If voters bear no responsibility, do you really believe in democracy, or are you thinking about this as an issue to be solved by authority?
The self-righteousness of this discussion is a problem. Politics requires some humility, which we seem to be short of.
You are misunderstanding how the system is supposed to work.
We have a responsibility to vote, but no candidate is owed a vote.
The government is meant to execute the will of the people. That’s why we live in a democracy. That means that the government is supposed to work for you. The politicians are supposed to essentially be public workers that are hired via votes of the citizens.
These public workers are supposed to be a reflection of the will of the people. If they don’t match what we want, then they don’t win.
No one is owed our votes. They are supposed to earn it.
None of this really addresses my question.
You are misunderstanding how the system is supposed to work.
no, I think you have the misunderstanding of how it actually works.
We have a responsibility to vote, but no candidate is owed a vote.
given the choice, you want your genitals mutilated or your head removed? if you choose nothing then you get both. technically you don’t need to chose, but it’s in your best interest to make the choice that allows you to survive.
The government is meant to execute the will of the people. That’s why we live in a democracy. That means that the government is supposed to work for you. The politicians are supposed to essentially be public workers that are hired via votes of the citizens.
a government is not meant to execute the will of the people. a government is meant to control and maintain a society. the people are to control the government through their will to ensure the society supports the will of the people. Unfortunately, some people forgot this and have refused to participate in the will, IE voting, and have weakened our society to the point of fracturing.
politicians are not social workers, they care about maintaining control and exerting their will on the people. the job of the people is to ensure their elected officials reflect what the goals and will of the people are. Unfortunately, some people forgot this and have refused to participate in the will, IE voting, and have weakened our society to the point of fracturing.
your views on governance and politics is so antiquated and skewed you can’t even see what’s going on in front of you because you’re so blinded by the past.
“its not fair, the gubamint should be like dis!”
No one is owed our votes. They are supposed to earn it.
no one is owed freedom, no one is owed liberty. You are supposed to fucking earn it by participating in the election and helping us move this ship away from disaster.
this election was like playing tug of war with the helm and having half of our supporters watch from the side complaining about how, “we didn’t want to go this way so we’re not going to stop the ship from crashing into those rocks.”
at one time I had hope for the future but now I can see I was wrong. We’re doomed, not by the corruption, not by the sadistic megalomania, but from arrogance and apathy that flows from lazy Americans.
Imagine taking that many words to say you like being a slave and don’t believe there will ever be a different world.
None of the people clamoring for a better candidate are stepping up, or getting out there to get it done. They just want someone in power to do it, which is counter productive.
While claiming to be anarchists, socialists, progressives, leftists, whatever. I get the sour grapes, I do, but the reality is that you’re going to have to get off your couch and actually organize if you want something better than the corporate handout candidates the DNC is going to give you.
For all of the awful things about Trump, it’s really difficult to deny that he spent much more time and energy building a political movement than any other candidate since Obama.
This is maddening. It will never stop. The democrats refuse to campaign on progressive policies, which are incredibly popular among the entire electorate (yes, also among republicans, see the recent ballot measures in Missouri on paid sick leave and higher minimum wage, for example), instead opting to position themselves as “republican light”. They completely capitulate to republican messaging on pretty much every issue (border wall, fracking, pro war, etc), and predictably lose to the people who invented this messaging. And then comes the worst part: angry libs start blaming the electorate instead of the people who lost. It’s not the lack of the dems even mentioning universal health care, no it’s the trans people. It’s not the genocide that the current democratic regime is committing, no it’s probably actually latino voters. It’s not the fact that the Harris campaign asks us to pretend everything is hunky spunky with the economy, offering nothing to relieve the 80% of the population who live paycheck to paycheck. Noooo you know what it’s actually white women and muslims faults. You fucking morons.
Can’t wait for the 2026 anti-transgender dem ticket, and the anti gay marriage ticket in 2028. It’s gonna be great.
California couldn’t get minimum wage, rent control, health care, it even slavery, One state moving progressively is not winning the federal election
The point that I’m making is that across the board, progressive policies are popular. And that does win elections, just look at Obamna’s and Sanders’ campaigns. That one state was just one extreme example of this fact.
(yes, also among republicans, see the recent ballot measures in Missouri on paid sick leave and higher minimum wage, for example)
this IS true, but it is not true among left leaning candidates. Just look at florida. People are way too functionally stupid to do anything in line with what they actually want.
I believe there is even some older data to support this, something along the lines of “people like welfare they don’t know they’re paying for, but when they know they’re paying for it, they don’t want to”
It’s not the fact that the Harris campaign asks us to pretend everything is hunky spunky with the economy,
as far as economic measures go, it is. Inflation is still fucking people over, but the popular sentiment sort of lags the economy. But just because inflation is brutal on goods, doesn’t mean that inflation is high, or that the economy is “struggling” it’s just that people don’t feel good about rising tides. Until they start to lower. (which they can’t do)
it’s just a human psych thing.
as far as economic measures go, it is. Inflation is still fucking people over, but the popular sentiment sort of lags the economy. But just because inflation is brutal on goods, doesn’t mean that inflation is high, or that the economy is “struggling” it’s just that people don’t feel good about rising tides.
80% of people live paycheck to paycheck. Don’t bullshit me.
yeah, and nothing changed that, people are still living paycheck to paycheck.
Now if you can find stats of MORE people living paycheck to paycheck (which do exist) that would be more convincing, but even then the underlying truth is still that it’s going to take time for things to improve, as well as inflation can’t be undone. So prices are at a new normal.
I would have fought tooth and nail to vote for Bernie Sanders.
As it stood, we moved during the voting period. The wife and I were registered neither in our home state or our new state and couldn’t vote. Where we moved was deep red and it wouldn’t have mattered, but I would have liked to give a formal middle finger to the dipshit-elect.
I don’t understand this “we need old people out of politics” while demanding Bernie Sanders. It’s hypocrisy to just want YOUR old guy in power. I like his ideas but they need to come from someone younger does he not have a protoge or something? There’s just something about Sanders that will turn off more people than gain I think. And if you can’t gain the support of even the Democratic party you can’t possibly win.
Age was never a factor to me.
Bernie is, for America, VERY left of status quo democrats. I’d like to see that, even for four years.
But that movement can’t even win a nomination let alone the presidency. You guys can’t win without allies and you’ve alienated them all this election. The far left Bernie Bros went full bigot and racist election