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this post was submitted on 04 Apr 2026
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Leopards Ate My Face
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Agree.
Just pointing out that the entire system is designed to make that almost impossible.
So how can this nightmare cycle be broken?
Vote blue no matter who hasn't worked. Even when a democrat wins, it's some genocidal shitlib like biden. And when democrats lose, they blame the left they refuse to listen to and move to the right because they want to and pretend that they're chasing the votes of republicans, even though they know that's not going to happen and even though they know no one's actually buying the pretense.
Not an American, but as I see it, the only chance for a big change is to build things from the ground up block by block starting at the local elections level.
Another option is to bypass traditional politics as much as possible by using the power of civil society groups which are independent of political parties, such as Unions and politically independent single subject groups (for example, groups of people formed to combat setting up a data center in a specific region) - as shown in Europe a couple of General Strikes tend to focus politicians back into actually working for the interests of voters, at least temporarilly.
Yet another option, though weaker and much more indirect, is to consider that the vote in one electoral cycle affects which candidates are fielded in the next cycle, which is my main counterpoint to the OP's point of view since such a perspective justifies not voting for the lesser evil to send a message to Democrats that they need to field better candidates.
That said, personally I think Americans are seriously fucked and I doubt any change will happen before things properly break in terms of quality of life (I'm thinking proper dystopia with widespread starvation and homelessness) and people rebel and even then the reaction of the powerful will probably be to turn the place into and overt Autocracy rather than the current Oligarchy with some Theatre of Democracy.
I don't think this is effective. I consider the centrist messaging that progressives stayed home to "teach democrats a lesson" to be how centrists frame their unwillingness to appeal to an electorate they want to rule instead of serve.
Why would progressives stay home to “teach democrats a lesson”?
I mean, people don't just do things for no reason at all, unless they're crazy.
The most logical explanation is that they did it ultimately because centrists (i.e. the DNC) were unwilling to appeal to an electorate they want to ruie instead of serve.
A simple logical analysis shows that framing from "centrists" (I added quotes because they're not in the political center, but rather are hard-right) as actually being an indirect admission of their own guilt - they did not do what politicians are supposed to do, which is appeal to the electorate, hence the electorate did not vote for them.
In Democracy the blame for politicians not being appealing to voters and hence failing to get their votes lies not with the voters, it lies with the politicians.
Sure, "centrists" and their useful idiots loudly cry that people have an obligation to vote for them, but that's not a mindset of Democracy it's a mindset of Autocracy.