullshit we’re stuck with of today.
I’m pretty sure it’s actually a broadcast from the future mate.
As an outsider, I think you’re not on the side of the meme that you think you’re on.
If not voting for Trump wasn’t enough for Harris to win, she sure didn’t act like it. “Nothing to change” from the policies of the guy who was forced to step down wasn’t what the people wanted to hear.
I mean he was asked to step down because of the worry that his mental faculties, not due to his policies. Remember, it was right after his first debate with Trump. The following debate, Kamala roasted Trump.
Hold on, last election he refused to say so explicitly, but he repeatedly implied he wouldn’t run for a second term and described himself as a bridge candidate. Then he demanded a second term at the last minute.
Yeah, except for the whole genocide thing. But mostly college kids protested that. You can just beat up those.
Argument falls apart when she was still the lesser of the two in the regard
Regardless of the actual outcome, I assume that most people who didn’t vote for her didn’t intend on helping Trump. Otherwise, they would have voted for him.
You want people to vote for you, it’s not enough to simply not vote for the other guy.
“Nothing to change” from the policies of the guy who was forced to step down wasn’t what the people wanted to hear.
This has been explained. Answering anything else was a PR trap.
A basic move would’ve been: “I will move to have better policies than before. Rally with our party and we will commit to changing course for working class families.”
It could’ve been as empty a promise as her opposition made, but that would’ve been basic competant campaigning. Easiest trap to avoid ever.
Did the DNC’s strategy work? No? Then the Democrats were wrong.
It’s their job to convince voters to vote for them. And if they won’t take responsibility for failing at their job, then they’re on course to do the exact same thing in 2028 and get the exact same results.
Exactly. You know what I would like to see? I would like to see the Democratic Party act like parties due in many countries. The norm internationally is that if you are running a party, and that party loses catastrophically, that it is your moral responsibility to give up the reigns of that party. You had your chance. It didn’t work. There are plenty of people out there with good ideas. Your opinions will still be welcome. Or, for a corporate example, if you’re a CEO, and you crash the company’s stock, you’re usually going to lose your job.
Anyone in a top-20 leadership position of Democrats in 2024 should simply be done with running things. They can’t run as candidates. They can’t serve party leadership roles. They can’t serve on party committees. They can only participate as a regular party member.
That’s how the party should be run. One strike and you’re out. Let the strong survive. We want the party to be a god-damned thunderdome.
It’s their job to convince voters to vote for them
Everytime this topic comes up it reminds me of incels whining no women wants them…
They don’t want to change anything, they don’t want to compromise, they want a participation trophy for just existing. What’s insane is that’s been the strategy for the last three presidential elections.
And if they won’t take responsibility for failing at their job, then they’re on course to do the exact same thing in 2028 and get the exact same results.
The new DNC chair has been very vocal about what the problem is, how to fix, and is already running the same playbook that solidified his home state blue.
The DNC is basically the chair, and we just got a much better chair than we’ve had in decades.
That’s encouraging to hear.
Can you share any links about the strategy changes you think will help?
“We’re calling it the ‘Organize Everywhere’ tour,” Martin told ABC13. “It’s a simple premise that if we’re going to win throughout this country and get back into power, we have to organize everywhere. We’re visiting red states, purple states, and blue states on this tour. And Texas really is the future of the Democratic Party. This is such a critical battleground state as we move forward in the 2026 elections – of course, the 28 election cycle and beyond.”
But you don’t have to go on hypotheticals, he has a long history in Minnesota, and supporting candidates voters want translated to wins.
It’s not even that overtly progressive, he just knows it’s easiest to win if voters already like the candidate and policy. And voters like charismatic candidates with progressive policy stances.
And Texas really is the future of the Democratic Party.
This boondoggle again. They need to stop calling Texas a battleground state. It is too gerrymandered to be considered a proper battleground.
Texas only could become one after the GOP decides to abandon oil and gas. They’re not about to.
The only other feasible way to break the gerrymandered districts and get Texas blue would be by sweeping New Deal Coalition type social democracy policies specifically improving working class conditions at the expense of billionaires and corporate boards. And this is about as unlikely as the GOP ditching oil and gas.
It’s their job to convince voters to vote for them.
And it’s the voters DUTY to inform themselves responsibly and make the best choice for the welfare of their nation. American voters failed to do so.
We can’t do anything about that, wagging your finger at voters will not accomplish anything. But we CAN do something about the party itself, the candidate, and the campaign strategy.
Fixating on things we can’t change is a way to deflect from having actual productive conversations about things that we can change. It’s a way for the DNC to avoid taking responsibility.
We can’t do anything about that, wagging your finger at voters will not accomplish anything.
If we can’t do anything about American voters being complacent and lazy and not doing their civic duty responsibly, then we have, and will continue to have, way bigger problems than a party not being good at promoting themselves. And, oh look, we are.
We can’t just keep ignoring the source of our problem. People HAVE to get responsibly engaged in politics if we want out of this situation. Otherwise, even if Dems get better at messaging, we’ll just slingshot back to where we are now if they stop being good at it again.
Apparently it’s going to take a lot of pain and suffering for Americans to become more responsible voters. If it’s even possible at this point.
the way to compell voters is through education, livable wages, and a prosperous life. it is an inherent catch 22.
you cannot blame a victim of propaganda that they were propagandised. especially if they are a dumb fuck
It is a candidate’s job to convince voters to vote for them. That is what campaigning is. Sitting here and wagging your finger, on the other hand, is not campaigning.
We cannot tie the entire US electorate down and force them to “be more responsible”. That is not a useful or productive way to look at the problem. If that is all you fixate on, you have no actionable solution out of it.
But what we can do is run better candidates with a better campaign, that will inspire voters to want to vote for them. That is how it works, that has always been how it works, and if we ignore that, we will lose in 2028.
The point I am making here is that we need to talk about things we can actually do something about, instead of shutting down the conversation by deflecting to things we cannot do anything about.
Your “we” here is weird to me.
Most of us aren’t party executives but most of us are voters, with friends and family who are voters.
What I say on lemmy is never read by the DNC, but is read by voters.
Claiming that I can’t do anything about what voters do whilst I can do something about the Democratic leadership is so very very inaccurate.
The Democrats are made of people. If you believe people can’t change, we’re fucked anyway. Thankfully, I believe you’re wrong.
the DNC is made of lobby money full stop.
In other words, it’s the voter’s duty to perform a communist revolution. How well are you personally performing your duty, comrade?
Did the DNC’s strategy work? No? Then the Democrats were wrong.
The biggest flaw in the DNC strategy, it appears, is not appearing as a ‘maybe rich’ felony rapist traitor facing multiple election tampering and secrets cases, telling some bullshit story about magical prosperity for all.
That’s their flaw.
The biggest flaw is not being inspiring. Like yes, Trump told a bullshit story, but at least he told a story, and that’s what the DNC didn’t do.
Look at Obama in 2008 and 2012. He had an uplifting slogan of hope and change, and he focused his platform around a popular and easily-understood issue, healthcare reform. That’s how to run a good campaign, we’ve done it before, we can do it again. We don’t have to be blue fascists, we just need to be appealing.
Did the DNC’s strategy work? No? Then the Democrats were wrong.
So you’re saying that no matter what happens, it’s never my fault. Yay!
(/s)
The voters faced a trolly problem. While Trump was busy tying more and more people to the track, the Democrats left a few on the track, and the voters decided that they couldn’t stomach the choice, so they sat it out. And now we get this.
The Democrats have blood on their hands, sure, but so does every person who didn’t vote yet bemoans the Trump presidency.
If you think the trolley problem has an obvious solution, you do not understand the trolley problem.
The democrats were wrong, they fucking lost!
The Party cannot fail, it can only be failed.
spoken like a true cult member.
I’m guessing they’re being sarcastic
It can be hard to tell anymore.