Asklemmy

We need progressive primary challengers, and we need PARTICIPATION in the primaries. Primary voter turnout is like 15% or something equally pathetic last I checked.

I've seen a lot of similar comments lately. People wanting to start 3rd parties etc, because the Democrats suck so bad.

Yes, it's true. They suck, but if you're going to beat the Republicans, you'll need to look at what Trump did. He didn't start a 3rd party. No, he took the existing party and changed it into whatever the fuck it is now.

You need to change the democratic party from within too, because 3rd parties will always lose because of the first past the post. 3rd parties also have a tendency to branch out, because quite frankly, not being Democrat or Republican isn't enough of a politic in itself, and you guys don't get along well on anything else. The Republicans had this issue for a long time until Trump came along providing them with something that united their voters more than the previous politic of simply being not Democrats.

The democratic party already has a framework for running politics and they actually have some kind of democracy within that allows people to change it. Yeah, it will require a lot of work to get enough people engaged in politics to make the change, but it is absolutely much less than what is required to start a successful 3rd party.

Democrats destroyed it when Chuck Shumer sided with Republicans. It is Joever.

I posted this and to my utter amazement both the comments and votes went completely opposed to my expectations:

https://lemmy.ml/post/27323640

Your title should have read "How do you destroy the notion that Republicans are the good guys?"

There are far too many Americans that support the far right. They've been convinced that conservatism will protect their interests, even while it blatantly destroys them. It is a morally greater objective to turn these people around, and more practically achievable, than undermining its opponent.

Yes, we know. You think liberalism is an ally of conservatism, not an opponent. We're all very impressed with your extensive knowledge, bravo. You've shown nuanced and deep understanding of the political landscape by criticizing the contender of the enemy.

I think most people who criticize the left are like you. More interested in stroking their egos than actually solving a problem. You're trying to demonstrate mastery of a subject by being critical of it, not because you want it to change but because you want people to be impressed with you.

If you actually wanted things to get better you'd be teaching people to undermine conservatism, which is the greater threat.

Be better.

Stop re-electing these ancient incumbents who are WAY too comfortable being Republican-lite. Vote for younger candidates, preferably someone who was born AFTER the Battle of the Bulge.

"The United States is also a one-party state but, with typical American extravagance, they have two of them."

I attribute the quote wrong all the time, but today the internet says it's from Julius Nyerere, who was a prime minister in Africa back in the 1960s.

This is quote from their former member, Huey Long:

"They've got a set of Republican waiters on one side and a set of Democratic waiters on the other side, but no matter which set of waiters brings you the dish, the legislative grub is all prepared in the same Wall Street kitchen"

— Huey Long, campaign speech for the re-election of Senator Hattie Caraway (D-AR), 1932 (Williams p. 589)

Source

It's the most anti-communist country on the planet, so there's not much hope. Talk of raising wages or organizing collectively, or not agreeing with US imperialist foreign policy gets you labelled a commie / tankie by its witch-hunting, McCarthyite majority.

If there's a list of countries to next take the communist road, the US would be dead last.