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Just a reminder (lemmy.world)
submitted 7 months ago by to c/politicalmemes@lemmy.world
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cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/16451158

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[–] 7 points 7 months ago (10 children)

Clinton does nothing good, people get tired of Clinton, Bush wins.
Bush starts two wars, erodes civil liberties, renditions people to Guantanamo bay, accelerates the creation of the modern technological panopticon, crashes the economy, people get tired of Bush.
Obama wins promising change, does nothing good, further cements the precedent that wars and assassinations are done by executive fiat (this one has really backfired in the last month), life continues to get worse for everyone, people get tired of it and want change.
Trump wins, does nothing good except send people cheques during Covid. People get tired of him and elect Biden.
Biden does nothing good, and also ends the Covid assistance, and supports Israel in a genocide. Trump wins again.

I don't know how anyone can look at the last 30 years and think that having a Democrat government results in anything other than things getting worse at a slightly slower rate than under the Republicans, followed by another Republican administration where things get worse at an accelerated rate. Refusing to criticize the Democrats is basically the worst thing you could do if you actually want to get out of this death spiral.

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  • [–] -1 points 7 months ago (7 children)

    There is something worse than a see saw between Democrats and Republicans.

    2 republicans in a row. Bush Sr after Reagan laid the SCOTUS ground work for bush v gore.

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  • [–] 4 points 7 months ago (6 children)

    Yes, that's fair. The Republicans are objectively worse than the Democrats, but the general dynamic is towards worsening conditions and increasing decline regardless. The Democrats at the bare minimum don't have the guts to meaningfully oppose the Republicans or do any real reforms that would make people's lives better and therefore put them in a position where they'll win consistently against the Republicans, to say nothing of doing something like tying Trump for his crimes.

    In fact, I'm more partial to the position that the Democrats aren't an actual opposition party at all. They don't really object to anything the Republicans do. Rather, they focus their respective bases on culture war issues to ensure that people are distracted from the things that the Dems and GOP have a common interest in: more money and power for oligarchs, continuing and extending imperial domination, etc.

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  • [–] 0 points 7 months ago (2 children)

    Ok.

    But what's your solution?

    Because 3rd parties are simply not a solution. They just aren't. We aren't even remotely in a position where that's an option.

    So that leaves reforming the Democrat party by primarying bad actors or doing a big bad revolution, which no one is doing and is almost assuredly not going to happen. And if it did, you'd better hope a replacement government structure is ready to go immediately or America would end up like all the other countries that did a revolution and then things got worse because no one was prepared for what happens after the revolution.

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  • [–] 3 points 7 months ago

    Well obviously the best but also least likely answer is a revolution. That doesn't look promising, so I'll focus on smaller and more achievable things.

    First thing is not to worry about the national democrats or waste any time or energy supporting them. Go ahead and vote for them if you think it's a harm reduction measure, but don't put in any money, hope, or real effort for them - they've already abandoned you. You still have some say in state politics, so that would be a better place for your efforts. Likewise with municipal politics. In general, you should be more worried about what's going on around you rather than distant national politics that you have no effect on.

    Try to build relationships with your neighbours, and your community. Strengthen relationships with your family and extended family. If you could unionize your workplace, that's tangible power that you can wield that's a lot more significant than your vote, and it's another community that you can lean on when the going gets tough.

    Develop the kinds of skills that will be useful in a failing country: repairing things, growing food, etc. During the 90s, Russians supplemented their diets by growing vegetables at dachas. They already knew how to repair things since Soviet consumer products usually came half-broken from the factory, but would last forever if you could repair them. Most Americans have yards, so the food situation shouldn't be terrible, but the consumer goods aren't designed for repair. This doesn't discount repairing as a skill, though, it just means you're at a disadvantage compared to 90s Russians when it comes to repairing consumer products.

    Finally, remember that you're just one person in a country of 350 million. You didn't cause this, and you can't stop it. Focus on the things you can affect.

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  • [–] -1 points 7 months ago (1 child)

    I mean....do statistics not exist in whatever dimension you live in?

    Like, you can ignore all the talk and simply look at the stats to determine our nation fairs significantly better under Democratic leadership.

    When I was younger and poor as fuck I didn't get affordable healthcare from Republicans. Democrats gave that to me. It wasn't Democrats that stripped a federally protected human right from half our population. It isn't Democrats sending a federal agency to intimidate and murder American citizens in the streets.

    And yeah, if you think that all voting Dem does is makes things worse at a slower pace, I'll fucking take that over things getting worse at an accelerated pace.

    And I don't refuse to criticize Democrats. I vote to primary the shitstain ones, which is what everyone should be doing instead of not voting or voting for a non-viable 3rd party.

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  • [–] 3 points 7 months ago

    I didn't say that the Republicans weren't worse than the Democrats, they measurably are, as your statistics show. A two foot hole in a sinking ship is worse than a one foot hole in a sinking ship. If the repair team comes along and mostly patches the hole so that the water comes in slower, then the next repair team comes along and rips the patch off, it's still a sinking ship.

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