Ancestors

Toot

Written by smitten on 2025-01-21 at 01:30

The other side of Bernie or bust was 'we can pull Biden left'. This idea that it's ok to bide our time because eventually we can get things lined up better. I think there is some truth to it, I mean he freed Leonard Peltier, somebody must have gotten through to him. and who knows how much of the beneficial changes to labor policy came from activism from the left.

On some of the most important issues though, we couldn't pull him (or Congress, in more ways) left. we didn't get minimum wage increased, no major healthcare changes, COVID was memory holed instead of being solved. I think that line between hope and disengagement is valid, and we don't do ourselves any good to act like it isn't. If people no longer believe they can pull you left, they will not vote for you. At some point, the marginal benefits aren't enough for them. Gaza was that catalyst for a lot of people, they felt like they couldn't abide that, and they didn't have hope that their vote would encourage Biden to listen. If that's the sense that you're fostering in your base, you will lose. As a politician, you have to impress your voters somehow. You just have to.

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Descendants

Written by benda on 2025-01-21 at 04:17

@smitten i think gaza was the straw that broke the camel's back, but the thing was that there were so many examples. i don't know if i've ever seen a president that wanted to lose so bad.

minimum wage

the original infrastructure bill

endorsing cuellar's 2022 run

john lewis voting rights

george floyd fairness in policing

strike breaking the rail workers

gaza

any and all good things "pulling them left" always comes from activism. and there were some. ftc and nlrb, justice jackson. but its like bread crumbs while the business class feasts.

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Written by The Great Llama :fuck_verify: on 2025-01-21 at 05:12

@benda @smitten

There was never going to be any chance of pulling Joe left on Israel. He's a believer in Zionism and always has been. Same with police reform: he fundamentally BELIEVES in cops (and Harris was literally known at one point as the TOP COP of California). With sympathetic people around him we MIGHT have pulled him back as far as the center, but the Dem leadership all seem to be on the same page.

I'm sorry to sound so pessimistic at this point, but don't count on the Dems to get us out of this mess - it looks to me like they're going to spend the next four years trying (and failing) to find their asses with both hands.

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Written by Mungen Cakes ✅ on 2025-01-21 at 05:14

@TheGreatLlama @benda @smitten Liz Cheney, DNC chair.

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Written by smitten on 2025-01-21 at 05:22

@Mungencakes@kolektiva.social @TheGreatLlama@kolektiva.social @benda@kolektiva.social it just might work

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Written by benda on 2025-01-21 at 05:23

@smitten @TheGreatLlama @Mungencakes i mean its literally whats happening. today's democractic party has effectively become w's republican party of yesterday. thats why the only thing they have left to campaign on is "but the other side is worse!"

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Written by The Great Llama :fuck_verify: on 2025-01-21 at 06:14

@benda @smitten @Mungencakes

The GOP had a bit of an identity crisis back in 2012 after running their bland, mayo-on-white, mirror world equivalent to Joe. Afterward, they took a step back and reinvented themselves (as the worst thing imaginable).

The Dems had a similar opportunity in 2016 to reinvent themselves in opposition to the New Improved GOP (now with even more fascism!). They ignored any sign that their politics might be flawed and instead assumed the problem was that America was just sexist and went back to the old-white-man well.

Well, the sheer desperation of the voters bought them one term to get their shit together. Unfortunately, the party that didn't learn shit from losing, sure wasn't going to learn anything from winning.

And now, here we all are, hostages of a psychotic confederation of religious suicide cultists (mindlessly trying to make shit biblical enough to bring Jesus back), fantasy addled tech bros (hoping to somehow duplicate the aesthetic of their favorite sci-fi that they clearly misunderstood) and blackpilled psychopaths who genuinely want to see the world burn at least partially because no one will fuck them.

Yet, in spite of all that, I have a modicum of hope. I don't know yet how to make it happen, but I think the rest of us will have the opportunity as long as we don't lose hope.

I guess down deep, maybe I'm an optimist. 🤷‍♂️

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Written by benda on 2025-01-21 at 15:09

@TheGreatLlama @smitten @Mungencakes hope is radical. not easy, but not the wrong thing to have.

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Written by benda on 2025-01-21 at 05:22

@TheGreatLlama @smitten no aplogies needed. im right there with you.

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Written by Weyoun 6 on 2025-01-21 at 05:29

@smitten historically, no, you don't have to. The far right hated Reagan for amnesty for "illegal immigrants" and the appointing of a pro choice justice. But they understood the path to power on the issues that they cared about. And thus the white supremacists / Christian nationalists voted for their "lesser of 2 evils" until they had the power to enact their agenda of overturning Roe v Wade, eliminating federal recognition of trans people, ending birthright citizenship (which took them over 150 years, though rapid progress in the past 40), etc.

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