• shiroininja@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      31
      arrow-down
      9
      ·
      9 months ago

      The problem is, we need caps on profit margins on necessities, and to stop the making of things we need for basic survival investment opportunities.

      But that would be difficult to get done. So they go for the low hanging fruit of wages, which never permanently solve anything because they’ll just keep raising prices under this scamflation cycle we’ve been in since COVID.

      • Scratch@sh.itjust.works
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        15
        arrow-down
        1
        ·
        9 months ago

        Every service that is necessary for human survival should have a not-for-profit vendor.

    • Viking_Hippie@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      27
      arrow-down
      10
      ·
      9 months ago

      When all it takes to stop them is the nonbinding opinion of an unelected advisor, are they really trying, though?

    • BingoBangoBongo@midwest.social
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      6
      arrow-down
      1
      ·
      9 months ago

      They just repealed right to work in Michigan, and Meijer employees presumably used that leverage to significantly improve wages and benefits.

      • shyguyblue@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        4
        ·
        9 months ago

        Right to work is another BS right wing policy that needs to die. I put in less than two weeks notice, I’m an asshole; company drops me in an instant, business as usual.

    • RangerJosie@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      1
      ·
      1 month ago

      *Pretending to try

      Important distinction. Its an old tried and true election year chestnut they trot out every few years to hoodwink a few idiots. They refuse to use power when they have it, and cry about being unable to do anything when they dont.

      inb4 - That they havent packed the court to unfuck Roe negates any point you may conceivably be contriving in the moment you read this. So save your breath.

    • MisterFrog@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      1
      ·
      9 months ago

      When will they finally increase it to something plausible, and then appoint some department to review and increase it in line with inflation every year according to XYZ rules.

      Seems silly to need acts of congress to increase it every time.

    • Asafum@feddit.nl
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      5
      arrow-down
      8
      ·
      edit-2
      9 months ago

      Minimum wage is not the same thing as a living wage. The minimum wage should be a living wage, but it isn’t.

      See: NY. We just got our minimum wage increase and it’s 15-16/hr depending on where you are in NY… That’s what we were fighting for more than ten goddamn years ago. $15-$16/hr is an absolute joke on Long Island and NYC. I finally managed to claw my way up to 60k/year and as a single guy the thought of homeownership on long Island is as fantastical and far-fetched as a unicorn, forget about 15/hr… You can’t even rent most illegal apartments at that income alone.

      The conversation needs to be about what constitutes a living wage and how to calculate it at a given time for each area not just blanket minimum wage increases to specific numbers that sound nice to chant like “fight for fifteen.”

      • rambaroo@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        6
        arrow-down
        7
        ·
        9 months ago

        Lol getting down voted out of pure tribalism. The complete unwillingness of their base to seriously criticize Democrats is such a massive fucking turn off to voting for them.

    • rambaroo@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      1
      arrow-down
      6
      ·
      edit-2
      9 months ago

      Minimum wage and living wage are two very different things. Most Democrats absolutely do not support a living wage, and don’t try to lie to us about how they do.

        • rambaroo@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          3
          arrow-down
          5
          ·
          edit-2
          9 months ago

          Republicans aren’t stopping states like NY or CA from passing a living wage. Democrats are stopping that.

          So sick of the straw men and blatant gaslighting coming from the democratic party. Anything to excuse why corporations keep getting their way with Dems. Meanwhile it takes 10 fucking years to increase the minimum wage in a blue state.

          • Blooper@lemmy.world
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            9
            arrow-down
            4
            ·
            9 months ago

            No, one of the two parties makes posts like this to make stupid people say “both sides” whilst said party passes laws to suppress black votes, discriminate against gay folk, and ban abortions.

            Quit trying to “both sides”. It’s what stupid people say.

            • kadotux@lemmings.world
              link
              fedilink
              arrow-up
              2
              arrow-down
              2
              ·
              edit-2
              9 months ago

              But I’m not saying that. I’m saying that a two-party system is stupid. And I’m saying that as a citizen of a country that has 9 political parties. edit: to make it clear, if I’d be an American, I’d definitely vote for Dems, no question about it.

      • NateNate60@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        78
        arrow-down
        7
        ·
        edit-2
        9 months ago

        My home state of Oregon mandates a minimum wage of $13.20 in rural areas and $15.45 in the Portland metro area, and it adjusts to inflation. Oregon has been governed by Democrats for years. Thanks to these and other laws, I can go down to a McDonald’s and get a job that pays $16-17 an hour to start in my city. TriMet in Portland is always advertising a $28 starting wage for bus drivers (no CDL) up to $37 after three years. Rent in my city is $800-900 for a one-bedroom flat with excellent free public transit and fair bikeability. Fuel prices are reasonable. We have strong protections for tenants against abusive landlords. Strong anti-discrimination laws. Everyone has paid sick days. No regressive sales tax. Working-class people can afford a roof over their heads and decent food on the table.

        Check out the neighbouring state minimum wages.

        • Washington (Democratic government): $16.28
        • California (Democratic government): $16.00
        • Nevada (divided government): $12.00
        • Idaho (Republican government): $7.25

        But yeah, keep harping on about how both parties are the same and that Democrats don’t do more to help the working man.

        • pingveno
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          28
          ·
          9 months ago

          My home state of Oregon mandates a minimum wage of $13.20 in rural areas and $15.45 in the Portland metro area, and it adjusts to inflation.

          I was part of that! I was on a team that made a web site that visualized the effect on poverty levels on a county-by-county basis when the minimum wage was at different levels. It made the need for a split minimum wage obvious, since the minimum wage that is necessary for metro areas is inappropriate for rural areas. Rumor has it that the legislature used it in the decision making to some degree.

          • NateNate60@lemmy.world
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            4
            ·
            9 months ago

            I think that’s why it’s important to encourage participation in the primary process. There are the neoliberals mixed in with the social democrats and actual socialists. We should be voting for and supporting the latter in the primaries if we want to influence the party in a leftward direction.

        • Feathercrown@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          8
          ·
          9 months ago

          That’s actually better than I thought. People in other states are so used to the dysfunction that they literally don’t believe these things are possible.

          • NateNate60@lemmy.world
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            5
            ·
            9 months ago

            Good news doesn’t spread as quickly as bad news and rage bait. “McDonald’s Workers Can Afford Flat on 1/3 of Income” isn’t a good headline but “Families Increasingly Priced Out By Red-Hot Housing Market” does.

        • rambaroo@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          3
          arrow-down
          3
          ·
          edit-2
          9 months ago

          None of these are living wages. You don’t get a cookie for doing the bare minimum of keeping people out of effective slavery. Give me a fucking break.

          • NateNate60@lemmy.world
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            2
            arrow-down
            1
            ·
            9 months ago

            Your other comment says—

            So pathetic how you claim to support democracy but shit on anyone who criticizes your precious political party and then make juvenile excuses for doing so.

            I don’t. But it’s undeniably true that one party is much better, in my opinion, than the other. They aren’t a perfect party but to equate them with the Republican Party simply because they aren’t doing a perfect (or in many cases, even a good) job is stupid.

            Right now, the choices are “bare minimum” or “nothing at all”. These choices are not the same. One is clearly better.

            If you would like a more nuanced opinion then read carefully the rest of my comments in this thread. I’m not going to repeat my points for every person who comes along with the same retort and insult thinking they’ve “got” me.

        • DessertStorms@kbin.social
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          8
          arrow-down
          20
          ·
          edit-2
          9 months ago

          “Look at how well the democrats allow the capitalists to treat me as they ensure they can continue to exploit my labour for their own profit uninterrupted!!11”

          (seriously - start by looking at those companies profit margins for a tip of the iceberg idea of just how much they are making off of your labour before you do a happy dance over a couple of dollars more they’re willing to throw your way to keep you from demanding actual freedom)

          But yeah, keep harping on about how represented you are in the sham they call electoral politics…

          • Sprokes@jlai.lu
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            17
            arrow-down
            1
            ·
            9 months ago

            I think OP is just saying that democrats are better than Republicans. We have multiple parties in my country but people vote for tree ones that support capitalism and rich people. We also have people that support a politician that was found guilty of fraud.

            Rich people have power so they can do what they want.

            • MotoAsh@lemmy.world
              link
              fedilink
              arrow-up
              3
              arrow-down
              9
              ·
              edit-2
              9 months ago

              OK so one of the slavers is nicer than the other… You’re still owned by slavers. Holy fuck, Liberals are just as fucking dumb as conservatives.

                • MotoAsh@lemmy.world
                  link
                  fedilink
                  arrow-up
                  2
                  arrow-down
                  8
                  ·
                  edit-2
                  9 months ago

                  Funny meme, doesn’t make me wrong. The comic itself agrees with me.

                  Funny how people deny the truth when it’s not stated as a joke. Almost like you all aren’t actually processing the message. Democrats are liberals. Democrats are still allowing Republicans to keep your wages down.

              • NateNate60@lemmy.world
                link
                fedilink
                arrow-up
                4
                arrow-down
                3
                ·
                9 months ago

                Arguments against electoral democracy by so-called socialists always boil down to “it’s not perfect so why bother”.

                Okay, so keep complaining. Your vision of a better tomorrow isn’t going to magically come true if you complain hard enough. You can help make it come true only by participating in the political system we have today. Even if you think it doesn’t work, you have no choice but to participate anyway and hope you are wrong.

                This is how I got banned from Hexbear. I told someone “You can either participate in the current system or plot to overthrow it. Are you working with the next Lenin or Mao, or merely fantasizing about it?”

                So what about you? What are you doing to build the future you want?

                • MotoAsh@lemmy.world
                  link
                  fedilink
                  arrow-up
                  3
                  arrow-down
                  5
                  ·
                  9 months ago

                  I’m not complaining to complain and I’m not saying don’t vote. What the flying fuck are all these assumptions coming from you?

                  What I’m saying is the two party system gives you a choice between two enemies. Yet you dumbasses CONSTANTLY pretend that Democrats good just because Republicans bad.

                  A vote doesn’t, and SHOULD NOT, come with an ass kissing.

          • explodicle@local106.com
            link
            fedilink
            English
            arrow-up
            5
            ·
            9 months ago

            That’s waaaay more complicated than just minimum wage. $16 isn’t even a living wage here in L.A. where we’ve got lots of homelessness.

            We ought to employ Land Value Taxation to fund the basic necessities for survival, and the remainder should go towards a UBI.

            • NateNate60@lemmy.world
              link
              fedilink
              arrow-up
              3
              ·
              9 months ago

              For what it’s worth, the minimum wage in LA will rise to $17.28 in July of this year. I get that’s still not very high by LA standards, but I stress that progress is better than stagnation.

          • NateNate60@lemmy.world
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            5
            ·
            9 months ago

            Yes, and that’s because the progressive and left-wing of the Democratic Party is losing a power struggle against the centrists and neoliberals. If you want to change that, be sure to vote in the party primary elections and to encourage everyone you know to do the same.

            Register to vote

      • squiblet@kbin.social
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        24
        arrow-down
        1
        ·
        9 months ago

        There’s an $18 minimum wage in Denver, for instance. Republicans sure as hell didn’t vote for that.

  • NutWrench
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    126
    arrow-down
    35
    ·
    9 months ago

    Yeah, subby. We get it. “Both sides are bad.” But one side is boring corporatists who don’t give a crap and the other side is 100% concentrated evil fascists, authoritarians and religious nutjobs. And while that’s a choice between the lesser of two evils, it’s not a difficult one.

    • masterspace@lemmy.ca
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      24
      arrow-down
      6
      ·
      edit-2
      9 months ago

      That may have been the point of the original comic, but given the caption, I think OP’s point wasn’t that both sides are bad, but was that a two party system is inherently biased towards corporate capture.

    • sanguine_artichoke@midwest.social
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      16
      ·
      9 months ago

      That’s the problem with this “both sides” take. Yes, there is no true leftist party in the US. They’re both corporatists. The Republicans are undeniably much worse, though. Anti-union, anti other labor rights, oppose every kind of social safety net, want to privatize (loot) and profit from public assets, are thoroughly in favor of racist classist policies of every type imaginable. Some democrats are too, but ALL republicans are like that.

    • explodicle@local106.com
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      17
      arrow-down
      11
      ·
      9 months ago

      We do get it. It’s obvious. It’s so obvious that the only people still supporting FPTP are in favor of it; they don’t give a crap about selling us out to fascists.

      And the “not fascists” angle worked a lot better when they weren’t aiding a genocide.

      • III@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        8
        arrow-down
        5
        ·
        9 months ago

        aiding a genocide

        As opposed to the alternative who is in rabid support of multiple genocides…? You are SO smart and totally know what you are talking about.

    • go_go_gadget@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      14
      arrow-down
      11
      ·
      9 months ago

      And while that’s a choice between the lesser of two evils, it’s not a difficult one.

      There’s other choices. Moderates and Biden could choose to compromise with leftists and progressives any time. But all signs point to them preferring to lose to fascists a second time.

      • tills13@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        11
        arrow-down
        4
        ·
        9 months ago

        No, there are two choices. It sucks and nobody likes it but if you don’t vote for a Dem you are giving a vote to a Rep. Cut the crap.

        • go_go_gadget@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          5
          arrow-down
          7
          ·
          edit-2
          9 months ago

          nobody likes it

          Moderates like it just fine. They’re happy continuing to elect awful pro-corporate, strike blocking, genocide supporting piece of shit candidates and then expecting leftists and progressives to support them in the general. If moderates didn’t like it they would have voted for one of the many alternatives in the 2020 primaries.

          You need to cut the crap. Stop lecturing leftists and progressives and giving moderates a free pass. Moderates are the majority voting bloc for Democrats and thus they take the lions share of the responsibility. Spend your effort lecturing them.

          • tills13@lemmy.world
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            6
            arrow-down
            1
            ·
            9 months ago

            I’m further left than you but anyone with a brain knows that it’s a two party system and any vote for any other party is just pissing in the ocean. Find change inside the party with progressives but at the end of the day you (unfortunately) either vote blue or red or you might as well not vote at all.

            • go_go_gadget@lemmy.world
              link
              fedilink
              arrow-up
              1
              arrow-down
              1
              ·
              9 months ago

              You can call yourself whatever you want but if at the end of the day you vote like a moderate your beliefs make no difference.

                • go_go_gadget@lemmy.world
                  link
                  fedilink
                  arrow-up
                  1
                  arrow-down
                  1
                  ·
                  edit-2
                  9 months ago

                  No. I’m fine with voting 3rd party or writing in knowing they’ll likely not be elected. Are moderates fine with Biden losing to Trump? If not then they need to find some policy to compromise on in order to encourage progressives and leftists to vote for Biden again. We compromised in 2020 and voted for Joe Biden in the general. We’ve gotten fuck all for it. It’s time for a compromise in the other direction. There’s no point for us to stand around a table when moderates refuse to give us a seat.

    • uis@lemm.ee
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      15
      arrow-down
      16
      ·
      9 months ago

      Corporations pay evil fascists to be evil fascist so you could choose “lesser evil”

        • uis@lemm.ee
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          6
          arrow-down
          4
          ·
          9 months ago

          Sounds like average election candidates in Russia.

          1. Stalinist
          2. Member of LDPR
          3. “Let’s calm down” member of United Russia
          4. Noname(if lucky)

          UR always makes themselves to look like lesser evil. “Look at these clowns”, “old thief is fed up, new one will be hungry and steal more”, “look how experienced we are”. If they don’t have 1, 2 or 4th, they will make their own janitor to run against them, so they will look like “lesser evil”.

          Btw janitor won.

  • CyberEgg@discuss.tchncs.de
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    53
    arrow-down
    3
    ·
    9 months ago

    Minimum wage works. Here is an article from the german newspaper FAZ (leans economically right) that presents a study that shows the low income sector has shrunk since the implementation of minimum wages.
    Germany before had one of the biggest low income sectors in the western world.
    And no, the unemployment rate did not skyrocket. In fact, Germany is as close to full employment as it gets.

    • uis@lemm.ee
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      3
      arrow-down
      1
      ·
      9 months ago

      Germany is as close to full employment as it gets.

      I wonder what they do in 21st century when everything is mechanized and automated like never before.

  • Bobmighty@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    61
    arrow-down
    31
    ·
    9 months ago

    Oh look, more both sides trash slapped on top of someone else’s work. Lazy fucks can’t even propagandize properly.

    • go_go_gadget@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      28
      arrow-down
      8
      ·
      9 months ago

      How about spending some of your time and energy telling moderates they can either compromise with leftists and progressives or lose to fascists a second time?

    • Asafum@feddit.nl
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      14
      arrow-down
      18
      ·
      edit-2
      9 months ago

      It’s not really propaganda when it’s true, at least not in the negative sense of “false manipulative information.” If it wasn’t true we’d already have it. Republicans don’t have complete control everywhere, and there are states where Democrats have complete control and they don’t do it because corporations have complete control over most Democrats.

      “We” have like a handful of actual progressives in the entirety of our government, state or otherwise.

  • xlash123@sh.itjust.works
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    27
    ·
    9 months ago

    Criticism of the comic aside, two party system is still definitely undesirable. I believe it is a side effect of first past the post voting. What we really should implement is ranked choice voting. It gets rid of the dumb “voting third party is voting for [opposite party]” argument by letting you vote for who you want guilt-free and falling back on your lower-ranked votes if #1 wasn’t popular enough.

    But you know, this will always meet resistance because politicians would lose their jobs for implementing this.

    • DragonTypeWyvern@literature.cafe
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      10
      arrow-down
      4
      ·
      9 months ago

      Lol, my primary choices 2024:

      Biden

      Democrats completely gave up on local elections in a purple county because it’s in a red state.

      • fidodo@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        8
        arrow-down
        2
        ·
        9 months ago

        There are lots of things to vote for besides president. Frankly, if your political involvement is limited to caring only about the President once every 4 years, then you have no right to complain. The only way to change things is to get more involved, not less.

      • eestileib@sh.itjust.works
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        5
        arrow-down
        1
        ·
        9 months ago

        Congress matters way more for minimum wage than president.

        In Cali we can choose between Porter and Lee for (somewhat) pro-labor policies. Schiff is a standard Clinton OligoDem.

        I prefer Lee’s policies, but am worried that she and Porter will split their votes and put Schiff through.

      • AngryCommieKender@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        3
        arrow-down
        1
        ·
        9 months ago

        Meanwhile in California there are a ton of choices, but the party has already decided who’s gonna be the candidate in so many other states, that we don’t count.

    • bob_lemon@feddit.de
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      45
      arrow-down
      10
      ·
      9 months ago

      🚫 Both sides are equally bad.

      ✔️ Both sides are bad, but not remotely equally so.

      • TrickDacy@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        10
        arrow-down
        5
        ·
        9 months ago

        Really? Are democrats opposed to changing that, or just not prioritizing it because it can get complicated and there are a million other concerns?

        • Asafum@feddit.nl
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          4
          arrow-down
          3
          ·
          edit-2
          9 months ago

          It’s the first part. The vast majority of Democrats are “moderate” and “corporate captured.”

          It’s not a “both sides are equally bad in all respects.” It’s “both sides will not give us a change of law to enable a living wage be the standard.” It’s only speaking to that one aspect.

          It might also be a complicated topic, but you don’t solve a complicated topic by never starting on it.

        • go_go_gadget@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          3
          arrow-down
          4
          ·
          edit-2
          9 months ago

          Are democrats opposed to changing that, or just not prioritizing it because it can get complicated and there are a million other concerns?

          Are those “concerns” bigger than the concern of Trump winning the general election? Make a choice. Raising the federal minimum wage in order to avoid losing to Trump sounds like a bargain to me.

    • go_go_gadget@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      4
      arrow-down
      5
      ·
      9 months ago

      Then spend some of that energy telling moderates to start compromising with leftists and progressives if they don’t want to lose to fascists a second time.

      • III@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        5
        arrow-down
        1
        ·
        9 months ago

        Sadly, while we would value your support for stopping multiple genocides by voting against Trump, your numbers are far outweighed by that of moderates. I am sorry you can’t comprehend very basic cause and effect and if that costs us our country, I guess you can rest well being so stupid you won’t think you were part of the problem.

        • go_go_gadget@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          1
          arrow-down
          2
          ·
          9 months ago

          Well which is it? If our numbers are insignificant then we can’t be part of the problem because we have no effect. Pick a lane.

  • Aolley@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    7
    ·
    9 months ago

    We all agree with this premise and mostly that the FPTP system is a large contributing factor to the TPS saying how it has based on seeing how places that don’t have a TPS appear to do so because the have different voting systems like different iterations of ranked choice voting.

    What I am wondering is what ‘we’ think the best way to implement voting would be?

    • AngryCommieKender@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      3
      ·
      9 months ago

      Can’t remember which South American country did it, might have been Venezuela, but at least one of them has an official app. You register to vote on your 18th birthday, and get daily notifications about the various proposals at each level of government that applies to your address. They also created a team to boil the proposals down into plain language. You vote personally and the government has to, in theory, listen to the will of the people.

      Of course that system will still be susceptible to propaganda, as evidenced by the fact that whatever country did it, still has some serious issues.

    • abbenm
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      10
      arrow-down
      11
      ·
      edit-2
      9 months ago

      It’s just shallow and disappointing.

      Your idea of what politics is about has to be bigger than shitposting and trolling.

      • Arelin@lemmy.zip
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        6
        arrow-down
        4
        ·
        9 months ago

        Sorry that you expected a 200 page analysis of politics from a meme

        • abbenm
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          2
          arrow-down
          3
          ·
          9 months ago

          I love this, nobody can actually defend this as a healthy way of engaging with politics.

        • abbenm
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          2
          arrow-down
          2
          ·
          edit-2
          9 months ago

          Oh phew, I was worried. Okay okay, what year is it? Do you have any plutonium? I need to get back to my dimension and you’ve been so helpful so far

    • Asafum@feddit.nl
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      4
      arrow-down
      9
      ·
      9 months ago

      Same comic, just change the little guy to “Socialism 2024” and the two big guys to “DNC & Biden”

  • frobeniusnorm@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    4
    ·
    9 months ago

    Its always refreshing to look at the american political system if i am disappointed by the German one. Sure our sucks too, but at least we have more then 2 unvotable major parties.

    • NateNate60@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      3
      ·
      edit-2
      9 months ago

      In the German system (or any other multiparty system), voters can effectively punish a political party without wasting their vote, because there is a lot of overlap between the parties.

      If you don’t like the current coalition but are a left-leaning person, you can vote for Die Linke. You might not agree with all of their positions but you at least can agree with some of them. Even if that is not palatable if you previously voted SDP you can switch your vote to Green or vice versa to punish the specific officeholders representing your constituency. If you voted for the FDP last time, maybe try Union next time. There are many ways to do this, and overall I think it makes the parties themselves more accountable to the voters because voters defecting their party list votes can drastically change the makeup of the Bundestag.

      Similarly, right-leaning UK voters are punishing the Conservative Party by threatening to or actually voting for Reform candidates. Scots can punish the SNP by voting Labour.

      You can’t do this in the US. In the USA, the only recourse the voters have over the parties is to vote out undesirable candidates through primary elections so that the party cannot nominate them. This works alright, sometimes, but it is not an effective way to punish party leadership for bad decisions, and many primaries are uncompetitive anyway.