• ToastedPlanet@lemmy.blahaj.zone
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    0
    ·
    4 days ago

    With all due respect, that strategy got us fascism.

    That argument is obviously false. We, people to the left of Republican voters, have been losing elections and Democrats since Clinton have been moving right as a result.

    Apparently not, because socialsts/progressives/leftists are lazy, good-for-nothings who are simultaneously powerful enough to swing elections, but too inconsequential to talk about their issues or court their votes.

    Of course we need more than just leftists to vote. We need to demonstrate a leftist voter block was part of what got Democratic candidates into office. So the Democrats feel they have voters to cover the ones on the right they think they could lose by shifting left.

    In other words, maybe these vaunted “centrists”/liberals should’ve stepped up to stop fascism.

    Yes. There can be more than one lesson to learn from an election. Democrats fucking up more than us doesn’t mean we don’t have a lesson to learn too. Obviously Democrats have to do better. But if they win without leftists when they do run a better candidate, they aren’t going to shift left. They’ll think they’ve hit the sweet spot and stay put on the political spectrum.

    • SwingingTheLamp@midwest.social
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      0
      ·
      4 days ago

      False? We employed that strategy, i.e. voted for Democrats multiple times over decades without demanding that they do better, and now we have fascism. That’s not to say that the strategy caused fascism, but self-evidently didn’t stop it.

      • ToastedPlanet@lemmy.blahaj.zone
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        0
        ·
        4 days ago

        The user who made this post made a point of proudly declaring they did not vote for president when the election rolled around last year. Because ‘voters in California don’t matter’. Except we do, because we contribute to the popular vote which Republicans love to use rhetorically to claim everyone else needs to shut up because they have the mandate.

        Which they don’t have because Trump didn’t even get a majority of the voters, just the most out of any candidate. But it’s still a free win to them anyway.

        Democrats lost elections and leftists weren’t the base consistently voting. Neoliberals and neocons and now fascists are the groups that vote regularly. Accelerationism is self-evidently getting us to fascism faster.

        • Wolf@lemmy.today
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          0
          ·
          edit-2
          4 days ago

          Republicans love to use rhetorically to claim everyone else needs to shut up because they have the mandate.

          Republicans also love to completely ignore the popular vote when they lose it, just like they did when Trump lost the popular vote in 2016. Anyone who isn’t a MAGAt and hears that argument and takes them seriously is either ignorant or are being obtuse.

          I’m not saying that people shouldn’t still vote, they certainly should but for more practical reasons like getting leftists elected to local and regional offices wherever that is possible.

          If you live in a Red State, and in a Red county, and in a Red Township, your vote likely won’t mean a whole lot, but you should still do it, but not because you can throw it back in a Republicans face when they lose the popular vote because they quite literally do not care.

          • ToastedPlanet@lemmy.blahaj.zone
            link
            fedilink
            English
            arrow-up
            0
            ·
            1 day ago

            It’s not about what Republicans care about. It’s about controlling the narrative. The popular vote is a tool that can be used to control the narrative. The popular vote is useful and so voting even if it only contributes to the popular vote is still useful. And of course if enough people don’t vote then any state is in play.

            • Wolf@lemmy.today
              link
              fedilink
              arrow-up
              0
              ·
              edit-2
              1 day ago

              It’s about controlling the narrative.

              They don’t ‘control the narrative’ that’s what I am saying. They don’t give a single solitary fuck about the popular vote, so who would believe them when they claim ‘a mandate’ because they “won” the popular vote? It doesn’t make any sense.

              It’s like if a Nazi came up to you and said you were anti-Semitic for being anti-Zionist, are you going to believe they care about antisemitism? Are you going to feel ashamed by their words or change your position in any way because of it? You would be a fool to do so.