• Breezy@lemmy.world
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    9 months ago

    If only the DNC could get their shit together, if he was the nomination last election, or the one before, or the one before, the world would be in such a better place.

    • Corkyskog@sh.itjust.works
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      9 months ago

      We could have had Al Gore instead of Bush if the Supreme Court didnā€™t toss Bush the crown becauseā€¦ reasons

      • mommykink@lemmy.world
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        9 months ago

        Because SCOTUS decided that it was perfectly fair and valid to have the final vote on who got to he president come down to one of the peoplesā€™ brother and there was absolutely nothing wrong about that

      • SkepticalButOpenMinded@lemmy.ca
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        9 months ago

        Also, many progressives stayed home or voted for the Green Party. Not that it is more the fault of progressives than SCOTUS, but blame aside, itā€™s a cautionary tale.

        • go_go_gadget@lemmy.world
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          9 months ago

          Iā€™m missing the part where people are responsible for voting for a bad candidate in the DNC primaries.

            • go_go_gadget@lemmy.world
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              9 months ago

              Youā€™re shaming progressives for staying home, but you arenā€™t casting judgement at the people who voted for a loser candidate in the primaries.

              • SkepticalButOpenMinded@lemmy.ca
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                9 months ago

                Yes, progressives who stay at home for the general election do not understand US democracy. The US has a 2 party FPTP system, not proportional representation. Unlike multi-party parliamentary systems, we usually have to vote for a compromise, not our top choice. If you donā€™t vote, you donā€™t ā€œsend a messageā€, you simply forfeit your political power. If Republicans win, and keep winning, then thatā€™s a signal for Democrats to shift right, to try to win back the median voter.

                I hate the argumentative strategy of criticizing candidates for being political ā€œlosersā€. Rightwingers do that all the time. By that logic, progressives also had ā€œloser candidatesā€, since many fail in the primaries. I personally donā€™t think Sanders, for example, was a ā€œloserā€, even if he lost in the primary.

                • ShepherdPie@midwest.social
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                  9 months ago

                  We might as well skip all the pomp and circumstance and just assign the votes automatically based on party registration. Thatā€™s how itā€™s done currently with the added facade of having a ā€œchoice.ā€

                  The Overton window continues to shift to the right regardless of who wins elections because there are power people benefiting from it and itā€™s incredibly easy to spread propaganda to the masses with tv/radio/internet.

                  • SkepticalButOpenMinded@lemmy.ca
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                    9 months ago

                    What are you even talking about with your first paragraph? The result of elections arenā€™t predictable. In fact, theyā€™re less predictable than ever. And whatā€™s with ā€œchoiceā€ in quotes: are you an election truther? Thatā€™s more of a right wing conspiracy.

                    Thatā€™s a pathetic cowardly take on the Overton window. What even is your point? ā€œLetā€™s give up because nothing mattersā€? Fuck that. Iā€™m fighting.

                    Itā€™s also empirically untrue: I donā€™t know how you havenā€™t noticed that the US is going through the biggest labor movement in a generation. In the last 3 years, Dems have passed one of the most progressive agendas in a generation.

                • go_go_gadget@lemmy.world
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                  9 months ago

                  Yes, progressives who stay at home for the general election do not understand US democracy.

                  Or we do? ā€œWe lose regardless. Letā€™s stay home.ā€

                  Iā€™m getting really sick of this inversion of responsibility. Moderates dominate the primaries and elect someone who doesnā€™t resonate with the leftists and progressives but arenā€™t responsible for how that candidate does in the general? They control the outcome in the primaries but arenā€™t responsible for what happens in the general? That makes no sense.

                  As the majority moderates must take the lions share of the responsibility. Where is that happening?

        • ShepherdPie@midwest.social
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          9 months ago

          That argument goes both ways. ā€œNader would have won if progressives hadnā€™t handed the election to the Republicans by throwing their votes away on Gore.ā€ Same is true for 2016 with Bernie and Clinton.

          • SkepticalButOpenMinded@lemmy.ca
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            9 months ago

            It really doesnā€™t go both ways. The winning presidential candidate needs to get the most votes, and most US voters are not progressive. Theyā€™re moderate, or indifferent.

            I donā€™t know how you could say that about HRC and Sanders. Thatā€™s not even a hypothetical: they literally had a head to head match where, to my huge disappointment, HRC won. Protesting HRC helped elect Trump, and obviously that hasnā€™t been good for progressive interests or democracy.

            • maness300@lemmy.world
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              9 months ago

              Your argument makes no sense.

              You acknowledge progressives wonā€™t vote for moderates. But what makes you think moderates wonā€™t vote for progressives if they donā€™t have a choice?

              Do you really believe the people who voted for Clinton wouldnā€™t have voted for Sanders in the general? If so, then shouldnā€™t the blame be on them too? If not, then can you admit youā€™re wrong?

              • SkepticalButOpenMinded@lemmy.ca
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                9 months ago

                Iā€™ve read your comment a few times but Iā€™m having a genuinely hard time parsing your point.

                The person Iā€™m responding to was saying that Nader could have won if progressives voted for him instead of Gore. I pointed out that presidential candidates need a broad coalition of voters to get enough votes, not just far left progressives.

                You seem to be making a totally different argument. You claim that if Nader was the only choice, then Democratic leaning moderates would have voted for him.

                I donā€™t mean to be rude, but what is the point of this thought experiment? Nader wasnā€™t the only choice. Moreover, US politics in 2000 was significantly less polarized: MANY Gore voters would have definitely voted for Bush, who campaigned under ā€œcompassionate conservatismā€ and was seen as a moderate, over the farthest left candidate, Nader.

                If Sanders had won the nomination, I think he would have kicked ass against Trump, but Sanders sadly lost. Iā€™m trying to understand your last line: are you asking if I would blame HRC supporters for refusing to vote for Sanders in the general and allowing a fascist corrupt dictator in? Uh, yes. Obviously I would blame them. That precisely aligns with everything Iā€™ve said.

                • ShepherdPie@midwest.social
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                  9 months ago

                  Nah, they reiterated my point pretty well. You canā€™t claim that ā€œcandidate ā€˜Aā€™ is the correct choice because of their broad appealā€ when they wind up losing the election. Obviously, they didnā€™t have the most appeal. The attitude that ā€œI picked the right person and itā€™s everyone elseā€™s fault they didnā€™t winā€ is absurd. Anybody can make that argument about any candidate and be just as equally ā€˜correct.ā€™

                  • SkepticalButOpenMinded@lemmy.ca
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                    9 months ago

                    Thatā€™s not what you said in the comment I responded to. You claimed that Nader could have won if progressives had voted for him instead of Gore, but there arenā€™t enough progressive votes.

                    Voting in a FPTP two party system is a coordination game, one where it is mathematically impossible for third parties to win. Pretending otherwise is sadly delusional.

                    Itā€™s like youā€™re trying to decide which building to buy as a group to start co-op housing. Almost everyone prefers building A, but you prefer building B. If you all donā€™t compromise, then there is not enough money and youā€™re all homeless. In a democracy, it is obviously more fair if you compromise than everyone else compromises. You either donā€™t believe in democracy, or youā€™re happy with things never getting better.

        • ShepherdPie@midwest.social
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          9 months ago

          Recounts only matter if youā€™re counting all the ballots instead of just the ballots you want you count because your brother happens to be one of the candidates. They invalidated a bunch of ballots that were hole-punched because the paper that was punched out didnā€™t completely tear away (see: ā€œhanging chadā€).

    • d-RLY?@lemmy.ml
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      9 months ago

      He alone wouldnā€™t have been able to do much. As instead of just having conservatives/Republicans against him, the Democratic partyā€™s members in Congress and in other fed and state level spots would also be against him. Until we get third parties in there to break up the eternal gridlock of never moving forward for real people. We just keep being pulled to the right and the centrists only care about not making the rich happy. Burn them and all of it to the ground.