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Americans are waking up. A grand reckoning awaits us (www.theguardian.com)
submitted 10 months ago by to c/politics@lemmy.world
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The US had to come to this point. We couldn’t go on as we were, even under Democratic presidents. For 40 years, a narrow economic elite has been siphoning off ever more wealth and power.

Over the last 40 years, starting with Ronald Reagan, the US went off the rails: deregulation, privatization, free trade, wild gambling by Wall Street, union-busting, monopolization, record levels of inequality, stagnant wages for most, staggering wealth for a few, big money taking over our politics.

America’s so-called “leadership class” is a sham. Most of them do not care a whit for the rest of the US. They are out for themselves.

The “fucking nightmare” is not over by any stretch. It’s likely to get worse in 2026 as Trump and his sycophants, and many of America’s “leaders”, realize 2026 may be their last unrestrained year to inflict damage and siphon off the spoils.

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[–] 11 points 10 months ago (3 children)

Wishful thinking. Polls still show 30 to 40 percent support Trump and his awful policies. Those people actuallyvote R no matter what. Another thirty percent can’t be bothered to get off their asses to go to the polls. Nothing will change until the “I can’t be bothered” crowd is swayed to actually vote for their interests.

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  • [–] 1 point 10 months ago (2 children)

    Nothing will change until we start asking why people don't bother to vote, instead of fruitlessly balling our fists, shitting our diapers, and whining that it's not fair that so many people choose not to vote.

    You can moan all you want about non voters, but brow beating people will only drive them away from your side faster. The truth is non voters don't vote for real reasons, primarily because they don't think either side represents them. You can whine and moan that people need to think more strategically, but no amount of crying will change the fact that a good chunk of the electorate simply doesn't share your values and approach to voting. Some people vote strategically, some only when they feel they can truly support a candidate. Screaming at people, "you simply have to approach voting the way I do!!!" won't convince anyone.

    People have different values and priors, and they do not owe you their votes. In a democracy, saying "I can't stand either of these monsters. I don't care what happens, I'm not participating, a pox on both your houses!" is a perfectly valid choice. A core principle of democracy is that we're allowed to believe different things, and brow beating people will not get them to support you.

    Don't blame non voters. It's intellectually lazy and a cop out meant to prevent Democrats from making the hard changes necessary to actually appeal to this population of non voters. Trump managed to mobilize millions of non voters. He didn't do so by whining at them and telling them to vote strategy. He did it by inspiring them and convincing them he was looking out for them. It was all lies, but it worked. If you want to mobilize non voters, you need to find ways and policies that actually appeal to them. Simply complaining about non voters will not work, just as it hasn't worked for the last 40 years.

    And while I'm sure you're already typing a comment telling me it's my fault Trump got elected because I didn't vote, you're wrong. I did hold my nose and fruitlessly vote for the Cheney lover, for all the good that did. I just have enough humility to realize that those who don't vote have very good reasons for doing so.

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  • [–] 2 points 10 months ago

    I completely agree and just wanted to add a bit of my personal experience talking to coworkers that don't vote. The system is broken, as we all know. If you live in a state that has voted one way for decades at every level of government, then you have an even bigger uphill battle. Is it possible to turn a red or blue state purple or even to the other side? Sure, but you're gonna need to convince people who think their single vote won't change anything to go out on top of getting them to be motivated to support a chosen candidate.

    Pretty much everyone I know that doesn't vote (and I mean actually doesn't and not just "oh they support third parties so they don't count") has said some variation of "my vote doesn't matter cause the state goes to X party every time anyways". While someone in a blue state could make the argument that Dems need as many people as possible cause even some of their guaranteed states are starting to turn purple, what do you say to someone in a deep red state? One where the Dems are always tens of thousands of votes behind? How do you convince someone to still vote when winner takes all is still a thing?

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