• supersquirrel@sopuli.xyz
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    0
    ·
    edit-2
    2 months ago

    People are not motivated to vote for the lesser of two evils.

    Neoliberals and centrists need to get this through their firewall of condescencion towards leftists, no matter how much y’all hate leftists (and laugh at leftists with your more conservative friends) you need to understand the average person in the US hates you and your leaders far more than than they hate genuine leftists that actually fight for the working class instead of spitting on them and publicly calling them stupid.

    • Cryophilia@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      0
      ·
      2 months ago

      Leftists in America are a tiny minority that happens to be in a kingmaker role because the Dems and Repubs are nearly evenly matched. There is no vast silent majority of Leftists. You’re in an internet bubble.

      YOU need to get onboard with OUR ideas.

      • ExtantHuman@lemm.ee
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        0
        ·
        2 months ago

        Your ideas got us here. With democracy hanging by a thread because both the corporate Democrats and Republicans spent decades weakening the lower classes to enrich themselves. How many 70-80% approval rating policy idea have the Democrats spurned over the years because it would mildly inconvenience their mega donors in the short term?

          • ExtantHuman@lemm.ee
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            0
            ·
            2 months ago

            Decades? They had the presidency and both halves of Congress for the first two years under Obama and all they gave us was Mitt Romney’s health care plan. And again during the first half of Biden’s term.

            The Democratic leadership keeps actively stopping attempts to corral the ability of congressmen to get rich off inside trading. They spent the whole campaign season last year supporting and assisting in a very public genocide. Trustbusting has basically been forgotten - we only have the illusion of choice in our much each industry from the media to even our food products are dominated by like 3-4 companies within it.

            Whenever they do happen to get power, they do nothing with it, and then act surprised when they immediately lose it again.

            • Cryophilia@lemmy.world
              link
              fedilink
              arrow-up
              0
              ·
              edit-2
              2 months ago

              They had the presidency and both halves of Congress for the first two years under Obama

              They had a majority that could override Republicans for all of like 2 months

              And again during the first half of Biden’s term.

              Never had a supermajority, even though they did get a few epic bills in through some brilliant legislative maneuvering.

              and all they gave us was Mitt Romney’s health care plan

              Obamacare has saved literally thousands of lives and saved countless more from poverty inducing medical costs and you act like that’s nothing. It’s the single best piece of legislation in the last 50 years at least. And we did that with just a few months of power.

              Anyway. For your actual specifics

              The Democratic leadership keeps actively stopping attempts to corral the ability of congressmen to get rich off inside trading

              Biden calls for ban on congressional stock trading - never taken up by Repub led Congress

              Democrats make last-ditch effort to ban stock trading by lawmakers

              • Opposed/blocked by Republicans in Congress

              Trustbusting has basically been forgotten

              FTC Sues Amazon for Illegally Maintaining Monopoly Power

              United Health Lawsuit Named Among FTC’s Biggest Wins

              Big Pharma Braces for More FTC Suits Over M&A Bound for Approval

              Gaza I’ll give you. That’s really the only hugely popular (among non-republicans) issue they refused to support.

              • ExtantHuman@lemm.ee
                link
                fedilink
                arrow-up
                0
                ·
                2 months ago

                I didn’t act like it was nothing. It was a band-aid on a gushing artery that further cemented health insurance companies into our lives. It briefly slowled the continually rising costs people continue to struggle with today. But they pretty much called it a day for the next decade and a half-where now those same companies are auto denying 30% of their claims hoping no one fights the ruling. Without the public option Obamacare wasn’t the solution we needed. It just kicked the can down the road to our current disaster.

                • Cryophilia@lemmy.world
                  link
                  fedilink
                  arrow-up
                  0
                  ·
                  2 months ago

                  But they pretty much called it a day

                  Maybe if you fuckers would give them back the same majority that allowed them to make the initial law, they could actually fucking do anything.

                  You idiots keep NOT VOTING DEMS IN and then complaining when Dems don’t have the numbers to accomplish anything. They’re not sitting with their thumbs up their asses intentionally refusing to pass legislation because they just love being assholes to their own constituents. I can see why you’d make that mistake if you’re not paying attention, because that IS the Republican method. But Democrats are people, not ghouls, so on the rare occasion that you dumbshits vote enough of them in, they accomplish great things.

                  • ExtantHuman@lemm.ee
                    link
                    fedilink
                    arrow-up
                    0
                    ·
                    2 months ago

                    You’re assuming I didn’t.

                    And my entire point was on those rare occasions where we did vote enough of them in to have a diving super majority (this shouldn’t be necessary to get literally the most basic shit accomplished), they DON’T do those great things.

                    They do the half assed bare minimum, which has not been enough to combat the backwards March whenever Republicans are even in anything other than the super minority.

        • Cryophilia@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          0
          ·
          2 months ago

          Sure!

          • All people are equal before the law. Discrimination is abhorrent, and people’s personal freedoms should be respected until they harm others. Liberals and Leftists pretty much agree 100% on this so I won’t spend more time on it.

          • Capitalism is the most powerful social engine for beneficial progress that the world has ever seen, but we need to keep it under control. It’s like an engine - harnessed, throttled, and controlled explosive power to drive us forward at a manageable pace. Strong regulations, strong unions, progressive taxes, and heavy government incentives are the ways we keep capitalism under control. Currently, it is OUT of control and is doing far more harm than good.

          • Taxes on the rich should be higher, loopholes should be closed, and enforcement should be stepped up. There’s no consensus on exactly how much higher, but they all agree they should be higher.

          • At the same time, we recognize the potential economic effects of taxing the rich. If we’re not careful, they’ll just move their money elsewhere. So we want to raise taxes to the extent possible without triggering flight of the wealthy.

          • Everyone deserves a minimum standard of living. Food, shelter, and healthcare are human rights and should be free for those who can’t afford it.

          • Immigrants are good for the economy. Even the illegal ones. We should be making immigration easier.

          • Climate change is real, is man-made, and it is our duty as humans to do our best to fix it. However, we can do so to a large extent without causing hardship among everyday people, by making intelligent changes upstream from consumers. We can have economic growth AND tackle climate change, if we’re smart about it.

          Obviously, left-leaning liberalism is a wide-ranging ideology but these are the main ones that came to mind immediately. The biggest difference between liberalism and Leftism is that Leftists want to tear down capitalism and Liberals want to control it.

          • r3g3n3x@lemmy.world
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            0
            ·
            2 months ago

            This is what a lot of young leftists hand wave away

            Everyone deserves a minimum standard of living. Food, shelter, and healthcare are human rights and should be free for those who can’t afford it. - Immigrants are good for the economy. Even the illegal ones. We should be making immigration easier.

            Taking in infinite immigrants and providing food shelter and healthcare for them and their lineage until the end of time ALONG WITH all of the disadvantaged citizens is not economically sustainable. You’d effectively be turning the U.S. into the world’s homeless shelter. At some point, likely sooner than later, all the raised taxes in the world on the businesses that don’t leave won’t be enough to care for everyone.

            I’m all for compassion but it has to be reasoned compassion. You can’t just look at what your version of Utopia is and say that’s what we should do. Humanity is not perfect and neither will any society it builds be. But at the same time we can’t let perfect be the enemy of the good, and so we engage in these discussions.

            • Cryophilia@lemmy.world
              link
              fedilink
              arrow-up
              0
              ·
              2 months ago

              Taking in infinite immigrants and providing food shelter and healthcare for them and their lineage until the end of time ALONG WITH all of the disadvantaged citizens is not economically sustainable.

              I disagree.

              You’d effectively be turning the U.S. into the world’s homeless shelter.

              Fuck yeah we would.

              Give us your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free.

              Here’s the thing about immigrants: they start businesses. They get degrees. They make money. They pay taxes. They drive the economic engine forward. They’re not helpless fucking children, they are smart and driven and capable adults who happen to not speak your language and may have browner skin than you.

              • r3g3n3x@lemmy.world
                link
                fedilink
                arrow-up
                0
                ·
                2 months ago

                Yeah, it feels like you don’t really want to engage with conflicting positions and would rather assume I’m a racist.

                • Triasha@lemmy.world
                  link
                  fedilink
                  arrow-up
                  0
                  ·
                  2 months ago

                  And you just assume that immigrants would be dependant forever instead of a massive benefit. All evidence of US history to the contrary.

                  • r3g3n3x@lemmy.world
                    link
                    fedilink
                    arrow-up
                    0
                    ·
                    2 months ago

                    Actually, no. Obviously any immigrant set is going to be diverse. Contributions all coming on a spectrum from nothing to multi millionaire business starting.

                    The trick is to have a firm enough analytics handle on where you are as a country to handle all of the aforementioned needs of all of them that need it. You WILL eventually hit a point where you have to turn people away to break even economically . Then they start to come in illegally and you’re pushed past the breaking point.

                    How do you propose, in a world where we have that data (that may or may not exist yet I really don’t know if it’s possible to nail all of that information perfectly), that we handle the excess? If a church takes in too many people, they ask for more donations. If a country takes in too many people, who do they turn to?