memes @lemmy.world

3mo ago

Hey US, we did it four years ago

173 comments

Democracy supporters have to win every single time, while the fascists only have to win once. This is not a sustainable situation. We have to do what is necessary in a way that's a lot more permanent than just winning an election.
- I think a big part of this is rural over representation. Not even talking the senate, but the house to be fair should allot 1 rep per the minimum pop of any state, which would give us about 573 reps and like 676 electors for president. Hell if we did it as the founders intended, one per like 60k people we'd have a house of 5.6k members.
  
  Unfortunately the huge land owners want unequal representation, and they have a lot of power.
- That requires carrying this energy past the election cycle, regardless of the differences we may have on opinion, and coming together in agreement.
  Historically, the Left has been rather poor at banding together. We're more likely to argue than get things done most of the time. So it'll be an uphill battle for leaders of smaller groups across the Nation. First though, we need to make it past this hurdle.
  
  Voting for Democrats isn’t even voting for the Left anymore. More Rlite.
- The founders thought they inoculated us against tyranny in 1776.
  
  They did, but you gotta get your booster shots every now and then.
  
  They also had slaves. A lot of slaves. Maybe we shouldn't accept their fight against tyranny at face value.
  
  They did a great job at that. It has lasted 248 years. But they also gave us a framework for updating our constitution and government, and that has been sorely neglected for a long time. The founders were wise enough to recognize that the system would need to change as times changed. What they didn't seem to anticipate is the insane tribalism created by technologies that weren't even a dream at the time, and how that tribalism would grind our government to a halt.
- So anyways, I started ~~blastin~~ teaching my loved ones how to safely build guillotines.
- Indeed, the first step would be to dump the Electoral College.
  
  Preferably out the back of a C130 just off the coast of Florida.
- you guys need to force a reform.
  
  Huzzah!
- That's only going to happen if the side in favor of democracy is given a decisive victory. Squeaking out another win isn't going to be enough.
  
  Did Harris have any pro-democracy stuff in her platform, like ending FPTP or the Electoral College? Trump campaigned on bad election reforms like ID requirements and same-day voting.
- Not really. The fascists won in Germany, yet they're not currently fascist. Nothing is forever.
  
  Fascism was defeated because of the Allies, led by the US, the country with the most powerful military in the world by a large margin. Who's going to defeat the US if it goes full fascist?
- There was never any democracy here to save, and no way to make it sustainable without tearing down the constitution and starting over, and no way to hold a new constitutional convention that wouldn't be poisoned by money and power from the start.
  
  You're not completely wrong. There are many aspects of our system that are deeplh undemocratic: the way that the donor class gatekeeps who is able to run, the way politicians serve lobbyists and donors over the public will, and the way that oligarchs own 95% of our news media all create an environment where the interests of the people are not represented by our government
- thats exactly why voting is not a solution.
- So what, at you going to start the ~~french~~ US revolution? That seems like a extreme idea that probably won't end well.
  The US is a democracy. There is no threat outside of the fake information spread by US adversaries. Even if the worse president is elected there still little danger because of the balance of power.
  Don't believe me? Look at the past. The supreme court and congress has put the executive branch in its place before. There is not more danger now than there was centuries ago. The US system is far from perfect but it is well proven.
  
  I hope you are right, but excuse me for having doubts. Both Congress and SCOTUS is much more partisan than it was in the past. SCOTUS's ruling on presidential immunity is a direct example, eroding the checks and balances within the Constitution. McConnell's behavior and vote during the Jan 6th Impeachment trial is a second example. Trump's first term in 2016 started with him having no idea what he was doing, so he depended on establishment Republicans who would act as the adults in the room. That term ended with him having fired all of them, and with an attempted coup to stay in power. So far there have been no repercussions to him doing so. So yeah, excuse me for being worried about a potential "dictator on day one" who wants to deport millions of "illegals", would send the military against his political opponents who he has labeled the "enemy within", and to completely purge career public servants for loyalists (are you looking forward to Hershal Walker managing our National Missile Defense?).
  
  There is not more danger now than there was centuries ago
  The way you describe American history as "centuries" like we're the Roman Empire or Egypt when we've only got 2.5 centuries to choose from.
  
  The supreme court and congress has put the executive branch in its place before.
  The SC betrayed democracy with Citizens United and again when they gave Trump immunity for his countless crimes while in office. Don't forget that the SC openly take bribes from billionaires.
  
  The revolution will not be hosted on the fediverse.

RIP democracy :(
- Yeah seems like that was it for the US. Have fun living in Gilead.
  
  Ngl probably going to try to leave for good

Well, this aged quickly.
- I'd make a Biden old joke here but my heart just isn't in it.
  
  Hubris. Democrats lose because characters like RBG and President Biden simply could not fathom that stepping aside was ALWAYS what they should have done.
  These miserable fucking dinosaurs have gambled away the good intentions, hopes, and stability of the entire nation because their internal mantra was that they are our political saviors, while everyone under 50 was full-throated screaming that they needed to step aside.
  Fuck all you geriatric, foot on the gas, oblivious, incompetent fucks. If (big if) we ever regain our Democracy, the first thing on the agenda should be AGE CAPS for all public offices. Elderly fucking hubris has doomed us to more misery.

I do not trust Americans to "do their own research". I've seen how that has gone in the past. Too many Americans do their own research while scrolling Facebook from the toilet.
- “do their own research”
  That's redneck for "I found someone that agrees with me on the Facebook".
- Research requires a critical mind. Think of a person you know that has average intelligence, 50% of people are more stupid than that.
  And I'm not saying that stupidity is solely an issue for the republican electorate, I'm just saying "do your own research" is an unrealistic expectation.
  People need to be engaged with.
  
  More to the point, people need to not be told they're stupid for not already understanding everything there is to know about the theory you're peddling by a person who has taken some pains to avoid explaining any aspect of that theory.
- Average lemmyml user
  
  Satan himself could've posted that and he would still be right. Rather than being busy shitting on people for being the wrong kind of people who is right, you should shit on a people voting actual, literal Nazis ans facists into power.

Welp, that's a wrap. We reelected Trump. I'm floored.
- Hello floored, I am to say it lightly "disappointed"
  
  As a trans person, it's a bit more than light for me

Four years ago we gave it a stay of execution. Until we fully purge the fascist and focus government to actually serve the people, we are going to keep finding ourselves in chaos, until China beats us to and at everything.
- Yeah, a Trump victory scares me, but what scares me more is the more competent fascist that comes next. The Democrats can't keep waiting for the Republicans to, "come to their senses." The material conditions of the working class need to improve, or fascist populism will take in the absence of economic populism.
  
  No other fascist has the cult of personality that trump does. If we can rid ourselves of this scourge, it will cause a reckoning and reset among the conservatives. I hope.
- It's crazy how the global powers have handed China so much power as a result of their insatiable greed. China was hardly a concern 40 years ago, but 4 decades of manufacturing and stealing literally everyone's IP have given them resources they didn't have access to before.
  
  China didn't have to steal anything, the west handed them all of our trade and engineering secrets on a silver platter just to boost their profit margins.
  
  Twenty years ago they were still basically nothing.

Democratic party is fucking useless. We will never be free unless we rid ourselves of legalized corruption.
- Poor take. Truthfully, the people want hate. That's what trump ran on and promised.
  This isn't about policy or likeability or whatever. This is what people want and they proved it. Stop blaming the Democrat party and blame what this country and its people are instead.
  
  Are you kidding? The DNC circumvented the entire primary process to give us ANOTHER "anointed one" and, again, possibly the worst candidate possible to create the coalition that has always been Democrats' bread-and-butter. They even had Hillary go down to FL to lecture voters, while Bill went to Michigan to preach to Muslim communities about why the war in Israel is right. It's a fucking lampoon of strategy.
  Every single DNC "elite" should retire from politics, today. They're losers, and losers lose. Because they never learn from their mistakes, which is what is required to win.
  
  Hate and simple answers. Trump will "fix inflation" and "bring jobs back", what could be better? Don't ask how or what it will cost.
  
  He didn't say he preferred trump, he said the Democrats are useless.
  Which they are; they couldn't defeat an orange windbag with transparent aspirations of autocracy.
- This kind of take is why we're stupid.

I'm sorry we failed you Bernie.

Democracy ? In US? lol US is a Plutocracy
- Oligarchy.
  
  Monarchy

Oligarchs have all the power now
- I wonder how quickly will the US progress from Elon Musk prancing around on stage to Trump Jack Ma-ing him, or if Bloomberg will commit suicide by six shots to the back of the head.
  The golden age of the US oligarchy has been this past period. Under fascism, the causal relationship between having power and money reverses.
  
  WDYM, Hitler was pretty friendly with German oligarchy. No suiciding them or something, their relationships were pretty chill, having fun together, going to countryside, going to each other with families, having coffee.
  
  what are you even talking about? Rich people are last on a long list of scapegoats
  
  It depends if Vance can place a rollerskate at the top of the White House steps before that happens.
- Now? I wasn't aware they ever didn't.
  
  It's more like all pretense is gone now. Before, there was this veneer of legitimacy. Now, it's straight up fascism. It's a matter of image projection.
  
  More like the oligarchy now have 99% of the power rather than 98%.
  The issue is that we believe we have a free democracy when the only power we have is to put an X in a box every few years. The system isn't broken, it's working as it's designed to.
- Except they've always had all the power. The money gets what the money wants.
  
  True.
  But now more of the hurdles will be removed. Gotta make that wealth extraction more efficient 📈🥴
  \ Can't let those poor and middle class people hold onto any of their money.
  
  That's not true, we had a good run from the forties until I was born in the eighties. A whole forty years of some amount of power!

Voting is like breathing.
Every election is the most important one of yopur life.

Sorry we let you down, Bernie, there are just too many shitheads now.

I get why people say you "have to" vote against someone in a First Past The Post voting system. What I don't get is the inaction from the democratic party on changing the voting system between elections.
I wish the democrats had one tenth the urgency they claim to have. Democracy is one election away from falling... wouldn't you want multiple chances to defeat the republicans every election?
Democrats are so full of themselves, they won't accept that they might have to step out of the way to prevent the republicans from ruining this country. This fight is greater then the democratic party. They should start acting like it by pushing to get rid of FPTP voting in the states they control.
- What I don't get is the inaction from the democratic party on changing the voting system between elections.
  The Democrats didn't secure a large enough majority in previous elections to overcome Republican resistance to changing things like FPTP voting or the electoral college.
  There is a lot of contention within the Democratic party (at the federal level at least) as it shifts further towards the right in an effort to remain in power. Getting rid of FPTP voting would make it harder for centrist/right leaning Democrats to remain in power.
  Several states have switched to RCV for some of their elections, and progress has been slow, but it's being made. If you want to see more, elect people that prioritize implementing better voting systems.
  
  right leaning Democrats
  all Democrat party members are right leaning
- Democrats are so full of themselves, they won’t accept that they might have to step out of the way to prevent the republicans from ruining this country
  you mean like biden did?

don't make me put on the mittens

We need a "bad guy" for everyone to get back on the same team but as it turns out, we are the "bad guy".
- that's why we keep being forced to chose between the lesser of two evils; it's still evil either way
  
  Except people aren't choosing the lesser of 2 evils every time. If they did, it would pass back across that "Evil" line. That's literally the nature of it.
- I see what you are saying but I don't think that's the problem. The problem is the media turning everything into a dramatic fight for freedom. It happens on both sides and it is always us vs them.
  Americans need to stop believing what they are told and do there own research. Additionally, we need more factual sources of information. (Spoiler: the national news isn't one of them)
  
  do there own research
  Aye, they could maybe start with researching there spelling lol

We did it! Good job!
- It wasn't even close
  
  It was very close. As predicted, the battleground states all came down to 1 or 2 percent. Everything fell within the margins of error.
  Unfortunately, the 1 or 2 percent leans all went in Trump’s direction.

What democracy?
The Democrats and Republicans fought harder to keep the party I support off the ballot than they did to stop each other from getting elected.

We still got mid terms

I rather fight for the Republic and not a state plant.
- I'd* rather fight
- I'm with you.

If a democracy allows this level of evil, better that it should die
- Have fun with that. But last I checked, lots of us don't have the freedom to just migrate across the globe to a region that isn't collapsing and this would spell misery and anguish for countless people across the globe.
  (Yes, if the U.S destabilizes, further global power imbalances will follow.)
  So giving up and pretending to take the high ground over it isn't exactly in anybody's best interest.
  
  If you wouldn't even take this bare minimum risk of death to end genocide then you were never really against genocide to begin with.
  
  The US collapsing is in the world's best interest. If the collapse of the US causes chaos then it's what the US deserves for causing chaos everywhere else for so many decades

173 comments