I still wondered why, I’ve read the story over and over again.

  • FIash Mob #5678@beehaw.org
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    1 year ago

    Seems to me that it’s 99% of American voters who are useful idiots.

    The minimum wage hasn’t increased in 15 years and you all are still voting Democrat or Republican and actively support a trillion and half of your taxpayer dollars going overseas to war. Idiotic is a very good word to describe people who convince themselves it’s a good thing to vote against their own interests every two years.

    • beefcat@beehaw.org
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      1 year ago

      Many democrats have run on platforms that include raising the minimum wage. Many blue states have much higher minimum wages than the federal minimum, with California going up to $16 in January. It’s not democrats fault when voters refuse to give them control over both congress and the white house at the same time.

      • FIash Mob #5678@beehaw.org
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        1 year ago

        It’s not democrats fault when voters refuse to give them control over both congress and the white house at the same time.

        They just had control of the white house and Congress.

        What did we get for it? Another half trillion in war spending.

        • glacier@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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          1 year ago

          Democrats have a slim majority in the senate, which is not enough to get whatever they want done without compromising, especially considering that two senators are not as left wing as the rest of the party.

          As far as war and military spending goes, I agree that the party could do better.

            • glacier@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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              1 year ago

              That’s not really how it works. It would only make them look stupid if they did that, and increase the risk of being voted out in the next election. Because of the filibuster, legislation generally needs 60 votes in the Senate before it goes to the president. Democrats have 51 seats, with two frequent defectors. Imagine if Biden’s record going into 2024 is that he vetoed every single piece of legislation.

              • FIash Mob #5678@beehaw.org
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                1 year ago

                That’s not really how it works.

                You’re right.

                It’s infinitely better that they simply pretend to be powerless rather than using the power we gave them to create meaningful change. It’s too bad people can’t eat excuses.

    • samwise@beehaw.org
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      1 year ago

      The problem isn’t voting. The problem is the candidates that run, and the massive lobbying and dark money industry that keeps people in power that benefit only moneyed interests. I sure as fuck had no desire to vote for Hillary or Biden, but the only option was to abstain or vote for a third-party candidate (who absolutely would not win) which would allow Trump to win. We’re not able to truly vote for a candidate we want, we just have to vote against someone who’s worse.

      Even when we truly try to get someone in place who wants to make a difference and could do, we can’t. In 2020, Bernie was going to win the Dem nomination. But the DNC changed the fucking rules and all the other candidates dropped out and supported Biden, and even if Bernie had made it to the convention, the “super delegates” could just decide to choose someone else. They literally will not allow us to choose the person we want. And Republicans are such hatemongers, that they’re going to choose literally the worst person on the fucking planet as their candidate.

      As much as we’d love for everyone to just decide to vote for third-party candidates, it simply is not going to happen. We are in an absolutely fucked situation where we can’t make things any better, have no control over what’s happening, and can only vote against someone worse. Further, many, many local voting precincts are heavily gerrymandered, making a fair vote nearly impossible.

      actively support a trillion and half of your taxpayer dollars going overseas to war

      I, and many, many others do not support this and actively oppose it

      The minimum wage hasn’t increased in 15 years

      The problem with this issue and nearly all others is lobbying and campaign finance issues. If we could ban lobbying, ban political donations, and force all candidates to use only public funds for campaigning, we could make a massive difference. But you know who decides if that will happen? The exact people who do not want the rules to change.

      Also, if your post was, in any way, a defense of Stein, if I were going to vote a third party I’d rather choose a candidate who didn’t have dinner with a fucking room full of Russian oligarchs

    • jarfil@beehaw.org
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      1 year ago

      They’re still choosing between the “no Dictator” vs. “no King” parties, after centuries of the country already being a Democratic Republic.

      Any day now, they’ll start voting for “I like Money” vs. “Plants crave electrolytes”… 🙄

      • mateomaui@reddthat.com
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        1 year ago

        You left out “no one who voluntarily sat at a table of Russian oligarchs” and “no conspiracy nuts.”

    • sqgl@beehaw.org
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      1 year ago

      The two party system is a direct consequence of the antiquated boring system US (and UK and CA) have. While it remains, voting for a minor party is a wasted vote.

      Need ranked preference voting to make minor parties feasible like AU, or better yet go to an even fairer system of mixed member proportional like NZ and DE.

      http://fairvote.org

      • FIash Mob #5678@beehaw.org
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        1 year ago

        While it remains, voting for a minor party is a wasted vote.

        If you’re a wage earner, need an education, health care, an abortion, or working infrastructure… your vote’s wasted almost everywhere in this country.

        That’s the two party system.

          • FIash Mob #5678@beehaw.org
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            1 year ago

            No it isn’t.

            All of these issues will remain the same no matter who you vote for.

            The Democrats have had the White House and Congress twice in the last sixteen years, and even had a supermajority for part of Obama’s presidency.

            All we (and by ‘we’ I mean the poor and middle class) got for it was more expensive health care and higher war spending. We didn’t get a minimum wage increase. Health care and education are now cost-prohibitive for tens of millions, and infrastructure in most areas of the country is declining. For an added kick in the junk, Roe was repealed when Democrats had the majority and the White House and they did nothing about it.

            • GiveMemes@jlai.lu
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              1 year ago

              Tell me you don’t pay attention to or understand American politics without telling me…

              The supermajority is the only time the democrats reasonably could have pushed anything through while the Republican party’s only goal is to obstruct any and all progress. Any yes, during that time there was lots of infighting. We also guaranteed health insurance for the first time and passed the ACA.

              Want change? Go make it instead of yelling at a bunch of people that also want change on a semi-popular forum.