cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/15286301
“A group of Republican lawmakers introduced a bill on Wednesday which would send “any person convicted of unlawful activity” at a college or university, to do community service in Gaza for six months.”
“Strangely, the bill appears to refer to any “unlawful activity on the campus of an institution of higher education beginning on and after October 7, 2023” but does not specifically mention the ongoing student protests, rendering it stupidly broad.”
"Ogles spoke with Fox News about the bill, saying that, “If you support a terrorist organization, and you participate in unlawful activity on campuses, you should get a taste of your own medicine. I am going to bet that these pro-Hamas supporters wouldn’t last a day, but let’s give them the opportunity.”
I don’t know, man. I used to vote nothing but third party, yet here we are. So I kinda feel like the third party voters are the ones who keep doing the same thing and expecting different outcomes. Ross Perot was a character, though. But of course he still lost anyway and my vote did fuck all. Until Fascism is back out of fashion, I’m going to vote straight ticket dem. Eliminate the existential threat and then we can worry about the little stuff.
I can relate. I voted for Nader when Bush stole the election in 2000. I spent that entire term wondering how much better Gore would’ve handled 9/11 response and retaliation. It was the last time I let my vote go uncounted.
Being registered as Independent or Green Party is practically disenfranchisement. Now I periodically change my registration from Democrat to Republican, depending on which primaries I’m more interested in participating in.
Genocide, Climate catastrophe, Internment Camps at the Border, Police and state racism… All the little stuff.
Instead of holding the Dems accountable and offering them to win you back by actually adressing issues, you give them a free pass not to adress any issue you care about. They care about losing power. They don’t care about what you want. Threatening to take away their power is the only thing that makes them listen to you.
None of that shit matters if we go the route of the Nazis. Because we will do so much worse.
Putting Trump in charge doesn’t hold Democrats accountable. It would move them further to the right, which is the exact opposite of you want. They don’t care about disinterested non-voters, they only care about courting those that do show up to vote.
Change needs to come from within. Organize within the DNC. Primary their candidates. That’s how you get people like AOC elected. Once the primaries are over, there’s no shot at moving them further left.
There is still 5 months until the election. 5 months in which the current DNC leaders can be pressured to change course.
Don’t buy their bullshit that you have no power over them. I fully agree with you to organize though. Make your voices heard with them, but tell them fair and square that there is no vote for genocide supporters.
There’s no incentive for them to change course now. That ship has sailed. They know the alternative is Trump and that’s objectively worse.
During primaries, you have power. There they can be voted out without Trump’s spectre looming over the election.
If people say: “Stop the genocide, or we will not vote you” there is plenty of incentive to change course now. But people arguing the opposite, claiming it is pointless and that the people have no power are diminishing the power of the people. This is why the DNC is pushing this narrative so heavily. They want you to be demotivated and feeling powerless. It is the same strategy like with the oil companies and climate change.
In a 2 party FPTP system, the people don’t have that power. That’s the point. The DNC can just shrug it off and say “okay, then Trump wins, and that’s even worse”. The DNC can survive a Trump term. Gaza may not.
As a gay man, let me make it clear: letting non-Democrats get into power does not do anything to hurt the politicians and does everything to empower those who would have me and people like me in the LGBTQ+ community dead. A vote that puts Trump in power - whether directly or indirectly - is a vote for the continued genocide of American minorities.
Are the Democrats not politicians then? Are they not seeking power then? Also what makes you believe that now they support a genocide against brown people and in four years they wouldn’t support killing LGBT+ ?