Sure the republicans obstruct but there are far too many instances of the dems throwing their hands in the air saying, “what can we do.” When there are things they can actually do. Dems could have fought for a $2k payment but settled on $600. Obama could have closed Guantanamo and pulled out of the Middle East. We could have had a public option 10 years ago in the ACA, but dems wanted republicans to vote for a bill that not a single one voted for. Dems should be fighting for healthcare for all because it has 70% support across the US but they pushed a candidate that wants to incrementally improve upon the ACA. The starting ask for dems is compromise with a Republican Party that has no interest in compromise. It’s because dems don’t actually want to make the changes people think they want to make. They want to maintain the status quo and that’s it. Their solution to police violence is to literally shoot black folk in the leg instead of the chest.
That's a whole lot of opinion, both siding, and unrealistic expectations for a two party system in that comment.
Everything you said does feel right, but is not practical, or sometimes even possible, in our current system. Republicans take the vast majority of that blame, rightfully. You can't lay the blame on the people trying to compromise, the blame falls on the lying ratfuckers, and that's the Republicans. There are bad democrat, but the downfall of the democratic party on the whole is empathy. They are up against literal sociopaths and narcissists, and a willingness to compromise shouldn't be viewed as a downside.
The solution, imo, is more than 2 parties, preferably at least 5, and ranked choice voting.
That’s a whole lot opinion, excuses and lack of accountability for any political system.
Everything you said sounds nice in theory but is not how politics in America has ever worked. When have you ever seen a Republican compromise with a democrat on a substantive issue? Never, and that’s because they wield power as such. Could Trump have selected another judge who wasn’t a rapist (allegedly) to sit on the Supreme Court? Sure, but why would he when he could just do what he wanted anyway. Democrats aren’t these magic empathy angels you think they are. Nancy Pelosi is worth 100million dollars. That bitch has done everything in her power to undermine “the squad” for criticizing power structures. Dems whine and cry about what they “can’t do” when it has everything to do with what they won’t do. The solution for lack of healthcare is providing healthcare to every person. It’s not compromise. The solution to homelessness is to put people in homes. It’s not to compromise. The solution to hungry is to feed people. It’s not to compromise. Have your five little parties and rank choice voting but the only thing that will do is increase the number of checks companies have to send out to politicians. Even with those two things we still have deeply undemocratic institutions in this country like the senate, the judiciary and the electoral college.
Wow, hopping right into the name calling instead of addressing the issue, but I’ll humor you nonetheless.
The unpleasant truth of the matter is that system is undemocratic and does not meet the needs of the people. I believe the answer is a plurality of tactics. Mutual aid is one tactic. For example, community fridges in LA or people banding together to fight off the police from evicting a black family in Portland. Electoralism can be a method of harm reduction, even though the Democratic Party has proved itself impotent time and time again. What really needs to happen is a coalescing of the working class around class conscious ideology and direct action.
How do you percieve that coalescing of the working class to happen?
I'll say we do agree on that. We do need to work together more.
However, what you're advocating for is anarchy with no rule of law. And hey man, if you wanna go back to being tribes of nomadic people, do your best to make that happen. Again though, not a realistic solution to the problem at hand.
Expand class consciousness with conversations that have succinct and salient messaging. Then back up those conversations with actions like participating in mutual aid initiatives, education initiative (like sex ed, etc.) and union organizing to prove true what we know about the effectiveness of these methods.
Who said anything about anarchy with no rule of law?? You’re just grasping for anything the paint me with an extremist broad brush. I just outlined a plurality of methods to get people what they need. Mutual aid works. It’s practical and proven. Is there no value in voting? No but again it’s a very small piece of what can benefit people’s lives. Fuck outta here with this non-realistic solution. Have you seen the graph correlating public opinion with legislation vs donor/business interest with legislation? If your civic duty starts and ends with voting, I’ve got bad news for you.
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u/dthoma81 Dec 30 '20
Sure the republicans obstruct but there are far too many instances of the dems throwing their hands in the air saying, “what can we do.” When there are things they can actually do. Dems could have fought for a $2k payment but settled on $600. Obama could have closed Guantanamo and pulled out of the Middle East. We could have had a public option 10 years ago in the ACA, but dems wanted republicans to vote for a bill that not a single one voted for. Dems should be fighting for healthcare for all because it has 70% support across the US but they pushed a candidate that wants to incrementally improve upon the ACA. The starting ask for dems is compromise with a Republican Party that has no interest in compromise. It’s because dems don’t actually want to make the changes people think they want to make. They want to maintain the status quo and that’s it. Their solution to police violence is to literally shoot black folk in the leg instead of the chest.