Forgot to put the portion where Reps try and block every single fucking thing that Dems try to accomplish.
Wanna know why abortion wasn't enshrined into law when the Dems had the majority? Because they didn't have a filibuster proof super majority for the handful of weeks they had all the power.
They had the super majority at the start of that term. They couldn't have pushed something as complicated as the ACA through, but they could have moved on something small like affirming Roe. Besides, the Republicans always find a way to ram through legislation without a super majority (and I'd suspect we're about to see them abolish it entirely), but the Democrats never do.
For example, when the Senate parliamentarian tells the Democrats that they can't pass a $15 minimum wage through a simple majority, the Democrats give up. When the parliamentarian tells the Republicans they can't do something, they ignore them, and one time, they just flat our fired the guy.
You can argue about whether the Republicans are being unethical or underhanded, but at the end of the day, they achieve things, and the Democrats don't. The Democrats will tell you that they need 60 votes to do anything and that the parliamentarian won't allow them to pass non-budgetary items without one, but Senate filibuster rules can be changed, and the Parliamentarian has no real authority. Playing by the rules while your opponent cheats isn't noble, it's stupid.
The super majority at the start was those 4 weeks when Dems had any potential. When you get a time machine, go back and tell them to do Roe instead. Don't listen when they absolutely disbelieve Roe is at risk. We all thought Roe was safe back then.
There's also just a massive element of the Democrats no longer functioning as a coherent political unit. It wouldn't help in an instance needing a filibuster-proof majority, but since being a Democrat is mostly negatively defined as "We're not the Republicans" these days, it has grown to encompass a range of views that prevents them from having a cohesive platform backed by all members in the way the GOP largely operates today.
Yes, Republican obstructionism is a major element in the dysfunction of our government at the moment, but even before you run into that, you have a party that embraces the Joe Manchins, Kyrsten Sinemas and Joe Liebermanns of US politics, while also having your Bernie Sanders and AOCs. Even before you encounter the obstructionist tendencies of Republicans, you have Democrats who don't fall in line that can hold the party platform hostage, and no meaningful mechanisms to force them to do so.
The Democratic Party really needs to start defining itself positively, rather than the current "We're not the other guy, so at least we aren't so bad" stance, and presenting a unified front in the face of Republican obstinance. There should be a time a place for intellectual debate, but the Democratic status quo not only makes them look incompetent when they can't hold members to task for failing to support major elements of the party platform (see Manchin's stranglehold over Biden's agenda that left quite a bit dead on arrival prior to Republican efforts), it also demotivates would-be voters.
Yup the whole Republicans ignore the rules and Democrats don't thing hurts extra hard when you watch Democrats throw the rules out the window to support a genocide.
oh yeah sure. expanding overtime rights, over the counter birth control, getting rid of junk fees, clarifying the vice presidents role in certifying elections as ministerial, funding infrastructure while simultaneously stimulating energy efficiency and renewables, forcing airlines to refund canceled flights, fighting for loan forgiveness extensively as well as to put a stop to non compete clauses. nothing for the working class though as this does not hit specific things I find important so lets just go worse in all possible ways because thats a solid plan.
Nobody says they're the same. People do say they're both bad to varying degrees, and are immediately hit in the face with some doofus accusing them of saying they're the same, that happens a lot.
Leftists: The Dems don't actually help the working class, both parties derive their power and legitimacy from their donors, wealthy Capitalists. They function as businesses that sell policy to the highest bidder. We need a revolution in order for the people to have a real say.
That's a great take if you completely ignore that laws are written by congress, and in the last 30 years Democrats have only had both chambers and the executive, by a slim margin for 2 years and a wide margin for 2 years. In those 2 years of a wide margin (Obama) they passed the ACA, which was watered down by republicans because it was the only way to get it to pass because they still didn't have a super majority.
The Democrats have utterly failed to appeal to workers, and as such fail to bring out the votes. The DNC is a business that sells policy to wealthy Capitalists, it doesn't represent the working class.
The Democrats have utterly failed to appeal to workers, and as such fail to bring out the votes. The DNC is a business that sells policy to wealthy Capitalists, it doesn’t represent the working class.
Huh? Did you actually follow the election at all. Trump's solution for the working class was "I'll get you better jobs with more pay" and when asked for specific examples, he couldn't provide anything of substance. But he was fond of talking about how he hated unions and paying overtime during his speeches and talking about killing the ACA. VERY pro worker.
On the flip side Kamala was offering up cutting taxes on the middle class, lowering food prices, expanding the ACA, assistance to first time home buyers, and more assistance around childcare.
I don't know exactly what you think "appeals to workers" but she checked literally every box beyond promising "more pay" without any semblance of a way to do so. Is your idea of "appealing to workers": you just need to lie more?
GOP gives their base red meat. This is because it is compatible with their donors' interests. This contrasts to Dems, for whom delivering for their base runs counter to their donors' interests.
What is deliverrd by the GOP is marginalization, of course, but this is still a more direct and materiap response than what the Dems do, which is just PR.
I believe that would be equally accurate, yes. The republicans have been pretty responsive to their base's social desires, mostly with like, white, uneducated, evangelical christian psychos, but they haven't really passed any policy which tangibly makes their life better, and there's only so much you can do to address the fundamental cognitive dissonance. If cost of living goes up and not down, which it in all likelihood will if trump rocks the boat too much, then they're gonna have to resort to the same playbook that democrats do in order to play off that failure.
The only real difference there is that the republican voter base is more primed to believe those excuses just sort of as a matter of their media ecosystem and position in the political sphere. But you'll see them still resort to hand-wringing over how those pesky elitist democrats just blocked their real policy, and then when they lose, about how next time, they'll really do something to help out the people, they just weren't able to get it all off the ground because we only had four years and the economy's gonna get worse before it gets better and the democratic admin is just gonna be coasting on our improvements and so on and so on. If you talk to republicans, especially the older, not explicitly fascist ones, the post-reagan ones, you'll notice this pretty similar sort of rhetoric.
Those low information, low turnout, suburbanite, implicitly biased "I'm not racist but" or "racism doesn't mean anything anymore" republicans make up a pretty big chunk of their coalition. I would say even they probably make up a majority, and the terminally online turbochud fascist extremists are the minority that's growing at a somewhat alarming rate.
Dont these idiot workers understand that the stock market is at all time highs so their stock portfolios are doing great? We all have stock portfolios, right?
And thanks to non voters you will never have a chance to get a better candidate since now free elections in america are a thing of the past. Congrats. Because you do your "both sides" garbage you destroyed any hope of improvement.
I was about to argue how you were wrong and then saw the lemmy.ml lmao A russian bootlicker talking about free elections is too ironic for me to take serious
Voting is easy and a basic civic duty we are taught about in middle school, in pretty much every state, you have weeks to do it, can drop off in mail boxes, ballot boxes, in person, early, etc.
Presidential elections only happen every four years, and there are going to be very very few people who would not be aware that it's happening well in advance.
Not voting is just plain lazy, that's all. It's a responsibility that takes very little effort to do, there are multiple avenues provided to do it and you only have to do it two or three times a decade.
No one is forcing me to take a shower every morning or brush my teeth, or go to work everyday, but I do it because it's important, and my overall health and life is affected by it.
I don't know what you're talking about. There will be a 2026 mid term and a 2028 general elections. You should expect them too. Especially if you think Trump might cancel them. Loudly expecting him to cancel them normalizes it and mutes any protest. So they will happen, or we will be in the streets demanding them.
There will be a 2026 mid term and a 2028 general elections
oh sweet summer child.
Americans threw it all away for a man with a public history of failure, rape, cheating, lying, narcissism and incestuous ideology. If there's a real election in 2026 and Americans learn from their mistake, things might eventually be okay. Unfortunately, it seems America is the land of the ignorant who equate higher education with brainwashing. I'm not sure how to fix stupid, the country seems lost.
I'll be voting, but I have zero hopes my fellow americans will have learned anything. I'm also not sure, with lying and cheating republicans in place, we'll even have a fair election.
Oh my god how I wish to be so naive. There wont be a free election in 2028. I highly doubt even the mid terms will happen.
Any protest will be brutally knocked down and americans dont have the protest culture to keep at it. Especially not with more than half the voters, all Trump voters and all non voters, accepting the fascism to come.
So nope. 0 chance for a free election in 2028. Maybe you get the chance to decide which Trump or Trump ally you will have next lol
I know that there is always more that could be done, but did the infrastructure bill, the chips bill, and the inflation reduction act count toward helping the middle class?