this post was submitted on 25 Jul 2024
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I've been saying it too, met with about the same enthusiasm as your post. The Democrats have been riding the "end of democracy" train for 8 years now, and it'd be nice to have a normal election where we vote for a candidate that we actually want, rather than just voting for whoever they shove in front of us because they're not trump. Well, I did vote for Sanders in the primaries in 2016, and 2020, but you saw what the DNC did to him. They'd rather have trump than a progressive like Sanders.
Boo fucking hoo. "Oh, it'd be so nice to live in a world that's not a dystopic hellscape". YEAH WE ALL FUCKING AGREE! But you know what? That's not the world we live in. America is divided in a 3-way split between people who want to bring back a monarchy, people who don't want that, and people who couldn't give a shit. Do I wish that wasn't the case? Of fucking course I do. But, as Jayne Cobb said in "Firefly": "If wishes were horses, we'd all be eating steak." You can't WISH your way into a better world. In the actual, physical world we occupy, you have extremely limited options available to you. Your options are: vote for someone you don't particularly like, or don't do that and therefore make it more likely that you never get to vote again.
Sorry. That's the choice. I don't make the rules. That's just the way things are. Bitching about it on the internet will give you nothing.
No shit. Obviously we all understand what's at stake. But it's been at stake for too fucking long. Throw the bastard in prison. Fucking do something to him rather than keeping him around so there's always a crisis situation. Fix the broken system that allowed this. There's always an imminent threat as tyrants seize power and democracy dies, because tyrants make sure of it.
Again, I agree. I'd love for things to be fixed. But they aren't. Because of voter apathy in 2016, Trump was elected president, and then he proceeded to appoint hundreds of federal judges, and 3 supreme court justices who have all been working overtime covering for his ass. So that's the stakes. You can either vote for the people who are ineffectually trying to fix the mess, or get that dude back into power so he can make it worse.
Edit: And it's not like Democrats are totally to blame for being ineffectual. In a lot of circumstances, their hands are tied by our system of checks and balances. The president, up until 2 weeks ago, was not above the law. Also, Democrats barely have a majority in the Senate (which is far below the threshold of filibuster-proof), and are a minority in the House. So their ability to "fix the broken system that allowed this" has been severely hampered.
I guess it's not clear that I'd vote for a literal pile of garbage over trump, but I do not like what I'm seeing. Not at all. And I'll leave it at that, since anything more is veering further into conjecture.
I'm completely baffled. Like, you saw how much of a fucking shitshow the Biden campaign was, right? How could you see it finally come to an end, with someone who is incredibly competent taking over, and be like: "Waaaah, but muh vote!!!"?? It's idiotic.
Pardon me for caring about preserving the traditions of our democracy.
Nothing about primaries is part of the constitution. You realize that, right? This entire time, the primary process was just bylaws of two different organizations. And this time, they weren't able to complete the normal process because the candidate that everybody backed decided to bow out at the last minute. So what is it, exactly, that you're mad about? Are you mad because you were operating under the illusion that this was somehow a democratic process enshrined in the constitution? Are you mad because the 81-year-old whose ego convinced him that he could totally win again was finally talked out of it? Are you mad that in a crisis, everybody looked to the most obvious person to take over? Are you mad that the Democrats now finally have a good chance to win the election? What the hell are you even bitching about?
I'm aware that primaries aren't in the constitution, which is why I said "this is how it has been done for decades", and not "this is how it's been done for 248 years". I feel like I've explained what my issue is. It's obvious that you guys are totally cool just taking whomever the DNC gives you so, congratulations, I guess.
Ok? At what point in the last several decades has a candidate won the primary, then bowed out right before being confirmed by delegates? What time in history can you point to to show that the DNC is doing something nefarious here by voting for the person the winning candidate endorsed before backing out?
This is an unprecedented event. The fact that you think it should have gone some other way is completely irrelevant.
What are you talking about???? Trump literally tried to coup the government with false slate of electors!! Are you even for real here jerking yourself off about being able to pick the candidate? Are you serious???
Now????
You should probably settle down a little. Yes I know who trump is, which is why I'm willing to vote for whomever they shove in front of us. I'd vote for a literal pile of garbage, or an open can of tuna before voting for trump. I would never vote for trump. Maybe read what I wrote again.
Yes I'm serious, selecting candidates through a primary is how elections have been held in this country for decades, whenever the incumbent isn't running. You think that a candidate selected by the voters is going to be less likely to get those voter's votes in the general election? Do you understand what a primary is?
Edit: since you're all worked up about "now????" Take a minute and think about it. It's always going to be the same threat from the GOP moving forward, until the actual problem is fixed. If not trump, it'll be DeSantis, or Hannity, or any of the other unelectable people they have in their pool of horrible candidates to choose from.
It's not about voters selecting the candidate. It's about the logistics of setting up a campaign in FOUR MONTHS. These are things that take years to set up) 1(staff, volunteers, offices, funds). Harris has everything ready to roll. What the he'll do you want???
So, did Biden's intellect just suddenly collapse on stage, leading to his withdrawal, or was the DNC lying to us about his mental competency during all these years it took to set up his campaign? Did they always have this planned, or were they hoping to push a candidate through who they felt wasn't actually capable of performing his duties? On that note, if he's unfit to continue his campaign, then he's probably unfit to continue his presidency too, and should just hand the reigns to Harris now. The whole thing stinks. Yes, vote trump into oblivion, but that doesn't mean we need to like what happened.