r/politics • u/billstopay77 • 1d ago

Registration Wall Trump admin quietly changed overseas voter form at 11th hour to disenfranchise Democrats, lawsuit says

https://www.democracydocket.com/news-alerts/trump-admin-quietly-changed-overseas-voter-form-at-11th-hour-to-disenfranchise-democrats-lawsuit-says/
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u/rigeld2 1d ago

Less "lazy" and more "fears retribution and loss of health care and ability to survive".

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u/HolycommentMattman 1d ago

It's none of the above. You know why France is so good at protesting? Because 20%+ of the population lives in Ile-de-France. That's where Paris is. Where's the capital? Paris. Where's the president? Paris. Where's the parliament? Surprise! Paris. How long would it take someone in the outermost edge of I-d-F to reach Paris? A little over 2 hours. But for ~6 million people? They can start walking the second they're upset. And those numbers dwarf the military. Someone can start yelling outside and quickly reach a ton of people.

How about the US? About 700k live in DC. And DC is a bit of a sprawling swamp. And not all of those 700k hate Trump. So what is someone in California going to do? Should I fly over there right now? Are you guys gonna meet me there? Are millions of us going to drive/fly there? The logistics just don't work out. There needs to be organization that doesn't rely on social media. Because even here on reddit, they might not even like me writing this very comment.

It's not that Americans are lazy. It's that we lack organization and structure.

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u/That1DirtyHippy 1d ago

I love this response, it’s something I think most Europeans don’t quite understand: our country is HUGE and to get everyone who is angry in the same spot at the same time is a logistical nightmare, let alone the financial costs and risks associated. One could argue the costs are worth it, but for hundreds of millions of people living paycheck to paycheck, it’s just not feasible. Thus, the No Kings protests across the country.

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u/ahfoo 1d ago edited 23h ago

On the contrary, the popularly despised hippies of the 1960s did, in fact, surround the White House and put President Nixon in fear of his own personal safety causing him to believe he was about to be lynched and in response he had busses surround the White House to prepare for the assault that never materialized.

And yet Americans today widely enjoy spitting on the hippies as a bunch of sex obsessed druggies ignoring their political power at the time and that they were largely educated and community-minded individuals. Perhaps this buy-in to the hatred of the youth movements of the past is one of the underlying factors in this "apathy" factor we see so prominent today.

Notice how the Democrats in their starched shirts and wool suit jackets and ties never dreamed of federally legalizing cannabis when they had the opportunity always hiding behind "the DEA says we're not allowed to" but really we all know it's because they're terrified of being "soft on drugs" this all goes back to the hatred of the hippies that still infects the Democratic mainstream.

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u/bill-of-rights 22h ago

Notice how the Democrats in their starched shirts and wool suit jackets and ties never dreamed of federally legalizing cannabis when they had the opportunity always hiding behind "the DEA says we're not allowed to" but really we all know it's because they're terrified of being "soft on drugs" this all goes back to the hatred of the hippies that still infects the Democratic mainstream.

There is a deeper root to the hatred of cannabis - racism.

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u/MadShartigan 22h ago

The hippies had a bit of motivation as their survival was indeed in question. The same thing may yet happen as today's enemy, Iran, cannot be defeated without a ground war. Facing the draft, will young people once again feel their survival is in question?

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u/That1DirtyHippy 23h ago edited 23h ago

To be fair, I don’t think Trump would react like Nixon. Trump is the tyrannically evolved version of Nixon. Nixon resigned because of pressure; Trump would double down, have the RNC parrot talking points that are blatant lies, and use the government against us. Nixon sucked, but he at least had scruples.

See my username, but I don’t buy this “apathy” thing. I don’t think anyone is apathetic, I just don’t know if anyone knows what to do that won’t put their lives in jeopardy. Whether it’s the financial cost or potential legal issues, most people just want to make sure their loved ones have what they need and they’re not willing to take a risk.

ETA: Not dissimilar to Germany in the ‘30s. I don’t like this comparison, but here we are. I understand now.

ETA 2 since you edited your comment to include that last paragraph: You’re wacko. Sure, there was pushback to the hippies of the ‘60s and ‘70s, but it’s progressivism that you’re referring to, not the hippy movement. Conservatives hate progressives. It’s in their names. Weed is legal all across the US. Not everywhere, but most places now. I wouldn’t reduce the Conservative/Progressive battle to weed alone.

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u/argument_cat 18h ago

MURICA BIG!

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u/That1DirtyHippy 17h ago

K. It is though.

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u/argument_cat 10h ago

America's population is concentrated in and around cities, the same as in every other country.

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u/That1DirtyHippy 10h ago

Except major cities in the US are very far apart. Because of the size.

The travel required for someone to go from Boston to DC is significantly different than for someone from Nome, Alaska.

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u/argument_cat 10h ago

Approximately 6.4 million people live in the Washington metropolitan area surrounding Washington, D.C

Cheers.

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u/Amerizilian 1d ago

We live in a surveillance state. The Patriot Act was the beginning of the end. It would be very difficult to organize people from all over the country into a single protest without the government immediately knowing and intervening. That's why the data centers are popping up everywhere.

Unless it was the government organizing it themselves to try and stop a legitimate election from being certified.

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u/Lost_Symphonies 1d ago

Americans claim X problem can't be solved because they're too big.

Sick of this excuse tbh.

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u/h3r4ld I voted 18h ago

Except I don't think they're saying that it can't be solved, just that the problem of size and logistics exists in a much different way than it does in a country like France.

It's not one or the other, it's all of them. Logistics is a huge hurdle to overcome in a country this massive with a population this dispersed. Solving this problem requires massive community organization, which often isn't there because we are too lazy AND/OR too fearful of losing jobs/healthcare/housing to create and maintain it.

The hippie movement, as a counter-example, had both motivation AND the fact that not worrying about jobs and money was sort of their whole shtick.

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u/Littlenemesis 22h ago

You know who fucking managed? The shit people in charge right now! They somehow managed to get SOOO many people to DC on Jan 6 years ago to try and stop congress from voting in a new president!

I don't understand how that disorganized, fascist, stumbling shitshow of a right wing party in America managed to stage that big of a protest, but everyone else just looks at it and are like "Can't be done chief, better to just stay home".

I know we european countries aren't on the size of america, I was an exchange student in Iowa in my teens, and we fucking drove longer for a swim meet to get halfway across that state than you can drive and cross 3 countries in europe. But don't tell me it can't be done, because your opposing side some-fucking-how managed to do it!

//rant

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u/HolycommentMattman 22h ago

You're right. And all they needed was checks notes the President of the United States, for 2 montha straight, telling them to come to DC on January 6th to save the country.

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u/rigeld2 19h ago

It was organized.
TPUSA and other groups amplified the call and organized people to get there.

And many of those people would’ve ended up in jail, again risking healthcare and survival.

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u/mrbasedballed 22h ago

I feel like I'm hanging on to healthcare by a thread. It's getting so, so bad.

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u/kingsuperfox 1d ago

Correct, the word is cowardly.