• Hildegarde@lemmy.world
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      30 days ago

      Not enough for voters who are undecided about whether to vote or not.

      Democrats win when turnout is high. It’s not enough to be better than the opponent, to win they must beat apathy.

      • RealFknNito@lemmy.world
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        29 days ago

        The two current candidates are so far apart the people who claim to be undecided are ignorant or stupid, willingly or otherwise. I’d understand riding the fence between Biden and Bernie, even if I’ve made my choice between them, but between Trump and Biden?

        That’s the kind of person who is undecided if they want to drive to work or walk down the middle of i-95

        • FlashMobOfOne@lemmy.world
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          29 days ago

          I think you are perhaps uninformed about the economic state of the poor and working class. Biden hasn’t done a whole lot about people’s grocery bills doubling and tripling, or the soaring increases in rent while the housing supply has remained artificially low, but he’s made sure that blank checks for war appear out of thin air at every turn.

          Can’t expect to win an election like this when people can’t afford to miss a day of work.

          • LucidNightmare@lemmy.world
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            29 days ago

            Yeahhhh, no.

            Like the original commenter said, you are either ignorant or stupid.

            Anyone who actively lived during Trump’s awful years in office has all the info we need to NOT vote for that fucking orange idiot, and instead CLAMBER to anyone with ANY semblance of sanity.

            If you honestly think that Biden losing will help anyone in any way whatsoever (besides Trump and his little rich bastards who are as evil as he is), you, and anyone else who feels that way, are a lost cause.

            • Hildegarde@lemmy.world
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              29 days ago

              Anyone who is eligible to vote actively lived through the trump years. And a third of those voters disagree with you. Calling them stupid is not an effective way to help them change their minds or voting decisions.

              Day to day economic realities matter to the average voter.

              • LucidNightmare@lemmy.world
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                29 days ago

                I don’t give a flying fuck about changing anyones mind any more. If you actively lived through the awful Trump years, you don’t need your fucking mind changed. Most of those “third of voters” are a lost cause, so I do not give a fuck about trying to get them to maybe open their eyes just a little bit.

                Also, yes, I’m sure the “economic realities” really matter to those voters when this is who they will allow back into office.

            • FlashMobOfOne@lemmy.world
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              29 days ago

              Like the original commenter said, you are either ignorant or stupid.

              It’s okay if projecting makes you feel better.

              • Please_Do_Not@lemm.ee
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                29 days ago

                Let’s just cut to the chase–is your argument that both sides are the same? Or that voting for Biden is just as bad as voting for Trump, or not voting? Or are you just arguing to stir things up? Trying to figure out where your willful ignorance lies.

            • FlashMobOfOne@lemmy.world
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              29 days ago

              “My candidate is just as shitty as the other guy” isn’t quite the profound defense you think it is.

              • Thunderbird4@lemmy.world
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                29 days ago

                That is probably the lamest possible misinterpretation you could make, but I’m sure that’s intentional. Nobody is “both sides”-ing them but you.

              • Zink@programming.dev
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                29 days ago

                I think that should say “my candidate is far less shitty than the other guy” which is a different situation.

          • deweydecibel@lemmy.world
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            29 days ago

            Tell me what you think he could have done without Congress.

            Let’s hear it.

            Give me the actual steps that you believe Biden could have done but did not do.

    • danc4498@lemmy.world
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      29 days ago

      What’s your position?

      “Not a fascist dictator that openly wants to kill democracy.”

    • The Menemen!@lemmy.world
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      29 days ago

      Honestly, no. In Turkey the opposition used that strategy since 2002 and lost every single vote, except the last local elections where they finally decided to do things a little differently (+ the financial crisis). If your only selling point is “not being the other guy” then your whole election campaign is basically an advertising for the other guy.

      • Kecessa@sh.itjust.works
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        29 days ago

        In Canada at the federal level the Conservatives are on their way to have a majority using this exact tactic, they’re voting against anything the government tries to do (even stuff they asked for in the past) and they’re promising to make everything better once elected, no one knows how, not even them.

      • Zink@programming.dev
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        29 days ago

        I think it depends on the context and the details.

        If your sell is “I’m not Mitt Romney,” that is pretty weak, even if you don’t like Romney.

        If your sell is “I’m not Donald Trump,” that is a much more compelling thing to consider. I mean the fucker is on trial for and got impeached for some things that are truly heinous to see from a random schmuck, never mind the freaking President of the US.

      • lolcatnip@reddthat.com
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        29 days ago

        It’s a losing strategy politically because people are too fucking dumb to vote against someone holding a gun to their head unless someone else is promising them a unicorn, but as a potential voter, it’s an exceptionally good reason to get off your ass and actually vote for a candidate who can win.

    • FlashMobOfOne@lemmy.world
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      29 days ago

      It’s really not if you’re a wage earner in 2/3 of US states, where it’s still perfectly legal to pay you $7 an hour. Since Idaho got away with criminalizing abortion, 2/3 of the states will soon follow.

      Hell, homelessness jumped 12% in 2023 alone. I’m guessing, for those people, “I’m not Trump” isn’t going to be as persuasive an argument as you might think.

      • Semi-Hemi-Lemmygod@lemmy.world
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        29 days ago

        It’s really hard to vote if you don’t have a home address, so those unhoused people don’t matter in our system.

        • FlashMobOfOne@lemmy.world
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          29 days ago

          It’s really hard to vote if you don’t have a home address,

          And you’d think after 2016 the Democrats might have realized that they need those votes, but they’re too busy getting wealthier to care.

  • newDayRocks@lemmy.world
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    29 days ago

    The entire premise is BS because Biden has a list of accomplishments from infrastructure to debt forgiveness, progressive drug guidance, progress in gender/race equality, departments like the ftc and irs being competently run again with actual resources, to judge appointments. Hmm I wonder to who’s benefit it is to ignore all that and label him “not Trump”?

    • OccamsTeapot@lemmy.world
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      29 days ago

      cough supporting a genocide cough

      Until then he was doing great yeah. Bit of a big one though.

      And before you hit me with the usual I know Trump would be worse for Gaza but it doesn’t change what Biden has done

      • BrokenGlepnir@lemmy.world
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        29 days ago

        1 he always supported it, so if you say “until” you just didn’t care until it went hot, 2 I don’t think it changes it that his opponent supports it harder, but it does speak to your options.

        • Sterile_Technique@lemmy.world
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          29 days ago

          He always supported Israel… I think the ‘until’ is in reference to Israel’s more recent and more blatant attack on Gaza - prior to that, Biden’s support for Israel wasn’t nearly as flagrant as it is now.

          Like, no one would bat an eye if I told them I support my wife’s decisions, but if she started breaking into the local NICUs and stomping on people’s babies, my continued support for her decisions would be a tad sus. …especially if I regularly said “honey could you tone the baby-stomping down a bit?” as I handed her a new pair of baby-stomping boots.

          I’m not a both-sides’er (unless I’m talking to a trumpanzee in an attempt to steer votes away from Agent Orange). My vote is going to Biden and I encourage anyone reading this to do the same, but our complicity in the genocide on Gaza is genuinely upsetting, partly because it’s complicity in a fucking genocide, and partly because this WILL cause voter disengagement and could hand that other dipshit the presidency on a silver platter.

          • djsoren19@yiffit.net
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            28 days ago

            The genocide started way, way before October 6th. October 6th was a reaction to increased aggression from Israeli settlers who had massively increased the amount of land they were stealing. The difference is that it was more subtle, so nobody cared, but if you forcibly remove everyone from their homeland it’s still genocide.

            Obviously I’m glad Americans are waking up to the realization that Israel is an apartheid state, but it’s been true for decades. The fact that Biden has always been a Zionist was a huge red flag, but he was “the only person who could beat Trump” and now we’re stuck here.

          • 0xD@infosec.pub
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            29 days ago

            Biden’s support for Israel wasn’t nearly as flagrant as it is now

            You’re saying that about a guy who has been saying shit like “I am a zionist” every year while sucking Israel’s dick. LOL.

            You’re just showing that you have 0 idea what you’re talking about and that your opinion is only based on your fantasies, reality does not seem to be of interest to you.

        • OccamsTeapot@lemmy.world
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          29 days ago

          Obviously it wasn’t as big an issue until October 7th. I did care, just not as much was happening

        • TrickDacy@lemmy.world
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          29 days ago

          you just didn’t care until it went hot

          Exactly this. It’s astonishing how many people would destroy everything based on an extremely old holy war because the US didn’t suddenly reverse their long established policy when the conflict heats up again.

          The Trumpists are ecstatic how easy it was to flip these morons.

          • OccamsTeapot@lemmy.world
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            29 days ago

            The Trumpists are ecstatic how easy it was to flip these morons.

            I would never vote Trump. “Morons” for having criticism of a president supplying weapons that have killed over 10k children?

            These centrist democrats are ecstatic how a substantial number of their voters have no standards whatsoever and will defend anything as long as it keeps Trump out.

            Downvote all you want. If you can’t criticise Biden for this you’re a piece of shit

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              29 days ago

              I don’t need to “criticize Biden”. That isn’t what’s happening anyhow. What’s happening is that people are pretending Biden is the one doing this and threatening to destroy the United States if he doesn’t stop the thing which he is not doing. Sending Israel money is a fuck of a lot older than his presidency.

              • OccamsTeapot@lemmy.world
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                29 days ago

                Just because it’s been happening for a while doesn’t make it right.

                Why was Rafah a red line until all of a sudden it wasn’t? Because he knows it’s morally wrong and will lead to a lot of death but is too much of a coward to stand up for what he believes.

                • TrickDacy@lemmy.world
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                  29 days ago

                  Just because it’s been happening for a while doesn’t make it right.

                  Just because you care about it now doesn’t suddenly make it more important than every concern, including preventing it from getting far worse.

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            29 days ago

            It’s almost as if many of these people are just virtue signaling or falling for the propoganda. I don’t see any of these same commenters so vocally opposed to any of the other handful atrocities happening around the world, and yet they fail to think the next thought of what will the situation be like if Trump wins?

            • TrickDacy@lemmy.world
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              29 days ago

              Yeah, I think a lot of them are just bad actors, faking left leanings. Paid or otherwise. This one guy posts several times every single day about the war and often lays it all at Biden’s feet. If he’s paid, Putin or whoever it is truly does get their money’s worth with so many posts and comments essentially indirectly supporting trump.

              And if you dare to disagree with their bullshit of course the means you love genocide. Literally have had several commenters use those exact words.

              • OccamsTeapot@lemmy.world
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                29 days ago

                This one guy posts several times every single day about the war and often lays it all at Biden’s feet. If he’s paid, Putin or whoever it is truly does get their money’s worth with so many posts and comments essentially indirectly supporting trump.

                Are you talking about me? Do you seriously think someone pays me to post rather than me just being a person who is horrified about what’s happening?

                • TrickDacy@lemmy.world
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                  29 days ago

                  Given that your last post was about Bob Dylan and it was 3 weeks ago, I’m kind of struggling to see where you got the idea I was referring to you. Makes me wonder why you thought that…

        • Maalus@lemmy.world
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          29 days ago

          So if you are against genocide, you don’t get a candidate that can represent you. And americans would rather drag their dick through miles of broken glass than to vote 3rd party.

          • jumjummy@lemmy.world
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            29 days ago

            Voting 3rd party in a primary is throwing your vote away, plain and simple. If we want better candidates, handily defeat the GOP so that it has no choice other than to ditch the completely fascist support, or collapse. That’s the only chance we have of getting more progressive candidates to vote for. Start in local elections, move to state, then get some of these people into higher office.

            Hoping that suddenly the incumbent Democrat candidate will become a super progressive person at the 11th hour is just a fantasy.

            • Maalus@lemmy.world
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              29 days ago

              My point exactly with “crawling through miles of glass before voting third party”. A nation of defeatists.

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                29 days ago

                Stop the disinformation. Voting 3rd party in this general election is just going to help Trump and the fascists. You’re either a naive fool, or a disinformation agent.

                • Maalus@lemmy.world
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                  29 days ago

                  Again, my point exactly. You are almost combative about voting for anyone who doesn’t support the genocide. Good job.

          • TrickDacy@lemmy.world
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            29 days ago

            I don’t need to torture my penis to know it would have a bad outcome to do so, kind of like giving my vote to trump with an extra step while pretending to be a martyr

              • TrickDacy@lemmy.world
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                29 days ago

                Except for the fact that we know how the system works and third party candidates have no chance

                • retrospectology@lemmy.world
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                  29 days ago

                  So should people who are not going to vote for a Trump or Biden actively cast their vote for Trump then? It’s the same thing, after all, right?

                  Is not casting a vote for Trump actually a vote for Biden?

      • Tja@programming.dev
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        29 days ago

        Until then he was doing meh. After that he was also doing meh, because that has been the official policy of the US for at least the last 50 years.

        So you have either “meh” or “let’s do turbo genocide and have oil companies write environmental policy” (not even going into all the criminality). I find “meh” to be the clearly superior option, even if it doesn’t align with my politics.

        • OccamsTeapot@lemmy.world
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          29 days ago

          But if someone criticises the “meh,” this is somehow an issue with the person and not the “meh”?

            • daltotron@lemmy.world
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              29 days ago

              I mean idk if it’s that funny of a time. Even if they were criticizing 5-6 months ago, and who’s to say they weren’t, it’s a much more engaged in conversation right now, so it’s not a fuckin shocker that people are gonna start talking about it.

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        29 days ago

        He was doing pretty bad up to that point, thus why his approval rating was dogshit. Gaza simply made him unelectable by those who might’ve been able to hold their nose to avoid Trump.

    • Maggoty@lemmy.world
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      29 days ago

      Care to offer an actual list? Every time someone tries to offer an actual list it turns out to be meaningless victory laps. With the possible exception of the NLRB Cemex decision. But that’s getting it’s stress test right now so it’s a bit early to celebrate.

        • Maggoty@lemmy.world
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          29 days ago

          I mean usually people try to curate it to stuff with physical outcomes. Otherwise 90% of that list is performative crap like this one. And if you don’t think that was performative have a look at what red states are doing in schools.

          • deweydecibel@lemmy.world
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            29 days ago

            You do understand he can only do so much, right? You’re calling it performative, but he can’t do most of the major things without Congress.

            If you’re only complaint is “it’s not enough he should do more” then how about you tell me what your definition of “more” is, and then we can take a look at the actual laws and see if it’s something he can do without Congress.

            • Maggoty@lemmy.world
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              29 days ago

              On that action he could withhold funding. Any police officers enforcing bathroom laws can be arrested and charged. He can federalize the Texas National Guard so Abbott can’t use them on the border. He could direct Darpa to research battery technology and make any resulting patents free and open for anyone to produce.

              That’s 3 ideas in his power in less than 5 minutes. The laws are already on the books. He refuses to use them and keeps running this “woe is me, congress is out of control” narrative and I’m tired of nobody calling him on it.

      • deweydecibel@lemmy.world
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        29 days ago

        Care to offer an actual list?

        They gave you a list. You go find the links if you’re so hell bent on handwaving them away.

        • Maggoty@lemmy.world
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          If you check my post history you’ll see I do go through the entire list when it’s reasonable. I’m not trawling through a thousand EOs and NSMs for an internet stranger though. That’s dangerously close to trying to prove a negative and will take multiple months. If they want to prove a point they need to support that point. Not do the source version of waving vaguely in the direction of the White House.

    • retrospectology@lemmy.world
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      29 days ago

      He certainly did give a ton of handouts to corporations with nice sounding names, yeah.

      And he offered the GOP every fascist policy they want on border with literally no strings attached. Twice. What a great totally-different-from-republicans guy.

      Really knows how to reach across the aisle and be bi-partisan by…-checks notes-…giving the GOP everything they want with no conditions.

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      Biden bragged about cutting social security, has no desire to reform healthcare, and doesn’t care about income inequality or labour rights. He looks at America’s race-to-the-bottom economy and he’s like “yeah. Everything is working just fine here”

      Also, many of the things you listed here are basically just “not Trump/not Republicans” in their own way. You really think “appointed competent people to run government departments” is a positive and not just a non-negative point (as compared to what his opponents would do)?

      Also, Biden is obviously fucking senile and I’m tired of people pretending he’s not just because they’re afraid it will give Trump power. It’s totally fine to vote for Biden because he was the lesser evil, but let’s not pretend he was ever a good option. When you ignore reality because it makes it harder to like your preferred candidate, you are doing the exact same thing the MAGA idiots do.

      Before you accuse me of anything, you should know I’m Canadian and have absolutely no dog in this fight. This is my unbiased outsider perspective. I could give a shit who wins the next election in the US, but I’m tired of people lying to themselves about either of the candidates not being a steaming pile of shit.

      • Tja@programming.dev
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        29 days ago

        Also, many of the things you listed here are basically just “not Trump/not Republicans” in their own way.

        • substitutes everything the candidate runs on to “I’m not the other guy”, because the other guy doesn’t run on those things

        • accuses candidate of running on “I’m not the other guy”

        • bionicjoey@lemmy.ca
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          My point was “he appointed competent people to run some departments and gives them enough resources to do their jobs” isn’t a point in his favour. It’s only a neutral point. It’s the baseline that should be expected from someone in his office. You’re saying “Biden doesn’t actively strip the government for parts”. It only makes sense as a point in his favour if you assume that the alternative is “starve the beast” tactics (which TBF it definitely is). It can only be considered a positive as compared to his opponent.

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            29 days ago

            I disagree with you first statement. It is definitely a point in his favor because the election doesn’t happen in a vacuum, you must take into account who the alternatives are.

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              Seriously. An election is a single event where people decide between some options they are presented with. It is not some kind of wide-reaching manifesto or affirmation of faith/loyalty.

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              The point is that you should hold the Democrats and Biden accountable for being evil and not doing good things that make people’s lives better (which they absolutely have the power to do). They sit back and watch the world burn, then when election time comes they say “at least we didn’t start any of these fires” (they just don’t bother extinguishing them)

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                Again I disagree. They are not doing enough maybe, but they are doing something. Rescheduling pot, insulin prices, student debt cancelation… (I’m over in Europe so I only know about some things, I’m sure there’s more that I don’t know).

              • Blackbeard@lemmy.world
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                not doing good things that make people’s lives better

                They sit back and watch the world burn

                They spent billions to upgrade drinking water infrastructure across the country, as well as roads and bridges. They protected and strengthened the Affordable Care Act by allowing states to extend postpartum coverage up to 12 months, by disallowing several state-level work requirements for Medicaid, by fixing the “family glitch”, by dropping the number of uninsured by 3.5%, by allowing Medicare to negotiate drug prices, by capping the price of insulin, and by banning surprise billing for out-of-network care. They raised the minimum wage for federal workers. They forgave billions in student loans. They expanded VA health care and benefits for veterans exposed to burn pits, Agent Orange, and other toxic substances. They rescheduled marijuana. They established decade-long tax credits for everything from electric vehicles to direct air capture and sequestration of carbon dioxide. They ratified the international Kigali Amendment on reducing HFCs. They implemented drinking water standards for PFAS. I could go on, but I’m bored.

                Get your fingers out of your fucking ears, open your eyes, and stop repeating baseless propaganda. I’ll also echo what the commenter above suggested:

                kindly shut the fuck up. I’m an American, I’ve ACTUALLY had to live in this country with Trump and Biden as president, and it’s no contest for me.

                edit: Downvoting incontrovertible facts. Again. This community never ceases to amaze me.

      • Perfide@reddthat.com
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        29 days ago

        I’m Canadian and have absolutely no dog in this fight.

        Then kindly shut the fuck up. I’m an American, I’ve ACTUALLY had to live in this country with Trump and Biden as president, and it’s no contest for me. I’d take Biden at his worst over Trump any day. That doesn’t mean Biden is good, it means Trump is just that fucking bad.

        • bionicjoey@lemmy.ca
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          I’d take Biden at his worst over Trump any day. That doesn’t mean Biden is good, it means Trump is just that fucking bad.

          Yeah I 100% agree. That’s exactly my point. The conversation here is whether Biden can stand on his own merits or whether the only thing he has going for him is that he’s not Trump.

      • nexguy@lemmy.world
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        There are no good options. Right now it seems they either support Israel or don’t support Ukraine. No one is on the right side(imo) on both options. Sanders is the closest but even he wants strings attached to Ukraine aid.

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          IMO there should always be strings attached to military aid, lest the military industrial complex have too much of an incentive to pull strings and keep conflicts going longer than necessary.

      • TrickDacy@lemmy.world
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        29 days ago

        It’s pretty rare for anyone to praise Biden on his own merits, especially on Lemmy. So maybe don’t get so irate because in comparison to trump, people praise him

        And yes you have every dog in this fight, the US is kinda fuckin important for global stability

      • retrospectology@lemmy.world
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        You’re never going to get these people to acknowledge any of this stuff.

        They’ll still be defending whatever Biden 2.0 clone is in office a few cycles from now because “He only sent half the number of people to the gas chamber compared to [Identical GOP Incumbent]!”

        • Honytawk@lemmy.zip
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          That is the thing, the GOP isn’t identical. It is pretty much worse every single time.

          • retrospectology@lemmy.world
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            29 days ago

            The technical distinction are becoming less and less compelling. The whole “Things will get better if you just vote for our chosen establishment democrat one more time.” starts to wear thin after decades of 0 substantial results and, more often than not, straight up complicity in the worst crimes of the far-right.

            Establishment democrats support the corporate aristocracy and banks just the same, they barely fight for really basic stuff like civil rights and only enough so they have something to point to, not to actually fundamentally change anything in a way that the right can’t just reverse. That’s why we are where we are right now, the Conservative Democrats’ greed and lack of spine has allowed the far-right to capture the courts and undermine our institutions, unopposed over the course of 40-ish years.

            The Democratic party is the only one with potential to change, but that’s never going to happen if they can just keep doing the pied piper shit and getting re-elected. For all intents and purposes they are identical.

            • Dark Arc@social.packetloss.gg
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              Here’s the problem, people don’t vote down ticket, and they only vote every 4 years instead of every 2 years.

              The president is more of a cheerleader than a person of substantial power. That’s not to say the office of the president isn’t individually powerful, but you need strong margins in the house and the senate to actually get stuff done.

              We kind of had that for 2 years when Obama and we got the affordable care act… Even then the margins weren’t that great; I don’t think Obama was the problem so much as they couldn’t find the support to do something bigger in Congress.

              Even with those thin margins Democrats come across the aisle regularly to actually get governance done (e.g. fund fixing infrastructure). They’re not even close, we’ve got one party that actually governs, and another that prints money for the rich, attacks people based on their bedroom preferences, and doesn’t give a shit about the environment.

              • ShepherdPie@midwest.social
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                29 days ago

                The president is more of a cheerleader than a person of substantial power.

                You’re literally using tactics developed by fascists in your argument here. Somehow, the president is little more than a “powerless cheerleader” if we’re talking about Dems but “the end of democracy” if talking about Trump/Republicans. Both can’t be true.

                We kind of had that for 2 years when Obama and we got the affordable care act… Even then, the margins weren’t that great; I don’t think Obama was the problem so much as they couldn’t find the support to do something bigger in Congress.

                Even with those thin margins Democrats come across the aisle regularly to actually get governance done

                The ACA was a plan written by Republicans. Obama and the Dems chose this over any sane single-payer option to allegedly “appease Republicans” and yet none of them voted for it (and then spent years trying to repeal it). This means we could have had single-payer all along instead of further cementing the private healthcare market that continues to bankrupt Americans to this day.

                In another attempt to appease Republicans, they allowed them to steal Obamas SCOTUS appointment while also allowing Trump to steal what should have been Biden’s SCOTUS appointment, stacking the Supreme Court with a 6-3 conservative majority which lead to the end of abortion rights in the country and who knows what else in the coming decades.

                Neither party is interested in fixing the absolute train wreck that this country has become. Both serve the rich. One party is just better about messaging and branding. There are many good Dem politicians but the party leadership and party as a whole is just as rotten as the other. That’s why we’re here with Trump having a 50% chance of being president for the third time in a row and why we’ll continue to have candidates like him in the future.

                • Dark Arc@social.packetloss.gg
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                  28 days ago

                  You’re literally using tactics developed by fascists in your argument here.

                  [citation needed]

                  Somehow, the president is little more than a “powerless cheerleader” if we’re talking about Dems but “the end of democracy” if talking about Trump/Republicans. Both can’t be true.

                  They’re over simplifying the problem. Trump is a cheerleader for fascism inside of the United States, a vote for Trump is a vote for every Republican in congress to be emboldened to do Trump like things (and even if they don’t agree with them, fear their own removal).

                  There’s certainly a different aspect for international issues and relations as well. However, ultimately, congress has all the power in this country. If Democrats had solid super majorities in the house and senate, or there was a super majority that was willing to side with Democrats to protect from Trump, there would be very little reason to worry.

                  In fact, we wouldn’t even be having this discussion because congress would have held Trump accountable and convicted him during the impeachment hearings preventing him from holding office.

                  Obama and the Dems chose this over any sane single-payer option to allegedly “appease Republicans”

                  [Citation needed] see the majorities at the time, they could not get single payer past the majority of the Democrats in congress let alone Republicans. There was not a sufficiently progressive majority.

                  In another attempt to appease Republicans, they allowed them to steal Obamas SCOTUS appointment while also allowing Trump to steal what should have been Biden’s SCOTUS appointment

                  They “allowed” that to happen? What could they have done?

                  They didn’t have control of congress.

                  I’d go on but I don’t have time to say “they didn’t have control of congress” all day. If you want something done in this country, you need congress (either via super majority) or via a slim majority and an aligned president (and even then in the latter case, results may very due to personal votes/perspectives of representatives).

              • retrospectology@lemmy.world
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                29 days ago

                Here’s the problem, people don’t vote down ticket, and they only vote every 4 years instead of every 2 years.

                In no small part due to DNC suppression and interference. This is why people say the neoliberals need to be allowed to fail until they have no option but to tlstop suppression tactics (or leave and go to the GOP where they belong)

                The base cannot reform the DNC they can only starve the power structure until it’s desperate enough to stop sniping progressives. It worked after Clinton’s failure, we got a ton of progressives in office after that.

            • Zink@programming.dev
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              29 days ago

              You speak as if the democrats cooperating with republicans is a flaw on their part. They don’t exist in a vacuum — they have to deal with the American public. And when half this fucking country is voting for the disgusting shit the republicans are all about, the democrats aren’t going to stay in office if they always do the right thing. Politics sucks.

              And just to clarify: I’m not saying they’re innocent. They do protect a lot of the same institutions that drive inequality, etc.

              Also I don’t really hear "Things will get better if you just vote for our chosen establishment democrat one more time” much lately. It’s more like stopping the bleeding or putting down the gun against your head before you can start making improvements. Trumpism is just that bad.

              • retrospectology@lemmy.world
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                You speak as if the democrats cooperating with republicans is a flaw on their part. They don’t exist in a vacuum — they have to deal with the American public.

                The majority of Americans are for basically all progressive policies, particularly when asked directly about a policy rather than a party or politician.

                The issue is not the American people (of who MAGA chuds are 30% at best) the issue is that Democrats and Republicans work in concert to rig the system and deny the people access to politicians who are actually willing to implement popular policy.

                This corporate circle jerk game (fueled not inconsiderably by Citizens United) is why the fascist roght is able to keep pushing our institutions further t9 the right. Establushment Democrats and Republicans are so busy gorging on lobby payouts and shoving AIPAC money ip their asses that they literally put up no resustance except when it comes to changing the status quo. Which is when they turn and will snarl and bite at anyone who tries to interrupt them.

                So no, it is not “dealing with the American people” it’s deliberately side stepping and suppressing them to loot our nation’s legacy.

                • Zink@programming.dev
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                  Yeah, and the media is complicit in all of it.

                  But I still feel comfortable putting a chunk of the blame on the voters. You’re absolutely right about progressive policies being popular on their own, but the fact that people don’t vote accordingly is the fault of both the communicators and the public. The public who just rolls with the team sport of politics and don’t care to look into actual policies and their effects on people.

                  I don’t think the public carries most of the blame though, because being ignorant is not nearly as bad as all the intentional bad faith bullshit done by those more involved in the system.

          • bionicjoey@lemmy.ca
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            29 days ago

            I wouldn’t dream of suggesting otherwise. My point above is simply that voting for the lesser of two evils doesn’t mean you shouldn’t hold your candidate accountable for being… evil.

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                29 days ago

                No one is pretending that Biden is any good

                My initial comment in this thread was responding to someone claiming Biden is great and can stand on his own merits.

                Also, you can see from that comment getting downvoted to oblivion within microseconds of it being posted that lots of people think any kind of criticism of Biden is bad.

                • LucidNightmare@lemmy.world
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                  29 days ago

                  Yeah, no.

                  It’s not that people think ANY kind of criticism of Biden is bad, no. Most of us are probably on the same page.

                  Where we start rolling our eyes and downvoting, is when it basically sums up to “Genocide bad = Biden bad = Both sides are bad = Vote for third party = Trump gets into office”

                  Let me tell you something, friend. When Trump was in office, it was some of the most miserable times of my fucking life. I truly did not see any hope if he got elected for another four god damn years. I’d rather kill myself than allow some little whiny ass, dictator wannabe bitch get back in office.

          • retrospectology@lemmy.world
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            29 days ago

            In terms of establishment conservative Democrats and Republicans? Yes, they represent the same path to fascism. So it’s not both sides, more like same side.

            Progressives would be the only non-fascist side.

  • Semi-Hemi-Lemmygod@lemmy.world
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    29 days ago

    Stop thinking that you vote “for” someone in a FPTP system. You don’t. You vote against the guy you don’t like.

    It sucks, and I hate it, but don’t delude yourself into thinking otherwise. We’re playing a badly-designed game with a shitty controller and we’re only allowed to press a button once a year at best.

    Think Twitch Plays Pokemon, but with a lot more trolls and no moderation. There will be a constant stream of people voting to do something stupid and destructive, so you spend all of your time voting against them.

    Oh, and their votes count for more, so they can win even if there’s fewer of them. All we can ever hope to do is try to stop them and hope they don’t fuck everything up and give themselves even more power before the next time we’re allowed to pick a move.

    Yay America. Greatest democracy in the world right there.

    • OneWomanCreamTeam@sh.itjust.works
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      29 days ago

      Both Democrats and Republicans have a vested interest in keeping the system as it is. They won’t change it unless citizens make them change it.

      Honestly I’m kind of losing hope that it’s even possible at this point.

      • Liz@midwest.social
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        29 days ago

        Positive change in the American system usually comes from the bottom up. If you’re interested in fixing the system, the first step is to switch your local elections to Approval Voting, probably through a referendum. There’s a whole bunch of reasons, and lots of second and third steps, but that’s the first one.

        • Semi-Hemi-Lemmygod@lemmy.world
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          Whenever people come up with these solutions I’m reminded that it took Jon Stewart over a decade to get money for 9/11 first responders.

          If it takes that long to do something so universally desired, it’s going to take a thousand years to change our voting system.

          But it’s nice to dream.

          • UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world
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            If it takes that long to do something so universally desired, it’s going to take a thousand years to change our voting system.

            Things never seem to change, until they do. And then you’re amazed they were ever the old way at all. As someone who remembers walking through an airport pre-9/11, in a state that put Ann Richards in the governor’s office, its funny to think about what was “normal” 30 years ago. Hell, its funny to think about what was normal 20 years ago, under Bush. Or 10 years ago, under Obama.

            I’m old enough to remember when a black President was telling the country he could settle race tensions between a Harvard Professor and a city cop by having a beer with them.

              • UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world
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                Historically speaking, I have to disagree. One of the most transformative moments of our history since Pearl Harbor. It gave birth to wave after wave of right-wing election wins and a subsequent hard-right shift in voting rights, election policy, and court composition.

        • OneWomanCreamTeam@sh.itjust.works
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          Maybe I’m just cynical. I still vote every chance I get, even for local stuff. I’m a big supporter of approval voting, but I’m not hopeful that it’ll become the norm in the US.

          • Liz@midwest.social
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            29 days ago

            I mean, you can’t just hope it’ll happen, you have to decide to be the person that switches your local elections. I would have done mine already but I’m too disabled to do work, so this is one of the ways that I try to help instead.

      • Semi-Hemi-Lemmygod@lemmy.world
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        It is impossible. Most people don’t see a problem with this. Especially the trolls who have more power than they should.

        The only time things have even marginally changed in the US there’s been violence. Civil rights, suffrage, the labor movement, ending slavery: All of them required thugs cracking skulls before they could happen.

        So unless we have about 10% of the population willing to put themselves in harm’s way we’re stuck like this.

      • Socsa@sh.itjust.works
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        29 days ago

        Do you really believe that nothing has changed over the decades? That seems like a very privileged stance.

        • OneWomanCreamTeam@sh.itjust.works
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          Well yeah, plenty has changed. I’m talking about fixing our voting system. That would give lasting change, where we don’t have to worry so much about losing all that progress that people before us fought so hard for.

        • djsoren19@yiffit.net
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          28 days ago

          In regards to America’s voting system, nothing has changed for nearly a century. We’re just now starting to see support for ranked choice, but it will take a few decades of people pushing it constantly for it to go anywhere, and all of that time will have to be under a Democrat.

      • scutiger@lemmy.world
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        29 days ago

        Sort of. On one side, they already benefit when the system is more fair, while the other side does everything in their power to rig the system in their favor, trying to lock their opponents out of ever having a chance.

        Look at what Texas is trying to do. They’re trying to lock statewide office behind the barrier of number of counties voting for them instead of population. That way Democrats will never again have a statewide office as all the tiny counties with almost no population are Republican-leaning.

        So while one side is happy with the status quo, the other side is fighting tooth and nail to make the rules less fair.

      • rayyy@lemmy.world
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        29 days ago

        You need to study the two parties closely, from honest and reliable news resources. The parties are worlds apart. You will find corruption in any system unfortunately.

        • Semi-Hemi-Lemmygod@lemmy.world
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          No you really don’t. It’s pretty fucking obvious that Republicans are awful. They’ll come right out and say it.

          The problem is that Democrats also get me further from my political goals, and will continue all of the bullshit that I hate because they either don’t see a problem with it or they’re hamstrung by the structure of government.

          There isn’t an option to vote for better. Only less worse.

      • casual_turtle_stew_enjoyer@sh.itjust.works
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        Except, as far as I can tell, the system is designed such that citizens can’t make them change it-- what are you going to do, vote for nobody and force the government to fix it’s shit before electing a new president? I mean, you could revolt but I think we all know how quickly the government would act to squash any meaningful attempt to. And if Project 2025 is allowed to play out, then military can be dispatched to handle simple protests instead of the police, so good luck pressuring the government to do anything at that point.

        They already put snipers on rooftops at every University for the Palestine protests. Supposedly this was for public safety as there was intel that things would turn violent, but who really knows the truthfulness of such intel or where the order came down from? When the military becomes your police, this act would pale in comparison.

        Remember this when you go to the polls, or when you are considering not to.

        • buddascrayon@lemmy.world
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          29 days ago

          Need to stop looking at the big picture first. There’s more than just the presidential or senatorial or even Congressional elections. There are local elections that have a much bigger impact on how your life goes than you realize. Do you know who your mayor is? Do you know who your state senator or alderman is? Most people know who their governor is but do you know who your lieutenant Governor is? Who is your state’s attorney general? Generally speaking the Secretary of State administers your electoral process in your state, do you know who your secretary of state is? Did you vote for your secretary of state? Did you bother to find out who was running against them in the primary election?

          These are the questions most people don’t ask don’t even think to ask, and these are the questions that have the largest impact on how our country is actually run. In the long run the presidential election doesn’t matter as much as these because these are what determine how the president ends up actually getting elected. I almost lament the 17th amendment changing the way senators are chosen. Because when senators were chosen by the legislatures in the state people had to pay more attention to what their state legislature looked like.

        • wanderingmagus@lemm.ee
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          The military, among both officers and enlisted, is actually pretty split politically, and a good number can and will refuse to obey an order they perceive to be unconstitutional, or outright commit mutiny. For all that the military warns about insider threats, it is also woefully unprepared to deal with them as well. Military servicemembers are also significantly stricter with the use of deadly force than police from my experience, although that may simply be due to my having served in the SSBN force.

      • UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world
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        They won’t change it unless citizens make them change it.

        They’ll send a fucking SWAT team to the house of any citizen tries to change it.

        Honestly I’m kind of losing hope that it’s even possible at this point.

        At some point, “we just need to vote for the most right-wing Democrat and then blame the leftists any time we lose” is not a productive long term strategy.

      • blind3rdeye@lemm.ee
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        Sure. I agree it won’t change unless citizens push for a change. But choosing to not participate is not pushing for a change. That’s just capitulation. Choosing to not vote is not a signal of protest. It’s a signal of someone who doesn’t care what the outcome is.

        Voting is the first and most basic step in pushing for change. Doing more is good, but you definitely can’t skip that step.

    • HubertManne@kbin.social
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      29 days ago

      there are a few l33t moves like voting in primaries and local elections and judicial. It does not make it great but every little bit counts. Its sucks. Your not voting on if you are sodomized or not but if there is going to be lube or not. Not voting means no lube.

      • Semi-Hemi-Lemmygod@lemmy.world
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        I’ve been voting consistently in every election since I turned 18 in the year 2000.

        There isn’t any lube if you lose. And you lose constantly. Depending where you are you lose literally every time. I never voted for Scott Perry but that asshole is still my rep.

        And even if you win some court somewhere, or a couple hundred idiots in another state, or lobbyists can decide you don’t get lube.

        Don’t expect lube.

        • HubertManne@kbin.social
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          It reminds me a lot (the voting situation) with articles on how people don’t like obamacare. Yeah people are not wild about it but they really don’t like the situation before it. Its half a loaf and I don’t want to go back to no loaf but yes indeed I would like a universal health care full loaf.

    • buddascrayon@lemmy.world
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      29 days ago

      Technically we get to press the button twice because there’s primaries (and, to a lesser degree, caucuses), but people need to be engaged in the process a lot earlier than the September/October/November period in which most people actually are paying attention.

      • Aabbcc@lemm.ee
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        29 days ago

        there’s primaries

        Except not really because everyone said they won’t run they’ll just let Biden have it

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          Stop focusing so much on the president. There are other positions in the party, ones who influence how our elections are handled, who are actually more important in the long run.

              • Aabbcc@lemm.ee
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                29 days ago

                Because Brandon is the worst and the DNC doesn’t care if they win

                • Decoy321@lemmy.world
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                  Right, because he’s the only reason reality isn’t all perfect sunshine and rainbows.

                  My point is that nothing’s perfect. You often have to settle for what’s real.

                  Plus, there’s at least one person I can think of that’s worse than Brandon. Do you need a hint?

    • rayyy@lemmy.world
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      If you want a great democracy you must devote time and money to develop good candidate from the ground up, and who besides the rich oligarchs who can hire surrogates has the time or money?

    • Dkarma@lemmy.world
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      28 days ago

      Wrong. You vote for the person you want your states delegates to go to.
      To win a person has to get to 270

      Logically this means you really only have 2 choices if you want to pick a winner. In a dichotomy you’re voting for someone just as much as against someone, really.

    • UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world
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      You vote against the guy you don’t like.

      What if I don’t like any of them?

      There will be a constant stream of people voting to do something stupid and destructive, so you spend all of your time voting against them.

      I would simply not participate in a system that sounds this miserable and tedious. I would play a game that’s more productive and enjoyable.

      Oh, and their votes count for more, so they can win even if there’s fewer of them.

      But it doesn’t matter, because casting a vote for Ralph Nader from my bright red state of Texas is still the reason Al Gore lost Florida in a 5-4 SCOTUS decision.

      • Semi-Hemi-Lemmygod@lemmy.world
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        29 days ago

        What if I don’t like any of them?

        Join the club.

        I would play a game that’s more productive and enjoyable.

        That’s not possible. We voted on what game we’re playing and we glued the cartridge into the console. Much to my disappointment we don’t get to change the game, or not play, or even ignore it.

        It’s a stupid world and we all live in it.

        But it doesn’t matter, because casting a vote for Ralph Nader from my bright red state of Texas is still the reason Al Gore lost Florida in a 5-4 SCOTUS decision.

        Exactly: The system is built to let them win as much as possible. You’re not going to ever beat it. It’s like Getting Over It with Bennett Foddy except even more frustrating and without the pleasant voiceovers.

        • UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world
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          That’s not possible.

          That’s very possible. It’s just not what Americans are used to doing.

          We voted on what game we’re playing

          That’s a naive perspective, as it misses the historical, financial, and sociological roots of the game. You can’t play a game of basketball if the other team picks up the ball and walks off the court.

          This is Lockean Theory 101, and its the entire basis of democracy. We use democratic tools to divine popular intent. But when the democracy is subverted and political leadership is divorced from public sentiment, the institutions fail. But if institutions aren’t failing because people are too afraid to withdraw their support from them, the system is implicitly endorsed and corrupt officials get to continue abusing their social mandates.

          It’s a stupid world and we all live in it.

          Its only as stupid as we make it. Atm, we’ve got a country that’s invested an enormous amount of time, energy, and labor hours in infesting our senior population with brain worms. That needs to change and simply voting isn’t going to be the thing that does it.

    • overeager@sh.itjust.works
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      i think it’s the opposite. in FPTP system the largest minority (of voters) wins. if you vote against one candidate, it will (probably) create/be another minority. to make sure the candidate loses, the largest minority have to agree for another candidate, just voting any other candidate won’t do. related cgp grey’s video - https://yewtu.be/watch?v=s7tWHJfhiyo.

      edited to clarify. lets assume the election results as:

      • candidate A - 20%
      • candidate B - 35%
      • candidate C - 15%
      • candidate D - 25%
      • candidate E - 05%

      candidate B won with only 35% voting for it while 65% voted against candidate B. clealy the majority of people voted against candidate B, but that doesn’t matter as in FPTP, not majority but largest minority (35% that voted for candidate B) wins.

      thus, i think you vote for not against in FPTP voting system.

      • Semi-Hemi-Lemmygod@lemmy.world
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        29 days ago

        That’s an early-stage FPTP system. After a bunch of people with minority support start winning you end up with two options, and you vote against the one you hate least because there’s not really a choice anymore.

          • Semi-Hemi-Lemmygod@lemmy.world
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            If I’m given the choice between chocolate and vanilla, choosing vanilla doesn’t make it my favorite. It’s just the least bad option because caramel isn’t available. I’m not for vanilla, I’m against chocolate.

            • overeager@sh.itjust.works
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              isn’t that effectively wordplay? say, i like chocolate but vanilla more. then i choose vanilla but i’m not against chocolate. it doesn’t matter when two given choices.

              but that’s doesn’t account for non-late-stage FPTP. given more than two choices i’d have to vote for a candidate. voting against other candidate may not work because largest minority wins.

  • samus12345@lemmy.world
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    “Well, that’s not a very enticing platform! Who is your opponent?”

    “Donald Trump.”

    “You have my vote.”

  • Dark Arc@social.packetloss.gg
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    I think it’s interesting folks take this as talking about Biden.

    Biden has a platform, Biden and the Democrats have accomplishments … what does Trump and the last decade of Republican congressional dominance have?

    “DEMOCRATS ARE DESTROYING THIS COUNTRY!!” “HEALTHCARE IS A MESS!! I’VE GOT A BRILLIANT PLAN I DIDN’T PASS OR EVEN PROPOSE IN CONGRESS LAST TIME. WE’RE GOING TO GET IT DONE THIS TIME. IT WILL BE SO MUCH BETTER THAN WHAT THE DEMOCRATS CAME UP WITH. NO I’M NOT SHARING IT NOW, YOU MUST BE SURPRISED.” “I MADE MY RICH FRIENDS MONEY!!”

  • chemical_cutthroat@lemmy.world
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    Well, when you make your name into a brand, then mark your followers with the same, and your brand is a plague on the world… yeah, that kinda is enough. I’d vote for an off-cut of shit-smeared shag carpet if it meant I could rest easy knowing that the next wave of vomit being spewed on Twitter wasn’t directed at some of the most vulnerable and under represented peoples on the planet. And if you are wondering if I’m purposefully being ambiguous about to whom I refer, let me sate your curiosity and call former President Trump the cunt he is. Trump is a cunt.

  • suction@lemmy.world
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    When the opponent is Trump, isn’t that exactly the right thing to do?

    FYI: Most of those braindead “am I not allowed to criticize Biden???” comments and posts on social media are a concerted effort by right-wingers from /pol and other such sewers, trying to get people to not vote against Trump. Don’t fall for it. These aren’t “lefties” or “tankies”. Just downvote, report, and ignore.

      • suction@lemmy.world
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        28 days ago

        Election interference. Disguising yourself as the opposite side you’re on is not wanted on any platform.

        • spirinolas@lemmy.world
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          Oh, I see. What if they call for vote in a third party, is that interference too?

          You guys are so afraid of Trump killing democracy that you’re willing to kill democracy to fight him. You are blind.

          • EzTerry@lemmy.zip
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            while not worth reporting, you have become the person in the comic, you are just assuming trump wont win and Biden is the opponent.

            • spirinolas@lemmy.world
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              I’m not even American. In my country we can actually vote for who we want. Nobody can form a government against the majority.

              Think about my words:

              WE CAN ACTUALLY VOTE FOR WHO WE WANT

              You can’t. I understand your conundrum. But your solution is to accept it and to revoke your own vote. To revoke other people’s vote who don’t want Trump or Bidden.

              Don’t you see the obvious? Being forced to vote for Bidden for fear of Trump will just perpetuate the two party system. It will also keep sending the message that as long as the Republican party is scary enough then the Democratic party only has to be slightly better. Even if another party appears that represents better the will of the people it will stay blocked from power.

              This sends the message to both Democrats and Republicans that it is in their best interest to keep things the same or, even better, worse. As long as both sides are always terrified of the other they’ll always vote for “their side” as shitty a candidate they may be. You realize lots of GOP voters also dislike Trump but they see the other side as worse and Trump, in their eyes, is the prefered evil.

              This is not about this election. Both Trump or Biden will likely die in office. This is about YOUR future. And let me tell you, either way, unless you break this cicle, it’s a grim one.

              Nobody trusts the US anymore. As an European I’ll say we NEED a strong and righteous US but we’re coming to terms we won’t have one anymore and are slowly learning we have to fight our own way in the modern world. Pax Americana is over and you have only yourselves to blame.

              But instead of being honest with yourselves you just attack what little democracy you still have left. It’s sad in a shameful way.

    • zarkanian@sh.itjust.works
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      You can’t vote “against Trump”. We’d have a better democracy if we could. I would love to have a vote of no confidence on the ballot.

      • Dkarma@lemmy.world
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        Literally all you can do is vote against Trump or for him…what the fuck are u smoking?

        Dude go back to logic 101. Anyone else you vote for is “against Trump”.

      • suction@lemmy.world
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        Of course, there’s exactly one way to vote against Trump, but something tells me you’re a rightwing troll or some other kind of dishonest player.

        • spirinolas@lemmy.world
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          Accusing everybody who doesn’t see things your way “rightwing trolls” does nothing but help rightwing trolls. When everybody seems to be one the real ones become invisible.

          • suction@lemmy.world
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            I’m not accusing everybody who sees things differently, only those people who repeat the same idiotic talking points about Biden.

            • spirinolas@lemmy.world
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              You attacked a member of the Green Party for not voting for Biden.

              You’d burn down all the third parties out of fear for Trump and then complain when the Democrat President doesn’t give a flying fuck about you.

              Say everyone votes for Biden to keep Trump out. Why would Biden care about you? Why would he care what you want in a candidate? Why would he even bother to earn your vote? You’ll vote for him as long as there’s a Trump.

              All you’re doing is making sure all candidates get worse and worse. You are saying loud and clear you’ll eat every bowl of shit and take everything up the ass as long as it’s not Trump giving it to you. You are begging to be fucked.

              • suction@lemmy.world
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                Calm down, little guy. This isn’t Russia, you can choose who to vote for regardless of party affiliation. So you “endure” Biden for the next 4 years and then you vote for Mr Beast or Dua Lipa or whoever you stylers like. It will not be the end of the world, or maybe if you’re 12 (you sure sound like it), then 4 years might seem like a lifetime to you…but if you fail to vote against Trump, your cute little party will not exist in 4 years. This time though, all hands on deck against Trump, it’s not hard to understand.

                • spirinolas@lemmy.world
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                  “Vote for Biden, or else”. Fear tactics at its best.

                  He doesn’t have to “endure” anyone. His vote is his, that’s it. Deal with it.

                  By the way, I’m 40. And the reason I tell you is because I’ve been listening for that “just this once” crap since I WAS 12.

                  20 years ago Bush Jr. was the antichrist. Now…he was not that bad. Trust me, you can have worse than Trump. A competent one. On either party. And that mindset is bringing it closer everyday, you’re just too blind to see it.

                  So be it. Every empire has to fall, I guess.

    • x0x7@lemmy.world
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      29 days ago

      “When the opponent is Biden, isn’t that exactly the right thing to do?”

      That’s what the other side is saying. You all should read Hans Herman Hoppe: The God that Failed.

      https://gvid.tv/v/QbkYpm

  • Pratai@lemmy.world
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    29 days ago

    This year, that is exactly enough for me to vote for “not his opponent.”

  • positiveWHAT@lemmy.world
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    30 days ago

    In a system where all the non-winning votes are lost in a step and not counted at the end, like the USA form of weak democracy, this becomes a valid tactic.

    It’s not only the presidential vote that’s like this, but ALL fucking votes. It’s astonishing how weak the US system is.

    • hannes3120@feddit.de
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      And still some see the US constitution as this pinnacle of democracy when it’s vastly outdated by now

      Even the founding fathers anticipated a lot of reforms and for the whole thing to become obsolete quite soon but yet here we are with people worshipping them as this infallible being and weighting their words on a scale as if it’s impossible for them to be wrong

      • retrospectology@lemmy.world
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        Eh, the founders more or less ensured that a wealthy land-owning aristocracy would be able to overrule the will of the people if need be. That’s more or less what the SCOTUS is there for, to ensure things don’t get too democratic.

        The US was an early modern democracy, but has never been a particularly good one.

      • rockerface@lemm.ee
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        The whole 2 parties thing isn’t even in the constitution tho, is it? I’m not American so I might not be as familiar with the details

        • bionicjoey@lemmy.ca
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          The voting system makes it so the system will always tend toward two parties. Parties aren’t in the constitution at all. That’s where you get occasional independent candidates

        • VinnyDaCat@lemmy.world
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          It’s not. We’ve had third parties before, and we do still occasionally have independents take seats in congress(we have 3 currently)

          They’ll never be even close to majority though, and they will never take the presidency.

        • Schadrach@lemmy.sdf.org
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          29 days ago

          No, parties and primaries (which are just parties borrowing election infrastructure to choose who they support) aren’t in the Constitution at all. But first past the post voting always trends towards two party systems as a stable equilibrium.

      • Schadrach@lemmy.sdf.org
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        29 days ago

        Even the founding fathers anticipated a lot of reforms and for the whole thing to become obsolete quite soon

        …which is why they built a mechanism into it to make alterations. But the people upset about things like the electoral college don’t have the support necessary to use that mechanism.

        • Semi-Hemi-Lemmygod@lemmy.world
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          29 days ago

          The problem is that even a Constitutional Convention gives more power to land than people. If one actually happened it would probably end with amendments forbidding divorce, abortion, and interracial marriage.

          • Schadrach@lemmy.sdf.org
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            The problem is that even a Constitutional Convention gives more power to land than people.

            Specifically in the case of a Constitutional Convention 2/3 of states have to agree to have one and 3/4 of states have to agree to any changes.

            You’d have an easier time convincing the federal government to condense a few states - we don’t really need TWO Dakotas, and Montoming seems like a good idea. Maybe also split California into a few pieces. The whole “land over people” thing is only really a problem because a couple of states blow the curve - House apportionment is done in a fashion that mathematically minimizes the average difference in people/representative between states while having a fixed number of representatives, but California blows the curve by being so utterly massive compared to any other state and there just not being enough representatives to go around. So all but a few states are pretty close in terms of people/representative, a couple are sitting at the 1 representative minimum while being tiny, and California blows the curve on the other side.

            Either increase the House size, merge some of the smallest states, split California up or all of the above - and all of those can be done without passing an amendment.

            Of course, then Texas will invoke the clause in the Joint Resolution for Annexing Texas to the United States and split itself into five states, each of which gets its own Senators and whatever number of Representatives the math would work out to.

  • rsuri@lemmy.world
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    28 days ago

    So to be honest the #1 reason I’m voting Biden by far is that he’s not Trump. But if you want another reason, how about that he finally stuck it to TurboTax and created a free federal tax filing system?

  • CoggyMcFee@lemmy.world
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    29 days ago

    I’m hearing this a lot lately too. Not from the Biden campaign, mind you. Just as a straw man in memes and comments in spaces like this.

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      All this effort into trying to convince us not to vote, or throw our vote away. Dozens of threads, and hundreds of posts every day. And this is just on Lemmy… Lemmy has less total users than some subs on that shitty site we all used to use.
      If nothing else tells you how much your vote matters this vote, then that insane effort should make it clear.

      • Semi-Hemi-Lemmygod@lemmy.world
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        If my shitposts on a barely-used social network can swing an election then we’re in even worse shape than I thought.

        • Test_Tickles@lemmynsfw.com
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          28 days ago

          One of our 2 choices for president has committed treason multiple times, been impeached twice, claims he wants to be a dictator, and has been found guilty of 34 cases of fraud related to an election cover up, and he is still going to be nominated as the candidate for the party that styles itself as the “law and order” party.
          I’m not really sure what kind of shape you think we are in.

      • Maggoty@lemmy.world
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        No he’s right. The campaign itself sells fear of Trump but stops short of calling us Trump supporters. Nancy Pelosi on the other hand accused us all of being Russian bots.

  • EatATaco@lemm.ee
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    No you aren’t. You’re being told that this is all that’s happening, but you aren’t going to look for yourself.

    • Feathercrown@lemmy.world
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      To be fair, we should not have to look. Aren’t these people spending money on a campaign?

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        If you aren’t seeing the campaign because they aren’t reaching you, you still aren’t seeing this, and just being told what to think.

        You’re basically reiterating my point, but somehow appear to be excusing being a sheep.

        • Feathercrown@lemmy.world
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          What? I never said I don’t seek the truth. I said I shouldn’t have to. #bothsides and the rhetoric in the comic are stupid.

          • EatATaco@lemm.ee
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            If you claim the campaign is saying something, but openly admit the campaign is not reaching you, then you are doing exactly what I said: not looking for yourself and just parroting what you were told the are saying.

            • Feathercrown@lemmy.world
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              The campaign is not reaching me through advertising, but I am reaching the campaign through Google.

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                Wtf are you even talking about? I’m so confused.

                This isn’t difficult. The Biden campaign is not saying what the OP is claiming they “see a lot of,” he has provided plenty of platform and has seemingly gone out of his way to me minimize mentioning trump (although I expect that the change). The claim that it’s happening a lot is just mindlessly parroting a talking points being fed to them.

                What don’t you understand about this?

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        Yes-- campaigns that involve influencing people’s opinions with covert guerrilla campaigns across social media with no accountability. Among the other shady tactics in their playbooks.

  • exanime@lemmy.world
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    28 days ago

    Add a smarmy attitude and this is an exact representation of Pierre Polievre, opposition leader in Canada and likely to become the next PM

    20+ years in politics (has never had another job outside of politics) and has only 1 bill under this name to show for (it was a bill to make voting harder)… and in over 2 years as opposition leader, he has yet to utter a single concrete idea other than “I’m not Trudeau”