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If only. Dude looks and sounds like he's about drop dead. I cannot begin to express how enormously frustrated with the democrats I am.
This is our choice. Come November I have no choice but to vote for this mumbling old man.
I would vote for a wet sandwich before I vote for Trump, but Jesus Christ, it would be nice if the democrats fucking tried.
Democrats suffer from a condition that I've come to call "Democratic Realism," named after Capitalist Realism. No matter how much they get their shit kicked in. No matter how badly they do. No matter how little they accomplish. No matter how badly they look or do in debates. Democrats always believe, beyond a shred of doubt, that they'll win elections without trying. Not because of their own merits, but because they're just the only "real" choice; they simply can't fathom anyone willingly voting for their opponents.
Hillary barely campaigned in the "flyover states" that she needed to win because she couldn't be fucking bothered to actually try. It wasn't worth the effort to try and persuade people she thought of as her lessers. And the DNC just went "well, it's obviously her turn. She's been waiting for the chance at the presidency for 20 years now. We should go ahead and let her be president." Because that's the mentality. They don't have to "win" elections. They just pick a candidate and they get to win, because there is no "real" alternative. That Bush and Trump won don't indicate that, yeah, actually, you do have to fight for the people who are voting for you, otherwise they'll vote for the schmuck that appeals to their basest and most venal instincts. Those were just flukes...right? And you don't have to inspire confidence and admiration in others, because they should just recognize how smart and accomplished and inoffensive their candidates are, and that they're told to vote for them by people that are smarter than they are, so they should just shut up and do it.
It's a party driven less by any kind of ideological goals and more by a pervasive sense of smug, impotent, lazy egotism. And, yeah, they'll get a shitload of votes in the elections because the alternative always seems to be someone who is one goose-step shy of a literal Nazi. Biden will probably even win the popular vote. Y'know....just like Hillary did...
Good essay. I don't know if you remember after Obama won in 2008 a bunch of democratic party apparatchiks came up with this idea of "the coalition of the ascendant" and that they pretty much had the government locked in for a generation, due to support that would never waver for them amongst immigrants, yuppies, tech bros, etc. They didn't need the working class anymore and the Republicans would be the minority party for many years.
Two years later the democrats were wiped out in the midterms.
The coalition of the ascendant concept is kind of insane when you remember for a moment that the popular vote is kinda worthless in winning elections. The electoral college is structured in such a way that conservative whites have a larger share of the electorate relative to their minority peers. It doesn't matter if you're a lock for California and New York (enclaves of coastal elites and minorities alike) if you lose the entirety of the South, Southwest, and Midwest, enclaves of...the opposite of those things, really. This 538 article on it has links to other discussions related to this and represents a fascinating look into the relationship between popular votes and electoral votes. https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/what-a-difference-2-percentage-points-makes/
Yeah, I think you've got a good handle on it.
I never thought of it like that, well written.
You smoothly worked philosophical theory into the conversation. Subtle.
Yep. Same boat.
it would be nice if the democrats fucking tried.
They think they don't have to, they just have to keep you scared enough of the GOP that you'll vote for them out of terror. It's how Biden won the first time, after all.
Democrats do not need to make us scared. The gop does it themselves.
And they're right. I mean, Trump's a waste of oxygen, so why should anyone vote for him?
You misunderstand the dynamic. Most GOP voters are going to vote and are going to vote for the Republican, regardless of how awful that Republican is. Voting is a civic duty and party above all are kinda core ideas for them.
Dem voters are a lot more flighty in general. Any barrier to voting no matter how small (even having to rise from the couch) impacts Dem voters more than GOP ones.
There are more Dem voters than GOP ones except maybe in very red states. It's about turnout - US voter turnout is God awful and it's worse among Dems than GOP.
That's why the debate was so bad for the Dems, because it's not about whether or not it pulls voters to Trump but about what it does to Dem turnout.
I see, sorry for misunderstanding. I've also heard about the problem with voting turnout. As a European, the whole US voting system just seems kinda obscure in general. Although, to be fair, the right party voters are also way more likely to vote here than the ones from other parties.
They won't until they absolutely have to.
Which at this rate is fucking never.
Thought they would have learned something from that whole Hillary and Sanders debacle. But I guess not.
OR… they don’t give a fuck either since they’re all on the same corporate payroll
Of course they didn’t. They literally had every establishment democrat coordinatedly drop out of the primaries in exchange for cabinet positions to throw their support behind Biden when Sanders started winning the primaries in 2020. Like, it’s been clear they’d learned nothing. And thanks to the idiotic two party system, they got rewarded for that maneuver with the opportunity to say “we told you so! Look, we got trump out of office!” And when they lose this time…they won’t learn a goddamn thing. Again.
luckily, they won't have to learn a thing if trump wins, because MAGAts will stack the odds so much in their favor that no dem will win a presidential election in many years. yay project 2025!
“You’ve convinced me, now make me do it”
You are seeing what 80 years of worldwide violent repression of leftist ideology have culminated in.
Fuck the boat, I hope we all drown.
I would vote for a wet sandwich before I vote for Trump, but Jesus Christ, it would be nice if the democrats fucking tried.
why should they? you're going to give them what they want from you anyways in november and multiple novembers into the future; there's literally no reason for them to ever bother.
Remember when a bunch of people didn't vote because the Democrat candidate was a piece of shit? And then trump won? And then the democratic party said "oh wow we should put up actual candidates instead of decrepit neolibs" except they didn't because they didn't learn shit.
except they didn’t because they didn’t learn shit.
not only did they not; but they cock blocked a popular progressive candidate from running; twice.
And then spent the next several cycles systematically forcing anyone who supported him out of the party.
You can't pin that on the voter because not voting for the democrats is effectively voting for the republicans. It's a problem of the two party system
Imagine if they had spent last 4 years promoting some young faces as potential candidates.
Why doesn't anyone call him out on lying about running for a second term? I very vividly remember hearing him say in 2020 that he would not seek reelection and yet here we are.
Why doesn’t anyone call him out on lying about running for a second term?
never saw this. citation requested thanks
Yeah I remember it.
citation requested thanks
Google's right there when you're done being obtuse.
Just went ahead and Googled it and I can find no credible source that he actually said these words at any time. So, if you'd like to bandy out that source, I think we'd all appreciate it.
https://thehill.com/opinion/white-house/4718993-did-biden-break-his-one-term-pledge/ it's been memory holed. https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2023/09/biden-reelection-transition-president/675395/ (btw I was using "google" as a verb, my mistake. There's nothing on Google, you need to use search engines without agendas, or at least not that agenda)
"It's been memory holed"
No, your own source states that that was never announced. It was talked about within the party. There was never a public announcement to the American people stating that he would not run as an incumbent. Every source reporting on that was and is reporting on unsubstantiated hearsay never set into stone.
If you'd like to compare, Trump is tagged at 30,573 verified lies only during his time in office, not even counting statements made on either campaign trail.
from the hill article:
So Biden never explicitly made a one-term promise during the campaign
ok. Look I'm not trying to pick a fight, I just never heard biden say that and wondered what I'd missed. The Hill article goes on to state:
but he certainly implied it with the language of “transition.”
yeeaah, uh, I'm going to vote for him because < HAHA FUCKING HELLSCAPE PROJECT 2025 > either way
I dunno about you guys, but I didn't believe it for a second when he said he was going to be one term. Shame on him for lying, even if it was obvious.
Yeah, I don't get it. I was confused and not happy when I saw he was running again. He could've gone out like a heavily watered down LBJ, instead he's going to be forever remembered as the lost nursing home patient who wandered onto the debate stage. This is an unmitigated disaster, and the only way forward I see now is have Joe step down and let Kamala be the president. I'm not excited for that prospect, but I assume she can at least win a debate against a potted plant.
Kamala is literally the only person in politics who would be a worse candidate than Joe...
This is the choice that was forced onto us. The Democrats could have had a Primary and instead they chose this for us.
They didn't have a fucking primary? Jesus. (I'm Canadian)
There was a show primary but candidates were essentially stonewalled from participating and voters browbeaten for not supporting Biden, which is why only wackos like RFK Jr are the only other people who ran.
Oh. I had wondered what had happened to the 18 month shitshows from previous election cycles.
Up until tonight, there really was little point. Biden already beat Trump, has the incumbent advantage, and has had a successful term. I'm still not convinced that replacing him suddenly this late is even remotely a good idea unlike a lot of people seem to be
Three years I've been hearing vague rumours he was what I saw tonight. Trump is your next president. My condolences.
Not American, but a furby surrounded by Biden's team would still be preferable to Trump to most people, so I'm not sure this changes much. Americans around here seemed to mostly be in the "hold your nose and vote for Biden" camp anyway. Not sure how representative that is.
They had a primary, did everyone suddenly forget all the Palestine protesters that abstained from voting for Biden in the primary?
I didn't, but I don't think the dems gave a shit about them to begin with.
The elimination of the First Past the Post voting system would allow voters to support third-party candidates without the fear of causing a spoiler effect. This change would promote greater competition in elections, improving the caliber of candidates available to all voters. Also, it is likely to boost voter turnout and increase political engagement.
Electoral reform has already been achieved at the state level; Alaska and Maine have successfully implemented changes to their electoral systems, demonstrating that broader reform is feasible.
However, Republicans have taken steps to preserve the First Past the Post voting system. For instance, Florida recently outlawed Ranked Choice voting. Despite this setback, there are numerous alternatives to First Past the Post, ensuring that bans like Florida's do not obstruct progress toward electoral reform.
This raises the question: why do predominantly Democratic states continue to utilize First Past the Post voting? Why adopt a voting system favored by Republicans? In states controlled by Democrats, there are no Republican obstacles preventing these reforms.
It is evident that Democrats recognize the shortcomings of First Past the Post voting. Mentioning third-party voting on social media often prompts numerous Democrats to caution against "wasting" votes that could inadvertently benefit Republicans. It is perplexing to acknowledge flaws in the voting system yet fail to take action to address them. Lecturing others about the drawbacks of First Past the Post voting while neglecting to pursue solutions is contradictory and counterproductive.
Here are some videos on the topic if you’d like to know more:
First Past The Post voting
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s7tWHJfhiyo
Other electoral systems to choose from:
Alternative vote
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Y3jE3B8HsE
Ranked Choice voting
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Z2fRPRkWvY
Range Voting
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e3GFG0sXIig
Single Transferable Vote
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l8XOZJkozfI
STAR voting
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3-mOeUXAkV0
Mixed Member Proportional representation
Most countries Primaries don't exist at all. Getting to choose who represents a given party is a luxury.
tbh it's mostly just a gimmick to excite voters, not just a luxury. The Party still basically picks who the nominee is.
All i can think is 'imagine if Bernie was 10yrs younger...'
Libs in 2016: I love Bernie, it's just too bad about his age
Libs in 2020: Biden has a stutter. Don't be ageist.
Libs in 2024: We had no idea!
And remember how they made a big deal about Bernie's age in 2020? They asked for medical records, and even after getting letters from two or three doctors, that wasn't enough. It was like the birthers all over again: when they got what they asked for, they moved the goal posts and wanted the long-form documents.
Meanwhile, not a peep about Biden, who is Bernie's junior by fourteen fucking months, as if that made all the difference.
And then, four years later, it wasn't an issue anymore. Just run the guy again.
On top of that, the DNC would condescend to anyone left of center about electability.
I keep squeezing my eyes shut and trying to will myself into the timeline where Bernie won.
I see your post is missing the required 20,000 word essay in how the Republicans are worse then democrats... thus you are a secret Russian Republican antisemite!
I do love having to give a 2 paragraph disquisition of caveats about how I didn't vote for either major party candidate in 2016 or 2020, before I can make literally any comment on either of these people or the current state of US politics, lest I be downvoted into oblivion or accused of being an evil Repub shill.
Ironically when we do this on Lemmy we are qualifying ourselves to a cohort of mostly people who didn't vote at all, or aren't even Americans.
that's what happens when your most leftist party is just right of center.
Have you met lemmygrad.ml?
Yes, unfortunately.
you know politics goes much further left than that and its liberating.
and you don't need to depend on whatever out of touch politicians they allow you to vote for.