I think there is a bit of a misunderstanding here. From an European perspective you do basically only have one party. It ranges from quite a bit to the right to the right extreme. You don’t get to choose through elections - the two wings of the party decide whom you get to choose from. That’s not to dissimilar to the system in obvious dictatorships like Iran, where the candiates are pre-selected by the powers that be.
Obviously voting for the quite a bit to the right neoliberals is less bad than voting for the extreme right fascists. That goes without saying. But don’t pretend like there is a real choice here.
From a perspective ignorant to the competing factions within our parties and their influence, I understand. However, I’m not going to pretend it’s an accurate or useful perspective.
I had a similar discussion with a Chinese person criticising their ruling party.
From a perspective ignorant to the competing factions within our parties and their influence, I understand.
This is almost exactly the same thing they said.
I’m not trying to put down the USA. I’m trying to make people aware that improvement is needed and that their democracy isn’t as democratic as it should be, or as they might think it to be.
That’s the beautiful part. I don’t blame CCP members doing their best to make things better in a shitty system. We must all do what we can to improve things for everyone with the hand we’re dealt. That’s all we can ever do and all we can ask of each other.
There are things worse about the American system than China’s, but the ability to criticize our government means there’s more we can do to organize ourselves and undermine the popularity of plutocrats. Our system sucks, but I can’t stand people who take that as a reason to sit at home doing nothing.
Before I went further and further left, I’d agree that both sides are different, since I could easily see where they were different.
The further left I got, the more similar they looked, since the left wing and right wing of the tiny american overton window is not far apart at all, to the point you could possibly call them different wings of the same party.
Sure, that comparison has fallen apart with American fascism entering the mainstream, and for people wedged by the anti-lgbt republicans the differences are very obvious and simple. Even for a radical leftist like myself, there is an obvious better party, but I feel like my hand is forced. I’m voting for a party that doesn’t support my views (other than some social issues) solely because the alternative is fascism, and that’s a shitty feeling.
Unfortunately, people who have no representation within the US politics, notably leftists, see that both parties have the same views on most issues they truly care about. For example, someone who wants the repeal of the patriot act will notice that both parties support it (even though there are some democrats dissenting). Someone who wants real climate protections will be disappointed to notice that the changes supported by the democrats is not going to do much, if anything at all. Granted, they don’t support the rolling back of protections. God forbid you are a socialist and see the most socialist person in congress is Sanders. Even worse if you are an anarchist and see that everyone (or at least everyone I know of) is pro big-government (especially the so called libertarians). I could go on with police reform/abolition, indigenous rights, prison reform/abolition, healthcare, military policy, Palestine, and others.
In terms of outcomes they demonstrably have no difference lmao. Making fun of enlightened centrists is no longer a thing. Both the DNC and the RNC serve the same master, and it isn’t the voting population. Decades of picking the lesser of two evils have led us to this point.
One guy literally said he wanted to be a dictator. One guy literally told a bunch of folks to storm the capital. One guy for four years continued to bring his friends into government, rolled back popular laws, wasted billions on a non-existent wall. And continues to spiral.
Just a reminder that one side wants to end school lunches for children starving. One side tried to end DACA. One side overturned R.v.Wade. but please, keep telling us how they are “both the same”
How do you ever expect to get out of having a lesser or more evil option if people keep supporting the right wing Democratic party. At some point things have to change, and voting blue no matter who won’t achieve that.
Sure. First get us a majority in both houses, then we can talk about meaningful policy change. Until then it’s just virtue signaling. People keep expecting miracles to happen when they won’t even do the bare minimum to show up to polls and local elections. It’s so stupid.
I wonder if people don’t feel represented because incremental change is not sexy or exciting. Policy takes time, the Revolution is more interesting to talk about. I don’t know. It seems people have weird conceptions about how politics works.
If Dems don’t carry a majority in both houses no meaningful change will happen. As long as no one shows up to the polls and local elections it’s pointless to sit here and jerk each other off about how bad the Dems are. Unless of course you want to be an accelerationist, then keep dreaming about the big revolution while kids go to school without lunch vouchers and DACA citizens losw their residency status.
I really despise this kind of both sidesism. Because the sides are demonstrably different.
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I think there is a bit of a misunderstanding here. From an European perspective you do basically only have one party. It ranges from quite a bit to the right to the right extreme. You don’t get to choose through elections - the two wings of the party decide whom you get to choose from. That’s not to dissimilar to the system in obvious dictatorships like Iran, where the candiates are pre-selected by the powers that be.
Obviously voting for the quite a bit to the right neoliberals is less bad than voting for the extreme right fascists. That goes without saying. But don’t pretend like there is a real choice here.
From a perspective ignorant to the competing factions within our parties and their influence, I understand. However, I’m not going to pretend it’s an accurate or useful perspective.
I had a similar discussion with a Chinese person criticising their ruling party.
This is almost exactly the same thing they said.
I’m not trying to put down the USA. I’m trying to make people aware that improvement is needed and that their democracy isn’t as democratic as it should be, or as they might think it to be.
That’s the beautiful part. I don’t blame CCP members doing their best to make things better in a shitty system. We must all do what we can to improve things for everyone with the hand we’re dealt. That’s all we can ever do and all we can ask of each other.
There are things worse about the American system than China’s, but the ability to criticize our government means there’s more we can do to organize ourselves and undermine the popularity of plutocrats. Our system sucks, but I can’t stand people who take that as a reason to sit at home doing nothing.
Before I went further and further left, I’d agree that both sides are different, since I could easily see where they were different.
The further left I got, the more similar they looked, since the left wing and right wing of the tiny american overton window is not far apart at all, to the point you could possibly call them different wings of the same party.
Sure, that comparison has fallen apart with American fascism entering the mainstream, and for people wedged by the anti-lgbt republicans the differences are very obvious and simple. Even for a radical leftist like myself, there is an obvious better party, but I feel like my hand is forced. I’m voting for a party that doesn’t support my views (other than some social issues) solely because the alternative is fascism, and that’s a shitty feeling.
Unfortunately, people who have no representation within the US politics, notably leftists, see that both parties have the same views on most issues they truly care about. For example, someone who wants the repeal of the patriot act will notice that both parties support it (even though there are some democrats dissenting). Someone who wants real climate protections will be disappointed to notice that the changes supported by the democrats is not going to do much, if anything at all. Granted, they don’t support the rolling back of protections. God forbid you are a socialist and see the most socialist person in congress is Sanders. Even worse if you are an anarchist and see that everyone (or at least everyone I know of) is pro big-government (especially the so called libertarians). I could go on with police reform/abolition, indigenous rights, prison reform/abolition, healthcare, military policy, Palestine, and others.
In terms of outcomes they demonstrably have no difference lmao. Making fun of enlightened centrists is no longer a thing. Both the DNC and the RNC serve the same master, and it isn’t the voting population. Decades of picking the lesser of two evils have led us to this point.
Terrible take. Just because the system sucks doesn’t mean there’s no nuance between the two.
This attitude has spurred apathy and allowed Republicans to stifle progress.
One guy literally said he wanted to be a dictator. One guy literally told a bunch of folks to storm the capital. One guy for four years continued to bring his friends into government, rolled back popular laws, wasted billions on a non-existent wall. And continues to spiral.
Trump is garbage, but please quit making things up. He doesn’t need the help looking like garbage, he does it fine on his own. From the speech found here: https://www.npr.org/2021/02/10/966396848/read-trumps-jan-6-speech-a-key-part-of-impeachment-trial
Definitely not telling people to storm the capitol.
Just a reminder that one side wants to end school lunches for children starving. One side tried to end DACA. One side overturned R.v.Wade. but please, keep telling us how they are “both the same”
How do you ever expect to get out of having a lesser or more evil option if people keep supporting the right wing Democratic party. At some point things have to change, and voting blue no matter who won’t achieve that.
Sure. First get us a majority in both houses, then we can talk about meaningful policy change. Until then it’s just virtue signaling. People keep expecting miracles to happen when they won’t even do the bare minimum to show up to polls and local elections. It’s so stupid.
People don’t vote when they don’t feel represented. Kind of weird to vote first and hope for policy after.
I wonder if people don’t feel represented because incremental change is not sexy or exciting. Policy takes time, the Revolution is more interesting to talk about. I don’t know. It seems people have weird conceptions about how politics works.
Democrats consistently support ranked choice voting, Republicans consistently ban & overturn RCV. If you want rights, vote for Dems. It really is that simple
What a spectacularly stupid take.
Both sides being bad isn’t both sides being the same, and I’ve got to wonder what your media diet is if you think this - you a big Tim Pool fan?
If Dems don’t carry a majority in both houses no meaningful change will happen. As long as no one shows up to the polls and local elections it’s pointless to sit here and jerk each other off about how bad the Dems are. Unless of course you want to be an accelerationist, then keep dreaming about the big revolution while kids go to school without lunch vouchers and DACA citizens losw their residency status.