this post was submitted on 01 Jan 2024
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The animating concept behind the Trump campaign will be chaos. This is what history shows us fascists do when given the chance to participate in democratic political campaigns: They create chaos. They do it because chaos works to their advantage. They revel in it, because they can see how profoundly chaos unnerves democratic-republicans—everyone, that is, whether liberal or conservative, who believes in the basic idea of a representative government that is built around neutral rules. Fascism exists to pulverize neutral rules.

So they campaign with explicit intention to instill a sense of chaos. And then comes the topper: They have the audacity to insist that the only solution to the chaos—that they themselves have either grossly exaggerated or in some cases created!—is to vote for them: “You see, there is nothing but chaos afoot, and only we can restore order!”

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[–] [email protected] 195 points 11 months ago (47 children)

Whatever. I’m voting D no matter what, for every election, because republicans are disgusting traitor filth.

[–] [email protected] 95 points 11 months ago

I don't consider myself a Democrat, but in this two-horse race, I vote Democrat because, as my father was fond of saying and said as far back as at least the Reagan era, "the worst Democrat is better than the best Republican." Sad but true. I'd rather have a senate of Bob Menendezes and lose Susan Collins in the mix. Menendez is a corrupt bastard, but at least he votes as if he gives a shit about other people. Collins tries to sound reasonable and fair and then votes in lockstep with the rest of the Republicans most of the time anyway.

[–] CaptDust 78 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (1 children)

Lol yeah I remember when I used to consider positions, evaluate the candidates, check historical records etc. GOP has made this very easy the last few years because "fuck women, gays, immigrants and the disabled. Science is fake, Jan 6 is fake, covid is fake, trump is a saint and the rich need more help".

Wow what a winning platform. ☑️ D

[–] [email protected] 12 points 11 months ago

GOP has made this very easy

I'm a Houstonian. I'll vote straight ticket, but I can already tell you how the election will shake out.

Texas will go bright red. Houston will go bright blue. My vote at the state and national level won't matter, because its winner-take-all. And many of my neighbors will be subject to harassment, disenfranchisement, and voter caging because they've got African American / Pacific surnames, which flag them as easy targets for reducing D turnout. That's before you even get into how reliable a Jane Nelson / Ken Paxton administered election is expected to be, given how frequently we've had rules for mail-in ballots, voter id, and county-wide voting challenged by the current state administration.

The GOP has made the decision to vote against them easy. They have made the process to vote against them increasingly difficult.

Science is fake, Jan 6 is fake, covid is fake, trump is a saint and the rich need more help.

The same folks who say this shit are the ones expected to tally the results of the election faithfully.

As the saying goes, "Its not the votes that count but who counts the votes". Our dogged reliance on the machinery of elections in a state with a decades long history of shady election practices is naive af.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 11 months ago

I used to be an Independent voter. I'd consider reasonable Democrats and Republicans alike. No more. Dems down the ballot for me.

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[–] [email protected] 132 points 11 months ago (8 children)

I'm tired of every election being the most important election. I want politics to be boring again, less evil too if possible.

[–] [email protected] 46 points 11 months ago

If politics were ever boring or less evil, it's because you weren't paying attention or engaged. Every upcoming election will always be the most important. Simply because all the others have happened, and the remainder are too far off and nebulous.

Ask all the people suppressed, attacked, and assassinated in the 50s and 60s fighting for civil rights. All the ones since then too. It didn't magically become perfect. Or all the people brutalized by robber barons before as they fought for unions, weekends, reasonable hours, and basic safety.

Being disengaged from politics is a luxury and a privilege that most people can't afford. Which explains why we're in such a deficit. With so much of the American population chomping at the bit for fascism again. And much of the rest of the world close behind. Putin in Russia, Orban in Hungary, Milieu in Argentina, etc etc etc. We've been asleep at the wheel, enabling the worst people among us.

[–] PinkPanther 39 points 11 months ago

You landed in the wrong timeline.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 11 months ago

Republicans are pushing for fascism, and Democrats like not having to do anything but be second worst to fascists.

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[–] [email protected] 78 points 11 months ago (5 children)

Are the Democrats EVER prepared though?

"I am not a member of any organized political party. I am a Democrat." - Will Rogers, 1879-1935

"Democrats never agree on anything, that’s why they’re Democrats. If they agreed with each other, they’d be Republicans." - Will Rogers, 1879-1935

[–] [email protected] 50 points 11 months ago (2 children)

1879-1935

TIL you guys have been stuck with the same two political parties since the 1850s. No wonder they've gone a bit corrupt.

[–] [email protected] 43 points 11 months ago (1 children)

To be fair, the parties themselves have changed significantly since then.

[–] [email protected] 32 points 11 months ago (3 children)

To be fair, no two-party system is a healthy democracy, and the way our elections are designed it’ll stay that way.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 11 months ago (2 children)
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[–] [email protected] 8 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (2 children)

Our election system is generally bad. Elections aren't controlled by the federal government, even for federal elections, they are run by counties (or whatever the locality calls a county - in Louisiana they are parishes) and each county runs their elections differently unless the state steps in and regulates it. Some states have mail in voting, some make you stand in line on election day. Some counties have FPTP voting, others might have STAR or RCV.

The only way I see things changing at all are two fold: publicly funded elections with no private money at all AND abandoning FPTP voting for a broader method with an added benefit of potentially eliminating primaries. I know parties would complain, but things would be much more democratic.

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[–] [email protected] 35 points 11 months ago (7 children)

That's what happens with a first past the post voting system. A ranked choice would open things up quite a bit, but that would require the people elected by the first past the post voting system to change it or mass revolution.

Someone call the French and let them know we actually do need them again.

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[–] [email protected] 21 points 11 months ago (2 children)

God damn it. It's been true that long?

[–] [email protected] 11 points 11 months ago (3 children)

It's almost like individual people have different opinions and want different things.

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[–] [email protected] 70 points 11 months ago

This has been the Republican Party's M.O. for decades.

"Government is corrupt and ineffective, elect us and we'll prove it to you!"

[–] [email protected] 48 points 11 months ago (4 children)

I really wish Biden would step down. I'd love a better option from the Dems. That said, no way in hell am I voting for Trump.

[–] [email protected] 17 points 11 months ago

I really wish Biden would step down. I’d love a better option from the Dems.

glances at Kamala Harris

sighs

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[–] [email protected] 39 points 11 months ago

That's 11 months for heart disease to do the world a favor and get itself some good PR for once.

[–] [email protected] 35 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (2 children)

There is no saving America, there's only buying time. Democrats can't do what's needed to prevent fascism because actually doing something about the Republican party would risk creating actual democracy. Prepare to fight fascism now because at best you're buying yourself another 4 years. Vote, don't vote, vote for a third party out of protest, whatever you do organize with other people and prepare for the worst.

In the best case, I'm wrong and you've made new friends. But if you don't organize now it will be too late to organize in the worst case.

[–] [email protected] 16 points 11 months ago (8 children)

Democrats can’t do what’s needed to prevent fascism because actually doing something about the Republican party would risk creating actual democracy.

Hard fucking facts. When you look at places where liberals have carte blanche to do whatever they damned well please - your Californias and Washingtons and NYs and Minnesotas - they still can't bring themselves to do what needs doing. No public health care. Rampant homelessness thanks to commodified housing. Food deserts. Rich-people-only universities. No new mass transit. Police budgets skyrocketing. Everyone kowtowing to tech executives for no discernible benefit.

Meanwhile, the fascists in Texas and Florida and the Dakotas and Carolinas are creating the future of the American political system while Schumer, Jeffries, and Biden just kinda sleep through it.

Vote, don’t vote, vote for a third party out of protest, whatever you do organize with other people and prepare for the worst.

Voting as a panacea for organizing has really fucked the country as a whole. While movement conservatives raid school boards and throw pipe bombs at abortion clinics and do Brooks Brothers Riots and Jan 6ths any time an election is in doubt, liberals have been totally pacified. They show up ever couple of years, pull a lever, do a thoughts and prayers, and go home.

They spend far more time gambling on Robinhood or working overtime to earn their bosses a bigger paycheck than they do throwing events for their neighborhood or organizing their offices to bargain for a bigger share of company profits.

The American future looks increasingly grim.

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[–] [email protected] 29 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Gods know I’m not ready for another American election.

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[–] [email protected] 28 points 11 months ago (11 children)

If the democrats were prepared Biden wouldn't be on the ballot

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[–] [email protected] 25 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Democrats still don't know who they will be running against - since the polling needed to determine that are not "likely Iowa caucus goers" but "likely Trump jurors". We don't want to be like the Republicans in 2008 who were completely prepared to take on and tear down a Hilary Clinton nominee, only to find themselves fighting Obama.

[–] [email protected] 23 points 11 months ago (5 children)

If the Republican nominee is anyone but Trump, we'll see Trump run as an independent and split the vote.

[–] [email protected] 13 points 11 months ago
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[–] [email protected] 24 points 11 months ago (2 children)

The world will be looking at you. Don't fuck this up USA

[–] [email protected] 12 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Too late. We've already normalized fascism.

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[–] [email protected] 20 points 11 months ago

A lot of wackos around the world have been winning elections, so we shall see.

[–] [email protected] 16 points 11 months ago

I wouldn't be surprised if more vicious rhetoric has been used in past elections, at least one candidate in pre-Civil War America was called a "hermaphrodite", but the inevitable use of AI is going to make the election an absolute circus. L

[–] [email protected] 14 points 11 months ago (3 children)

Please, for the love of God; if it's a state where Biden is guaranteed, then vote third party or whatever alternative dumbass you want. If it's a swing state, it's your god damned duty to vote for Biden. I don't like the AID he's providing Israel but he's not dropping the fucking bombs.

We don't need to spit in the face of our constitution to prove a point. We don't need to tank the work he's done getting the country back on track so you can feel morally superior. We don't need another bad year of COVID just because your friends are saying "Biden bad". Your friends are retarded and so are you.

Normally I don't give a shit what you liberal idiots do but this is seriously going to affect us in the real world. It's not your reddit and lemmy echo chambers out here so please tighten the fuck up.

Or tell us of a viable, alternative candidate with over a 90% chance of winning. Oh you don't have one? Then please shut the fuck up and vote Biden.

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[–] [email protected] 14 points 11 months ago

Meet the new year, same as the old year.

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