Democrats, election and mistake in the same headline. What else?
They know they can’t win. They also know they’ll be called crazy if they say it .
Eventually we’re going to have to wake up to the fact that the democrats are owned by the same billionaires and foreign lobby so until we get really serious about cleaning house we’re going to watch the noose tighten
I think a lot of people are aware but when your elected representatives won’t represent you, what do you do?
Personally, and I know this would be very difficult to organise, but I believe the most effective tool ordinary citizens have against Trump is a general strike.
The markets have been shown to be the only thing effective at restraining Trump. He only cares about money.
Workers are what make the economy, not the businesses. They have nothing without the hard work of everyday men and women.
Denying them labour in an organised manner could cripple the entire country.
Look at Britain in the 1970s/1980s or The Russian Revolution.
I’m aware it’s very difficult to achieve but I remain resolute in my belief that it is the most effective tool available. By far.
Much if what you said is true, but the strikes in the 70s moves the country right politically if anything - a decade and a half if Tory governments despite the protests IIRC.
That’s a good point!
I’m personally not sure it would because rather than unionised labour with special interests demanding pay increases and better working conditions we are talking about a massive general strike.
It’s true that it may well be like opening Pandora’s box.
The aims of the strike would need to be clear, concise and purely to stop violence. Using it as a tool to force a change of government would likely mean it’s use by others in the future.
I agree
The Democrats are working in concert with Republicans, their goals are the same: stop the Overton Window of American politics from moving left, and stop populist uprisings by putting a paramilitary secret police in the streets.
The DNC and corporate Democrats would rather have a fascist takeover then empower actual leftwing policies, so I don’t think that eventuality really bothers them as much as the possibility of losing control over the power structures of the Democratic party does.
For the leaders of the Democratic party, if they complete the parties transition to an entirely controlled opposition party if anything that makes the jobs of people like Chuck Shumer and Hakeem Jeffries easier, whenever their job gets hard they can just threaten anybody left of them that they will get hurt if they keep talking like that. They don’t have to campaign on doing or accomplishing anything since the fascist regime is in relative terms so horrific people will feel forced to vote against it for “opposition party” politicians who are worse than useless but still technically better.
I have listened to Hakeem Jeffries a lot in interviews and the strangest thing is that I legitimately believe that he is a true believer in the Democratic project, and not a cynical opportunist. Somehow he believes that the neoliberal project from the 1990s that has already failed is truly the best way forward. Dude is a bit of a moron but I legitimately think he believes everything he says and does is right.
The DNC and corporate Democrats would rather have a fascist takeover than empower actual leftwing policies, so I don’t think that eventuality really bothers them as much as the possibility of losing control over the power structures of the Democratic party does.
I believe, as I’m sure many of you do, that this is because even though open and fair democracy is at stake here, their wealth is not.
A left wing agenda threatens their wealth. That is clearly the thing they care about most, to the detriment of their electorate.
I think it makes perfect sense for the power structures of the DNC to act like this will be a fair election, the best outcome for them is it won’t be and it will thus make the job of leaders in the DNC far easier.
Wow. I consider myself very cynical and but even I never would have thought of it like that. It does make sense though. If they take action now after delaying so long there will be cries of “what took you so long”. They need Trump to do something so awful, like abandon democracy completely, that the finger will only ever be pointed at him as the villain.
The US is crying out for competent third party that better represents the electorate. If funding could somehow be secured (massive or even impossible if) then they would surely wipe the floor with the Republicans and Democrats. By now many people surely feel they are no longer represented by either party.
There will be ice poll watchers checking ID nationwide, this is the conservative wet dream.
Anyone paying attention knows the leadership wants to lose. They are doing everything in their power NOT to take advantage of political opportunities and side with the needs and concerns of their own base.
On the plus side the growing number of people openly refusing to support the blue shade of MAGA might start to create progress. Many now see the party can not be reformed.
So when arrogant liberals filled with hubris ask how’s that revolution going I point to this and say it seems to be going fine.
I consider myself a centerist but it’s quite clear that a free and open democracy is at stake. You don’t need to want a revolution to see that it’s hugely threatened.
I am just as disappointed in the centre Democrats lack of action as I am with Donald Trump. If not more so. Their lack of coordinated and meaningful action to protect America’s democracy is criminal.
If free elections are compromised yet again they bare a similar amount of responsibility as the non MAGA Republicans.
Let me guess, ‘most important election of our lifetime™’
Or the classic ‘I agree with everything you say but this is the time’
Or are we going with the default ‘you just want Republicans to win’
Sorry? I don’t follow.
I wouldn’t say any of those things.
Are you a centerist like you agree with half of GOPs policies or something else?
No, just ideologically and traditionally.
They don’t have any policies I’m aware of that are near the center currently, or if they do they are not getting much coverage.
They have had some reasonable ideas in the past, in between their mess of right wing policies that pander to conservatives and nut jobs.
This administration is nothing but a dictatorship without the name. I consider myself center. They are absolutely nowhere near it. It’s a mile down the road.
Center of what then? Stop dancing around it and justify your claimed position, because “centrism” sounds a lot like “I support economic policies that disenfranchise minorities but I don’t like to think of myself as a bigot, I just don’t like paying taxes.”
And what exactly does the author imagine as an alternative?
The Democrats to be talking more about the possibility of election manipulation by the GOP and making the public aware of their intent to fight any such plans, I imagine?
You’re right, it’s short on suggestions.
The big one in there for me is Voter Tourism.
If Trump and the GOP pass a bill allowing that, it’s game over.
The Democrats need to fight that and also I would argue any further changes at all to the electoral system with everything they have.
The article highlight
The Democrats to be talking more about the possibility of election manipulation by the GOP and making the public aware of their intent to fight any such plans, I imagine?
Why? To what end?
There is a political theory that says you should continue to participate in rigged or unfair elections, while explicitly calling them out as rigged, for the purpose of reaching people who are invested in electoralism and convincing them to engage in direct, mass action, such as strikes or revolution. That theory is called Marxism-Leninism. The democratic party are not Marxist-Leninists. They have no interest in getting people to abandon electoralism in favor of other means of resistance, they want the exact opposite of that.
There’s another political theory that says you shouldn’t focus your efforts on elections but should instead focus on building dual power through things like mutual aid networks. This theory is called Anarchism. The democratic party are not Anarchists. If you want to take that strategy, then you shouldn’t even be looking to the democratic party, because it is a political party.
So why on earth would a party that is completely committed to electoralism as the only avenue of affecting change go around telling people the elections are rigged? It’s nonsense. It goes against everything they believe in.
They are intrinsically tied to the system and they will continue to uphold the system until the day comes that they get dragged away to a torture dungeon in El Salvador.
Are they campaigning?! I haven’t heard anything about what they plan to actually do if they sweep the mid terms.
Yeah, it’s still a bit early for midterm campaigns, but I imagine the “campaigning” they’re talking about is the general campaign stratgizing the election organizations do as a job. Midterms usually start kicking up around springtime.
When the SAVE act passes, that will eliminate most of the married women voters. They’ll pass it the day before the election because it takes more than a day to get the paperwork together.
Sorry women—no more voting for you.
I mean like, what are we supposed to do with this? You can say that democrats aren’t doing anything about this, but what does that even mean? The author goes on and on about the dangers of fixed elections and all, which, I mean, yeah, but it’s pretty easy to shift the burden of proof by making a claim that people aren’t doing anything about it. Okay? I can’t help but notice the author didn’t mention what they think they should see to “do something about it”. The only thing he mentions the dems are doing is running a campaign like business as usual, but nothing else. He makes the claim that this is the dems just ignoring the threats, but not only is that not necessarily true, it’s actually a legitimate political tactic used to fight said election fraud. I don’t know if the dems are actually doing that or disregarding the dangers and pretending like everything is fine as the author implies, but the author also doesn’t know that. This reeks of doomer/defeatist bullshit.
Let’s not get it twisted; I’m not defending the dems at all. My take is that some of them are doing things, and lots of establishment dems are doing nothing to the point of obstructing any form of resistance other dem officials are trying. I think the reason the establishment dems are like this is just plain apathy and complacency, but that’s just speculation. In terms of democrats resisting election interference, I think they’re just too scattered and aimless in approach to make meaningful progress.
So to my point, if it is the case that dems(or literally anyone else) are actually doing some form of something, then that gives people something to join and something to do. However, if we’re faced with “the dems are doing nothing”, then boy does that sure give fuel to those that want us to be hopeless and do nothing. So, again, what’s the point of this article?
You can say that democrats aren’t doing anything about this, but what does that even mean?
I think the author is drawing attention to the lack of public discussion by the Democrats over whether Trump will try to manipulate the election results. The lack of public statements regarding preparation for such a matter as well.
Have there been any in fact?
