• Zummy@lemmy.world
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    7 months ago

    If you ask me, the point isn’t to not vote for Biden, but rather to show him that’s vote for him isn’t automatic just because the opponent is Trump. Maybe if Biden listened when a lot of people said he was too old and lot people said don’t give Israel weapons used to kill women and children he wouldn’t be in this predicament. It’s funny how the leftists in do the same thing they always do that only works for millionaires work and then get mad at the working class when they don’t vote for them.

      • BaumGeist@lemmy.ml
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        7 months ago

        Did voting for Biden stop Trump this last election? How many times are we supposed to vote Democrat against our own interests and better judgment until Trump is successfully stopped? What about when Trump stops being the face of fascism, an ideology and not a man, and the fascists prop up another candidate? Will it always be “neoliberalism or fascism” every election from here until fascism wins anyway because neoliberalism doesn’t work for the majority of people either?

        • whereisk@lemmy.world
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          7 months ago

          This “they’ll win anyway” is some miserly nihilistic take - we’ve won against the Nazis before we’ll win again.

          “how many times are as supposed to vote to prevent the fascists from gaining power?”

          Until you can no longer physically vote.

          You are part of a society that still allows you to politically organise around your beliefs, so get involved in your local politics and help bring your vision of a better future to more people - change doesn’t happen by itself.

          Join a union. Get out there and make it happen.

          • BaumGeist@lemmy.ml
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            7 months ago

            Please do not project onto me when addressing my questions/comments. Just because I get frustrated with “vote blue no matter who” rhetoric online doesn’t mean I cease existing offline; I do have a life irl where I have been occasionally known to engage in my community and political projects.

            “how many times are as supposed to vote to prevent the fascists from gaining power?”

            despite the quotation marks, that is not a question I asked. Please do not put words in my mouth

            This “they’ll win anyway” is some miserly nihilistic take - we’ve won against the Nazis before we’ll win again.

            I am not a nihilist, and, based on context, I don’t think you meant that word anyway. Perhaps “defeatist”?

            Paraphrasing me as saying “they’ll win anyway” in regards to fascists (nazis or otherwise) strips what I said of important context: my point was that if the rhetoric stagnates in the choice of “neoliberalism or fascism” the fascists will eventually get a win for two reasons:

            1. the status quo, neoliberalism, isn’t working out for the majority of people, and historically whenever that happens, societies undergo major upheaval. If the public only ever knew two options prior to that revolution, they—as a mob, not a collection of rational individuals—will take the second

            2. It frames the fight in such a way where the fascists “only have to be lucky once. You will have to be lucky always.”

            • whereisk@lemmy.world
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              7 months ago

              I didn’t project beyond what conclusions your comment lead me to.

              Please do not put words in my mouth

              See, if I were to quote you directly I would have done it like this.

              Instead I used quotes without the indent, to paraphrase you in a way that I thought both accurately condensed and focused what you wrote in a way that highlighted what it came across to me as a ridiculous question.

              Given the threaded discussion structure where anyone can go back and see exactly what a person has written, the idea that I am somehow able to misrepresent you is a rather odd take.

              Perhaps “defeatist”?

              No.

              Sounded more like existential nihilism to me.

              Paraphrasing me as saying “they’ll win anyway” in regards to fascists (nazis or otherwise) strips what I said of important context.

              You literally wrote

              until fascism wins anyway

              But I did strip the context of neoliberalism because I answered it a sentence later by urging you to get involved to make the world you want.

              There’s nothing “lucky” about voting, anymore there’s lucky in cleaning. You either clean or you’ll live in filth. You either defend your rights or you have them eroded and taken away.

              The Republicans were not always fascists and the Democrats were not always so neoliberal which means things can change if enough people get involved to change them.

              Unions, local elections, political activism etc all matter.

              You don’t expect perfection, you get involved and you vote in the public transport analogy.

        • Uriel238 [all pronouns]@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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          7 months ago

          Yes. Exactly that. Our federal elections have been corrupt since the 1800s. The Republican effort to curtail the Democratic party and erect an autocratic state started in the 1960s (though there were earlier efforts in the 1920s and 1930s).

          I get that it sucks that the US is not at all what we were promised it would be, but letting the Republican party destroy the Democratic party is only going to make things way, way worse for the majority of Americans. And civil war and its aftermath is going to take decades (if not over a century) to resolve.

          The French Revolution started in 1789. The Third Republic was founded in 1870, between which the guillotines had to be rolled out several times, and Napoleon had to go to war with the rest of Europe. When the two-state system falls in the US, you can expect chaos and bloodshed for the rest of your life, including kids prostituting themselves on the streets for food (what was seen in post-Soviet eastern bloc states after the USSR fell in the early 1990s). It’s going to be grisly for anyone who doesn’t flee abroad, and for some who do.

          As per Bertrand Russell, war doesn’t decide who is right, only who is left. And this includes civil war.

        • Tinidril@midwest.social
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          7 months ago

          Did voting for Biden stop Trump this last election?

          Um, yes? It didn’t stop Trump from breathing, but it stopped him from being president this term. Even if it somehow eliminated Trump, there is always the next Trump. There is no point where we can stop fighting to preserve past victories, even as we fight for new ones.

          How many times are we supposed to vote Democrat against our own interests

          None. Voting Democrat is always in your interests. (At least until something major changes) Voting corrupt Democrats out in primaries is even moreso. It would be nice if we lived in a system that can support more than two parties, but we don’t.

          Will it always be “neoliberalism or fascism” every election

          That’s why we fight to take over the Democratic party. Every obstacle to defeating Democrats in primaries has a corresponding obstacle to winning a general with a third party candidate. Winning as a third party is both more difficult, and more risky.

          You want a shortcut, but there isn’t one.

          • BaumGeist@lemmy.ml
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            7 months ago

            I don’t have much to respond to because I appreciate what you’ve said and even agree for the most part, however:

            Voting Democrat is always in your interests.

            The Democratic party is not some force of good, and their administrations and policies still harm the working class and other marginalized groups. They just manage to do less harm and placate us slightly more than their primary opponents.

            Voting democrat is more in my interest than voting Republican, but not as much as having an ancom in office. It is not in my interest in general, as I will still be shooting myself in the foot because it’s better than having someone else shove electrodes into my brain.

            You may say that it’s the effect of “corrupt dems,” but that’s a myopic understanding of the party and its motives. It is an ideologically driven party, it’s just that that ideology is an uncomfortable truth: liberal capitalism. In service of that, it allows the input of marginalized groups, but will never allow us to gain full autonomy and control over our own lives as that would not serve capital.

            I refuse to buy this narrative that any progress be made has to be made under the banner of a particular party/organization/group.

    • Uriel238 [all pronouns]@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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      7 months ago

      The Democrats chose Biden in 2019, 2020. The thing is, the Democratic party is, itself, right wing. Neoliberalism is pretty far right, it’s just not crazypants far right than the Republican party.

      If you’re EU centrist, you don’t have a voice in Washington. Heck, the Democratic party is looking for ways to oust Occasio-Cortez and Sanders, no matter how popular their positions might be.

      Don’t vote for Biden, rather vote against the GOP. Any vote for a Republican is a vote to end democracy and let them rule as autocrats. Any vote against the Republican party (specifically your one vote for the next popular guy – that is, the Democrat) is a vote to hold onto the US’ meager democratic features.

      If you’re wanting to make a statement, your vote for officials is not where to make it, no matter how fervent your feelings about it. Elections are where you get to choose between King Log and King Heron. (And Heron will eat all the frogs.) Make your grievances known through other activism.

      Engage in mutual aid now, so that you don’t have to engage in sabotage and resistance against an overwhelming foe later.

    • BaumGeist@lemmy.ml
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      7 months ago

      It’s funny how the leftists in do the same thing they always do that only works for millionaires work and then get mad at the working class when they don’t vote for them.

      Will you please phrase this another way? For some reason I am unable to parse it.