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Wake-up Call: Democrats could easily lose the White House and Senate next year
(www.businessinsider.com)
this post was submitted on 20 Nov 2023
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Wake up call for who? Will the Democrats ever wake up and give their base something to vote for, instead of "hey, the other guys's worse, whaddya gonna do?".
What the hell are you talking about???
The dems have absolutely given us things to vote for: infrastructure act, record low unemployment, union support with the pres visiting the picket line for the first time ever, we have the best inflation rate across all of the G7.
Yeah it’s not enough but that’s on the contrarians more than anything else.
The fuck you talking about
They're repeating right wing propaganda, that's what's up.
Sorry, they are not repeating right wing propaganda. They are going outside and having yellow, asparagus smelling, liquid fall on them. Then everywhere they go Democrats are telling them it's not piss.
I mean generally speaking, if you think the infrastructure bill, inflation reduction act, and billions in student loan forgiveness aren't "something to vote for", one of two things are true. Either you're utterly delusional, or you're a Republican.
I mean, who else but a conservative could look at these and say they aren't accomplishments?
I mean sure, they are accomplishments but a pittance for Americans looking for real change. The OP is speaking directly to the democrats setting their sights on progressive policy.
Biden wants to do the presidency like they did in the past, dodge any real conflict and keep the country running for another four years. He doesn't care that if the country was a car its a Model T and thinks we should be happy that he changed the tires.
It doesn't matter how many times a Democrat comes up to me and slams their fist saying, "look we stopped the Republicans and we did it without causing any waves." Me, I want to see real policy that helps every American even if it makes the people on the hill uncomfortable. If you think, "well fuck that guy, what can he do? Vote republican?" I'll tell you want I can do and that is be dissatisfied even when we both know I'm voting blue all day.
I wouldn't say some of them are a pittance. The Inflation Reduction Act was so much investment into green energy that European countries had to pass similar bills to stay competitive. I work for a green energy company, and I heard that there were grumblings in European leadership about how much the US was spending.
Likewise, there's been a ton of money forgiven in student loans, over $100 billion. And you've also got the price cap on insulin, or at least some formulations. That change came directly from Biden I think.
It's significant changes, and it's what we're looking for, but I agree it isn't enough and we need more. We can still appreciate though that we're moving in the correct direction instead of being stuck. I'll happily vote for Biden if it gives us more things like this.
I think there's a key misunderstanding with regards to what real change should be.
The inflation reduction act seeks to curb inflation overall, that's the goal. How do we measure the success of this bill? Well, that seems obvious - by looking at how it impacts inflation. Yet is that really meaningful change?
If I leave my house once a month, kick a wall as hard as possible, and then go to the hospital, does the hospital patching up my foot amount to meaningful change in my life? The damage to my foot gets worse every month. My actions eat up actual resources that could be better used to help others. Fixing my foot up is both literally, and figuratively treating the symptom and not the root cause.
The hole that everyone falls down is conflating real change to an immediate reduction in events and situations they personally don't like. There is no single cause behind the high inflation we've seen in recent years. It's not covid, it's not printing too much money, it's not republican or democratic leadership. It's a byproduct of a collection of systems and their interactions with one another. The sum total of countless decisions spanning decades - from actual changes to monetary policy, to changes on how we teach monetary policy, to reactions to the 2008 crisis, or Covid, or globalization, etc, etc.
Putting an end to recent inflationary trends would do absolutely nothing to change the underlying systems that got us here today. It would do little to change our overall social and economic trajectories. The same goes for student loan forgiveness. Even if Biden made education free for all Americans, would the average American find themselves to be in a better financial situation than, say, 30 years ago? Beyond that, would that cost just magically go away, or simply be transfered elsewhere?
Given recent economic trends, cheaper and potentially free education is practically inevitable. The average worker is trending towards generalization, and the workplace is changing so rapidly that a variety of secondary industries centered around providing educational services to already educated adults have ballooned in size over the past decade. There is no realistic future where education isn't far cheaper and more available, we're simply at the point now where this reality is being reflected within the perceived pool of actions available to our leaders - in this particular instance made more available by an immediate need to appease a population segment that's rapidly seen their future prospects dwindle.
None of what Biden has done is new with regards to actual impact on the average American. He has done exactly what plenty of other American presidents have done prior. The sole reason why you assign more value to his student debt relief program or the added renewable energy subsidies is because it impacts you directly, and is something you can relate to. He has addressed an immediate problem that you strongly relate to.
Some years ago I was enrolled in one of the first real college degrees specifically focused on training individuals to enter the modern renewable energy sector. As part of this program I spent a decent amount of time specifically researching climate policy, and in my own time I made an active effort to study the science behind climate change. This was something like 15 years ago now. One thing that was painfully obvious to me at the time was that significant climate change was practically inevitable.
Positive feedback loops weren't well understood, but certainly studied and documented enough to be raising some massive red flags, yet climate models always seemed to lean towards optimism for what I can only assume was the sake of political buy-in. And here we are, in 2023, only just admitting that we won't hit our 1.5C target that was set not even a decade prior. Most people seem to have been very aware that nothing meaningful would be done to prevent climate change.
So why then would you equate the recent surge in spending on renewable energy to real change? At this point in time real change with regards to th global climate crisis can only come as part of a massive, collective effort on behalf of the whole world comparable to what we saw during the great wars of the last century. Investing additional resources in a growing industry that is financially viable is hardly enacting meaningful change - that is simply operating as usual.
I just want to say that I appreciate how well thought out your reply is. I don't really have a response, but I didn't want to leave you hanging. You bring up a lot of good food for thought.
Maybe pittance is the wrong term but Bidens also done a lot to sit on his own nuts. I want Biden to act for the working class the same way he responds to anytime there may be an economic crisis when the banks fuck up. I want Biden to have the same level of urgency when he sees the blue collar people are flailing.
Now, I know anytime he bails out Wallstreet he gets zero resistance from the other side but for that exact reason we should expect an even greater response for working class people. Sure he will wheel and deal for us but will he ever stand up for us?
The rail unions said that the administration quietly worked behind the scenes to get them an agreement with actual sick days. So I think he will, but it depends on the topic and it may not be visible.
Why should he have to work behind the scenes? Who is he afraid he will make angry that citizens are receiving basic decency?
The owners of this country, that's who. So when you say, "OH he's just listening to the GOPs talking points", the exact opposite. The GOP is stealing our talking points and pretending they could do better when we all know they will do much, much worse.
On one level I like that he's working behind the scenes. I like a leader that does their job and gets shit done without tooting their own horn.
That said, it's a very idealistic view of leadership, not a pragmatic one. I completely agree that he needs to really about the behind the scenes things. We don't have the luxury of not advertising it.
Mmmm, no. I heard that Biden and his ultra-centrist party have done nothing to stop deforestation in the Messia region of Mozambique. I'd rather have Trump and vote my conscience than allow globalists like Biden to ruin the Earth.
(just in case... /s)
Haha. Perfectly captures the tune of many Democratic voters. It's the nature of it though. Isn't it? The Democrats are broad coalition of like-minded but not monolithic people. The Republicans are a hive mind, cultivated and fed fat on a strict diet of outrage and propaganda media by the billionaire class.
America is becoming increasingly radicalized on both ends, the leftists must side with the center-right neoliberal while the fascists get to vote for fascists.
It isn't surprising to see disappointment from leftists, even if they still absolutely should vote for the lesser of two evils.
Then they promised billions of dollars of orphan killing aid to Israel, because they just can't resist being neoliberals.
Yes, they're better than a party full of fascists and fundamentalists, but so is a suit full of roadkill and excrement.
That doesn't mean people need to enthusiastically cheer as we hurtle towards oblivion.
The Civil Rights Movement?
Oh, Civil Rights. SHUT UP!
What country are you in? The war on drugs is still going strong in the USA.
The republican approved toll road bill that we got Elizabeth Warren style "let's split it into two bills!" except only the bad bill got passed?
Are you seriously listing Obama fracking the shit out of the midwest as a positive?? And who the fuck benefited from the US becoming an energy exporter?
The fuck are you listing this for? Who's the one who not only refused to jubilee student debt but turned payments back on during an inflationary spike?
What?? Again, who the fuck is the constituency for this? How is that going to change my landlord taking half my paycheck? And it's not like Ukraine even won the war.
???? ??? ???
Me.
Was in the minority. You can't use them as an excuse for what the democrats did.
Biden chose to take a route with the debt that invited a challenge. He didn't want to discharge it. He's the senator from MBNA. The sanctity of debt is one of his foundational beliefs.
He is the president. The treasury works for him. He holds the debt. He can and didn't simply write it off.
This is the sentence in which you called me a 'fucking idiot' and I have to say the idea that a proxy war doesn't count as escalation is one of the smartest things I've heard from you.
Democrats are the party of letting everyone lose their home and have them be bought up by banks, who were bailed out when prices were low, who are now charging me half my income in rent.
I think they do: https://www.whitehouse.gov/therecord/
I just think the Dems suck at advertising it. Hell, I think Biden is trying for at least some student debt relief.
You aren't wrong, in a way. I'm nearing fifty and Biden is arguably the most progressive president in my lifetime. The problem is, that says more about the quality of presidents in my lifetime than it does about Biden, and with the climate crisis and encroaching global fascism, we don't have anymore time to wait. The Democrats are doing more, now, because pressure from the left has convinced them that they have to, but the leadership is still dragging their feet in defense of corporate profits as much as they can. The fact that they are doing more doesn't mean it's time to lower the pressure - it means the pressure is working, and we need to dial it up.
I don't really agree with you, but even if I did... "advertising it" is a big part of politics! It's called messaging, and it's important. You have to get people excited to vote for you. They need to feel like you're fighting for them. If you can't manage that, then don't blame people for not voting for you.
Yeah, but there's a couple things wrong. First, the Dems are trying to DO things, which is exceedingly difficult with a Republican Congress that can't even agree on a speaker.
But also, DOING things just doesn't get that much attention.
Fixing the threatening hyper-inflation after the PPP was pretty damn important, but they obviously can't advertise that because there are side effects. Our economy is returning to being based on real shit rather than make believe Venture Capital bullshit. That's a painful process, and of course the rich and corporations refuse to feel any of the pain (at least immediately). They're attempting to pawn all the pain off onto the working class, partly in the hope that they'll get more corporate tax cuts to "stimulate the economy".
They're getting more EVs made in America. The significant tax credit for EVs require that most of the car be made here.
They're fixing our crumbling bridges and roads. That doesn't get much attention, and if it does it'll be a part they've failed to address.
Amtrak is building out passenger rail lines that are actually relevant to me. It's not building metro systems in several medium US cities that need it, but it's a start.
You know a way that's much, much easier to get attention? Maybe the Dems should just pick a minority and spout fear and hate. That really plays much better with the public. Just put up a loud mouth who every other day spouts such incredibly dumb shit that the news HAS to cover it. That's a winning messaging strategy.
I can't afford an EV. I can't afford a house. I can't afford gas. I can't afford groceries. I can't afford health insurance-- actually, I can afford the minimum insurance I am required to purchase, but it is basically worthless. This is the kind of shit I don't hear/see much convincing from Democrats. Yes, fuck the fascists in the Republican party. Unfortunately, fascism can look like an 'answer' for these kind of problems. If we don't want people to fall for that trap, we need popular politics coming from the left.
What do you expect any president to do about that?
President specifically, nothing. Government and a political party as a whole? Fix the problem.
There's lots of ideas as to how to fix the problem, and though I have my own and have preferences, all that ultimately matters is that every single person in the country has a good place to live, food, and healthcare, and generally speaking, the ability to participate in society as much or as little as they choose.
Maybe voting for fewer Republicans would be a good start.
I expect someone running for president to sound like they give a fuck about that, and (once elected) to use their position as the party leader to constantly marshal their forces towards real solutions to those problems.
They don't suck. They just don't get any help from corporate media or social media.
All corporate media is right wing media.
They give money to run ads for the most insane GOP people so they can have easier opponents, they wanted Trump to win the primary because it would have made the GOP a laughingstock. Problem is over time this emboldens and normalizes this faction, and now it's just this death spiral where they can't change or the other faction will win, it's like this logical inevitability at this point. Dems said it loud and clear in 2016 they will choose a candidate friendly to donors over one that could easy win against Trump.