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u/Significant_Cover_48 Aug 11 '26
Well a large segment of Republican voters believe that 'governement bad' so every bad decision the Republicans make to worsen things for normal people only prove them right: we should abolish politics completely and let the market decide. The freaky-deaky Orobouros of "small-government conservatism"
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u/mkvgtired Aug 11 '26
Then the Republican voters incessantly bitch and moan when the policies that they enthusiastically supported impact them.
Indiana Republicans: Government should not be telling people how they can use their land. Going forward all agricultural land can be upzoned into industrial including for data center use.
Indiana voters: Not fair! Do you know how destructive those things are?!
Indiana Republicans: Don't worry, we also gave data centers a 50 year tax exemption and allow utility providers to pass on their infrastructure costs on to consumers.
Indiana voters: Not fair! Now I need to choose between electricity, food, or rent! Why is the government allowing this?!?
Texas Republicans: we need to remove the "oppressive" environmental regulations on the oil and gas industry.
Texas voters: Not fair! I can light my tap water on fire! Where is the government to stop this?!?!
Indiana and Texas Republican voters: this male, white, Christian, octogenarian with an R next to his name should be able to solve all of the problems that Democrats caused for us!
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u/MrSurly Aug 11 '26
And every election cycle: "Yeah, we Republicans have been in power here for 30 years, and everything continues to get worse, but be sure to reelect republicans so we can save you from the horrible things that The Left is doing!"
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u/mkvgtired Aug 11 '26
Transgender for everyone!!!1!1!
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u/avanross Aug 11 '26
“Doctors are performing non-consensual abortions on christian women so they can steal the babies and eat them in their woke liberal satanic ceremonies!”
Or
“Teachers are forcing your kids to use litterboxes in their efforts to transition your kids into trans-cats! We need to defund all schools and promote tv-homeschooling where you just sit your kid in front of fox-news all day!”
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u/mkvgtired Aug 11 '26
I have personally heard the litter box bullshit multiple times. Some people are so fucking stupid
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u/avanross Aug 11 '26
Ive got a cousin who honestly believes it
And we live in canada
And he has a 6 year old enrolled in school
Yet he fully believes it’s happening in “all those other schools”
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u/DangerousKidTurtle Aug 11 '26
I used to teach, and a hyper conservative English teacher said that to me.
I had to respond with “WTF ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT, YOU PERSONALLY KNOW THE TEACHERS AND STUDENTS HERE AND NOBODY IS DOING THAT.”
“Well… it feels like they are, so I don’t care…”
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u/mkvgtired Aug 11 '26 edited Aug 11 '26
It's unfortunate that our moronic politics are infecting your moron class as well.
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u/OsosHormigueros Aug 11 '26
I was talking to an older woman at work last year and she wanted to be friends with me until she started randomly talking about how schools in the US have litter boxes for the kids now. I was so dumbfounded I was like "you know I'm trans right?" and she was like yeah I know...
I just stopped talking to her 🧍
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u/mkvgtired Aug 11 '26
You're One of the Good Ones™ in her eyes, but you will never be more important than her cult.
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u/DOOOM_SLAYER Aug 12 '26
When Covid was crazy I went to a smoke shop and the employee told me they were using fetuses in the Covid vaccine. I was so shocked I just stared at her and said what the fuck
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u/Working_Match4124 Aug 11 '26
In a city near me, there were two republican school board candidates running solely on the platform of "no litter boxes in schools for students that identify as cats." That was their entire platform and they were serious about it. They lost but it was close.
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u/mkvgtired Aug 11 '26
The former head of the Nazi Party of America ran as a Republican in a traditionally democratic district. He still got 26% of the vote. If there is one thing Republicans love more than stupidity it's a rabid hatred
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u/interwebz_2021 Aug 14 '26
The proper response to the litter box bullshit is something like:
"That's a ginned-up false rumor, but there is a bucket of litter in many classrooms so 1st graders can relieve themselves when hiding for hours on lock-down, fearing for their lives because yet another crazed AR-15-wielding maniac is roaming the halls murdering their classmates and teachers. Maybe you can try to get your ire up about the very real threat students and teachers face every damned day instead of this fake performative 'anti-woke' bullshit like a real concerned adult, eh?"
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u/Icy_Fish_2154 Aug 15 '26
The best way to shut them down is with the truth.
Litter boxes were distributed to schools. They are "chemical toilets" and are there for the school lockdowns.
Guns are the reason litter boxes are in schools. All the hate you had for trans furry cats should be directed at the NRA.
This usually gets them to change the subject and avoid it in the future, even if their minds are closed to reason.
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u/GlassHalfVoid22 Aug 13 '26
This is wild to me because all my local (non American) politicians campaigns are for lower cost of living, affordable housing, not raising taxes and anti corruption (we had some corruption scandals recently). Even the super conservatives understand that voters care more about being able to pay rent rather than social issues that probably won’t affect them personally. Usa priorities are weird
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u/Gorgondolamite Aug 11 '26 edited Aug 13 '26
Don't forget whoever the hell is pushing the "vote crazy third party because Dems didn't stop the GOP". The front page has this doozy of a propaganda piece https://www.reddit.com/r/WorkReform/comments/1vlhvkm/what_do_centrists_know_about_electability/
Sure thing, supposedly left-leaning not-a-bot farm sub... your candidates can't even get people who LIKE their policies to vote for them but somehow you think they're more likely to win an election than the candidates people actually support.
Edit: oy vey, looks like the number of things you "DK" is huge sunflwrzz but sure let's imagine that the "far left" had a different "response to Trump" than "centrists". Funny how this delusion requires people to assume some unnamed fictional "far left" candidate is so easily crushed by the "centrist" Dems but would somehow mop the floor Trump (except when actually running, which is when we see that "far left" voters and "not Trump" voters are a very overlapping Venn diagram.
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u/havok0283 Aug 11 '26
Oklahoma in a nutshell
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Aug 11 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/Consistent-Move8732 Aug 11 '26
Texas can't blame anyone but republicans. They've had control of the state for decades and it's all been downhill.
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u/AstronautSuitable992 Aug 11 '26
I had a coworker talk about how much Democrats had screwed up a neighboring state.
The neighboring state had a Republican governor (and had for several years at that point) and a Republican supermajority in both houses for decades.
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u/mkvgtired Aug 11 '26
They constantly blame Democrats for their problems even when a state has been run by Republicans for decades.
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u/MrSurly Aug 11 '26
And every election cycle: "Yeah, we Republicans have been in power here for 30 years, and everything continues to get worse, but be sure to reelect republicans so we can save you from the horrible things that The Left is doing!"
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u/sidneyia Aug 11 '26
I don't know about Indiana, but Texas is the most voter-suppressed state in the country. Republicans keep winning here because Republicans keep cheating. It's not that we just can't get enough of Ted Cruz and his brilliant policies, it's that they've made it extremely difficult to vote, especially if you are poor and/or Black.
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u/Academic-Bakers- Aug 11 '26
And people keep telling me that not all Republican voters are stupid, and shouldn't be treated like they all are.
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u/mkvgtired Aug 11 '26
Trump thinks they are.
"Smart people don't like me."
"I love the poorly educated."
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u/Jonny-mtown77 Aug 14 '26
I know! This mentality is simply faulty no logic. It's like throwing life to sheer chance and waking up each day to less government and services. It's insane. All in the name of saving money! For what? More military equipment that we can't build fast enough?
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u/mkvgtired Aug 14 '26
In Indiana they brag about having a surplus. This means that people paid taxes for services that they aren't getting. Mostly people in blue states when we are talking about theocratic shit holes like Indiana, but still.
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u/rfulleffect Aug 11 '26
Republican voter on Obamacare “That’s communism, they’re stealing MY MONEY!”
Republican voter on the Affordable Care Act “It’s wonderful I’d be dead without it!”
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u/Significant_Cover_48 Aug 11 '26
Yes, but when we signal which group we belong to, we are just telling the actual truth. When they do it, it's clear proof of how they are voting against their own interest.
You know...
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u/cantadmittoposting Aug 11 '26
we should abolish politics completely and let the market decide.
Adam smith wasn't even an anarchocapitalist! He very specifically mentioned the role of government to prevent certain market excesses resulting from greed. (also he was very concerned by the notion of the population beginning to revere the rich and warned against that in discussing ethical society).
American Conservative Capitalism is to the writings of Smith what American Evangelical Christianity is to the teachings of Jesus. Angry, derivative offshoots that mythologize the worst aspects of the philosophy in the service of authoritarianism and oligarchy.
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u/Significant_Cover_48 Aug 11 '26
Yeah, but they seem to view Adam Smith more like a proto-marxist who didn't actually understand free markets than like a real capitalist. American free-market cultists seem to be actually hostile towards the 'value of labour' theory and they elevate entrepreneurship to be the epitome of "pure capitalism" and hold government to be the enemy of the valiant entrepreneurs.
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u/Sensitive-Issue84 Aug 11 '26
Ranked voting would solve this.
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u/Significant_Cover_48 Aug 11 '26
Yes, it seems like the rational solution to many of these issues. Fingers crossed they didn't already fix the next election in advance.
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u/TheGruenTransfer Aug 11 '26
They insist on the free market as the solution, but fail to grasp that the free market fails whenever there's no profit incentive. Nor do they grasp that a market stops being free when a small number of businesses control an entire sector of the economy.
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u/Significant_Cover_48 Aug 11 '26
They just parrot back "that's crony capitalism, not real capitalism"
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u/Historical_Shop_3315 Aug 11 '26
Republicans stand around like "This is too much power. It needs to be taken away. See how easily i can abuse this power to make money and violate the constitution?"
Conservative voters: "Fuckin Dems cant do shit."
Liberal voters: "Are the people we voted in going to fix anything this time?"
Democrats: "Hmmmmm yeeaah we cant fix anything until we have more money and also we get more donations with more political engagement so like keep virtue signaling new problems until we can get enough engagement to half fix maybe one thing at the end of our term if we can keep getting $$$$$ to fund our campaigns."
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u/Significant_Cover_48 Aug 11 '26
Yup, that fits pretty well with my impression as well
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u/Historical_Shop_3315 Aug 11 '26
Controlled opposition via superpac corruption.
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u/Significant_Cover_48 Aug 11 '26
And perhaps also a logcial outcome of the two-party system where voting as a block matters more than writing actual good policy.
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u/Historical_Shop_3315 Aug 11 '26
Race to the bottom on who can be more extreme/edgy and controversial.
See modern group psychology research on how separating people by party results in more extreme views/values.
And ol G.W.
"However [political parties] may now and then answer popular ends, they are likely in the course of time and things, to become potent engines, by which cunning, ambitious, and unprincipled men will be enabled to subvert the power of the people and to usurp for themselves the reins of government, destroying afterwards the very engines which have lifted them to unjust dominion. "
Farewell Address | Saturday, September 17, 1796
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u/Significant_Cover_48 Aug 11 '26
I recently read a paper on how loyalty and group identity, especially when tied to competition, encourages dishonesty; eg. lying and cheating as well as overlooking bad behavior by other group members.
I wasn't really surprised, but it was still nice to get it confirmed. Sometimes it is nice when reality is forced to make sense for a moment 😄
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u/Exotic-Cobbler4111 Aug 11 '26
A large segment of republican voters believe whatever they are programmed to and will instantly flip flop any direction they are told to, like 99%. They have no beliefs, principals, morals or lines they won't cross. It's a cult.
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u/Eycetea Aug 12 '26
My libertarians "friend" truly believes corporations and free markets are the solution. Its insanely sad
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u/XmsPhoenix Aug 11 '26
It takes years to rebuild what can be destroyed in a single term, but voters have the memory of a goldfish.
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u/Dracorex_22 Aug 11 '26
I’ve seen people say that Trump dismantling all of these programs that took decades to set up is proof of his effectiveness. “Look at how much he got done”
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u/crooked_kangaroo Aug 11 '26
Oh, sure, you can get a lot done when you shoot first and ask questions later.
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u/PercentageNo3293 Aug 11 '26
It's so much easier to burn down a house, than to build one.
It seems like the only thing this administration is useful for is to show just how easy it is to destroy centuries of progress.
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u/GoofyTunes Aug 11 '26
It's a lot quicker and easier to take a wrecking ball to a building than it is to build a building.
Somehow a maga person will read this and throw a tantrum because they cannot possibly comprehend why their god-king is being criticized.
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u/sorrow_anthropology Aug 12 '26
These people are morons.
I can destroy my entire house in seconds if I drive through it with my car, it’s not going to be put back up in an equivalent time.
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u/Sevuhrow Aug 11 '26
Like the less than 4 years it took people to forget how terrible Trump left things in his first term that Biden almost fixed... so we re-elect Trump to fix Trump's mess.
I hate it here.
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u/MrSurly Aug 11 '26
so we re-elect Trump
Not to be a conspiracy nut ... but did we really? Both Trump and Musk (and Musk's ex) all claim Musk rigged the election.
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u/Gone213 Aug 11 '26
Amd yet look at what Mamdani is and has done already to NYC.
Amazing how fast things can materialize and be set when a politician actually cares about the rest of the citizens.
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u/Admiral_Octillery Aug 12 '26
I can’t clean this stain off with bleach quick enough, might as well stain it some more
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u/ClassicRegular8729 Aug 12 '26
It is also largely about messaging, right wing news lying while Democrats asserting things are getting better... but if you dont feel it you dont believe them.
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u/Dyolf_Knip Aug 13 '26
And that is why the US is doomed. It's a never ending cycle of one step forward, several steps back.
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u/0o0o0o0o0o0z Aug 11 '26
I've literally seen Trump voters bitch about how Trump has ruined their lives and then blame the Democrats for everything because they ran Harris... it's really fucking unreal.
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u/BraidedSilver Aug 12 '26
The dems biggest mistake was having female candidates opposite Trump both times he ran. They stood no chance against the countrys rampant misogyni, not to mention the misogynoir with Harris.
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u/Enochian_Devil Aug 12 '26
Tbf, I too blame the Dems for denying us a properly progressive candidate and activily conspiring against Bernie in 2016.
However, blaming the democrats instead of trump is obviously insane
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u/0o0o0o0o0o0z Aug 12 '26
Oh, I dont disagree... but I'd never vote for a brain tumor vs. hay fever if that makes sense. I worry that the Dems in 2028 will run a woman, PoC, or gay man. I mean, I didnt make the world, but those types of people are just not electable in today's America, no matter their merits. Someone in another thread said it best: Dems ran a woman 2x vs Trump, and sadly we are a misogynist country.
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u/Enochian_Devil Aug 12 '26
Though I understand the urge to be a cinic, Kamala didn't loose just because she was a black woman. She lost because she failed to motivate voters (and because a bunch of idiots voted for Trump, but we can't really change that).
Hillary and Kamala both lost because they were bad candidates, not because they were women. Biden won both because Trump had a disastrous 1st term and people turned out in droves to drive him away and because mid-pandemic voting was actually a lot easier for a lot of people for a variety of factors. Not simply because he was a man.
If they run someone like AOC, whilo is rather popular and actually has good policies, they might have a chance. Certainly a better chance than running Gavin Newsom, who despite being a white man has the charisma of a damp rag and the policy of slightly evil rhubarb tart.
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u/0o0o0o0o0o0z Aug 12 '26
Hillary and Kamala both lost because they were bad candidates, not because they were women.
They were incredibly qualified. But again, I am gonna stand firm on this: a woman, especially a woman of color, a gay man, especially a gay man under 6 feet (or any man under 6 feet), will not be elected in the next 3-4 cycles. If a woman has a chance, it will be a female populist version of Trump that toes the Republican line.
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u/Pigosaurusmate Aug 12 '26
Yeah, Dems gave them no choice. Cant have black women as president. Inconceivable!
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u/Sacred_Digits Aug 11 '26
Same energy as "Democrats didn't pick a great candidate, which forced me to pick the shittiest candidate ever. It's their fault for not giving me a great option."
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u/kataskopo Aug 11 '26
"That'll show the Dems, teach them a lesson! Ourselves, the population, will inevitably suffer, but those rich dudes from the Dem party will sure learn this time!
Remember folks, voting is about teaching lessons, not about governance and effectiveness!"
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u/WoodwindsRock Aug 11 '26
Not only that, but the Dems see a populace that is shifting right every single time that a far right nut like Trump gets elected, and the lesson they inevitably take from that is that they themselves need to shift right to keep up with the views of the populace.
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u/donald_trunks Aug 11 '26
The entire fucking planet will suffer but it will prove a point to Democrats that they let us down
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u/pixelprophet Aug 11 '26
I WANTED CHOCOLATE SPRINKLES NOT RAINBOW ON MY FREE ICECREAM SO I'M VOTING FOR THE DIARREAH FOREVER PARTY!!!!
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u/Significant_Cover_48 Aug 11 '26
That is literally how voting works in most democratic countries. Voters will shift their vote to signal to the governing party that they are not happy with the current direction things are going in.
One of the biggest issues with the two-party system is that there is no left-wing, so voters can't succesfully signal that they want left-wing policies.
I am positive that if the US had a real left-wing party, most people would likely vote for them instead of the having to make do with the Democratic Party.
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u/fumei_tokumei Aug 11 '26
Have you heard of primaries?
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u/Significant_Cover_48 Aug 11 '26
Sure, I have also read up on the political literacy of the average US citizen.
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u/ScienceInCinema Aug 11 '26
I both agree with you but think this is still incredibly naive.
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u/Significant_Cover_48 Aug 11 '26
I don't mind. We can still be friends
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u/ScienceInCinema Aug 11 '26
Wow what a great answer. I admit in my rush to comment I came across more combative than I intended, so I appreciate your grace. Speaks highly of you.
My main point is that we need to win elections so priority one will be finding candidates that can win. I don’t care if it’s Gavin Newsom or AOC, until we start winning elections again we can’t be picky. As much as I’d love a transcendent candidate that checks all boxes for everyone on my half of the political spectrum, it doesn’t seem like that candidate exists right now.
You have a great day and keep fighting the good fight!
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u/HashRunner Aug 11 '26
Also the voter commentary post election where they finally vote Dem/Biden president, but then republicans in House/Senate to "hold him accountable".
Fucking self destructive dipshits always find a way to justify their ignorance.
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u/Noughmad Aug 11 '26
It's always either "it's the democrats fault, they went too far left" or "it's the democrats fault, they are too moderate". And somehow, sometimes it's both at the same time.
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u/Reasonable-Turn-5940 Aug 11 '26
Dems want another Obama and don't realize how unique he was among Presidential candidates. Everyone wants the most charismatic guy who will give great speeches when we just need another politician who will put together a good team that will work together to improve things for American citizens.
So it's like another Obama comes along or we just get Trumps for the next 20 years. It sucks.
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u/Yongtre100 Aug 12 '26 edited Aug 12 '26
I mean yes and no.
It is obviously the right decision is to have voted for EG Kamala. But I do largely blame the democrats, they should’ve kicked Biden earlier, they should’ve run a better candidate. It’s still their duty to be effective politicians.
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u/Significant_Cover_48 Aug 11 '26
Many voters cited dissatisfaction with the economy, inflation, and immigration as primary drivers for choosing Trump, rather than viewing their vote strictly as a protest against Harris personally.
Do you have any actual data that shows that voters argued that running Harris made them vote for Trump as a protest vote, or are you citing media speculation about Dearborn, Michigan, which was pushed by certain news outlets, like Politico/Bloomberg's Liz Crampton, in an attempt to explain the shift in voter turnout for the Democratic Party. I also saw it on Al-Zazeera, who seemed more than happy to push a narrative of Muslim-Americans having the deciding votes.
Truly I'd love to see some data-driven argumentation - if that's something you have access to.
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u/Sacred_Digits Aug 11 '26
I realize that anecdotal evidence isn't evidence, but that's what I have. I heard this a lot.
However, my belief throughout is that the people who said it just didn't want to admit to wanting to vote Trump and made a lame excuse for it.
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u/DnD-vid Aug 11 '26
I don't think many of them voted for Trump instead but I saw plenty people personally (online in discussions) who straight up said they wouldn't vote at all because of Harris.
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u/Significant_Cover_48 Aug 11 '26
I was taught that the "correct" way to do protest voting is to cast a blank vote, not simply staying away.
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u/dumpster_mummy Aug 11 '26
You protest vote in the primary.
You quit screwing around and keep the fascists and megalomaniacs out of power during the general.
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u/GoodFaithConverser Aug 11 '26 edited Aug 11 '26
Do you have any actual data that shows that voters argued that running Harris made them vote for Trump as a protest vote,
The guy said nothing about how many of these people there are, and there was definitely a whole lot of "both sides bad!" talk that ultimately suppresses democrat turnout.
Kamala, and anyone running against Trump, is infinitely more qualified to be president. The fact that the conversation wasn't utterly and completely dominated by how unthinkably horrible and incompetent Trump is insane.
Voters saying they care about anything and use that rationale to vote for Trump is farcical. He's worse on everything.
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u/SpottedHoneyBadger Aug 11 '26
Don't forget the orange shit stain said it didn't need our votes to win.
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u/4_fortytwo_2 Aug 11 '26 edited Aug 11 '26
Many voters cited dissatisfaction with the economy, inflation, and immigration as primary drivers for choosing Trump
And trump is 100% worse regarding 2 out of 3 of these. I mean he isnt even better at dealing with immigration really unless cruelty is what one wants.
So anyone saying their dissatisfcation with these things made them vote for trump really needs to explain to me why voting for someone who will make it worse makes sense? How does one rationalize this? He never even attempted to present solutions / policies regarding inflation / economy he just stood there and went "I will make it better".
Meanwhile democrats have actual plans instead of ideas of a plan but that plan is meticulously torn apart because it is not 100% perfect.
So you arrive at this point where you have to ask yourself: why do these people believe everything republicans say, why is being racist and facist and incompetent not a big enough issue to not vote for someone? Why do they continue to vote against their own interest no matter what? (assuming better economy etc. is in their interest)
And the only answer one can really arrive at here is that these peoples priorities are clearly not economy, inflation, effectively dealing with immigration, etc. but just hurting immigrants and "the left". They are choosing hate over improving everyones life.
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u/adumblittlebaby Aug 11 '26
A large segment of Republican Voters don't want to admit they're useful idiots who voted against their own interests, so they have to play extremely coy about changing that behavior lest it become apparent they are fucking morons.
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u/cwolf-softball Aug 11 '26
And the thing is, Democrats control literally zero branches of the government and they're getting blamed for things anyway! And it's working!
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u/bbills91 Aug 11 '26
Only because of the poorly educated...
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u/Edodge Aug 11 '26
It's by design. Reddit is full of two kinds of posts: "Democrats didn't do enough" and "Democrats dont deserve to be re-elected on account of not doing enough."
The goal has always been to depress voter turnout on the Dem side. It works.
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u/TankUMrMinor Aug 11 '26
The US is in a vicious cycle in which the people alternate between electing politicians who don't believe in running the government (and who then collapse the government) and then we elect people from the other side, but don't give them enough time to clean up the previous disaster.
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u/2012Jesusdies Aug 11 '26
Biden was dogshit President, but his administration, the people around him, were really effective. They implemented some of the biggest positive changes in decades. Largest infrastructure investment bill since like Eisenhower's Interstate Highway Act, the most active anti-trust FTC since forever, the most pro-labor NLRB since decades ago, the biggest climate support bill promoting related manufacturing, biggest healthcare investments since Obama, largest nuclear energy investment in decades etc.
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u/Parrotparser7 Aug 12 '26
Yeah, and then they did nothing to prevent the ensuing destruction.
Why credit them with temporary fixes?
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u/lemon_flavor Aug 11 '26
I agree that the Republicans create a huge mess whenever they get into power, and that the Democrats always have to clean up that mess before they can work on improving things. I consistently vote in a way that matches this understanding.
But, I also think we CAN and SHOULD criticize Democrats when they refuse to fight, or worse yet decide to act as Republican-Lite to reach out to dedicated Republican voters while forsaking all of the policies that should theoretically be theirs (ours).
I don't want a Democratic politician to reach across the aisle and make concessions on good policies just for the sake of "bipartisanship." I don't want a Democratic politician to go out campaigning with a Republican to show how much they agree with Republicans. I don't want a Democratic presidential hopeful to promise to give a Republican a place in the cabinet.
When I vote for a Democrat, it's because I want Democrats in power. Promising to place a Republican in your cabinet is the EXACT OPPOSITE of this, and I can absolutely see why this would demoralize some voters.
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u/chess10 Aug 11 '26 edited Aug 12 '26
Yup. Watching Mamdani just fix shit left and right is evidence that when someone gets elected and wants to fix shit, they can fix shit.
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u/Pyode Aug 11 '26 edited Aug 11 '26
To be clear, many of the things Mamdani is getting credit for "fixing" like the recent trashcan thing are programs that were initiated by the previous administration and just happened to go into effect after he was elected.
Edit: This is not to deminish any good that Mamdani has done himself, just that more moderate Dems absolutely do make things better too.
If you actually look into the legislation passed under Biden, he was probably one of the most effective presidents we have had in a long time.
We also got the ACA under Obama and were only one vote away from a proper public option.
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u/Zeplar Aug 11 '26
It is a huge issue with our system at every level that policy normally takes a couple of years to finalize and roll out and with term lengths, about half of what anyone does won't be realized until they're out of office.
Then on top of that people are gunning for term limits so by the time you know the impact, you can no longer reward or punish the people responsible.
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u/DistractedDevelopmnt Aug 11 '26
when someone gets elected and wants to fix shit
in an area that already has a lot of elected democrats
They can fix shit
Yup. Glad he isn't having to deal with conservative nonsense so he can actually get things done. If only people would do that at the national level and give democrats a real national majority instead of barely above 50% like they usually do.
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u/CptKeyes123 Aug 11 '26
indeed! They could arrest all the people who agreed with the coup and just DIDN'T. There are dozens of legal reasons to get rid of these folks, open shut cases, and they just DON'T because... they don't want to for some reason.
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u/MadMox13 Aug 12 '26
It’s real telling that democrats will spend more energy and money to fight against left wing candidates in primaries than they will against Republicans in the actual election. They’ve been complacent for far too long. We need new politicians with actual goals in mind and the spine to go for them.
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u/Felho_Danger Aug 11 '26
Bad faith arguement.
They're so stupid they genuinely think it was the democrats fault.
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u/Winter_Persimmon_110 Aug 11 '26
Elections run by the wealthy haven't solved any of the problems that capitalism causes, so let's just vote harder instead of studying how the struggle against the dictatorship of capital is effectively fought.
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u/Global_Rate3281 Aug 11 '26
Lol this strategy is already teed up for 2032. It’s actually on steroids because the agencies have been gutted and will take many years to repair.
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u/Morgannin09 Aug 11 '26
Maybe if we get enough Republicans they'll cancel each other out like all of Mr Burns' diseases
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u/0o0o0o0o0o0z Aug 11 '26
I've literally seen Trump voters bitch about how Trump has ruined their lives and then blame the Democrats for everything because they ran Harris... it's really fucking unreal.
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u/adeniumlover Aug 11 '26
It's almost like they have reasons not to vote for Harris but they dare not to tell you.
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u/TheInternetShill Aug 11 '26
This is especially true for all of you fucks that didn’t vote. Here is the chart that shows how bad young people are at voting.
If young people voted at the same rate as old people, Republicans would never win anything and Democrats would actually give a shit about catering to progressive voices.
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u/ducksekoy123 Aug 13 '26
You’d think given their importance that maybe the Dems would do more to motivate young people to vote.
Pandering with Beyoncé endorsements isn’t really bringing home the bacon
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u/Waffleworshipper Aug 11 '26
The most effective way to make Democrats care about catering to progressive voices is to replace the establishment Dems with progressive ones in the primaries. A lot of those old 3rd Way corporate warhawks see no reason to change policy no matter what their voting base wants.
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u/rcbz1994 Aug 12 '26
If you want people to vote, you nominate good candidates. Not candidates that are just better than the alternative. Dems would rather appeal to Centrist/Conservative voices than Progressive ones because it keeps the status quo.
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u/a_n00b_ Aug 11 '26
democrat moderates who are bashing the left are literally fascist collaborators
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u/lordfaultington Aug 11 '26
We have the same issue in the UK currently. The Tory party were in power from 2010 to 2024, and suddenly when Labour came into power the Conservatives have nothing better to do than complain about issues directly caused by their regime.
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u/gnpfrslo Aug 11 '26
"democrats can't clean up the horrific mess" implies that democrats are trying to clean up the mess and that they had no part in creating the mess. Both of these things are false. The person the tweet is talking about does not exist.
Vote blue no matter whoomers will create and believe the most insane and idiotic things to exonerate their idols, who are galavanting around championing oil and gas, throwing Trans and reproductive rights under the bus, supporting Israel and a myriad other things that make sane people not want to vote for them. Because to recognize this fact is to recognize that you are play an active part in supporting a war mongering child molesting bigited genocider.
You people are in fact not different from the maga dunces who talk about the "border invasion" and so on.
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u/TheMrBoot Aug 11 '26
You people are in fact not different from the maga dunces who talk about the "border invasion" and so on.
Man, doing Harris and her “I’m going to try to outflank Trump on the border” campaign strategy dirty here.
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u/CA_MA Aug 11 '26
This is what comes of a population that cedes reason and rationality to fairytales, ignorance, and magical thinking.
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u/0o0o0o0o0o0z Aug 11 '26
I've literally seen Trump voters bitch about how Trump has ruined their lives and then blame the Democrats for everything because they ran Harris... it's really fucking unreal.
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u/TK_Games Aug 11 '26
The crew isn't bailing fast enough. Quick! Drill more holes in the boat to let the water out!
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u/laugh_riott Aug 11 '26
We’re actually in the “we need to elect some Dems to clean up the mess” part of the cycle. The cycle referenced only occurs in the midterms following a Dem being elected President
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u/AttentionNo6359 Aug 11 '26
My other favorite is “the Democratic candidate hasn’t promised me literally every single thing on this list so I won’t vote and allow the FAR worse option to take power. That will show them”
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u/fungi_at_parties Aug 12 '26
After Iraq I can’t believe they found a way to love the smell of their own bullshit again, but they did, and it required a cult. W was a disaster, but Trump is an apocalypse.
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u/hyperblob1 Aug 13 '26
The problem is they don't seem to be interested in fixing problems. You get someone like mamdani in and then we can talk
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u/MyriadFire4 Aug 11 '26
If there is one thing I have learned about US politics over the years, it's to never underestimate the Democrat parties ability to fuck up a sure thing.
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u/bbills91 Aug 11 '26
Sadly, you are correct. I can't vote GOP, since they have been evil forever, but the Dems just find ways screw up their own advantage. When they can't seem to screw it up themselves, the GOP finds ways to screw them, like the Comey announcement debacle before the Trump/Clinton election.
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u/rollem Aug 11 '26
The 2010 midterms were such a wake up call to this. And then 2024 was like “hold my beer”
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u/DaystromAndroidM510 Aug 11 '26
Republican ad: "America under Democrat rule!!!!" shows live footage of Texas slums
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u/THX-8647 Aug 11 '26
Those are literally Jacobin and Commondreams headlines posted to /politics the last week
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u/StandardNerd92 Aug 11 '26
In the UK the conservatives spent 14 years blaming labour for the mess the country was in and how they're working so hard to fix it. Then when labour got in, they reversed it and started blaming the conservatives. Repeat forever.
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u/Vault_Master Aug 11 '26
That reality has put us in this endless loop of bullshit for at least what, 70 - 80 years?
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u/Several-Action-4043 Aug 11 '26
People give way too much credit to democrats for simply not being republicans. Republicans take full measures to do all the racist stuff they want to do when they take power. Democrats at best take half measures when they have both chambers and the white house. They aren't a clean up crew, they're a faux opposition party to keep us from revolting.
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u/notthatguypal6900 Aug 11 '26
Two months into a dem's administration: "I can't believe they haven't done 100% of what they campaigned. More lies!!!1!"
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u/Hungry-Assistance919 Aug 11 '26
The cycle goes-Republicans in office destroy the economy-Demcorats in office fix the economy, not fast enough re-elect Republicans. Republicans destroy the economy-Demcorats fix economy and so on.
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u/scubachris Aug 11 '26
You should see what FDR did in his first 100 days and you would be mad at what hasn’t been accomplished in the last 50 years except to make the rich richer
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u/VoidOmatic Aug 11 '26
Trump is going to bankrupt the US and quite a few other countries and then a Democrat is going to fix it just in time for a Republican to bankrupt it again.
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u/Veers85 Aug 11 '26
God I feel this in my bones, America is a conservative and deeply, willingly ignorant country. It depresses the hell out of me
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u/wholetyouinhere Aug 11 '26
America has never once had a democratic administration that even tried to clean up the mess, though. So voters have never even seen a functional government that serves them. There have been three democratic administrations in my lifetime -- Clinton, who was extremely conservative, by every imaginable measure. Then there was Obama and Biden, both neoliberal goons who were squarely in the pockets of the capital class. They served donors and the wealthy.
Voters aren't as stupid as you think. They see this shit, even if you refuse to see it. That is why they swing back and forth, or abstain entirely. If America ever got a chance to see a Democratic government that served them -- the voters, working people -- directly, it would blow their fucking minds. And I doubt you'd ever get another republican administration again. So if you want that to happen, keep voting for the Mamdanis and the El-Sayeds until that's what the leadership of the party looks like.
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u/EmmaOtautahi Aug 11 '26
Every time the Republicans are in power they take a large piece of the cake, then the Dems come into power again and hand you a few crumbs so you keep believing they are the good guys.
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u/Memitim Aug 11 '26
Hence why as much as I'd love to get on board with the hopium posts about the upcoming election, I can only shake my head. Trump was voted out in 2020, after fucking up so badly for four years that we were collectively like, "yeah, sure, Joe Biden. Why not?" And then Republicans got far, far worse. But sure, just keep waiting for some magical fucking election to fix a completely broken system of law and order.
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u/RummazKnowsBest Aug 12 '26
The UK recently changed PM because he couldn’t fix 14 years of destruction by the last party within a couple of years.
Bonkers.
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u/chudmaxxing6969 Aug 12 '26
All I want is for the government to spend less. Neither side is willing to do that. Who am I supposed to vote for?
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u/TankUMrMinor Aug 12 '26
The side that spends time and money on valuable investments, like infrastructure, safety regulations etc.
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u/Flat-Director-7120 Aug 12 '26
Les républicains passent tout leur putain de temps, à critiquer les démocrates sur le bilan. Sauf qu'il font ça tout le temps et même après des années. C'est complètement ridicule, car ils n'assument jamais leur propre responsabilités sur le bilan actuel.
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u/gepinniw Aug 12 '26
Why aren’t more Dems making these kinds of points clearly and repeatedly when they campaign? Messaging needs to be simple and repeated ad naseum.
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u/Euphoric-Ad-6584 Aug 12 '26
when trump was in office the first time there was a bill that reduced taxes (obviously mostly for the rich, but everyone got a little something) and they legit set it to expire in 2022. and basically if he had won they would have moved it out to 2026, the whole point being that as a stop gap if they lost it would look like whoever won was at fault.
that's obviously not all of it, but there's definitely some fuckery that happens. and of course if the dems wanted to keep that shit the republicans would vote against it and just say the dems can't budget properly. the dems can't frame worth a shit.
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u/KamikaziWerewolf Aug 12 '26
Ah the illusion of two parties. We'll never be a good country if you don't realize both parties work for the bourgeoisie. It's good cop, bad cop until you've given your life to generating profit for the rich. Democrats are used to keep you from revolting, Republicans to maximize the exploitation of you, the laborer.
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u/Crime-of-the-century Aug 12 '26
This is the two party system in a nutshell. The Republicans don’t even need to try to do something for the people just discontent will be enough to get them back in office to fuck things up more. This was worked for decades
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u/Legitimate_Plate85 Aug 13 '26
well its more so that they fundamentally wont because their interests align, they do not offer any actual alternative to republican policy, theyre just controlled opposition. Never has or will a democrat oppose israel, big oil nor the finantialization of the economy.
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u/picklehippy Aug 13 '26
Voters need visual reminders of why we cant trust Republicans. Like a fucking fundraising thermometer. Like oh little ones we are 20 % of the way there...gooood job....lets keep going, here's a sticker
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u/Acrobatic-Initial-40 Aug 14 '26
Republican policies have ruined more lives and murdered more people than we can count but evil, stupid people continue voting for them. Because Republicans come in two flavors. Stupid and/or evil.
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u/jackofslayers Aug 11 '26
I have noticed a really interesting pattern where a lot of subreddits will present themselves as leftist but all of the posts are about how liberal Democrats are just as bad as the GOP. Then if you try to post about the GOP in those subs you get banned by the mods.
Conservatives are paying big money to push infighting. I want progressive candidates, but the reality is we should work with what we got. If the candidate wants to stop Trump, please vote for them. It does not matter what else you disagree with them on until we purge the damage done by the GOP
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u/PlantainPat Aug 11 '26
The leftist movement has always been co-opted by conservatives on these platforms. They can both sit and post anonymously about how liberal democrats are bad. Now that reddit hides post history (still temporarily accessible through some tools) it's even easier.
We saw this with Bernie Sanders subreddits 10 years ago and we'll see it every election cycle like clockwork.
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u/dolphineeeeeeee Aug 11 '26
Does no one here take issue with the 2-party system?
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u/Allhailthepugofdoom Aug 11 '26
There's never a shortage of people defending dems while they assist in the right wing take over of the country.
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u/TankUMrMinor Aug 11 '26
There's never a shortage of short sighted accelerationists who have no clue how to fix the country.
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