• @laverabe
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    10 months ago

    ¯_ (ツ)_/¯ . I consider myself dem soc, I just see the necessity of pragmatism right now; when the alternative is a presidential candidate who reads Mein Kampf as an instruction manual.

    • FlashMobOfOne
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      210 months ago

      That’s the thing.

      I voted Biden in full knowledge very little would change because I thought we needed a cultural win against the rise of fascism here in the US.

      Unfortunately, mostly through inaction, he’s aided its rise considerably. Most Americans are working multiple jobs to survive now, and housing is growing more scarce and expensive, and their grocery bills are still doubled or tripled. Trump is not going to have to lie about how bad the Biden presidency has been for the poor and middle class, and voters aren’t going to give a shit if someone’s a Nazi if they are the candidate of change.

      Then, there’s social issues, like guns, or being unwilling to challenge Israeli genocide, or abortion, or police militancy, that are inextricably linked to fascism, and he’s done nothing to move the needle forward in a positive way. In fact, when Roe repeal was leaked, the Democrats used it to raise funds and nothing else, even though they had the presidency and Congress.

      Long story short, I don’t know that I consider Biden a pragmatic alternative at this point. While he’s been laser-focused on sending more of our money to the war budget and keeping his embarrassing offspring out of prison, workers have suffered.

      The biggest plus here is that Biden’s neglect of workers here in the US has gotten so bad its forced unions to become stronger.

      • Digitalprimate
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        410 months ago

        Long story short, I don’t know that I consider Biden a pragmatic alternative at this point.

        I get you, and you’re not wrong with the rest of what you wrote. The R’s have had a coherent game plan since Nixon and executed on it well enough (and had enough lucky accidents) to engineer exactly this kind of election.

        The choice is whether or not the US continues as a representative democracy. This time it’s no hyperbole; it’s a truly binary decision for the future. And I’m afraid unless the D’s grow a real backbone, every election for the foreseeable future is going to be a response to an existential threat.

        But the R’s cannot win. On this we can all agree.

        • FlashMobOfOne
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          10 months ago

          But the R’s cannot win. On this we can all agree.

          I’m already planning on their win. The historical trends point that way. Of course they won’t call themselves fascist. Their political PR people will come up with a better name, but they’re going to win, whether it’s Desantis or Trump.

          And people are going to blame us DemSocs for it and not themselves.

          The time to stop this was when Obama had a supermajority, and all he did with it was make health care even more expensive.

          • Digitalprimate
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            210 months ago

            Totally agree about Obama’s well intentioned but ultimately disastrous attempt to reach across the aisle. He had two miraculous years to change it all, and blew it on trying to reconcile two utterly incompatible views of what America should be. Noble, but in the end foolish.

            If you are right, it won’t really matter who takes the blame. Part of me thinks you are right, but the better part of me is still fighting.