I don’t know about y’all, but I donated specifically to signal my endorsement of the switch from Biden to Harris, because I was not in favor of a prolonged process and because I like her, especially in a post-Roe America.
I donated to show the DNC that listening to me means I send them money
Canadian here. Pleasantly surprised at how democrats are coming together for this.
So are we tbh, but I’ll take it
Me too. I was firmly in the “we have to stick with Biden” camp, because I didn’t think anyone could solidify the party in time for the election. Sometimes it’s good to be proven wrong.
Remember that it’s possible next time you’re debating something, especially public policy.
European here, why do they need so much money to get a job?
That’s what I said to myself as I was slowly bludgeoned to death by multiple daily texts, emails, and ads to donate. All I hear about is how we need to get money out of politics, then begged by those same people to give them what few measley dollars I have after they bend me over and extract almost all of it in taxes. All the while their real constituents – billionaires – donate to whomever will do the most for them.
I’m no Republican voter, I’m voting against them every chance I get, but the spam does not make me want to donate. It’s like walking down the street and every 5ft is a hotdog stand with a super pushy vendor trying to guilt shame you into giving them money for the chance to see a hotdog while they give you an empty bun. I just end up adding the phone numbers and emails to my ever-ballooning block lists.
And before anyone @'s me, I know the power of local political movements. I’ve donated plenty to down-ballot races in my area and still do. I just hate this country’s political system and don’t understand the need for so much money, from people with so little, when those at the top reap the rewards of that influence, and the money they syphon from the system.
If people don’t get complacent and show up on Election Day, Harris will win. Especially voters in swing states. You have an extra civic duty to show up and vote.
Make sure to look past the presidential election and vote in every other race, too! President can’t do much if the Senate and House are full of obstructionists.
And that’s not even talking about state reps, who have more of an effect on most peoples every day lives than anything at the federal level.
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I really, really want to turn back the clock to 2008 when I was overjoyed for Barack Obama’s election.
But I can’t. His, Trump’s, and Biden’s policies have made it essential for my 80 year-old parents to drive for DoorDash or starve.
He expanded our warring presence globally, legalized torture, made health care more expensive, ignored abortion (which he could have legalized), brutalized Occupy, did precious little about a foreclosure crisis, made sure the banks suffered no consequences for destroying millions of lives, and militarized the police.
Remember when Michael Brown was gunned down in Ferguson? It’s been ten years, and as with everything in this country, it’s only harder for the poor, middle class, and disenfranchised.
That is what you’re supporting in Kamala Harris. Conservativism dressed up in a politically-correct, acceptable package. Her administration will make you poorer, will make your lives harder, and ultimately, you’ll be left thinking the way I do about Obama.
I’d say it’s objectively better than the two brain-dead candidates that America had to choose from a week ago, but not by much. Hell, you had a candidate in the Democratic primary who vocally and unequivocally opposes child genocide… and none of you voted for her.
I can’t get over the mixed messages. Is she a socialist or a conservative? Because she’s being called both, which makes me think she’s somewhere between those extremes, and I’m good with that given the alternative.
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She’s being called a socialist by the people who call everyone a socialist.
She’s being called a conservative because, as a prosecutor, her record was notoriously lopsided in prosecuting nonviolent drug users and truants.
I call her a conservative because, well, the Democratic Party has become an objectively conservative party. (Assuming you give them credit for their actions and not their words.) Hell, we lost our right to bodily autonomy and the Democrats’ response was to fundraise, even though they had the presidency AND Congress.
I feel like people really don’t get how (especially filibustering) you can do extremely few to fix things. It’s very easy to break stuff, and do things worse, because you can just block things and make nothing get done, program expire, etc. But actually repairing stuff and getting new meaningful legislation that will improve the current state is almost impossible when it doesn’t have broad support in both parties.
That is what you’re supporting in Kamala Harris. Conservativism dressed up in a politically-correct, acceptable package. Her administration will make you poorer, will make your lives harder, and ultimately, you’ll be left thinking the way I do about Obama.
Context is key. There are many political topics and policies that cannot even be discussed without a democratic majority in the house and senate. “Obamacare” was a republican compromise because anything more left or “liberal” would have been shot down immediately. Americans suffer because conservative republicans continue to hold back the country and slide the Overton window far too much to the right.
Democrats are unfortunately held back by conservative republicans and no no real progress can be made until the country shows significant support for more left-leaning candidates.
Democrats are unfortunately held back by conservative republicans
After 40 years, I’m not taking excuses.
Decade after decade, we’ve watched Democrats rule as conservatives. Stop giving them credit for their words. Give them rightful credit for their actions.
Even after 400 years, people can’t do magic when the political system is such an utter mess that it doesn’t allow them to do something.
What’s actually your point? Vote for Trump and make things worse?
My point is that it doesn’t matter how you dress up this shit sandwich, at least if you’re a member of the poor or working class. Neither of the two candidates are going to anything meaningful to change your experience in this country apart from simply making it harder to exist.
We know this because we’ve seen it consistently across four decades, but I mention Obama because for me that’s when it hurt the most. I saw my father lose his business and instead of going to prison, Jamie Dimon and his ilk lost nothing and are seen as Wall Street visionaries. Now my 80 year-parents drive for DoorDash because they literally have no other option.
If you want change, vote Green.
I’ve voted third party all my life up until Obama. It never changed a single fucking thing. I voted for Perot when he got 19% of the vote and not one single electoral vote. (My personal politics have changed considerably over the years.) Not one thing changed. Perot and his ideas were never even part of the conversation after the election.
Voting third party is stupid and naive and I’m embarrassed it took me so god damn long to figure that out.
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So… if you want change, vote for a party that has never won anything at the federal level ever?
Elections in the US are fucked… but voting for a third party that doesn’t change that. They don’t have a chance in hell at winning the Presidency, much less a seat in congress. At most it’s a protest vote, which doesn’t mean much when Trump is in office.
State and local elections, I think, are the best place to support alternative parties. That’s where officials both have a chance to get elected… and to actually make a difference and build a support network that can make them a force at the federal level.
Man, you had me until you mentioned voting green party. Rest assured, that will never fix or win anything so long as our political system is FPtP and popular vote doesn’t mean shit.
^ Pretty sure this account is a forum slider
How many times must I say, the presidency is not a dictatorship. The president enforces the law while the legislature makes the laws.
Without both, the president is limited in what change can be effected. It’s why Obama couldn’t do a climate bill in his second term, it’s (thankfully) why trump couldn’t fund his border wall, it’s why Biden could get a lot done first half of his term, but at the mercy of some more conservative democrats and it’s why little has been done in the last two years.
If you want to see real (not superficial) change, then we need to win back the house and senate, even better if the majority is high enough to prevent filibusters.
I understand that this is hard to comprehend, particularly if you don’t obsess over American politics, but if you only take one thing away from this, it’s that we live in a republic and if you don’t have the votes, then you don’t have the votes!
How many times must I say, the presidency is not a dictatorship.
That is my absolute favorite excuse for conservative Democratic rule: The president is powerless.
L—O—L
You are right about one thing, though. It is exceedingly silly for any Democratic voter to expect a Democratic president to act on their promises.
Hell, go look at kamalaharris.com and joebiden.com right now. You won’t see a single written stance on a political issue, just a portal to beg for your money. (Which you should put in stocks, because at least that way you’ll actually get some form of representation.)
I agree. However, I think a growing percentage of the population is painfully aware how little difference there is between the two parties. My only hope is that Harris will perhaps give us time for the vastly more progressive younger generations to come into power. Also, fuck Trump with a cactus, he is the worst aspects of our country condensed into one putrid sack of dying flesh.
My only hope is that Harris will perhaps give us time for the vastly more progressive younger generations
It could happen.
I’m not optimistic. In 2010 the Census showed a 28% increase in mixed-race families. I believed this would translate to a much more progressive future, but we’ve only moved in reverse, and the Democrats we’ve elected have demonstrated their willingness to do nothing about it as long as they keep the ability to use their seats for self-enrichment.
Now, I expect the worst.
The perfect is the enemy of the good
Not sure anyone is asking for a squeaky-clean politician. They don’t exist*. We’re just tired of being fed lip service while begged for the scraps they let us keep. I’ll personally continue to vote for the party that pushes the needle in the best direction for all, but I’m not ignorant to how broken it all is.
