• ToastedPlanet@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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    7 hours ago

    Unfortunately our democracy uses a first-past-the-post voting system which trends toward a two-party system. This makes the Republicans and Democrats the only game in town.

    Minority Rule: First Past the Post Voting

    We need to leverage power to reduce the harm done to the minority groups fascists in the Republican party want to hurt. So rather than attempting to achieve a moral victory over Democrats, people on the left should do the most useful thing they can during elections for minorities and vote for Democrats.

    The Alt-Right Playbook: The Cost of Doing Business

    • shadowfax13@lemmy.ml
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      31 minutes ago

      any chance you are one of the bright consultants who get paid millions by dnc to come up with the brilliant strategies to be so dogsit that they loose to orange buffoon ?

    • Ensign_Crab@lemmy.world
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      3 hours ago

      Unfortunately our democracy uses a first-past-the-post voting system which trends toward a two-party system

      Why must one of those parties be the Democrats? I don’t see no fucking Whigs around, do you?

      We need to leverage power to reduce the harm done to the minority groups fascists in the Republican party want to hurt

      Democrats won’t reduce any harm. They’ll just send out fundraising emails, like they did when Roe was overturned. During this last cycle, they threw the undocumented under the bus and Democratic candidates were parroting Republican “boys in girls’ sports” hatred.

        • Ensign_Crab@lemmy.world
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          2 hours ago

          No. They only hire people who say what they want to hear, which is “move to the right at all costs.”

      • ToastedPlanet@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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        2 hours ago

        Why must one of those parties be the Democrats? I don’t see no fucking Whigs around, do you?

        Because unlike the Wigs, the Democrats are not divide over slavery. They can just move to the right on contemporary issues as Chris Murphy details here.

        Democrats won’t reduce any harm.

        Hi, I’m a trans person. I’m not the most at risk trans person since I’m pre-transition, but it’s definitely a case of they would if they could. I would not like to be murdered in a death camp please. Like if Democrats can’t get trans messaging right, because they suck at winning, fine. At least they aren’t trying to completely ostracize me from society and make me dig my own grave. I hope that gives a different perspective on this.

        • Ensign_Crab@lemmy.world
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          2 hours ago

          Hi, I’m a trans person. I’m not the most at risk trans person since I’m pre-transition, but it’s definitely a case of they would if they could. I would not like to be murdered in a death camp please. Like if Democrats can’t get trans messaging right, because they suck at winning, fine. At least they aren’t trying to completely ostracize me from society and make me dig my own grave.

          Democrats have no concept of solidarity. None. They just haven’t thrown you under the bus yet, but they’ve let you know that they will. Their candidates have been using the Republican “boys in girls’ sports” hatred in their campaign ads.

          The undocumented? Under the bus. Muslims? Under the bus. Rail workers? Under the bus. If you expect solidarity from Democrats, prepare to tuck and roll.

          • ToastedPlanet@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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            2 hours ago

            Democrats have no concept of solidarity. None.

            Democrats have only recently been openly favorable to gay people within the last decade. Minorities have been using the Democrats to shift things to the left in this country for decades before that.

            They just haven’t thrown you under the bus yet, but they’ve let you know that they will. Their candidates have been using the Republican “boys in girls’ sports” hatred in their campaign ads.

            I’m aware of the messaging. That’s still not the same as a ban on gender affirming care, removal of employment protections, and the rounding up of homeless people.

            Rail workers

            Biden actually helped rail workers. He should have stuck with them from the start and done more, but it’s better than nothing.

            https://www.npr.org/2023/02/10/1155763336/freight-rail-workers-union-paid-sick-leave-bernie-sanders-csx

            The people who I would have expected solidarity from is the left. But instead I am constantly confronted by people who want moral victory over the Democrats. In this arrangement, I am the ball. Instead of kicking me, how about we leverage power to help people.

            Vote for Democrats in elections not because they will fix our problems, stand with us, or even do what we want, but because it is how we demonstrate power to the fascists. It’s how we protect the people that Republicans want to harm and kill. It’s how we buy time to get a populist movement to co-opt the Democratic Party.

            • Ensign_Crab@lemmy.world
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              56 minutes ago

              https://www.npr.org/2023/02/10/1155763336/freight-rail-workers-union-paid-sick-leave-bernie-sanders-csx

              Biden taking credit for the work of rail workers whose right to strike he opposed is rich.

              The people who I would have expected solidarity from is the left.

              You want solidarity in one direction only. You want the left to worship the Democrats no matter who they throw under the bus.

              But instead I am constantly confronted by people who want moral victory over the Democrats

              You already got your actual victory over the left. You just want critics to shut up about it.

              In this arrangement, I am the ball. Instead of kicking me, how about we leverage power to help people.

              What power? The left, in your estimation, has only the power to lovingly smooch the ass of the center as they move to the right and ONLY the right.

              Vote for Democrats in elections not because they will fix our problems, stand with us, or even do what we want, but because it is how we demonstrate power to the fascists.

              THEY. SUPPORTED. GENOCIDE. I get that that’s a selling point for you, but some of us see that as already fascist-adjacent. And moving right from that just gets you fascism.

              • ToastedPlanet@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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                17 minutes ago

                Biden taking credit for the work of rail workers whose right to strike he opposed is rich.

                But like he did help them though.

                You want solidarity in one direction only. You want the left to worship the Democrats no matter who they throw under the bus.

                No, I want people to actually care about minorities instead of virtue signaling. I’m not interested in being currency in your game of moral purity with the Democrats.

                You already got your actual victory over the left. You just want critics to shut up about it.

                You got your victory over the Democrats at the expense of minorities, but you want 2026 and 2028 too. Well, Republicans might not even give us those elections or an opposition party at all now, we’ll find out.

                What power? The left, in your estimation, has only the power to lovingly smooch the ass of the center as they move to the right and ONLY the right.

                We have the power to stop fascists from taking power, killing people, and destroying the environment. We can even educate people and co-opt the Democratic Party. I recommend you read what I wrote.

                THEY. SUPPORTED. GENOCIDE.

                Biden supported genocide. Members of his own administration pushed back against him in open letters. You don’t care about the Palestinians. Genocide is a word you can type in all caps that you think will win you arguments on the internet. It holds no material implications with you whatsoever or you would be railing against Trump’s promise of indefinite genocide.

                As someone closer to the chopping block than I would like, I am no longer phased by that bullshit. I’ve got the right screaming at me that they want me dead, and I’ve got people like you on the left screaming at me to be silent as they drag me the rest of the way there. The Palestinians are worse off now because of people like you and your virtue signaling and so is everyone else.

                Your vote is appreciated. Your rhetoric is not. We don’t live in a moral universe. This universe is physics based. You acting in a way that is consistent with your subjective moral values isn’t going to help anyone. In fact, it’s going to let Republicans and other fascists all over the world run right over the people you claim to care about. Learn to analyze strategies based on their utility. edit: typo

                The Democrats are the tool we have at our disposal. I intended to use that tool for as much as it can be used for. Help me.

    • SwingingTheLamp@midwest.social
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      4 hours ago

      A big issue with this approach: The United States is not a law of nature; it doesn’t have to exist. The system may only allow two options, but it does not guarantee that either one of those options will keep the system viable. Reduced harm is still harm, and at some point we needed to stop doing it.

      • ToastedPlanet@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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        4 hours ago

        This rhetoric is what is known as accelerationism. It’s the idea that things have to get worse in order for them to get better. The United States not existing would mean the collapse of a society that supports about 340 million people. Letting the US burn to the ground is not useful, because it doesn’t help any of the people living here.

        The truth is that things get better when people learn from their mistakes and the bad things that happen to them. They then use that knowledge to make things better. There’s no bottom to how bad things can get. Things can always get worse. And they will get worse unless we work to make them better.

        Anyone can be tempted by the idea that they can make things better by letting them burn. But letting everything burn is how to harm the most people possible. In order to help anyone, we need to start leveraging power for each other. That means giving up on moral victories and analyzing strategies using utility instead of moral reasoning. edit: typo