Like, yeah, they can ‘get away with’ ending soft power. They can ‘get away with’ extrajudicial killings. They’re operating off of pure machismo right now. They’re getting drunk on their vices. They’re stripping masks where masks wouldn’t be advised to be stripped. I feel like I understand now that Fascism is, in part, an expression of weakness. They wouldn’t be doing this unless they were scared. It’s too volatile. It feels both too late on a power-level and too early on a popular-level. Never mind the ticking time bomb that is AI data centers. It feels like, and I’m sure this is cope, there is a timer on their ability to run the circus much longer.
My first instinct here is to doubt myself, intellectual pessimism and all. In that vein, maybe this is just revolutionary optimism, but we’re at the point where it feels like there is a palpable anger brewing in the basement. I don’t know. Maybe Palantir works as an anti-communist panopticon and we just death spiral forever. I don’t want to lose hope.
Dawg what fucking world do you live on? Have you seen the Democratic leadership? Schumer was chumming it up with Rubio YESTERDAY. They are not going to hold anyone accountable.
I’m getting really sick of this attitude. You are speaking about the past Dem leadership, and I’m speaking about the future Dem leadership. They don’t have to continue on the same feckless path they’ve been on, especially if we FORCE them to act decisively.
If the Midterms happen, it’s going to be a bloodbath, and a LOT of new Democratic Warriors are going to enter Congress, carrying the righteous indignation of the voters.
Jeffries and Schmuckie aren’t likely to survive the leadership vote, and the next leaders will have to be willing to stand up to MAGA. This is what the people, and the incoming Congressional Warriors, are going to demand.
This is how the 90s Republicans spawned the Tea Party, which took over the party, then morphed into MAGA, and took over. The Dems are at the stage of creating their own Tea Party (Progressives) that can take control of the Democratic Party, and reconfigure it to reflect the true values of the Democratic VOTERS.
If Democrats manage to gain power again, they’d better hold people accountable, or we will hold them accountable. And weak citizens like you, trying to convince people that it’s already over, the Dems will never fight for us, we might as well roll over for whatever fate MAGA has in store for us, are as much a problem as MAGA. If you aren’t going to encourage people that there is still an enormous battle ahead of us to prepare for, and are going to just discourage people that it’s already lost, them YOU are as much a part of the problem as MAGA.
You’re getting sick of the truth is that you’re sick of.
I’ve seen this one before. In 2016-2018, the entire party, media, and generally any member of the public who could be described as vaguely progressive was in complete hysteria about the end of democracy. A massive national soul-searching was undertaken (within the boundaries of Liberalism). A massive pondering of “how did we get here?” Setting the absolute fixation on Russia aside, ideas of an epistemological crisis driven by disinformation campaigns on social media weren’t unfounded. It also raised deep questions about the health and wellbeing of democracy in the US. There were so many problems to tackle, from felony disenfranchisement, to voter roll purges, to gerrymandering, media consolidation, the asphyxiating torrent of corporate campaign finance. All of these things contribute to creating the perfect storm which is our shambolic electoral system. For a moment, it seemed like people (like, powerful people) were beginning to realize we had let this shit slip too far, and that deep reforms were necessary to save the republic.
I was THERE. I was a true believer. A patriotic liberal who had come to realize what a smart thing Obama did. Taking a trust-fall into the arms of the institutions, rather than expediently circumventing them to side-step the oncoming disaster. I trusted the system. I felt a personal responsibility to contribute. I went to demonstrations, contributed to electoral campaigns, and spent nearly every waking hour trying to spread the gospel on social media. I had people on r/Politics asking me to run for Congress.
The Trump regime enjoyed total impunity for two terribly long years. At last the Democrats had retaken the house. Now was the time for investigations, transparency, accountability, reform, impeachment. They poured water on that REALLY quick. Delayed for demured for nearly a year before finally impeaching Trump over some extremely contrived bullshit, rather than the fucking across-the-board fraud and corruption.
With the incoming administration in 2020, it was time to fix all of these holes. To do something, ANYTHING about the onslaught of corporate money in elections, the ubiquitous corruption, gerrymandering (2020 was a Census year, after all), ALL the fucking bullshit they use to turn our elections into a fucking joke. It was also a time of acute revolutionary crisis, with the George Floyd Uprising fighting back in steadfast resistance to the impunity of the police state.
The time was ripe for long overdue reforms. What we got instead was a shriveled warm body who was run for the explicit purpose of preventing that from happening. The Biden administration spent another four long years doing everything in its power to sharpen every implement of state violence, reforming absolutely nothing of substance, only to hand the keys right back over to Trump.
This year a number of new Democrats will be elected as freshmen representatives. Some of them might even be GOOD, but the incumbents aren’t going anywhere. They are the ones who control the party, control the committee assignments. They are the ones who will choose the leadership, and their decision will be driven by the same calculus that it always has been.
What gives you this impression? Congressional leadership is not a popular election. It is one of the first orders of business after swearing in a new Congress, when public pressure on the caucus is at its lowest. Schumer might leave just because he’s ancient and bad for the brand, but we’re not getting a radical. We’re getting somebody who can maintain the status quo, but do the messaging better.
Again, do you live under a rock? What do you think the Sanders campaigns in 2016 and 2020 were? They were EXACTLY this. They fucking crushed it. It turns out the bourgeoisie finds social democracy to be utterly repulsive, while they couldn’t care less about the personal power-play of a couple oil tycoons who want to “run America like a business.”
We’ve already run though the cycle of expecting the Democrats to hold people accountable, and then trying to hold the Democrats themselves accountable. There is NO accountability.
Ok. How many hours have you spent standing in Lafayette Square shouting at the White House in the pouring rain? How many times have you packed a tent and a sleeping bag and skipped going to party with your friends because something must be done, even though you know that something will change absolutely nothing. How many nights have you spent sleeping on the cold city concrete to maintain an encampment? I vote. I go to demonstrations. I used to write my representatives too, but I know my representatives well enough to know I am better off writing to my allies. I’ve been doing “my civic duty” for nearly two decades now. Long enough to know this is not going to cut it.
It IS over buddy, but don’t worry. It is not the end of the world. This sclerotic republic must die, so something new and beautiful can be born from the ashes.
PRP’s story demonstrates the (rueful) value of electoral work. People get in, do the work, see how the deck is stacked and how it plays out, move left.
"And weak citizens like you, trying to convince people that it’s already over, the Dems will never fight for us, we might as well roll over for whatever fate MAGA has in store for us, are as much a problem as MAGA. "
This is incorrect. PorkrollPosadist’s pessimistic opinions do not make him as much as a problem as MAGA.
You are being emotional, and some of your assertions only have a basis in emotion and not rationality.
I encourage you to retract the insult.
Damn right I’m pissed off, and emotional about the loss of my nation to treasonous pedophile scum. I’m not apologizing for pointing out that discouraging action, without offering solutions, is encouraging that enemy. Anyone who isn’t angry about MAGAs vicious destruction of our country IS a disgusting weakling.
And your whiny call for politeness toward MAGA appeasers and collaborators makes YOU just as much of a MAGA appeaser. You’re probably one of those people who follows the insipid Michelle Obama Doctrine: “When they go low, we go high,” possibly the dumbest political statement I’ve ever heard, outside of EVERYTHING uttered by any MAGA. When they go low, you metaphorically kick them in the teeth, then stomp their heads.
Corrupt Traitors, racists, rapists, misogynists, ignoramuses, and PEDOPHILES deserve nothing less. They certainly do it to us every chance they get. They even manufacture opportunities to deliberately hurt us. Don’t they deserve the same treatment in return?
But you want to be polite, just like Chamberlain and the Nazis. That pathological need for Democrats to always be polite, even in the to face of withering corruption, is the reason that the MAGA Traitors are BACK in power. We locked them out once, and weaklings like you let them right back in, because it was so important to be polite to bullies. How is THAT strategy working out for you?
Retract my posts? No, I stand by every word.
Lol I’m not polite, I just don’t like you.
Pressuring the democrats to take action is somewhere between neutral impact to positive impact.
Pure electoralism will not help you. You need to understand that the guy you’re chewing out has a point.
The point of the 2 party system is to preserve capital and the interests of capital. The democrats have spent decades pretending to be unable to fight back.
Remember that it was Chuck Schumer and the democrats who decided to amplify Donald Trump in the Republican primary of the 2016 election.
Real action involves organizing with other people to create a force that can stand on it’s own legs and push back against the system.
Also fuck your country.
Wishcasting better leadership isn’t going to do shit. What are you going to do to force them? Millions of people protested all across this country against police brutality and the Democrat response was to increase police funding and increase federal law enforcement budgets. THEY DON’T CARE ABOUT YOU OR WHAT YOU WANT.
You are that cowardly that you’ve already given up, and have now taken to try to talk others into giving up with you? Either you are MAGA, or just a coward. How pathetic and gross, just ew.
We have to make them care. They care about their jobs, so threaten to take them away, and mean it. They care about their legacy, so relentlessly call them out in social media. Go to their town halls and aggressively demand action. Dog their every action, call their offices on every vote, etc. If you have the ability, primary your feckless Democratic rep, even if you know you’ll lose. You’ll still get to publicly call them out on their abdication of their responsibilities. And you never know, sometimes primaries have surprises, like AOC kicking out the #4 guy in Congress, or Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle losing his primary while he was the highest ranking member of Congress in 2004. Crazy shit happens in elections all the time.
And it’s not just about our DC reps. MAGA has deliberately infiltrated every level of government, demanding stupid legislation on chemtrails and vaccines and other stupid flat-earth bullshit, and we need to mercilessly attack every MAGA in government.
We can force them, we just have to flex our Citizen muscles, and not just tell everyone to surrender because it’s already over. How fucking weak and cowardly is that?
TOWN HALLS! PHONE CALLS! Lmao
Your belief that those who doubt your tactics are giving up makes you a fascist in my view. If you think the only way forward is to believe in America, then I’m going to pave the future straight over you, and Trump too.
You are as delusional as MAGA. All you have is vague whiney complaints based on your lack of Critical Thinking Skills, and absolutely no solutions at all. Just scream about how everything is unfair, everybody is mean to you, and everybody is a big poopyhead.
Grow up and get in the real fight, and quit trying to pretend you’re doing something, by doing nothing.
Wow this one is mega scratched
MAGA troll.