I won’t argue that the leadership and majority of the Democratic party are neoconservative “”“centrists”“” - in other words, they’re conservative Democrats. There is a minority segment of the party that is progressive however, and once in a while they do something that is truly beneficial for everyone. The same can never be said about the GOP.
(edit) - Basically our political party makeup in this country in 2023 is the following:
Progressive Democrats (minority)
Conservative Democrats (majority)
Conservative Republicans (minority)
Fascist Republicans (majority)
(/e)
Do I vote for Democrats? Yes. Do I wish that they would be more progressive and fight back against the fascist Republicans more? Yes. Do I have any illusions that they don’t fight back more because a portion of them are no different than the Republicans? No.
However, given that those are our only real options in the U.S. as long as we have a first-past-the-post, winner take all voting system (unless or until we institute ranked choice or some other alternative voting system), then the Democrats are the only one of those two parties that at least takes some actions and speaks words in support of the poor and middle classes. If you look at their actions, anyone who is not ultra rich should be voting for Democrats over Republicans unquestionably.
And what with the FPTP voting and all, not voting for Democrats is no different than voting for the GOP, which is only going to take us further down the path of fascism.
I do wish that we would adopt ranked choice voting, so that more parties would have a chance to take hold. Until then, you’re right, we have a very low level of meaningful democratic interaction in our country.
Also FWIW, my original comment about ‘being glad someone was calling out people’ wasn’t directed at you. I don’t recall previous interaction with you and haven’t seen your post history. There are plenty of people on here however that believe that anyone who isn’t calling for a violent overthrow of the U.S. government isn’t on the political left, which is abso-fucking-lutely absurd, and as @GuyDudeman@lemmy.ml said those people are usually in favor of countries that are examples of extreme authoritarian leftism, which I see as being not much different than fascism or other far right ideologies.
I also feel like the anti-electoralism of the far-left in the US is deliberately meant to keep them from running for office and making positive changes. As long as the CIA can convince them that the only solution to the country’s ills is to commit treason, it’s going to be a lot harder for them to influence our politics and policies.
I want to see Communist City Council members. I want Communists to run as Democrats and get their asses into seats and work their way up to real power in the party so we can actually start implementing changes for the better.
I want the Republicans to NOT be lying when the call Democrats “communists”.
DSA (Democratic Socialists of America) is sort of trying. Sometimes I feel like they’re the “controlled opposition” of the DNC, and that their leadership is “in cahoots” with the DNC leadership and are deliberately thwarting any efforts that could truly help the DSA take off. But that’s probably paranoid, and definitely not Occam’s Razor, I suppose.
What is it they say? “Don’t attribute to malice that which can be more easily be attributed to incompetence.”?
Hanlon’s Razor, but yes, I don’t think I would attribute it to a conspiracy per se, rather that those people just want to hold on to power any way they can paired with the fact that the system is inherently rigged against any third party from establishing itself.
I believe that absolutely none of that can come about until we enact ranked choice or another voting system to allow people to vote for other parties without fear of throwing away their vote.
Anyway, I’m not sure how we can enact ranked choice voting without first infiltrating and filling the existing two-party system with people who eventually want to enact ranked choice voting. As it is currently, the only people in politics are people who are happy with the two party system and know how to manipulate it for electoral and personal gain.
You’re right, it’s a chicken and the egg scenario. I really don’t know how we can convince politicians to push for RCV when that’s exactly what will let some measure of power slip from their hands. A few states (Alaska, Maine, & Nevada) have done it now, and North Carolina had it but their legislature “thought better of it” and repealed it.
I guess you’ll need to define “in favor of”.
I won’t argue that the leadership and majority of the Democratic party are neoconservative “”“centrists”“” - in other words, they’re conservative Democrats. There is a minority segment of the party that is progressive however, and once in a while they do something that is truly beneficial for everyone. The same can never be said about the GOP.
(edit) - Basically our political party makeup in this country in 2023 is the following:
(/e)
Do I vote for Democrats? Yes. Do I wish that they would be more progressive and fight back against the fascist Republicans more? Yes. Do I have any illusions that they don’t fight back more because a portion of them are no different than the Republicans? No.
However, given that those are our only real options in the U.S. as long as we have a first-past-the-post, winner take all voting system (unless or until we institute ranked choice or some other alternative voting system), then the Democrats are the only one of those two parties that at least takes some actions and speaks words in support of the poor and middle classes. If you look at their actions, anyone who is not ultra rich should be voting for Democrats over Republicans unquestionably.
And what with the FPTP voting and all, not voting for Democrats is no different than voting for the GOP, which is only going to take us further down the path of fascism.
I do wish that we would adopt ranked choice voting, so that more parties would have a chance to take hold. Until then, you’re right, we have a very low level of meaningful democratic interaction in our country.
Also FWIW, my original comment about ‘being glad someone was calling out people’ wasn’t directed at you. I don’t recall previous interaction with you and haven’t seen your post history. There are plenty of people on here however that believe that anyone who isn’t calling for a violent overthrow of the U.S. government isn’t on the political left, which is abso-fucking-lutely absurd, and as @GuyDudeman@lemmy.ml said those people are usually in favor of countries that are examples of extreme authoritarian leftism, which I see as being not much different than fascism or other far right ideologies.
I agree with you on most of this stuff.
I also feel like the anti-electoralism of the far-left in the US is deliberately meant to keep them from running for office and making positive changes. As long as the CIA can convince them that the only solution to the country’s ills is to commit treason, it’s going to be a lot harder for them to influence our politics and policies.
I want to see Communist City Council members. I want Communists to run as Democrats and get their asses into seats and work their way up to real power in the party so we can actually start implementing changes for the better.
I want the Republicans to NOT be lying when the call Democrats “communists”.
DSA (Democratic Socialists of America) is sort of trying. Sometimes I feel like they’re the “controlled opposition” of the DNC, and that their leadership is “in cahoots” with the DNC leadership and are deliberately thwarting any efforts that could truly help the DSA take off. But that’s probably paranoid, and definitely not Occam’s Razor, I suppose.
What is it they say? “Don’t attribute to malice that which can be more easily be attributed to incompetence.”?
Hanlon’s Razor, but yes, I don’t think I would attribute it to a conspiracy per se, rather that those people just want to hold on to power any way they can paired with the fact that the system is inherently rigged against any third party from establishing itself.
I believe that absolutely none of that can come about until we enact ranked choice or another voting system to allow people to vote for other parties without fear of throwing away their vote.
Ahh, yes. Hanlon’s Razor.
Anyway, I’m not sure how we can enact ranked choice voting without first infiltrating and filling the existing two-party system with people who eventually want to enact ranked choice voting. As it is currently, the only people in politics are people who are happy with the two party system and know how to manipulate it for electoral and personal gain.
You’re right, it’s a chicken and the egg scenario. I really don’t know how we can convince politicians to push for RCV when that’s exactly what will let some measure of power slip from their hands. A few states (Alaska, Maine, & Nevada) have done it now, and North Carolina had it but their legislature “thought better of it” and repealed it.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ranked-choice_voting_in_the_United_States
More than any one political issue, this needs to happen first for any real change to occur.
Agreed. But it will have to start on the municipal level and work its way up, I believe.