I’ve said it before: Every Democrat I know in real life seems like an empathetic person, so it’s astonishing they choose these ghouls to represent them.
A prerequisite for being a politician is also being a narcissistic sociopath. The few that aren’t/weren’t are the deviation from that, and usually get hamstrung if not just killed anyway.
I’ve actually considered running for local office, but I decided against it for a couple reasons, one being my unusual work schedule, and the other being the fact that I can’t imagine being around politicians that much.
Anyway, it’s pretty clear we need more than elections to fix whatever it is this is.
My dad ran for local office and only served one term because he said it was fucking awful.
My running theory from observing from across the Atlantic is that participating in American politics is mentally destructive. You are confronted by two frankly terrible options, so you either accept you live in an undemocratic country or you have to convince yourself that one of the parties is actually good. No matter what choice you make, it breaks something in you.
Maybe this is what leads to so much cultlike behavior and unquestioned loyalty to one party or the other. And if you’re anywhere outside these parties, or you so much as criticize a sitting politician, then you’re hated from all sides and accused of being a Russian bot, which is especially disappointing when you’re someone who does hold your nose and vote blue, but that’s not good enough – you have to fully toe the line, or else it’s perceived as interfering with a campaign, a campaign which never ends.
We’re not really a democracy, are we?
See the thing is for the most part the only people who question the loyalty is Democrats who only choose Democrats because the other choices more terrible and then the Republicans are in questioning because they’re filled with hate and propaganda.
Yes, I know you could say the same about Democrats but that’s not what studies show. Sorry about your feelings. (Not to the person I’m replying to specifically, but anyone who takes offense)
In my experience they appear to be until you bring up some issues, then they turn into bloodthirsty monsters.
For example, my my goes completely Ooga booga genocidal when Isreal is brought up.
Or on housing: She won’t even entertain any solutions that don’t let landlords keep exploiting people’s basic need for homes. She gets all “why should they have to give up property? They worked for it! Shouldn’t they be able to make money?” She can’t possibly empathize enough to value the basic needs of most people over the right for people who already own more than they need to profit off of others who have less than they need.
Honestly, I think most of them just don’t like the aesthetic of the Republican Party more than they’re actually opposed to conservative politics.
Yeah, that’s probably why these horrible people end up in office. Most Democrats I know are my father, who says he’s socialist and actually used to teach history, and local politicians who seem pretty good, but I imagine they’re not necessarily a good cross section of the party.
That’s why it literally surprised me when Biden won the primaries, like what
Not sure how that was surprising to anyone paying attention at the time lol
You dont really get a choice on who the party chooses to prop up and runs. See, Bernie Sanders. But, hell, I’ve seen it ag the grass roots level in my state. The people with the power in the party decide who goes on the ballot.
That’s because Congress has been piss-poor at being representative of the people.
It’s usually not about who shares the policy positions of the electorate as much as who can scrape together enough money to buy enough ads to convince them that they’re the one most likely to beat the other team.
That’s how Pelosi became Speaker in the first place in spite of having no legislative accomplishments to speak of nor seniority: she was simply the best at collecting fat checks from rich people and their corporations.
Pelosi had literal decades of political experience, and was co-authoring legislation in the late 80s concerning the AIDs crisis. She became Speaker after Democrats won control of the house with her as minority leader – a position she won in 2002/2003 after being directly under it for a couple years.
I get not liking Pelosi, or fundraising I guess, but it’s bizarre when criticisms are spun seemingly whole cloth.
decades of political experience
Yeah, decades of effectively soliciting bribes in exchange for being one of the most pro-corporate democrats in all of California and that’s saying a LOT in the neoliberal utopia of Hollywood, a huge chunk of the music industry and Silicon Valley.
co-authoring legislation in the late 80s concerning the AIDs crisis.
So was many other experienced democrats who didn’t pander to the rich as effectively as the queen of fundraising.
No matter how little you like admitting it, that WAS the only way in which she excelled over other prospective candidates for minority leader and then Speaker.
Our “democracy” does this by design. Looking at history, it’s hard to believe we can ever fix this.
Yeah I know. All the rules are written and being written by the already rich and powerful. Based on the world’s oldest national constitution still in use.
Who would have thought that perpetually basing society on the opinions of a bunch of slave owning WASPs would lead to inequality ‽
What has she done?
What ceasefire? Which one, of the numerous conflicts now on Earth, is referred to here?
Allow me to explain what they were going for: demoncrats bad, orange fan mad
Ah yes because anyone that doesn’t like democrats must be republican!
Libs are such a joke, but you don’t even understand the punchline.
Pretty sure it’s in reference to this past weekend she got approached by someone demanding a ceasefire, and Pelosi’s response was for that person to go back to China because they are also genociding Uygurs. She later claimed she thought the reporter was a Russian plant or some unhinged bs.
So, not even the usual ceasefire bad because right to defend. Just ceasefire bad because whataboutism.
This still does not answer which ceasefire you’re referring to. Could refer to Ukraine, for example.
The propagandists aren’t even trying to pretend here lol.
Right? I can’t believe this blatant disinformation is getting upvoted. She said it was Chinese propaganda smh.
Jeffries is toeing the same line.
There is a huge generational divide in the democratic party between those who benefit from the US police state and those who are suffering from it.
This seems to map very cleanly onto whether people support the Gaza genocide.