• @Cryophilia
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    11 year ago

    Why does it seem like you guys have never heard of primaries? Or democratic party elections?

    I stood in line to vote for my local reps who go to the national Dem party who decide what the party platform is and what to spend money on and who to support. Did you even know that was a thing?

    • How does that relate to the US democrats mostly having conservative/right wing positions? Also how do the primaries help you, when the US elections are significantly influenced by who can muster the most money in return for representing the interests of their money givers? Your constitutional court even argued, that bribing politicans is a form of protected speech.

      • @Cryophilia
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        01 year ago

        Ah I see, you’re not American so you literally don’t know.

        General elections for us are binary. We vote for Democrats or Republicans or we throw away our vote. There’s no 3rd party.

        Primary elections are where we determine the candidates that will be put forward for each party. This goes for President but also every other executive branch office, at the federal and state levels.

        Internal party elections are where we decide the party reps who decide funding, advertisement, official party endorsements, etc.

        Bernie lost the primary election because his core supporters have no idea any of these other races exist. They show up, barely, every 4 years to vote for president.

        More centrist progressives like me show up every single election. We are constantly pushing our agenda up the chain.

        Flighty Leftist voters don’t stand a chance until they consistently show up to push their agenda.

        • i know what the primaries are. The system to remove political options from the general elections and push them into party internal factually excludes people from political participation and making their voice heard. You know, the working class people that cannot get leave from work to participate on these elections.

          Also the difference between a two party system and a one party regime is one party. So US democracy is rather fragile by design. That is why people need to take the struggle to the factories and streets. The system and also the democratic party in itself is structurally rigged against them.

          • @Cryophilia
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            01 year ago

            The idea of some glorious revolution that will fix all the problems in our democracy is the equivalent of Christians believing that Sky Daddy will send them to heaven.

              • @Cryophilia
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                01 year ago

                The parts of us that consistently vote Democrat are nomal, rational places to live. Funny how that works.

                • your normality is not our normality. Of course it is possible that all the European countries are crqzy communists and have a skewed view on the world, but i find it more probable that the US is out of order. For instance having protected leave when expecting a baby is guaranteed by all but two countries in the world. One of them is the US and the other is some island state in south asia iirc. That is something i’d expect a centrist government to solve imnediately. Obama himself made the ACA so that still most people need to get private insurance argueing that its 3 million jobs in that system. Even Maggi Thatcher did not dare to fuck public health insurance in Britain.

                  Of course your reference frame is the US, but i can only emphasize how eye opening a look into Europe might be, to see how far right the entire political system of the US really is.

                  • @Cryophilia
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                    01 year ago

                    the US

                    …is a conglomerate of 50 different countries.

                    Parental leave is a right in my state. Health care is nearly universal. Vote by mail is universal. My state guarantees sick leave and paid time off to vote, care for a sick family member, or other circumstances. My state has sane labor laws, rent control, anti-corruption measures, and progressive taxation.

                    You clearly have no idea what the US is like, so kindly stop talking about something you have no knowledge of.