So many times I saw people on Lemmy saying they weren't going to vote because of [insert Reason X]
Everytime I told them they should, I was brushed off with some stupid Argument.
Well, I congratulate everyone who did that. You now live in a country headed by someone openly flirting with fascism. I really hope [Reason X] was worth it. And I really hope [Reason X] won't get worse under Trump (it will). You failed to prevent a fascist from raising to power just so you could virtue-signal.
I doubt that. Consider what we saw with all of the COVID disinformation on social media. I think the idea that social media has no impact on election results is very wrong.
yes. yes, it is. Those that didn't vote failed to stop fascism from rising.
Even if you think that Democrats are too conservative, the alternative you chose and got is Trump.
Also the phrase goes "stop fascism at all costs" not "stop fascism at all costs except when the alternative has shifted a bit to the right (but in no way as far as the fascists we would be trying to stop) and now is too conservative for you"
Those that didn't vote failed to stop fascism from rising.
The Democratic party, who failed to rally non-voters and instead chose to try and court Republican voters to their cause, failed to stop fascism from rising.
Stop blaming voters for politicians running on unpopular policies. I've checked repeatedly today, Harris lost Michigan by under 100,000 votes, but there were over 100,000 protest votes during the primary.
Before the election, 35% of Pennsylvania voters and 37% of Arizona voters polled said they would be more likely to vote for Harris if they would agree to cease weapons shipments to Israel without contingencies. The DNC sent Bill Clinton to lecture the residents of Michigan about why Israel is justified in killing their loved ones instead of, idk, taking a stance that could win you much needed votes in a swing state. They brought Republican after Republican to speak at the DNC, but allotted no time for Palestinian Democrats to speak.
They gave their own constituents the middle finger, like always, while demanding their unwavering support. All while being more concerned about trying to win over Republicans instead of rallying their own non-voters to the polls.
Gee, that sure worked out great for them, is that the voter's fault too? It's astounding how the same people who were insulting and condescending to conflicted Dem voters the last couple weeks are now screeching and crying that it's the fault of the people they insulted and bullied that they lost.
Y'all don't have mirrors you can look in? Maybe start there, and understand why you can't dismiss the concerns of entire swaths of your constituency and still feel entitled to their support, regardless of the dire threat that the Democrats didn't take seriously enough.
Hard to argue against these points. The DNC does not know how to play to win. It's like they're all living in 1998. Moreover, they don't seem to want to win. Which is palpable. They are woefully out of touch and it seems incredibly difficult to pierce the veil of sanctimony that enshrouds the party elites.
The DNC's abject blunders have committed America to 12 continuous years now without any effective government. Which is untenable. The message to Dem elites needs to be crystal clear: You aint gotta go home, but you can't stay here. Retire, or otherwise fuck off.
"Vote for my shitty policies or the other guy will have shittier policies" is not a platform.
The point of a democratic republic is that elected officials enact the policies those who elect them want. If you don't offer to enact those policies you don't get elected.
Yes, non-voters were stupid to not vote for the lesser evil, but the Harris campaign violated the very basis of democracy and thought they could simply use Trump to bully people into voting for them.
Imagine a system where a fascist Boogeyman is held up every election and people reliably vote against them without regard for who they vote for. The other party could put up whatever shitty candidate they wanted whether they espouse the views of the population or not.
Not only is that not at all a fucking democracy, it was the documented strategy of the Democratic party! Except it doesn't fucking work, which they should have learned in 2016.
Imagine a system where a fascist Boogeyman is held up every election and people reliably vote against them without regard for who they vote for. The other party could put up whatever shitty candidate they wanted whether they espouse the views of the population or not.
Except when the other party sees they lose 3/4 elections in a row by putting up fascist boogeymen, they will statistically stop doing that, since it’s a losing strategy. They can only keep doing that because Americans are showing them that they actually like it better than an actual human being.
Yes, its random lemmy posters that made Harris have a shit campaign that didn't get out the vote. Vote for another centrist in the primary in 4 years whose main appeal is "I'm not Vance" and lets see how 2028 goes.
Let's change the language a bit: voting is every citizens' civic duty.
Whether we have a favorite candidate or not, the duty is still to show up, just as it's a candidate's duty to present their campaign platform. Both sides have to show up in order for the plane to get off the ground.
In this case, the plane sits on the tarmac, a smoking ruin.
You can blame the fascism on the literal fascists. They're backed by the neo-monarchists who have tons of money to spend (and spent it!) converting discontents into more fascists.
Do you want to blame the discontents without a reasonable option who saw their news agencies and social media pointing towards the new Mussolini? There's millions of them, and they can barely reason to tie their own shoes. The GOP has been banking on them since the 1970s, though the propaganda projects started when great depression living conditions weren't sweet enough for the proletariat, and FDR created the New Deal to stop communist revolution.
It's why in the states communism is a word of disparagement when the alternative is monarchism, and capitalism always drifts towards autocracy, then monarchism, and then collapse.
Blame who you want, but ultimately it is a machine running on natural forces. Even in the end of this campaign (when -- in retrospect -- it was already too late) the media was trying to inform some people (who?) that the comparisons between the Trump campaign and policies, and Hitler's campaign and policies were very similar, enough to call both one-party autocracy propped up by fascist enemy-within rhetoric.
Nothing to do now but watch everyone get what they bought and paid for.
But I think the election shows us the human species can't help itself but become hateful when confronted with perpetual precarity or perpetual scarcity. If we want a rational society it won't be monarchist or capitalist. If we want to distribute power, we won't get those who have excess power to give it up willingly.
One-party autocracy is, historically, always worse for the economy than democracy even an oligarchy with meager democratic features.
And the Republican Party and the Heritage Foundation both tipped their hand early regarding policy.
Whether it comes down to the public of the US being ignorant, short-sighted, too racist to care or too misled, it speaks poorly not only of the US people and the human species and its capacity to organize without being overrun by corruption.
We may just be too daft to do better, and that is likely to kill is.
You see... The Dems did that too... What was really needed wasn't "well you should vote", it should have been, "what would it take for you to vote"... And then fucking do it