• madcaesar@lemmy.world
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    7 months ago

    I don’t like memes like this because they are easily dismissed, since the left absolutely has problems, and it’s not just “we want healthcare”

    However, the truth is, for all the faults the left has, they pale in comparison to the right wing batshittery.

      • go_go_gadget@lemmy.world
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        7 months ago

        Unfortunately it doesn’t take much of a leap to translate that into “Prop up this system which was shaped by boomers for decades just long enough for the boomers to enjoy their retirements.”

        No thanks. I’d rather the boomers are still alive to see what happens.

    • pressanykeynow@lemmy.world
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      7 months ago

      As an outsider I see another problem with most of the US political discussions here. You all say that the republicans are obviously worse, make memes about them to your dudes to laugh at them. Yet half of your country active voters are likely to vote for them, would probably be more if they weren’t inherently apolitical.

      This whole American political discourse seems more fit for /r/im14andimsmart because it’s mostly shitting on your opponents despite the fact that after 12 of the 16 years(the whole generation) of the democrat presidents more people want to vote for the other party.

      I find it weird how you guys just laugh and meme at that like it’s non issue or just act as those people(hundreds of millions) are just stupid.

      • Krauerking@lemy.lol
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        7 months ago

        Everyone has picked their side and won’t hear a damned thing wrong about them since that would make them also wrong and every American is 100% right about things they feel, cause that is what our media makes us feel. And also is inherently needed for a class of wealthy elites to pretend they know or care at all for any other group of people when taking power over them.

        It’s somewhat wrong to say “more” people want one side or the other since we still actually make it quite hard to vote and the rules on victory is convoluted in allowing unpopular (not majority of votes) victory in a political race.

        Granted again there is lots of nuance in all of this and Republicans more sell a vibe than thought out ideas, that is usually based on a feeling of superiority that is not earned.

        It’s the end of an empire. We haven’t been tending to the stalk and the central pillar of what makes us strong so it’s coming down and things are just gonna be bad as people on all sides argue they know how to fly.

      • RunawayFixer@lemmy.world
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        7 months ago

        That they managed to convince so many people to completely vote against their own interests is a testament to the power of propaganda. And you don’t have to be spiteful, stupid and/or uneducated to fall for propaganda, it helps a lot obviously, but there are still many progressive and/or smart people who fall for it as well.

        The combination of spreading “alternate” facts through complicit mass media AND indifferent addictive social media is something that Goebbels could have only dreamt about.

        To understand how people can become so misguided, I recommend reading or watching a few testimonies of people who lost a loved one to alternate fact rabbit holes. It’s similar to losing a loved one to a cult, only now it’s much more widespread than ever before. I did a quick search and found a testimony from an Irishman that is a good read: https://old.reddit.com/r/ireland/comments/171w3kb/my_dad_is_falling_down_a_farright_rabbit_hole/

        And for people who did not fall for “alternate” facts propaganda, to put all this history and background into words is not easy, so it’s easier and especially quicker to call people who have joined the far right cult, stupid and hateful. The cultists are stupid because they have fallen for the lies, and they are spiteful/hateful because hate is a large part of the far right cult. The far right cultists might not always have been stupid and hateful, but they sure are now.

    • rambling_lunatic@sh.itjust.works
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      7 months ago

      Moonbats who promised something to an altar of Joe Stalin are a minority of leftists, including radical leftists such as most people here.

      The right-wing nutcases are the hegemon. Those who aren’t themselves that extreme at the very least enable them, if not passively want the same things.

    • Maggoty@lemmy.world
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      7 months ago

      The comparison is such bad faith I wonder if a conservative threw it out there.

  • Turious@leaf.dance
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    7 months ago

    Do Simpsons screenshots automatically get that font when you try to put the text on, or is it something that just everyone has decided to do across the board?

    • fukurthumz420@lemmy.world
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      7 months ago

      a viable left party will emerge when the republicans are long gone from politics, just the way the whigs went the way of the do do bird. i don’t know why people can;t see this. it’s a duopoly. everybody knows this. how can a viable third party exist in that format? yes, ranked choice voting would be ideal, but what if it never happens? vote blue no matter who until the choice becomes vote radical left no matter who. this is how you achieve change without resorting to violence.

      • Cowbee [he/him]@lemmy.ml
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        7 months ago

        That isn’t true, actually.

        Within the US’ system of Liberal Democracy, the only parties that can afford campaigns are ones that can secure funding from the people and corporations with the most money.

        Therefore, whichever party replaces the Republicans will be another right wing party.

        Change comes from outside pressure.

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      7 months ago

      You do not think that democrats are not left? Or that they are not viable?

      • TransplantedSconie@lemm.ee
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        7 months ago

        The democrats in the US are the republicans of the 80s policy wise because the Overton Window has shifted way right due to 20 years of war and nationalism in our sports and media.

        We have maybe a handful of soft left dems.

        The republicans are now a full-on fascist cult with members of the old guard ditching the scene because of the craziness. The world better hope sane Americans keep his ass out of the White House, because if fascists get full control over the U.S Military and the weapons they now have, you’ll see death on a scale that will make WWII seem like a minor hiccup.

        • protist@mander.xyz
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          7 months ago

          As someone who has been following politics since the 90s, do you really believe the Democratic party of today is to the right of the Democratic party of 1996? I just completely disagree with that. The Democratic party today has way more progressive voices than it did back then, and the average politics of the party has obviously moved left over that time.

          Your complaint is that it’s not as far left as you want it to be, which is a completely different conversation.

          And comparing today’s Democratic party to the Republican party of the 80s demonstrates a fundamental unawareness of history.

          • WamGams@lemmy.ca
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            7 months ago

            Democrats in 1996 believed black children were super soldiers incapable of feeling pain.

            Anybody who says the Democrats have shifted rightward has one legitimate excuse for thinking so: they are 12.

      • ricecake@sh.itjust.works
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        7 months ago

        So, in most political parlance, there’s “to the left of” and “Left”. “Left” generally refers to some general socialist, pro worker, anti established capital party where the exact specifics vary from region to region and don’t matter for this conversation.

        The Democrats are definitely to-the-left-of the Republican party, and they’re definitely viable.
        They are not Left though, because they favor policies typically associated with other political descriptors in other regions (I will use Liberal with no specific connotations), like a preference for things like tax rebates instead of entitlement programs. A Leftist solution to rising housing prices might be a government program to build more houses in urban areas, price caps, and government subsidies. A Liberal policy might give tax breaks to housing developers to use market forces to encourage them to increase supply, and tax rebates to certain groups to increase their effective purchasing power for housing.

        That’s why people say the US lacks a viable Left party. We have a viable party to-the-left-of the other viable party, but they are not “Left”.
        There is crossover, and these lines are not sharp.

        A good example, and particular to this context, is how a leading Democratic proposal for instituting universal healthcare was to create a health insurance marketplace that the government would then put a public option into and subsidize for people in certain demographics, with a legal mandate for everyone to purchase or be provided with healthcare through said marketplace. The hope being that competition would increase efficiency and people would still have choice for their insurance if they wanted.
        A Leftist solution would be to assert that everyone is now covered by government insurance and you can go to the doctor and the doctor can bill the government, who will handle various price negotiations as the defacto monopoly on paying for medicine. This would gut the medical insurance industry.

        People who are unemployed should:

        • Be given a living wage from the government.
        • Be given subsidized food and housing as long as they can show they’re looking for work.
        • Die.

        Left, Liberal, Right.

      • Potatos_are_not_friends@lemmy.world
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        7 months ago

        If the US political parties joined the international stage –

        Republicans would be in extremist far right. Democrats are right or centered.

        Bernie Sanders (who is democrat only because there’s no “left”) would be left, for pushing for things like 4-day workweek, etc.

      • ThePyroPython@lemmy.world
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        7 months ago

        They’re no where near left compared with other countries: the US Democrats are centre-right.

        Bernie Sanders is the only one I know of who’s actually left-wing.

        This is because US politics’ overton window has shifted right since the 1980s. And will likely remain that way for the foreseeable future.

        • Ð Greıt Þu̇mpkin@lemm.ee
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          7 months ago

          The democrats actually trend left of major labor and social democratic parties around the world but why let actual policy comparison get in the way of the narrative?

      • SpaceNoodle@lemmy.world
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        7 months ago

        In any other nation, they’re far-right.

        Edit: Amerikkka is the only nation, apparently

        • bobburger@fedia.io
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          7 months ago

          Interesting. Which “other nation” has a party the is left enough for you and regularly hold power?

        • Ð Greıt Þu̇mpkin@lemm.ee
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          7 months ago

          The democrats actually trend left of major labor and social democratic parties around the world but why let actual policy comparison get in the way of the narrative?

              • force@lemmy.world
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                7 months ago

                It’s like… most of the developed world outside of North America & Australia. Japan and SK’s “left” ruling parties might both seem fascist in comparison to the US Democrats, and the UK’s may be about on par if not worse, but the same can not be said about most of first-world Europe, or even Australia and Canada really. Even in many less developed countries – like Argentina, Syria, Palestine, and much of Africa – you’ll generally find that the “left” parties are actually left, socialist or syndicalist or some other anti-capitalist, and not liberal. But I’d say developed countries are a lot more relevant to comparisons with American politics than ones which are not developed.

              • sudneo@lemm.ee
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                7 months ago

                Yeah, in Europe there are also right wing parties and Nazis. Not sure how this would prove that Europe’s left wing parties are not to the left of american Democrats, although very small. The existing of more than 2 parties and the historical political tradition makes this quite a natural fact to be honest. Besides, a lot of left politics is anti-imperialist and it’s hard to be left when you are governing an hegemonic country like US…

                All in all though I would agree that the mainstream socdem parties in Europe are very similar to the Dems, also because of 30 years of influence, policies, pushes for “two party system to get stability” and so on.

          • force@lemmy.world
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            7 months ago

            I would like to see what exactly you’re referring to. Outside of the UK and Japan/SK, there’s not a whole lot of supposedly “leftist” parties which are right of America’s Democrats when it comes to the developed world.

            • Ð Greıt Þu̇mpkin@lemm.ee
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              7 months ago

              German Social Democrats are going anti-refugee, Melanchon is hardcore putin supporter on the grounds of realist geopolitical policy, which until it was useful to say America bad was rightly decried by the left as just a rhetorical justification for continued western imperialism, even breathe of gender neutral language use in most European countries and you’ll be treated like a pariah if not outright accused of trying to destroy the culture, Greece’s actual goddamn socialist party is one of the most corrupt organized parties in the world, the NDP in Canada are lead by a man who says all the right things until you ask him about that plain hijacking by a terrorist organization founded on the interests of a racist class of landed elites, Russia’s still active communist party is a captured opposition for the fascist Putin regime, Erdogan’s rise to power in Turkey was paved by how wildly islamophobic the system of secularism was that the social democratic party Ataturk founded lifted from France (remember the shitstorm over Burkinis?), and oh yeah, all over the english speaking world and in much of western europe the guillotine is regularly held up as a symbol of revolution of leftist power while everywhere else mostly recognizes it as the preferred means of criminal execution of the Nazis.

              • force@lemmy.world
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                7 months ago

                German Social Democrats are going anti-refugee,

                That doesn’t necessarily make them less left than American Democrats. I mean many Democrats literally are supporting the genocide of countries some of those refugees may be coming from right now. Immigration policy & treatment of refugees, although having some correlations with the left-right divide in the modern day, don’t wholly decide whether you’re left or right.

                Melanchon is hardcore putin supporter on the grounds of realist geopolitical policy,

                Calling Melanchon right of the Democrats is certainly… something alright. He is literally a socialist, or borderline socialist depending on your view. Democrats don’t even come near socialism. Having shitty views on international politics and diplomacy doesn’t exactly qualify you as “less left”.

                even breathe of gender neutral language use in most European countries and you’ll be treated like a pariah if not outright accused of trying to destroy the culture,

                Based off of context I can only assume that you’re referring to when people who have no idea about how linguistics works try to go to speakers of other languages and tell them to just chop off part of their grammar (in this case, noun class) because they think “grammatical gender” is actual gender, or that it’s comparable to pronoun use in English. But regardless, language features on its own doesn’t necessarily mean anything when it comes to political leanings, and you can find gender neutral language use all across Europe, even in comparatively backwards places like Italy (sorry Italians).

                Greece’s actual goddamn socialist party is one of the most corrupt organized parties in the world,

                Greece itself is unfortunate in every meaning of the word, but being corrupt doesn’t say anything about its political leanings.

                the NDP in Canada are lead by a man who says all the right things until you ask him about that plain hijacking by a terrorist organization founded on the interests of a racist class of landed elites,

                I don’t get your point here. Although racism is usually right-wing, the lead guy being a racist doesn’t change the fact that the NDP still favors far more leftist policies than the US democrats, including on peace, the environment, transportation infrastructure, and (obviously) healthcare. Half of the stuff that the NDP pushes for would be absolute crazy talk to US Democrats.

                Russia’s still active communist party is a captured opposition for the fascist Putin regime,

                I wouldn’t exactly call Russia a developed democracy, it’s very clearly a far-right authoritarian country.

                Erdogan’s rise to power in Turkey was paved by how wildly islamophobic the system of secularism was that the social democratic party Ataturk founded lifted from France (remember the shitstorm over Burkinis?),

                … secularism is islamophobic? Keeping religion out of government, including government buildings, isn’t exactly right-wing, in fact I find it perfectly fits much of leftist thought throughout history. Keeping all religion out of government isn’t “islamophobic”, even in a majority muslim country.

                and oh yeah, all over the english speaking world and in much of western europe the guillotine is regularly held up as a symbol of revolution of leftist power while everywhere else mostly recognizes it as the preferred means of criminal execution of the Nazis.

                Not exactly sure how this is relevant as to whether or not the US Democrats are actually more leftist than real leftist parties.

                Most of your arguments seem to be about nationality/religion, and while stance on things like immigration or Ukraine are relevant, they don’t overshadow being a socialist, which US democrats are far from.

                Democrats reject socialism, they fear being labelled a “communist”, they don’t like being “leftists”. I find it silly comparing them to actual socialists or parties/people which border on being socialist, maybe with a few positions uncharacteristic for socialists but in general still being socialists, and then saying that the Democrats are more left-wing. I mean Biden literally said that he wouldn’t sign a universal healthcare bill, he’s giving Israel a ton of aid, he still fully supports capitalism even if he has made advancements on making corporations less powerful. He, and the institution he represents, are NOT leftist, even if we say position on healthcare is irrelevant and position on foreigners is very relevant.

                • Ð Greıt Þu̇mpkin@lemm.ee
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                  7 months ago

                  Man that’s just a whole wall of someone who’d definitely respond to someone mentioning Roma folks with “That’s different they deserve it!”

      • Optional@lemmy.world
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        7 months ago

        It’s a variant of both sides bad, and if you get an honest answer it’s probably for Jill Stein. But the odds are it’ll just be a drive-by snark about biden committing the jenosides.

        Block user is an available option, but only after you’ve had the pleasure of several essentially identical responses.

        • IchNichtenLichten@lemmy.world
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          7 months ago

          It’s a serious point though. Things like public ownership of utilities or a wealth tax aren’t supported by the vast majority of Dems.

              • Optional@lemmy.world
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                7 months ago

                So . . . Republicans? That would be weird. Oh you mean no one. No one who’s in office. Right right. Well uh that’s not exactly true, there are office holders who support that. Aren’t there?

                • IchNichtenLichten@lemmy.world
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                  7 months ago

                  Right right. Well uh that’s not exactly true, there are office holders who support that. Aren’t there?

                  First I’ve heard of it.

            • apfelwoiSchoppen@lemmy.world
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              7 months ago

              Yeah his adminstration is arming and providing UN cover for Israel so yeah if it walks like a duck and talks like a duck, it’s genocide.

              • Optional@lemmy.world
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                7 months ago

                Is his administration talking directly with Netanyahu and telling them to stop it? (Can we at least agree Trump would not be, even doing the opposite?) Is it possible foreign relations is maybe more complex than a lightswitch for some reason? How does politics work, it sounds interesting.

    • Reddfugee42@lemmy.world
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      7 months ago

      And not the same corrupt, and that corruption doesn’t mean they deliver the exact same outcome.

      • KroninJ@lemmy.world
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        7 months ago

        Yep. But on the idea of the corruption alone the outcome is what benifites the individual politician.

        There’s things happening right now that the middle saying “both sides are the same” should be the least of anyone’s worries. We’re now not only making the right the enemy but we are now attacking the middle, which has pretty much zero power and hasn’t done much of note to make everyone an enemy.

        We need to stop focusing on what Joe Jackass thinks and believes and start to focus our hate on the government system itself. We’re on the fast road to self destruction if everything is done out of hate and to stick it to’ them’

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      7 months ago

      One side is more corrupt than the other.

      Which side that is, I leave as an exercise to the reader. But I assure you one side is worse, and that means we have to vote for the other side.

  • bigFab@lemmy.world
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    7 months ago

    If there was actual left, there would be health care already. Instead there are billionaires.

    • Wogi@lemmy.world
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      7 months ago

      I only ever see “both sides are the same” as a atrawman, here. I’ve never seen it presented genuinely, generally I see “I have issues with the Democrats” and the only response is either “but the other guys are worse” and “bOtH sIDeS aRe ThE sAmE!!”

      ALMOST as if having an actual conversation about the problems people with the Democrats makes people uncomfortable.

      • OBJECTION!@lemmy.ml
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        7 months ago

        The only things liberals know how to do are using whataboutism to deflect all criticism of the Democrats by talking about the Republicans, and doing genocide apologia.

      • FreddyDunningKruger@lemmy.ml
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        7 months ago

        If you really want to change the party, JOIN it, convince like-minded people to join, and start changing it from the inside.

        You know, like the way Trump and MAGA changed the Republicans.

        • Wogi@lemmy.world
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          7 months ago

          The DNC has made it clear they’re not interested in moving to the left and that they’re perfectly happy gradually meandering further right. Sure, 30 million Democrats might see it differently but the people voting aren’t actually in charge.

        • Maggoty@lemmy.world
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          7 months ago

          I’ve been doing that for 20 years. Between that and spit in my hand at least the hand with spit has something to show for the effort.

        • go_go_gadget@lemmy.world
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          7 months ago

          MAGA had the support of moderate Republicans.

          Leftists and progressives do not have the support of moderate and liberals. They made this clear in the 2020 primaries. Anyone to the left of Biden was too radical. Liberals and moderates made it clear again yesterday when they celebrated police breaking up the protestors. When Biden was asked if the protests have made him reevaluate his policies in Israel he simply said “No”.

          There’s no room for us in the Democrat party so I’ll be voting 3rd party.

          • EatATaco@lemm.ee
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            7 months ago

            Voting third party for president won’t solve that problem, it will just help, in your case, a more right wing POTUS get into office, one who has proven to be especially dangerous to our democracy. It’s a dumb idea because it’s counter productive to your goals and virtually useless.

            If you want better representation you’ll have to work from the ground up by getting people into office that will move to end fptp voting.

            You’re trying to play the game with the rules you want it to have, not with the rules it actually has.

            • go_go_gadget@lemmy.world
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              7 months ago

              Voting third party for president won’t solve that problem

              I’m aware I have no way of solving this problem. Never claimed otherwise.

              If you want better representation you’ll have to work from the ground up by getting people into office that will move to end fptp voting.

              Even if progressives and leftists managed to get a halfway decent candidate through the primaries all that would happen is that liberals and moderates would be the ones who vote Republican, vote 3rd party or don’t show up. We’re at an impasse.

              You’re trying to play the game with the rules you want it to have, not with the rules it actually has.

              Actually I think that’s what you’re doing. The rules that it has are I get to choose who I vote for. Not you.

              • EatATaco@lemm.ee
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                7 months ago

                I’m aware I have no way of solving this problem. Never claimed otherwise.

                Then it makes even less sense to vote for a third party because you know it doesn’t do anything.

                Even if progressives and leftists managed to get a halfway decent candidate through the primaries all that would happen is that liberals and moderates would be the ones who vote Republican, vote 3rd party or don’t show up. We’re at an impasse.

                I’m not taking about the primary, i’m talking about how the vote is done. If we can get rid of fptp voting system, and replace it with something like star voting, then people are more free to vote for who they want instead of using reason and voting strategically. This is the way to increase the chances of getting more liberal people elected.

                The rules that it has are I get to choose who I vote for. Not you.

                By no stretch of the imagination did I even remotely suggest I get to choose who you vote for.

                • go_go_gadget@lemmy.world
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                  Then it makes even less sense to vote for a third party because you know it doesn’t do anything.

                  I can stay home if that would make you feel better?

                  If we can get rid of fptp voting system

                  Never going to happen with the kind of candidates who make it through the primaries.

                  By no stretch of the imagination did I even remotely suggest I get to choose who you vote for.

                  Ok then accept I’m going to vote 3rd party and stop trying to convince me to do something else.

      • ObliviousEnlightenment@lemmy.world
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        7 months ago

        They will make an argument like my mom where they just think its all rigged anyway, and then vote for the firsf radical they see even if ifs Traitor Trump. You have to realize these people are not even slightly informee

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      7 months ago

      Cool, one side is more to the left than the other side, so that makes them left. Comments like yours are both extremely fucking useless and getting old.

    • Reddfugee42@lemmy.world
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      Liberal just means not conservative. There is no monolithic body called “the liberals” whose beliefs are all alike. It’s a spectrum.

      It’s frankly incredible how often this needs to be stated.

        • Maggoty@lemmy.world
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          There’s distinct flavors of liberalism in political science. For example in Classical Liberalism most modern conservatives are included because they want a democratic government.

          • archomrade [he/him]@midwest.social
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            That’s kind of my point. Saying ‘liberal just means not conservative’ is so vague that it’s effectively meaningless.

            I also think it’s done intentionally to normalize/consolidate voting patterns for a set of people who share very little actual views or policy goals and enforce a political binary. In that way I think it’s worse than meaningless - it’s actively harmful.

        • ObliviousEnlightenment@lemmy.world
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          A lot of us speak colloqial, speaking colloquial is more common. You cannot enter a discourse held by laymen, assume and use academic definitions, and expect to be understood or agreed with

          • OBJECTION!@lemmy.ml
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            Much of the English speaking world uses liberal to mean its formal definition, for example, the Liberal Democratic Party in the UK.

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            Maybe not if the definition is left assumed to be shared, but you’d think the layman may come to a richer understanding of meaning once presented with a precise distinction .

    • linearchaos@lemmy.world
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      All peolpe who say all liberals aren’t left are idiots who like to lump everyone into one box to make their point.

      • Maiq@lemy.lol
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        Neoliberalism is a far right ideology brought to mainstream politics by Ronald Reagan and Margret Thatcher. Later embraced by the most right wing of the american pseudo left like Clinton who abandoned their traditional union and grassroot support for the big banks and extra large corporate funding. This led to the embracement of neo conservativism by Newt Gingrich and the right in general to differentiate themselves from the new political shift from the pseudo left wings encroachment on their bread basket, the corporations. Enter the US downward spiral to our current political landscape as the neolibral wing marches ever right and the conservative wing courts the endless bag of batshit crazy.

        https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neoliberalism

        Just because the word has the root liber in it does not make it left on a political spectrum.

      • Cowbee [he/him]@lemmy.ml
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        Liberalism is pro-Capitalist, it was only ever considered left wing when it was revolutionary, ie in feudalism.

        In the modern, Capitalist and Imperialist era, Liberalism supports the status quo and is right wing because of it.

    • UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world
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      Liberals aren’t left.

      Leftism is when you’re in favor of a 3% increase in the marginal tax rate, an increase in the number of Pell Grants issued annually, and an expansion of eligibility for Medicaid under a new means testing regime…

      What you’re thinking of is the Far-Left, which is when you become an Authoritarian National Socialist and kill 6M Jews, like Joseph Stalin did when he illegally invaded Germany.

      Its called Horseshoe Theory. And if you weren’t so busy skipping classes to go protest Joe Biden, maybe you’d have learned about it.

          • Maggoty@lemmy.world
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            I don’t know how to tell you this but here goes. There are people who actually believe what they’ve said. It’s not a modest proposal, it’s Holocaust denial which is a central theme to modern fascists.

            • UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world
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              There are people who actually believe what they’ve said.

              From the halls /r/libertarian to the shores of /r/anachy. Its weapon’s grade radical centrism.

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                If this is a joke it’s gone down rather poorly. At best it reads like Schroedinger’s Joke Propaganda.

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        Oh, I wanted so much to be with you here, and bits of pieces of your comment are correct, but other bits and pieces are completely fucking insane, that makes me think you’re an alien blob or an undertrained llm trying to mimic human political argument.
        Stalin was so happy to be backstabbed by his Hitler friend, so he illegally (wtf is that, can you do it legally?) invaded Germany, starting from destroying Soviet critical infrastructure using German bombers

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    Yeah dude really we get it the right are bad and they’re evil but holy shit how come the Democrats have to be so fucking awful at their job?

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      You’re going to get downvoted, but You’re not necessarily wrong. So often the Democrats take the “high road” and let Republicans walk all over them because the Republicans don’t care about the rules or about decorum.

      And Democrats are SO BAD AT MESSAGING. I mean my god, they should be shouting their successes each and every time they speak, but you really just don’t hear it. And every new movement gets so easily misconstrued by Republicans because of the nature of how complex the ideas and solutions are, so actual intent gets lost in “defund the police” and “black lives matter” (both of which I wholly support, so don’t come at me). Those phrases mean something extremely important, but it’s too easy for Republicans to make them sound like they mean something bad.

      And journalists don’t care because controversy sells, not wins.

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        This has more to do with most media and social media being owned by billionaires putting their thumbs on the scales. They support certain social issues to seem leftist but they are all conservative financially and on anything that could affect their bank account. There is very little true left leaning media in America.

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        Making the case that the government needs to step in and take control of many if these issues, but Dems dont want that either because wE’rE a cApiTaLiSt nAtIoN.

        And DtP and BLM could easily be advanced by simply posting videos everywhere of police brutalizing white people , because the right cheers when they see police brutalize blacks. Dems DO NOT KNOW WHO THEY ARE DEALING WITH

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                Well that’s great because your way is working so well that we have the same lineup we had three years ago

                • mojofrododojo@lemmy.world
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                  Yes. If you’d cared back in 2022 to begin campaigning on a replacement candidate (I canvassed for Bernie) I could understand your outrage.

                  As is, the rest of us have a job to do. If you’re not in on the better of the two, you do you champ.

    • uis@lemm.ee
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      Да ладно тебе, ну заполонили, и что с того?

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      You can tell by how very suddenly the sheer number of comments blows the fuck up once anything not vlad-approved picking up steam.

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      Those red and blue dots are damned close together for one guy that incited a coup, kept mein kampf on this nightstand writes love letters to Putin and IL.

      Biden is nowhere near where I want him to be policy-wise, But to try to put them close together on social issues is disingenuous

      The political compass site is far from scientific.

      • Veraxus@lemmy.world
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        Because the political compass is a lie meant to perpetuate “both-sidesism”.

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        7 months ago

        Biden regarding black people: “Superpredators”

        Biden regarding Palestinians: “Kill their women and children if you have to.”

        • Krauerking@lemy.lol
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          Biden regarding black people: “Superpredators”

          No that’s Hillary “I deserve whatever I want” Rodham Clinton

          He made the bill she used to say that but his actual idea on what made someone a “predator” was being born out of wedlock.

          … He’s not great but let’s get it right at least.

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          Don’t bring black people into this. Obama chose Biden as his VP twice. Also, black people were key voters in winning Georgia, cementing Biden’s victory. They obviously like him.

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            I’m personally not a fan of Biden. But it’s not like we have real options to choose from.

          • https://news.gallup.com/interactives/507569/presidential-job-approval-center.aspx

            At least among non-white people, his approval has gone from 80% at the start of Biden’s term to 46% now. So… he was popular with certain demographics before. Now he’s not (except democrats, liberals, and postgraduates still have an approval rating above 50%). He has a higher approval rating from boomers than non-whites now.

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              The thing about approval ratings is, you may dislike a solution but favor it above others. I totally understand disliking Biden but still voting for him.

              I think current polls are flawed and the people who “dislike” Biden will still vote for him. The public is fickle and enthusiasm will be determined by an event closer to the election.

              At this point in the 2008 election, Obama and Hillary were neck and neck. John Edwards was still in the race for the Democratic nomination. Of course, Biden had not yet been nominated for VP. Literally ignore everything until late September.

              Fucking vote.

    • Veraxus@lemmy.world
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      Please stop using the political compass. Perpetuating right wing propaganda and misinformation is not helpful.

        • Veraxus@lemmy.world
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          One what? The left/right spectrum is a complex web of ideals. On the right you have consolidation of wealth and power and on the left you have egalitarianism (equally shared wealth and power).

          The extreme right contains power structures like dictatorship, monarchism, and oligarchy.

          The extreme left contains power structures like direct democracy, anarchism, and communism (lower-case C; inclusive of, but not limited to, Marxism).

          There is no “leftist authoritarianism” - that’s an oxymoron - authoritarianism in any form is nothing more than garden-variety rightism. Rightists appropriating leftist terminology to confuse and control the populace is a bog-standard rightist strategy. It’s really that simple.

          • TheEighthDoctor@lemmy.world
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            And where do you think, no access to free healthcare, no access to free education, legalized lobbying, criminalised prostitution, industrial military complex, for profit prison system, falls into that spectrum?

            Correct me if I’m wrong but the democratic party is not about to change any of those.

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              It seems like you just made the point without getting the point.

              The US Democratic party, its leadership, and the majority of its members are right wing. There is nothing to be surprised about here.

              Being “less to the right” than violent, fascist Republicans doesn’t make them leftist, it just makes them “less to the right”.

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          Don’t assign good boy and bad boy points to things like “everyone should have access to basic necessities” and “kill everyone with more melanin than me” at all.

          That’s how you end with the “Hitler was a centrist” bullshit PCM was selling.

    • FreddyDunningKruger@lemmy.ml
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      Why don’t you join a political party and start a grassroots campaign to replace First Past the Post?

      Or maybe you already belong to a party, and are just trying to create apathy to prevent people from voting Democratic to ensure Trump gets re-elected?

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        Why don’t you join a political party and start a grassroots campaign to replace First Past the Post?

        Careful now. That sounds a lot like encouraging people to vote 3rd party in the upcoming election.

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      I think Left and Right should be renaned to People Feeding and People Eating

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          Ew. No. I’d really rather they just be mulched.
          Head removed and on a pike preferably, just to try to reduce prions in the soil and as a nice decorative piece.

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      “Biden is less authoritarian than Trump!” I cry as I’m dragged into the back of a police cruiser for criticizing Israeli. I’d go into further detail, but the police are currently gagging me, beating me with their batons, and harnessing me to the Palestinian Chair

  • Optional@lemmy.world
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    This is the scene that plays in my head whenever people talk about how great Hamilton is. I can’t help it.

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    i agree with the rhetorical goals of this meme, but it does its job poorly.

    some better options:

    • the right yawns when kids get shot

    • the left seeks to put in place bare minimum common sense gun laws

    • the left wants healthcare to be a human right

    • the right wants healthcare to be privatized for the benefit of investors

    • the right wants trans people, an incredibly small fraction of the population, to be harassed, abused, and murdered

    • the left doesn’t want that

    • the right is actively looking to get a national ban on abortion

    • the left supports a woman’s bodily autonomy, and recognizes that abortion can also be a life saving procedure but that such decisions should remain between a pregnant person and their doctor

    and one very important and fucking atrocity of a similarity between the parties that will be used as a “gotcha” to “prove” all of the left/progressives are a poisoned well:

    • Republicans are Zionists and support an active genocide
    • Democrats are Zionists and support an active genocide
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      “Oh, you can see a well defined difference between the only two parties with a chance at winning an election in the US? I guess youre actually a Lib TM bc theres absolutely no way, none at all, that you might be anything left of center.”

      Also, you missed,

      The left wants to fund the Ukranians fighting their sovereignty,

      The right wants vlad the dictator to steamroll eastern europe bc daddy dump says hes big and strong unlike the clearly gencocidal nazi Volodomyr “no, i wont give u dirt on ur political opponents just for protecting my people, you imbecile” Zelenskyy.

    • Reddfugee42@lemmy.world
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      • Republicans are Zionists and support an active genocide
      • Democrats are Zionists and support an active genocide

      “President Biden told the Israeli leader that airstrikes that killed aid workers were “unacceptable” and appeared to condition future support on how Israel changes course.” https://archive.ph/t5tIi

      Trump tells Israel to “finish the job” in gaza

      https://apnews.com/article/trump-israel-gaza-netanyahu-biden-ba17bedaf2f1b5f2ea220828d0fba73b

      • spujb@lemmy.cafe
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        these are true but facts picked in bad faith. biden has also said “I am a Zionist” and has shown no restraint in financially supporting the apartheid regime.

        Yes, there is nuance and separation to the hows and the degrees of the Zionism and supprt for genocide. But neither side is anything less than culpable.

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        Oh and he punished them by stopping the military aid right?

        No?

        So it’s just political theater then.

  • umbrella@lemmy.ml
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    democrats are not leftists, and havent really helped with healthcare in the grand scheme of things