politics
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I wish American Voters had memories longer than 4 years. But they don't.
They got pissed at Bush and the Republicans in 2006 for the war and in 2008 for crashing the economy.
And 2 years later in 2010 they voted in a red wave not seen since reconstruction.
Donald Trump tried to overthrow the government and 4 years later they gave him another chance. If Trump shot a crowd of people on 5th avenue the kids of the victims would vote for him 4 years later.
Keep in mind that the voting system itself is rigged. States with lower populations tend to have more representation per capita due to the Electoral College. This biases everything towards red states.
And that doesn't even get at the decades of gerrymandering...
EC needs to go away, too.
And they have the gall to say they're voting that way "for the economy"
Your treating this as if the same people are voting different ways. It's usually much more along the lines of voters staying home one election and voting in another.
Edit - autocorrect got naughty!
There were massive voter suppression campaigns in both those election cycles. And it doesn't help that the neo Liberals highjacked the democratic party, marginalizing labor. People are not motivated to vote for the lesser of two evils.
Neoliberals and centrists need to get this through their firewall of condescencion towards leftists, no matter how much y'all hate leftists (and laugh at leftists with your more conservative friends) you need to understand the average person in the US hates you and your leaders far more than than they hate genuine leftists that actually fight for the working class instead of spitting on them and publicly calling them stupid.
It won't. They benefit from corporate greed as much as the right does. They are enablers of fascism.
Leftists in America are a tiny minority that happens to be in a kingmaker role because the Dems and Repubs are nearly evenly matched. There is no vast silent majority of Leftists. You're in an internet bubble.
YOU need to get onboard with OUR ideas.
So I'm assuming you're a liberal? Let's hear these ideas, seriously.
Sure!
All people are equal before the law. Discrimination is abhorrent, and people's personal freedoms should be respected until they harm others. Liberals and Leftists pretty much agree 100% on this so I won't spend more time on it.
Capitalism is the most powerful social engine for beneficial progress that the world has ever seen, but we need to keep it under control. It's like an engine - harnessed, throttled, and controlled explosive power to drive us forward at a manageable pace. Strong regulations, strong unions, progressive taxes, and heavy government incentives are the ways we keep capitalism under control. Currently, it is OUT of control and is doing far more harm than good.
Taxes on the rich should be higher, loopholes should be closed, and enforcement should be stepped up. There's no consensus on exactly how much higher, but they all agree they should be higher.
At the same time, we recognize the potential economic effects of taxing the rich. If we're not careful, they'll just move their money elsewhere. So we want to raise taxes to the extent possible without triggering flight of the wealthy.
Everyone deserves a minimum standard of living. Food, shelter, and healthcare are human rights and should be free for those who can't afford it.
Immigrants are good for the economy. Even the illegal ones. We should be making immigration easier.
Climate change is real, is man-made, and it is our duty as humans to do our best to fix it. However, we can do so to a large extent without causing hardship among everyday people, by making intelligent changes upstream from consumers. We can have economic growth AND tackle climate change, if we're smart about it.
Obviously, left-leaning liberalism is a wide-ranging ideology but these are the main ones that came to mind immediately. The biggest difference between liberalism and Leftism is that Leftists want to tear down capitalism and Liberals want to control it.
I'm into it. I do think capitalism has far overstayed its welcome. I agree with everything you've written here, I just see it as a stepping stone to socialism rather than an end goal.
Fair enough. I think a lot of Liberals view socialism (like no shit real "own the means of production" socialism, rather than European capitalist-lite socialism of today) the same way as me: it sounds nice, it just doesn't seem to work very well in practice. But hey if we can get it to work, neat. In the mean time, let's get capitalism under control.
Your ideas got us here. With democracy hanging by a thread because both the corporate Democrats and Republicans spent decades weakening the lower classes to enrich themselves. How many 70-80% approval rating policy idea have the Democrats spurned over the years because it would mildly inconvenience their mega donors in the short term?
Can you name any?
Democrats haven't been in power for decades.
Democracy will not save us. People that won't vote unless they fall in love can fall out of love much more easily.
Do vote, it's low effort and it can make a marginal difference. Just make your plans assuming you party will lose and if they win they will disappoint.