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Yeah I’m confused, this is the democratic party’s fault?
Like, did/do people watch the news whenever they talk about the minimum wage? Fox News and the republican party and the libertarian party go absolutely NUTS.
Update:
Anybody complaining about this still is like having two parents. One is flawed as hell and makes dumb decisions and is conflicted, and the other is a deadbeat, beats you, steals your money and credit cards and causing you long lasting damage.
Everyone is basically yelling that the prior one isn’t doing enough.
Are you wrong? No? At the same time, what the hell are you even talking about?
“The DEMS AREN’T PASSING <<individual qualm>>”. Well the republicans are trying to REMOVE DEMOCRACY.
If you guys aren’t understanding what’s going on. I can explain it to you, but I can’t understand it for you.
You don’t understand. Liberals bad.
totally. the only really way to get progressive reform is to allow the extreme right to run the country.
Well yeah. Sure, every other time in the past that the left has ignored the Democrats they’ve gone right, but this time the party will see the error of their ways and move left. Surely.
Obviously the way you get politicians to push the policies you want is by not voting for them.
Yeah I’m confused, this is the democratic party’s fault?
Because everyone expects the Republicans be shitty, so it is entirely up to the Democrats to get anything positive done. Any obstruction by the Republicans is seen as a failure on the Democrat part because of that.
It’s funny that you’ve thought about this for so long and you still don’t understand. You need to take your position and think about it for 15 more minutes. People here who are blasting the Democrats in Washington are probably people who voted for them or who considered voting for them. The politicians who are supposed to represent us are failing to do so. That’s a big problem.
If you want to point out that the Republicans are worse, good for you. Many of us have much worse things to say about Republicans, and we definitely vote against them. So if you’re accusing us of being shallow or hypocritical, you’re just wrong.
Many commenters have defended Washington Democrats by talking about how the Republicans obstruct everything. Yes, that’s true, and it’s an old problem. What have the Democrats done to prevent it from happening in the future? The Democrats could have tried to get rid of the filibuster, they could have raised the debt ceiling by minting coins worth a billion dollars, they could have tried to stack the court with Democrats to offset the Republican efforts, they could have tried to create national health care. They could have done lots of things. And some Democrats are honestly in favor of these things. Others are corporate centrists. They’ll talk the talk as much as necessary, but they won’t act towards progressive interests.
If you think pointing that out is destructive, you’ve just adopted an anti-democratic position where leftist views don’t mean anything. And if that’s your view, I don’t think it’s worthy of respect. Also, you might say that speaking critically about the Democrats is bad because it hurts their chances of winning in the election. That’s wrong for two reasons. First, halfway intelligent voters already know some of the major issues, and pretending those issues don’t exist isn’t going to motivate them. It’s better to be honest about the state of affairs. Second, we have a civic duty to redress our grievances with government. Biden was hurt in the bull’s heavily because he had supported Israeli genocide. The public was opposed to that in large numbers, and you can bet that other people have carefully considered their stances as a result of the pressure that they saw Biden feel.
The American people just spent 15 years watching Obamacare get gutted from what it originally was, minimum wage not increase at the federal level, the SCOTUS got 3 conservative judges appointed to it despite two being appointed against precedent, marijuana is still illegal at the federal level, Chevron Deference was just gutted, Roe v Wade was overturned and half this country lost bodily autonomy, the last two decades have seen the least productive congresses in our nation’s history yet the filibuster remains because “decorum/the Republicans might take advantage of it,” cops still have qualified immunity, millions of people don’t have health insurance or are food insecure or are homeless, school funding has been gutten, college tuition continues to skyrocket, trillions of dollars have been funneled from the poorest to the richest in this country for no other reason than greed while social welfare programs are being cut, the list goes on for a long time.
And all of this was done by “Republican obstruction,” which is fine, it’s a legitimate reason for things to happen or not happen. But after 15+ years, minimum, and this new generation of voters watching the Democrat Party hum and haw and wag their fingers at each other and Republicans while the American people get fucked more and more year after year…
It’s not a legitimate excuse anymore, and this whole Democrat shtick of “you have to vote for us because we’re not the Republicans” isn’t working anymore, people are fucking tired of it. I’m fucking tired of it, honestly. Republicans got TWO SCOTUS nominations because, at a minimum, one man in one position in the Senate refused to follow decorum. And the Democrats just twiddled their thumbs and said “humpty dee, nothing we can do, sorry, it’s the rules” 🤷♀️.
To get back to the minimum wage: Trump got funding for his stupid wall by taking money slotted for shit like schools for the DoD and such through a state of emergency, but Biden/the Democrats can’t do anything about the minimum wage? Or abortion? Or marijuana? Trump got his wall funding basically overnight, it seemed, but it took 3 years for the director of the DEA to reclassify marijuana because reasons?
Regardless of the reasoning behind it, whether its legitimate or not, people are sick of it. They’re sick of being told to pinch their nose and vote for the candidate they don’t even like because the “boogeyman” over there is gonna be much worse. But… How? They actually get shit done, and in ways that are apparently “illegal or against the rules” yet they have to remain as law/precedent because they still happened.
Bullshit. I’m as left/liberal/whatever you’re supposed to call it now as it gets. I’m a veteran who thinks the DoD budget needs to be gutted and that the US military is the largest and most successful socialism program in our country, I’m a trans woman, I’ve worked public service and private sector jobs, I’m registered and vote blue, and I’ll be honest, until Biden stepped down, I was seriously considering sitting out of this vote just because it was like, what’s the point?
The Democrats don’t care about what their constituents actually want (hence why they fucked Bernie over so badly, he wasn’t “establishment” enough for them despite his popularity) in a candidate, and they don’t pass legislation that actually benefits most of us. The biggest thing I’ve heard people rally behind is student loan forgiveness, which yes, the Democrats have achieved progress and victory on and been hampered by the Republicans, I’ll acknowledge that.
But notice that’s the only debt they’re willing to forgive because it impacts enough of their constituents to warrant it? I’ve yet to hear a single Democrat (but have heard one Republican) say credit card debt from during the Pandemic should be forgiven since so many were forced to use credit cards to pay rent, groceries, utilities, etc while they either couldn’t work or couldn’t. And when I bring it up to friends with student loans, fellow Democrats, I’m basically told, “Well, you need to wait your turn, they’ll get to that after the student loans.” Why the fuck can’t they do both?!? Why do the Democrats keep hindering progress so they can have a platform to run for reelection on, and God forbid they just accomplish a goal the American people actually want and then gasp actually have to come up with something else.
All this, everything above, the American people have to watch and listen to bullshit excuse after bullshit excuse day after fucking day while Congress ensures they still get their raises, they still have their health insurance, and they still only “work” like 32 weeks/year with all of their recesses and breaks and everything else, while the average American worker isn’t even guaranteed a livable wage, or even fucking vacation/sick time, or health insurance.
So no, I’m tired of the “BuT fOx NeWs” bullshit that the Democrats keep spitting. Regardless of their circumstances, Republicans continuously hit their goals and ensure their policies are enacted, regardless of the decorum or precedent surrounding any of it. And all of that boils down to what Jeff Daniels said as Will McAvoy on The Newsroom:
“If liberals are so fuckin’ smart, how come they lose so goddamn always?”
End rant/
Edit to OP’s Update:
Yeah, democracy is 100% on the line, so why are anonymous senior Democrats coming forward and saying “We’ve resigned ourselves to a second Trump presidency?” Because it doesn’t effect them, so why should they care??
And I’m sorry, but if the people we’re electing resign themselves to failure, why the fuck should we even try? Like, seriously, if our elected representatives have resigned themselves to fascism and are perfectly ok with it, then wtf am I supposed to do? Give them more money so maybe they’ll pretend to give a shit?
I understand what you’re saying, but the Democrats don’t get anything done. So after 30 years of getting fucking nothing from the party that keeps telling you the other guy is a fascist and you need to vote for them so they’ll do XYZ, and then they pretend to half ass just X and don’t even try to solve Y or Z, what’s the fucking point? At the least the fascists don’t bullshit, and at least the fascists get things done.
Democrat politicians act like they’re their constituents parents who know what’s actually best for them, and they’re fucking not. We brought them into their position, they need to fucking get things done for us and stop with the constant bullshit infighting and bullshit excuses. If Trump can get 3 Supreme Court Justices and fucking Presidential immunity, why the FUCK can’t Biden and the Democrats secure abortion/LGBTQ+/labor/etc rights into law? Why can’t they fucking do anything other than enrich themselves with insider trading?
Notice despite things getting harder for the majority of Americans, every politicians portfolio across the aisle still went up? Yet they’re telling us they understand things are hard, they’re trying their best. At least the fucking Republicans just tell you they’re gonna fuck you in the ass and how. The Democrats promise you dinner and then expect their cum down your throat to be sufficient, while expecting you to thank them for tapping your head before they cum.
I seriously hope this reinvigorated voting base convinces the DNC that the way things are going aren’t working, and that the DNC were a lot closer to becoming non-existent with this election than they felt comfortable. Because that’s how all of us minorities feel, but we don’t have golden fucking parachutes to catch us when shit continues to hit the fan because the Democrats care more about gobbling the balls of lobbyists than they do the people who fucking put them there in the first place.
Very well said… Excellent rant
I’ll add that Biden COULD erase all student loan debt with the stroke of a pen… But instead he half-assed it and now the Republicans have been able to beat it all back down. This is the typical liberal bullshit plan… Half-assed attempts to do what their constituents want, knowing full well it’ll fail, either because the Republicans will obstruct it or a few Dems will. After 30 years of it, I think most people have caught on that the Dems aren’t REALLY trying, they just want it to look like they are, but without hurting their owners profits… Let’s see if Biden actually fixes the Supreme Court, or if it’s just more half-assery.
*childish obstruction by Republicans and Joe Manchin.
Democrats don’t do things even when they have power: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OFi73TzEN_8
Stop making excuses for them. You’re not going to get anything from them if you play along with their dog and pony show. Hold them accountable.
For real. Childish Republicans are the problem. I mean, if there were a point in the past 15 years where Democrats had controlled the presidency and both houses of congress, they would have increased it, right?
Surely so, one would think. Ah well, the joke’s on us!
They had the house and 61 in the senate in 2008 when this was proposed, and instead raised it by 10 cents.
They had the house and senate from 2020 to 2022 and did fuckall once again.
Get out of here with your facts, commmie.
THIS IS USA, where we hide inconvenient truths, repeat propaganda talking points, and blame it on someone else.
THIS IS USA, where we hide inconvenient truths, repeat propaganda talking points, and blame it on someone else.
The irony of saying this in response to the false claim that the Democrats had a supermajority in Congress in anything but a technicality is on fucking point lol.
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More like “tried for Decades. Constantly obstructed by corporate fascist”
You mean when they had the White House and Congress? That time? I don’t think he missed it, but the Dems sure did.
While I don’t disagree, it’s not hard to imagine a world where the Dems had increased the goal over time. Sure, it wouldn’t have passed, but a 20-25 minimum would at least be a legitimate talking point instead of some “pie in the sky” idea that’s not in the zeitgeist at all.
The push for a “$15 minimum wage” was first made law in Seattle, and the law included annual increases to keep up with inflation.
The current minimum wage in Seattle in 2024 is $19.97 / hour.
Any minimum wage law that doesn’t address inflation is not taking itself seriously.
… As opposed to the superior Republican plan for increasing minimum wage?
Crickets
What if I told you the viable alternative wasn’t to look further right, but further left?
Well, I don’t know about you, but I can’t teleport. the last time I checked, neither can the u.s. political zeitgeist. If we want more left, we are going to have to get there the long way.
How do you get there the long way? Is it maybe by pushing leftist agenda and leftist talking points? Is it maybe by like endorsing workers rights and fair pay? Is it maybe making sure people don’t live in poverty by raising the minimum wage? Sure seems like a good road map to me.
Sure. But none of it gets passed as there no majority in Congress to support it, that’s what he’s saying. There’s been numerous instances of liberals trying to push more progressive agendas and they are always dead in the water due to Republicans. He’s suggesting we “take it slow” as in we need to vote left-leaning people into office in order to start making progress…Not the fire and brimstone tactic of Revolution that some ML leftists support.
The Dems have to win, repeatedly, for years, with such a landslide that the Republican party is completely destroyed and the new competition for the Dems is a party that is further left.
That’s how progress can actually be made at anything other than a snail’s pace.
That Trump won the last election and will likely win this one means the Democratic party is going to target center and right of center people, because that’s where the votes are.
I think that’s a bit of an exaggeration. You’re right though when they lose the Democrats tend to run right. That’s how we got Clinton. However by winning Democrats tend to Trend left. Continued winning is how we got the strongest string of civil rights and labor rights victories in American history. So not necessarily overwhelming destructive Victory but consistent Victory I think would move us further left. There’s of course the other way which is the Grassroots Ray which is what Republicans have done. First with the tea party then with the trump movement. Consistent victories at small levels lend results to National levels. Their party moved much further the right because they moved it from the ground up. Both are options and both can be done simultaneously.
Fuck yea we do. I never said that choosing left was the easy option. It is the necessary option though.
…and saying “but Republicans blah blah blah” in no way moves us in a desirable direction. It’s used as an excuse to not move at all because “at least I’m not the bogeyman”.
I think the real lesson is that our government is so broken that it can’t do its job.
And therefore what?
Oh, as opposed to the Republican plan to do a bad job? Russian Bot Say What?
Russian Bot
lmao
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What
I’m not American but, “the other party would do worse” is not a very… powerful argument. Even if true.
unfortunately it is for a two party system. if you don’t vote Dem, the only lesson they’ll take from it is “oh, people must want more conservative positions” and go further right.
the solution to this isn’t to not vote Dem, it’s to elect representatives that align with more leftist positions, which to the credit of democratic voters, has been happening more than in any time in history.
that is partly thanks to a new generation of people who don’t fall for the red scare propaganda that previous ones did, and leftism and socialism being less stigmatized.
What really amazes me is how set up to maintain the status quo 'murican politics is. Political parties have to be registered on every state, otherwise they don’t “exist”. Gerrymandering ensures voting districts are always drawn in favor of specific parties. Delegate votes means popular vote isn’t as important. Even fucking Brazil is more democratic by comparison.
don’t forget that the election is on a Tuesday and a lot of people can’t take a day off, and there’s serious push to limit or remove early voting.
forget brazil, a lot of countries Americans would see as “shitholes” are actually more democratic in their process. they think they have it better because they don’t have an obvious strongman on top (though that may change now, we’ll see) but the people’s will has been systematically suppressed more and more over the years. the boot of corporations has been firmly pressed on the neck of the public to make sure they can’t raise their head for long enough to breathe, let alone participate.
My country isn’t a two-party system, but I have often to vote for parties I hate to to prevent the extreme right from coming to power. Fuck I even did that a few weeks ago. If I were American I would vote for the Dems, but I would criticize them harshly, as I criticize harshly the parties I have to vote for here.
This is one of the things a Primary is for. It I’ll almost certainly vote Democrat in the general election, but well before that I’ll vote in the Democrat Prinary to raise my voice for a more liberal or Progressive candidate.
For Biden’s first term, I do believe the strong showing for more left wing candidates like AOC and the popularity of the “Green New Deal” influenced the platform for the better, even if those candidates weren’t chosen to represent the party
Classic whataboutism: shits on the topic without adding anything worthwhile to the conversation. These responses are only exceeded in worthlessness by trolling.
“but republicans” is not a valid excuse for democrats to do nothing.
Federally isn’t it still like 7.25 where it has been since like 15 years ago…
The question of issues within modern society shouldn’t constantly be boiled down to the two party system. That’s exactly how nothing gets done. Well, that and electoralism.
Pretty sure liberals are past 15 an hour and have been for awhile. Centrist Dems are still on board for 15, at least in the party platform. And regardless it’s a damn sight better than those calling for the elimination of the minimum wage altogether.
Meanwhile Congress has never missed a pay raise and that receives minimal attention.
Its always baffled my how many government positions have perioidic pay increases, sometimes annually, a good pension usually as well, but they will never pass legislation to make other employers do the same.
Companies pay damn good money to ensure their payroll stays as low as possible. It’s cheaper to
buydonate to politicians than raise base pay.Which is why the government should take responsibilty and deny the
briberylobbying and enforce better wage and labour lawsAbsolutely. It’s unfortunate that the ones we need to make those changes are the ones who benefit from the current system. The cycle has to be broken, and that’s an enormous task.
one universal health care idea was to allow all citizens to buy into the same healthcare plan as congress at the same rate they pay.
will
For government positions it’s about retention as they are competing with the private sector for employees.
They’re referring to liberalism, not social democracy or progressive or whatever weird definition American media started using in the last 25 years or so.
American media, by which we mean conservative media, refers to liberals as that to trick people into thinking the far left doesn’t exist. If centrists can be labeled as left as left can be then it’s safe to ignore the actual left. Of course the Liberals aren’t exactly upset about this either.
Oh.
And here’s how the rest of the world uses the word “Liberal”: https://letmegooglethat.com/?q=liberal+
Here is the Wikipedia article on liberalism: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liberalism
Here is the dictionary definition of the word: https://dictionary.cambridge.org/us/dictionary/english/liberal
But, hey, your racist asshole made a shitty song about how much he liked Malcom X being shot so liberal is bad and something vote trump, right??
But, hey, your racist asshole made a shitty song about how much he liked Malcom X being shot so liberal is bad and something vote trump, right??
Imagine having this lackluster reading comprehension, and then linking others to a dictionary.
I read enough to see that I disagree. His attacks on what he calls "Liberalism " make a little sense in the context of him being a communist. But this post is about American politics.
Let me ask you a simple question. Do you think that Harris should win the election in November? Do you think that Trump should win in November? Or are you suggesting some fantasy?
His attacks on what he calls "Liberalism " make a little sense in the context of him being a communist.
Nope, no, still failing comprehension.
This your guy? https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Domenico_Losurdo
No, not taking the bait. If you’re unwilling and/or incapable of processing something as simple as “Love me I’m a liberal”, then I have neither the time nor the crayons to talk to you about anything else.
You completely missed the point of the song.
Phil Ochs was satirizing liberals of his time pretending to support civil rights, but opposing any actual means to get there and supporting every action against “radicals”.
Sorry it was so deep and meaningful I just missed it completely. It sounds like what you are saying is that a small group of bad actors self identified as liberal when they probably should not have.
I have point you at the book I linked, it’s not a small group of bad actors, the “freedom” of liberalism has always meant the freedom to exploit others when it comes into conflict with any other freedom.
There’s a reason Cuba is not considered liberal, despite having racial equality and LGBT+ rights enshrined in their constitution. When East Germany liberalized, it meant privatization, austerity, and a regression in LGBT+ rights.
The small group that keeps getting misidentified as liberals when they shouldn’t be are socialists and anarchists.
You realize the person you’re responding to literally cited a book length academic source by an actual historian, right? Why do you think a Wikipedia article, a google search and, a basic dictionary definition is an adequate response to that?
Judging by your comment history you really need to do some reading on the history of liberalism as a political ideology. This is a long but accessible starting place from a left-wing perspective. Feel free to form your own opinion, man. But at least understand some of the basics of the history of an ideology before you start an argument about what it is and isn’t.
That’s a you tube series. I’m talking about real life. Get off the internet and talk to real people. See if anyone uses the word "Liberal " like you do. One guy wote a book. Even if you can sight several scolars, it that’s more than that to change the definition of a word or how 99.9998% of the population uses the word. To mean freedom. Likes it does.
Most of his argument comes from direct quotes of actual political philosophers like John Locke, John Stuart Mill and, Adam Smith. These aren’t just random scholars, these are people who are fundamental to the development of liberalism as a political ideology. Some guy on the internet who clearly has never engaged with that history of work isn’t going to change the actual meaning of the word either.
Look, I’m not citing a YouTube video because it’s the end all be all of sources. You should absolutely consider other perspectives. I’m citing it because it’s easy to understand and it’s clear you’re having a hard time understanding what people are talking about. I say again, you can still make up your own opinion but please inform yourself before you get into an argument of what liberalism is.
It doesn’t just mean “freedom”. I assure you if you have any conservative friends in “real life” they would disagree with the notion that liberalism just means freedom. There are probably even some Lincoln Project conservatives who would disagree with that.
I personally think that there are some aspects to liberalism that can lead society closer to being more free but there are other aspects to liberalism that work against that end. But almost everyone who has a basic understanding beyond a dictionary definition would agree that there’s more to it than just being a synonym for freedom.
Read the damn book, it goes through its use by the major liberal thinkers since the 1700s. If you read any leftist or semi-serious literature on the subject, they’ll be using that same definition.
If that’s too much, just peruse https://www.google.com/search?q=site:marxists.org liberalism
Every work there is political and either historical or of some level of academic rigor.
“Liberalism is a word that means different things to different people.”
That is literally first damn sentence that come up for your under your link!
We’ve supplied you with works showing the definition that OP and every even semi-serious political philosopher, both liberal and communist means when they say it.
Why are you dying on this hill? Just educate yourself.
What do you mean? Congressional salaries have been the same since 2009, they voted against their inflation pay adjustment every year since then, because it’s great PR. They make the real money from insider trading anyway…
Pretty sure liberals are past 15 an hour and have been for awhile. Centrist Dems are still on board for 15, at least in the party platform.
How can they be both at the same time?
Because in the US they’re two separate groups.
No they aren’t.
Why isn’t minimum wage just tied to the Consumer Price Index? It should rise alongside Social Security, instead of getting these band-aid increases once a decade.
It was. Then Reagan
We need a UBI. Then we could scrap minimum wage entirely. If a job can’t pay you enough, you simply don’t have to do that job.
Tie it to the GDP and now you double down on the incentive to work, produce, and buy local.
The downside is like 100 multibillionaires would be sad because their score multiploer went down.
Capitalists wont let that happen. How else can they exploit humans for work if they don’t have to work.
Ubi is only a piece of the puzzle. We need to uncouple healthcare from employment as well.
We need to uncouple healthcare from private insurance.
Tie it to the GDP and […] and buy local.
I’m gonna need the receipts on that crazy orthogonal linkage. Be sure to stress how paying a local guy I don’t know for employing a dozen locals is better than paying a remote guy I don’t know for employing a dozen locals.
“Buy local” is “buy small business”, as in not large scale corporations who continually abuse whatever means possible to minimize pay for employees while reaping the biggest rewards.
Not “this person who has 12 employees vs that person who has 12 employees”, but “buy from this person with 12 employees, not that company with more than 2 million employees and tops the list of employees on Medicare and food stamps”.
The store I go to employs 12 of my neighbours. I don’t go to the one the next town over, nor the metro. I don’t care whether they have the same owner as this one. They cease to be part of the equation.
Ok? What impact does that have on what was said?
When I say “local” I mean not outsourced to foreign investors, businesses, and production, or to a series of off shore shell corporations used to dodge federal taxes.
I don’t mean, “you should buy from Jeff’s Store, because his business is within 2 1/2 miles, fuck Jerry’s Store because he ships out of Iowa.”
Jerry is your neighbor. It doesn’t matter if he lives on the other side of the country.
Gee. Fuck me for using the DICTIONARY form of the word ‘local’ instead of a recursive definition which includes “local enough but not too local”.
Wait until the cement cures and those goalposts will be great in their new spot.
Hey, man. Sorry for whatever it is you’re going through. Sounds like a rough time.
So you’re telling me there’s no downside?
Good idea, it should make companies think twice about raising prices as they have if raising them just means they have to payout more in the end.
Because it would enter an infinite feedback loop where everyone would be paid minimum wage and the ultra rich would be even richer. Inflation only makes for an excuse for the rich to widen their profit margins.
Minimum wage should go up when inflation goes up, but so should all the wages. The way to fix it is effective policies that diminish the inflation itself to a reasonable amount.
How could the checks notes DEMOCRATS do this to us?! Pretending that the Dems are responsible for things this meme admits they’re actively fighting against is so braindead that it’s no wonder everyone thinks all these leftists are just Russian bots or right wing trolls. The premise here is just so moronic and short sighted that it’s depressing to think that a real human could actually post this and genuinely think they’re being honest.
Oh it gets worse. The Democrat’s “failure” to do X, Y, or Z (in the face of fierce Republican opposition but never mind that) becomes a reason to either not vote or… gasp… vote Republican.
Like… WTAF?
Remember when the Democrats had both congress and the presidency twice? Remember when the Democratic party kept promoting extremely conservative Democrats that beforehand constantly voiced their opposition to progressive policies, over their progressive enemies? Remember people like Joseph Lieberman? Remember Jay Rockefeller, who was the deciding vote for the ACA who suddenly reversed his pro-public healthcare rhetoric and opposed it he said because “the timing wasn’t very good”? Remember what they did to progressives like Jamaal Bowman? You know, putting all their resources into George Latimer (a blatantly pro-wealthy, pro-corporation, pro-Israel conservative) to get Bowman unseated, making it the most expensive house primary in the entire history of the United States? Remember the Democrat party leadership frequently donating tens of millions to centrist non-profits whose sole purpose is to get centrist/conservative candidates elected over progressives, and act as a “spoiler” for progressives in the party? Remember Democratic Party leaders infamously going on to work lobbying jobs time and time again when they leave the party? Remember when Obama and the Democrats could have gotten progressive Supreme Court judges in despite Republican opposition, but they just lied down and accepted not doing that in the name of “compromise”? Because I sure remember.
The Democrats constantly, intentionally, pump millions into blue conservatives which they can use to block leftist measures and use as the scapegoats to point to as the reason they couldn’t get anything done. They always have a bunch of people to spare to block bills which are “too progressive” that they don’t actually want passed. They ARE responsible for this shit.
Leftists have good reason to be absolutely pissed at the party. They know they’re the only “left” option, and they abuse the FUCK out of that. Blue Dog Democrats even existing is a sin in and of itself.
Why would the Democrats do this? As with most things wrong with the American democratic process, the reason is lobbying. Corporations lobby the Democrats seemingly just as much as the Republicans to ensure they don’t take away too much of their power. Shit’s fucked.
The fact that you have the audacity to blame progressives or leftists for being mad at the clear lack of democracy and the messed up stuff the Democratic party does to block important bills & candidates is so fucked up, holy shit. People are starving and dying because of the Democrats actively working against progressives in the party. Them giving us a few crumbs of good does not absolve them of intentionally absolutely fucking us over again and again. The party isn’t the friend of progressives, they’re just the “only choice”. I can only hope that the upcoming elections change that, and we don’t just get a dozen more obstructionists who the Dems use to block any vaguely center-left policy.
I’m sure voting for Republicans or not voting will help though right? Lol. I live in a state that’s been controlled by Democrats for a while and we keep voting for more and more progressive people. Things are objectively better and they’ll keep getting better.
I’m sorry that the entire country isn’t a socialist utopia after the Dems had tiny majorities in the house and Senate for one term and an even slimmer one another time. Both times with those majorities made up of vulnerable representatives in conservative areas. Turns out that’s how democracy works. It’s slow and that sucks but Republicans have spent 40 years grinding us towards fascism. Fascism is way easier to push as well.
We have to vote for the most progressive candidates possible. They all have to win big so they don’t have to be scared of being unseated by moderates or Republicans. We have to keep doing this from the local level to the federal level for a long time for things to change. Because if that’s who gets voted in consistently then the Republicans and the Democrats will move left.
40 years since Reagan and you’re over here crying that the Dems didn’t change the entire momentum of the country in 4 when they didn’t even have a clear mandate from the voters? Pathetic. You are the problem. Get some perspective and have the decency to spend an hour or two to vote for the most progressive candidates available which is the absolute easiest and least thing you can do. I know it’s slightly harder than crying on the internet. Sorry about that.
I’m sure voting for Republicans or not voting will help though right?
Stopped reading after this. You are a dumbass. I never even implied this. It takes about 5 seconds of looking through my profile to see that I borderline shill for voting for the Democratic party. In fact, if you read even just the last sentence of my comment, you should immediately realize that I was wishing for Democratic candidates to win these upcoming elections. You need to learn to think past a binary “full dicksucking of Democratic party = good, pointing out that Democratic party is fucked up = anti progressive Republican voting tankie and bad”. Please grow up.
I felt like I already made it obvious enough, but in case I didn’t: the Democrats are the only choice. They’re the better choice. That doesn’t mean that people like you can start crying about leftists being too harsh on the party when people point out how much the Democratic party has intentionally fucked us over time and time again, and the leaders of the party effectively completely block enough dedicated progressive leaders from actually being elected to make the differences that people vote Democrats in for. This process isn’t “democracy”, this is sacrificing the wants and needs of the voters for personal financial gain. It’s evil, and it’s cruel. They are causing an incredible amount of suffering and death. It’s not that the Democratic party “can’t” do it, it’s not that they would lose voters if they did it. These are literally the things the Democratic party as a whole campaigned on and put on their agenda each time, the voters explicitly expected them to follow through on the policies they ended up intentionally not passing. It’s that the Democratic party is extremely corrupt regardless of how you look at it. The way the party is run would probably be illegal in most of the first world. The fact that the “alternative” is borderline Nazis doesn’t make them the hero of the story, or undeserving of being torn apart by criticism. When the Democratic party as an organization stops spending millions to fuck over progressive politicians which otherwise would have won elections, and stops killing their voters because of lobbying from healthcare corporations, fossil fuel corporations, AIPAC, etc. then they’ll be deserving of the benefit of the doubt when it comes to these situations.
I’m sure voting for Republicans or not voting will help though right?
What a coincidence! I stopped reading after this too. I’m not gonna look through your comment history prick. Fortunately I didn’t write that for you because you’re obviously too stupid to understand any of it which is why you pretended not to read it. I wrote it for anyone else that might be confused by the trash you’re spewing. Can’t wait to not read your next 5 paragraph essay that’s just full of lies and insults. Have a great day!
“Lies and insults” LOL taking the MAGA stance I see. I literally just stated historical events and factual information. The fact that you apparently believe the party isn’t incredibly corrupt and a sucker for lobbying money is worrying to say the least. It’s not hard to look up basic information on money lobbying; the site even shows you how much each specific pharmaceutical company, university, bank, investment company, and much more is investing into all these Democrats! A lot of familiar names on there, no? And guess what – plenty of these conservative/centrist Democrats were heavily promoted by the party over actually principled progressive Democrats which were as (or more) likely to win! Are you going to decry that as “fake news” too?
You know you have no argument when “you’re a leftie who won’t vote for Democrats!!!” doesn’t work. That’s precisely your entire stance, “Democrats are better than Republicans so you’re wrong because you think voting is useless”. You literally crumble apart when you see that other people can both realize that the Democratic party is fucked up and realize that the only option is voting blue. It just doesn’t match up with your worldview. I’m sorry you can’t take even a bit of your own medicine, I get that you love throwing around insults, but if you do that you gotta learn to take them instead of immediately starting to whine and complain about other people insulting you back.
Take it down a notch there …. But let me relate it to everyday politics. My state is deep blue, Democratic Party’s best friends. So why don’t we get any live on election years? Why are we basically ignored? Why is all the campaign money spent in swing states? Why do they campaigns there and we don’t even have a tally to attend? The Democratic Party is focusing on the centrists and swing voters, not us.
Why is that?
No. You don’t get to tell them to take it down a notch. Their position was being ridiculed, by people who were ignorant of contemporary politics, and they rightly set things right.
Because it gives them an excuse to pass policy that favors their donors under the guise of “electability”, even though time and time again, it’s been shown that triangulating yourself to be one inch less bad than the republican loses elections over and over because it demotivates your base when they vote for the candidate that will do X Y and Z, and the candidate passes republican policy instead.
Do you think the democrats didn’t pass free healthcare in 2008 because they genuinely believed that there’s a big population of centrists who enjoy paying money and dealing with health insurance and will vote them out if they get free healthcare? Or because they got and continue to receive billions of dollars from the industry?
Peak “leftism” is creating posts like this that are completely inaccurate and take all responsibility away from one of the two major parties when they did everything they could to obstruct the process and posting them on the Internet for head nods, meaningless upvotes, and “that’s so true” responses.
We should make this fun, how about if someone under this posts MLK’s quote about white moderates, you have to buy us all a round of gin and tacos?
Reminds me of a relative. He often hits me with a “And why doesn’t Biden do more for Ukraine? Like use the money he has available as president?”. He never manages to understand that 1. he did end up sending a part of that money (intended for emergencies) and 2. his preferred option (Trump/MAGA) was the one fucking blocking the aid for half a year! (the before mentioned emergency)
As someone with a close friend that’s getting brainwashed by Republican propaganda( he got into blue collar work, thinks Dump is pro blue collar), there’s just no winning, no amount of logical reasoning matters. Arguing against their “truth” is arguing against their community and support system. It’s neigh impossible to convince them when they just google “FOX NEWS/NEWSMAX TELL ME IM RIGHT” and counter your reputable sources with bs.
Drink less gin:
- Democratic Party is not liberalism
- The republican party would keep the minimum wage where it is now or remove it altogether
IOW Dems have a razor thin majority a couple of times in the last 20 years for a 2-year period each. They are expected to pass legislation to fix every single problem in that time frame. They manage to get X, Y, and Z done in spite of Senate rules that tie one hand behind their backs and full out raging opposition by the repubs, and the response is “goddammit why didn’t you get the whole alphabet done, you assholes?”
Even worse are the ones who think the POTUS position is some kind of emperor who can just simply decree “Make it so” and boom it happens, so why hasn’t he done this or that like I want (yes I’m mixing metaphors but you get the point).
Senate rules that tie one hand behind their backs
Rules the democrats put in place on themselves twice, and republicans remove as soon as they’re in power.
You don’t get points for handicapping yourself.
POTUS position is some kind of emperor who can just simply decree “Make it so” and boom it happens
The US executive is one of the most powerful positions on the planet. They appoint the head of every single federal agency and are the only ones capable of directly enforcing their will. We saw it under Bush when he went to war without congressional approval and essentially said “Yeah I’ll ask permission to stay 9 months into the war”. We saw under Trump he just ignored the SCOTUS to fuck off and face no consequences, we saw under Biden he can just go around congress for many things like arms for Israel and summery deportation of asylum seekers.
The difference is we want the executive to use their power for good, not either pretend they don’t have it or use it for objectively bad things.
Rules the democrats put in place on themselves twice, and republicans remove as soon as they’re in power.
Nope, the republicans have not removed the filibuster or senatorial holds. (side note: In the past, the filibuster was restricted in regards to appointing justices/federal judges only. First by Dems for SCOTUS justices, then by Repubs for federal judges. Other than that neither of them have removed the filibuster. The filibuster and senatorial hold are the rules I was talking about, which are the main ways that repubs stymie Dems’ ability to pass legislation (and the other way around BTW).
We saw it under Bush when he went to war without congressional approval and essentially said “Yeah I’ll ask permission to stay 9 months into the war”.
But he did get congressional approval beforehand when they passed this resolution. Of course he got it by lying to Congress and the UN .
What many legislative bodies with outdated minimum wages need are minimum wage committees or commissions, i.e. institutions that arbitrate between democratic employer and employee (e.g. unions) associations on a regular time frame (say 1 or 2 years) who create binding minimum wage tariffs.
Oregon changed their minimum wage to step up over several years, split slightly between the major urban centers and rural areas, and go up based on consumer price index after that. Works well.
https://www.oregon.gov/boli/workers/Pages/minimum-wage-schedule.aspx
Wait? Did they raise the minimum wage to 15 dollars? Woo-hoo! Dollar fifty raise!
the meme is misinformation (the $15 minimum wage was removed before the senate approved it)
fuck
Crazy how far along batshit insane conservative bills get versus liberal ones like this. Almost like not playing by the rules gets you places
Tankies here saw a community called "US Authoritarianism " and thought “finally, people who love the taste of boot as much as I do!”
Ooh wow congrats everyone . I think this might be the most downvoted post in this space
So brave.
