I’m glad congressional Democrats are finally taking steps to deal with their sclerotic, ineffective and increasingly out-of-touch leadership and building a future with younger—oh wait.
The future of this country is not in the hands of the Democratic party if this is the way of things.
Leadership Democrats: Fumble the ball for three downs, then throws an interception
“Well, its no longer my fault if the opposition scores.”
The democrats still think the populace is smart enough to look at the alternative and choose the less-worse option.
The country proves them wrong at every turn.
The democrats still think the populace is smart enough to look at the alternative and choose the less-worse option.
The problem is this attitude and the literally brain dead take that this is in any way strategic voting.
Democrats are a “barely, sometimes maybe not, less-worse option”. And they get to stay that way by constantly being presented as the “less-worse” option. But they aren’t. They are the enablers of the “more-worse” option every time. They sell out their base at every turn.
The thing that made me so pessimistic about the future of this country was when I learned that the people who advised Hillary’s 2016 campaign were still advising Harris’ 2024 campaign. They failed multiple times and the consequences have been catastrophic, but they held on to their positions anyway. I have no reason to think they won’t be back in 2028, because the people who have a say in who gets party leadership are people selected by the old leadership. We need a borderline hostile takeover of the Democrat party, and after Trump did it to the Republicans, the existing powers in the Democrat party only entrenched themselves further.
the people who advised Hillary’s 2016 campaign were still advising Harris’ 2024 campaign.
And still running the DNC.
Biden and Kamala inherited everything from Hillary, the people behind the scenes are the same, and are still likely listening to Hillary
She’s like our Dick Cheney
I’d almost believe that Hillary ordered her people to sabotage the campaign if it wasn’t the exact same “centrist” message the establishment Dems have been pushing since Carter.
She wouldn’t have needed too.
The party burns money at an insane rate, and only gets money thru the “victory fund” which (I’m not even exaggerating) is money laundering.
They’ve been doing it since 2015, it’s the status quo now.
Whoever has the keys to that donation machine is the DNC, because they control the money. And because the reason the VF can take so much,his it’s taking the limit for state parties they defacto control the state party. If a state doesn’t join the agreement, the DNC doesn’t support that state. We only have numbers for 2016, but those states average less than 0.5% of what the DNC was supposed to have paid.
We’ll see what happens at the 2/2/25 DNC chair election, there’s actually a decent chance we keep someone good. But if they get another money hungry neoliberal in there, we have to accept the people who run the DNC no longer represent Dem voters and they’re unwilling to listen. We’ll have three years before the next primary starts winding up, and it may be finally time to push a third party.
It’s almost as if the gop pays the dems to be stoopid. That would explain a lot.
But if they get another money hungry neoliberal in there, we have to accept the people who run the DNC no longer represent Dem voters and they’re unwilling to listen.
You still haven’t accepted it?
They failed multiple times and the consequences have been catastrophic,
They succeeded in the only thing that matters to Democratic leadership: They kept a progressive from winning the nomination.
Follow the money.
The last guy was in his 80s…
Shit like this (Pelosi putting her thumb on the scale) is why people are questioning if they’ll ever vote Democrat again.
if trump keeps his promise- and this is one time I actually believe him- we won’t ever have to vote democrat again!
(because he’ll fuck over democracy and make that illegal.)
I don’t see an alternative and it’s making me hate democracy.
I don’t see an alternative
I want to point out how this (and I’m not doing this to single it you out, but you offer an example example of how a) lack of imagination about what is possible, is the precise kind of lack of vision that brought people to the conclusion that we “had” to support Biden in the primary, because you “can’t challenge an incumbent”: they were wrong. His brain was melting out of his ears and the establishment was telling you to not believe your lying eyes and ears. Authority takes advantage of this cynicisim and abuses you with it.
Its the kind of mindset that results in “Kamala has to be the nominee”, because she’s the only viable option; turns out, she wasn’t viable. We were told she had to turn to the right, to “get centrists”; turns out, there were no centrists. We were told her campaigning with Liz Cheney was 8d chess because she’ll get “never Trump Republicans”. How’d that work out.
We’ve been conditioned into a cynical fatalism, one that is truly not borne out by reality: it does not predict the future. I can not make that point any more emphatically. This toxic fatalism is in-opposition to the results we have on hand. New ways are possible, constantly. I have no problem with either cynicism or fatalism. However, I do have a problem with a world view being expressed which doesn’t predict future states of the world. BNMW, Blue Maga, the cynical fatalists who had elevated themselves into moderators of the Democratic process this election cycle: their cynical reductive fatalism is why Democrats can’t do better. Not because it isn’t possible, but because they refuse to ask for it, and for MONTHS they refused to allow the kinds of conversations necessary to carve and change a candidate like Harris into one who could get elected.
If anyone, here there or elsewhere, was suppressing speech challenging the narratives or strategies of the Harris campaign or Democratic party, challenges that would have led to a more viable candidate had they addressed them: these are the true enemies of democracy. There is a reason why Free Speech is the first amendment. It goes beyond what the government is allowed to do or not do: its about what we’re allowed to say or not allowed to say. Its about who has power, and who is allowed to challenge existing narratives. We can absolutely change this world, but first, we have to work on ourselves, and the communities we are a part of. This cynicism is a cancer we need to stamp out.
You have all the power you need to already to make the changes. If you need inspiration: Actions speak louder than words. You have to decide if you are part of the resistance or part of a costume party. Which is what some people, recently in the news, have decided.
The future is undefined. Pretending it isn’t is giving in.
we “had” to support Biden in the primary
What primary?
Exactly.
Honestly the party sounds like more fun.
Unless the resistance has guns.
That’s an awful lot of words to say absolutely nothing. What’s your suggested alternative that will get the 70+ million votes you need to stand a chance at the presidential level? Because encouraging people not to vote obviously didn’t work it this time. Unless a Trump win was your goal all along.
Only if your goal is to (as Blue Maga does) continue to ignore the functional reason why Democrats lost this election.
Why are you focusing on the presidency? Oust the dems in Congress in even a few blue states and you’ll be able to do a lot. Hell, start local and gain legitimacy before going after federal office. There a lot of options other than voting democrats for everything all the time.
You can add me to the list. I voted democrat this previous election in an effort to prevent *gestures around* this, but I didn’t want to for a number of reasons. I don’t trust the green party with Stein. I have no idea what I will do next election. I always vote for the most progressive “local” (I’m an overseas voter, but as long as I have to file taxes and get fucked by the IRS by not being able to use retirement accounts here, I’mma vote) candidate, but I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything other than D and R in my district except maybe an I once or twice.
Same. Every four years, I fight within myself on whether I should bother to vote. I’m an Independent voter and I base my decision by analyzing the political parties across the scope while realizing the reality of the world we’re living in alongside it.
And it gets tiring of the same old thing. I go and vote not Republican, I see some of the people in my circle vote Republican which makes me consider axing them to spare myself and they the drama of getting political. I get disparagingly cynical towards the American populace for their collective decision making or lack thereof considering we’re pitted again in this mess that’ll unfold in under a month.
I look at the ballots before making my predetermined choices - D, R, D, R, G, I in a blue moon, D, R like everywhere. Maybe I could’ve written someone in, maybe, but what good does that do except win meaningless brownie points?
Looking forward to another 4 years I’ll have a hard time remembering because of my mental efforts to block out the enormous amount of bullshit yet to come. Just like the last time between 2016 - 2021.
More like Americans should just not vote anymore.
It’s trash in, trash out. Every election cycle. A bunch of old farts scheming and playing the system to get to the ballots. All of the young ambitious politicians barely get a sniff and fall apart during the primaries.
It’s happened over and over and over.
We just tried the whole “not voting” thing and look what happened.
But did you all really try or did some of you? I think some of you, not all of you.
Well I guess I didn’t try that. Because I’m not a dumb dumb.
Then you’ll just get the idiots voting in fascism eventually so you’d be as well to join them to speed it up.
More like Americans should just not vote anymore.
Its not a popular take, but I agree that voting probably the least important thing any American could do, politically. Its a misattributed quote but its still a good one:
Voting is the least important thing you can do, politically. There are somethings that have happened recently in the news that have vastly more impact, politically.
I’m never voting Democrat.
edit: It would be election interference on account of being not American.
And unless they do much, much better in the future, you shouldn’t. Regardless of whether or not you agree with the philosophy of accelerationism, its clear thats the kind of environment we’re in. On the bright side, it might actually be the opening we need to truly break up the two party system.
AOC loses key vote in House Oversight race to Gerry Connolly
an Old. White. man.
Seriously. It’s pissing me off; more so the republicans doing it. we need minority voices. We can’t expect the republicans to do it- lets just be honest here. and I doubt very much if Connolly will be able to push back nearly as much as AOC can and will. (never mind, whether or not he’s willing.)
An old white man with cancer that he announced a month ago. He should be focusing on his treatment, not adding more to his plate.
What the fuck? This is a special dipshit cherry to put on top of just automatically choosing the oldest option. Even if the leadership still hate AOC, choose someone who’s definitely going to be at the top of their game, not award important positions to so he can be proud while taking time off for his pressing health needs.
And give up all that juicy government funded healthcare?
Don’t they get it for life as a perk? All he’d lose is the power
For the moment, maybe.
but I’m fairly certain he’d get better healthcare as a serving rep over a ‘former’ rep.
Gerry Connolly
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gerry_Connolly
The Congressman’s Congressman. He represents the district right outside DC. Also, prior to running for office he worked as an aide to the United States Senate Committee on Foreign Relations where he managed committee oversight of international economic issues, international narcotics control, and United Nations and Middle East policies, and published reports on U.S. policy in El Salvador, Central America, Israel, and the Persian Gulf region.
So, expect a guy who will toe the line on all our accumulated foreign policy blunders while banging a gavel to silence another generation of anti-war protesters.
It gets worse than that, of course.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gerry_Connolly#Legislation_sponsored
Sponsoring legislation with Darrell Issa - a shameless, virulent Silicon Valley shill of a politician - as Trump lards up his cabinet with Friends of Peter Thiel is a bleak sign for the future.
AOC runs several investigations that lead to results.
Connelly… Is old and has seniority.
Great fucking job Democrats. Getting my seat warmer ready for 2022 already!
HEADLINE: AFTER SEVERAL BEATINGS, DEMOCRATS LEARN NO LESSONS
More the stupid us for thinking things would be any different this time.
Cool a 74 year old, that’s the life expectancy of a male in the US.
Hopefully
Somebody arrest this man.
Wait, what’s your salary?
A 74-year-old with cancer.
AOC should abandon the Democratic party. She should join Bernie as an god-damned Independent.
She and Bernie should start a progressive party.
I’m tired of Democrats bowing to oligarchs.
Look up the spoiler effect to learn why they don’t.
They can worry about the spoiler effect… Or they can worry about the massive amount of people who don’t vote because they feel it’s pointless or barely muster enough care to do it.
The fact that these experienced politicians whose judgment you appear to trust, have both decided to work within the existing system should probably sway your opinion of what the optimal strategy is at least a bit more.
There are usually two parties because the game-theoretic dynamic of this electoral system has a significant channelizing effect on the likeliest outcomes. Once you’ve accepted that reality, the (admittedly unsatisfying) optimal strategy becomes apparent.
I say this all with zero rancor - I do not like these arguments either, but the logic of it is difficult to see past. I would prefer the system be overthrown entirely but, and this is key, you go into the revolution with the populace that exists - and they’re going to have their own ideas for what comes next. I’m not so sure I’d like what they bring to the table.
Nobody needs to worry about people who don’t vote.
“You don’t vote” is what Democrats say to anyone they don’t want to listen to, regardless of whether they actually vote.
Democrats need to listen to people who vote.
But the person I replied to said they also need to worry about nonvoters. They don’t. Nonvoters don’t matter.
If they follow that logic they’ll never win, because the number of people who will unconditionally vote Dem is demonstrably not enough to win an election.
They don’t care about winning if it means lowering themselves to the level of trying to court voters.
When it’s time to decide on policy, they don’t. When assigning blame, they’re the only thing that matters.
But they are always conveniently whoever the party doesn’t want to listen to.
We’re already spoiled due to a fucking useless DNC. A complete replacement is warranted at this point.
The spoiler effect will work in the short term, but if a progressive party can oust the DNC in even a few states Congress should look a lot different to how it is now. A bit of pain is worth it to escape the slow death promised by the DNC.
Worth a try since the Democrats are worthless spineless losers anyway.
Connolly had 34 and AOC had 27, but there is a full caucus vote tomorrow.
Could you explain what this means? I learned a lot back in 2016, a bit more in 2020, but find I’m still a bit ignorant.
In the US House there are 16 committees. There are ranking chairs and minority chairs for each committee, along with committee members. The ranking chairs are for the majority, in this Congress the Republicans. The minority chairs are, of course, for the Dems. The chairs dictate subjects, schedule and rules. The Republicans choose their chairs, the Democrats vote for theirs. AOC is running for the minority chair of the Oversight Committee, which is the main investigative committee of Congress. They took a straw vote today and AOC lost, but all of the Dems will vote tomorrow.
Thank you for the overview. I wasn’t aware of these nuances. Our system is so damned complicated.
This country is totally capable of fighting off creeping fascism. It’s the Democrat leadership that’s not up to the task.
What they’re saying: Rep. Don Beyer (D-Va.), a Connolly ally, acknowledged Connolly’s greater seniority likely played a role in his win but argued “it wasn’t just that.”
It wasn’t just that. He also has a penis
The only thing that mattered was that his opponent was a progressive.
One House Democrat aligned with Ocasio-Cortez told Axios that steering is “made up of the most senior members,” making it not her most receptive venue.
Because having senior members has worked so well so far…I get senior also means experience, but we need some new blood too, not status quo. And the past experience so far with AOC’s roles in committees shows she has what’s needed.
The ghoul strikes again.
Hence why I staunchly refuse to donate to Democrats currently. Fuck these old ass, no idea jackasses clinging onto old shit ideas and continuing to lose at every god damn level of politics.
I hope AOC continues to be a light and the fight in the Democratic party that doesn’t deserve her.
At this point, the most determined and successful opponent of progressivism in the US is the Democrat party.
After 2016, ive wondered for a while if it would have made more sense to run progressives in republican primaries instead of dem ones. We would probably have been better off if progressives took advantage of republican party weaknesses
