this post was submitted on 02 Nov 2023
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Of course.
Fuck this country.
Never voting for a democrat or republican again. They're all scum.
Two party state baby
Two party, lol please. The ruling class hasn't been divided in this country since JFK
Not seriously since the COINTELPRO days
Not that have a snowballs chance in hell of winning
You'll need an insurgency for that
There are some socialists elected to regional positions, like city councils, school boards, etc. The most prominent is probably Seattle councilwoman Kshama Sawant
Nope. Alternate power structures that can seize power during crises is how socialist revolution can come about. Much writing on this, here is a link I randomly googled:
https://dsa-lsc.org/2018/12/31/dual-power-a-strategy-to-build-socialism-in-our-time/
Bernie was the only one with balls to step forward. If there are any others out there then they're hiding or being hidden somehow because we don't see them.
AOC is as close as you'll get and the right immediately "Hillaried" her so now she's "damaged goods." They're very good at muddying waters and ruining candidates via propaganda and brainwashing society.
Neither Bernie nor AOC is socialist in a meaningful sense. Bernie campained on taxing the rich and single payer healthcare which is radical in the American contest but it is not enough to make him a socialist. After he got ratfucked by DNC he has started toeing their line uncritically.
If you want a prominent western anglosphere politician who is socialist, look at Jeremy Corbyn. Compare Labour's manifesto during his election to Bernie's programme. Bernie's looks extremely lukewarm in comparison.
As an American the only thing I know about him is the media smearing him for standing in front of an illuminati mural that they tried to frame as him being antisemitic... Figures he'd actually have good policies if they're going to go after him like that.
unless youre actually voting for a third party, not voting for the shinier turd is still a worthless position that does not improve anything
Yeah, I think voting for a third party is fair.
I mean, voting 3rd party in the US system is just letting the party you agree least with win... There's no good option :(
i can appreciate that third parties can only become mainstream if folks vote for them while they arent, and that its perfectly possible that there will never be a 'right' time to vote for them
even if you dont think its worth it now, theyre at least using their vote to improve things long term
Aye that'll solve it.
Trump actively increased sanctions while biden reduced them. They're both shitty, but let's not pretend they're the same.
Not voting at all makes it easier for the vastly worse party to consolidate power.
There is only one party: the party of the ruling class.
The bickering between democrats and republicans is just a show to distract people while making them think their side is making progress.
Both sides are just looking out for rich people. This will be true until we can get money out of politics.
You're right that the US's democracy is deeply flawed. Criticising and discussing how politicians are influenced, and the systems that allow it is great and valuable, especially when those systems are used to influence both major parties.
But to pretend that every single politician is part of some hive mind run by a shadowy cabal, rather than a set of individuals with their own beliefs and aspirations is not only falling prey to conspiracy theories, but also massively damages your ability to actually understand how the systems work, and how its flaws can be mitigated. At the end of the day, regardless of what else may be influencing them, politicians still have to be elected by the citizens.
Opting out of being involved in politics, not voting and just letting the universe run its course doesn't solve the problems or stick it to the man, it only takes away your small piece of influence.
If you don't vote, politicians don't care about you
So vote, protest, have conversations with people about your views and listen to theirs. That's the only way the system will work better for the people.
No, not all politicians are bad.
US democracy is so horrendously flawed, however, that only a few good eggs make it though. They almost serve as an excuse for 'not all representatives are bad' when the vast majority of them are.
I think the true issue is the constituency. Nothing will change until the culture changes. For the culture to change, people need to admit when they're wrong.
I won't hold my breath, personally.
it's not a "shadowy cabal", it's the ruling class, aka the bourgeois class, the owners of the means of production. capitalism's flaws cannot be mitigated because it's because of these flaws that the system itself can exist (exploitation of workers in different degrees, exploitation of the 3rd world, revenue concentration in the hands of a few, wars and misery etc etc)
the system won't work well for the people because that's the whole point of the system's existence since its inception. it works for a particular class and only that class. the problem isn't Democrats vs Republicans, it's capitalism vs the working class. you don't have to vote, you have to join worker's unions, a socialist/communist party, be an activist, and when duty calls, participate in the revolution that is to come. the only real material change comes when the working class takes power and actually makes way for changes in the socioeconomic status of the country/world. I suggest reading some of Marx's work
With that said, I do agree that in some aspects the Democrats are "better", such as LGBT rights and such, but that could be 10 times better if the people were actually in charge instead of a few rich lobbyists.
~~I get what you're saying in theory, but even then the "owning class" is a large group of people that are not working together for anything. They all independently influence whomever they want and it's the disproportionate amount of power they hold in that respect that is the issue (money.)~~
~~It's no wonder though that the majority of the "owning class" that we really see as problematic in their nature (think Koch's, Musk, Adelson, Russian oligarchs via the NRA, etc) all support Republicans. Those that support Democrats tend to be better people as far as what they do with their money for society (Think: Gates, but not always: Bezos).~~
Edit: 50/50 wasn't really worth the comment so I'll just strike through instead of delete lol