this post was submitted on 17 Mar 2025
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cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ml/post/27293783

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[–] adarza@lemmy.ca 41 points 3 weeks ago (2 children)

democrats are simply the 'lesser evil', and have been since the 1960s, at least.. and we've needed a viable third party left of the mainstream for longer.

republican administrations drag us down and undo gains made. democrats repair some of the damage--but never quite enough, never push progress enough. they lose. it gets undone again and the cycle repeats.

but now it's all getting destroyed. there may not be a continuation of the cycle. it's hell from here on until 'trumpism' and maga are what is completely destroyed.

[–] HobbitFoot@thelemmy.club 11 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

Yeah.

There is always that cycle that includes "Democrats didn't do everything they promised so they deserve to suffer", which brings in Republicans that cause far more damage.

And given the number of election cycles, you would think there would be some organization by now for overall leftist causes, but there isn't. There is no party or organization out there that can pose an electoral threat. The right produced the TEA party, which morphed to MAGA. Leftists have nothing.

[–] AfricanExpansionist@lemmy.ml 20 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

Democrats don't even promise anything anymore. Not since 2008

[–] LinkOpensChest_wav@lemmy.blahaj.zone 12 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

2008 is what ultimately radicalized me. I volunteered for Obama, put in so much footwork, and really believed he would seek to make change. Looking back now, what a fool I was.

[–] AfricanExpansionist@lemmy.ml 9 points 3 weeks ago

2006 made me suspicious of the Democrats forever. Pelosi and the party ran on defunding the Iraq War, then promptly dropped it upon taking office.

I DID primary for Obama because he was promising a public healthcare option. We all know how that turned out: he ultimately championed a Republican scheme to entrench private insurers. Democrats failed to support their party's signature policy proposal when it mattered.

While Obama expanded the Bush wars...

That's when I gave up all hope in the party making any progress or acting in good faith. They haven't given me any reason to rethink that stance.

Sorry your efforts and enthusiasm were wasted and abused by the DNC...

I recall the Coffee Party having a moment, a nationwide movement planned meetups all coordinated. In Asheville, I attended. the meetup was crashed by Obama's Organizing for America, and I later learned that they crashed meetups everywhere.

I remember the smooth-talking guy and how he hijacked the meeting as we were making real progress. Fuck Obama and fuck the DNC

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[–] dessalines@lemmy.ml 30 points 3 weeks ago (9 children)

It's the most anti-communist country on the planet, so there's not much hope. Talk of raising wages or organizing collectively, or not agreeing with US imperialist foreign policy gets you labelled a commie / tankie by its witch-hunting, McCarthyite majority.

If there's a list of countries to next take the communist road, the US would be dead last.

[–] orcrist@lemm.ee 25 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

Step 1: Don't generalize. Don't say "Americans" when you mean "some Americans". As you can see from browsing here and on other media sites, there are a great many vocal people who have voted Democrat for years but are entirely disappointed by decades of failed DNC leadership.

Step 2: Remind people that everyone is on their own side. Politicians might vote the way you want, or not, but their interests will never be exactly the same as yours. Don't ever believe that the two-party system is an accurate description of our values.

Step 3: Share memes of Schumer.

[–] jerkface@lemmy.ca 6 points 3 weeks ago

"Some Americans" is still a generalization. Generalizations are extremely useful. We cannot function without them. Perhaps you mean to say, don't over-generalize.

[–] fatur0000new@lemmy.ml 21 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago) (1 children)

This is quote from their former member, Huey Long:

"They've got a set of Republican waiters on one side and a set of Democratic waiters on the other side, but no matter which set of waiters brings you the dish, the legislative grub is all prepared in the same Wall Street kitchen"

β€” Huey Long, campaign speech for the re-election of Senator Hattie Caraway (D-AR), 1932 (Williams p. 589)

Source

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[–] alykanas@slrpnk.net 20 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

Can’t do it . You must just get labelled a Russian bot and banned

[–] UltraGiGaGigantic@lemmy.ml 7 points 3 weeks ago

I'm ready for my ban I guess.

[–] ptc075@lemmy.zip 19 points 3 weeks ago

"The United States is also a one-party state but, with typical American extravagance, they have two of them."

I attribute the quote wrong all the time, but today the internet says it's from Julius Nyerere, who was a prime minister in Africa back in the 1960s.

[–] Commiunism 16 points 3 weeks ago

Realistically, it's an impossibility. This view is mostly propagated via liberal news sources, having the main battle be conservatism vs progressivism or left vs right (as opposed to class struggle, the poor vs rich, working class vs capitalists), and since the democrats are more progressive than republicans, they're the "good guys" who should be supported.

For it to be destroyed, we'd have to catch up to their level of influence and reach or even surpass it, to show people that they're a party of capitalists who sometimes are progressive, and not an actual ally of the working or middle classes but only pretending to be one. Maybe going one step further too and influencing progressive movements democrats support to pay attention to economic aspects too, given how their root causes aren't purely social?

But again, it's impossible for us workers to have such reach, given how well funded media is.

[–] altima_neo@lemmy.zip 14 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago)

Because the real fight is the rich vs the poor. Even rich democrats.

[–] Devanismyname@lemmy.ca 12 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

They've had multiple majority governments and you guys still pay an arm and a leg for diabetes medication.

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[–] Nemo@midwest.social 10 points 3 weeks ago

Believe you me, I've been trying for years. Tribalism runs too deep in the human condition for there to be any obvious fix.

[–] UltraGiGaGigantic@lemmy.ml 9 points 3 weeks ago (2 children)

We don't have to do anything other then work on passing electoral reform one state at a time. Democrats can be whatever the hell they want, so long as everyone is free to vote how they want with the ability to transfer their vote.

Electoral Reform Videos

First Past The Post voting (What most states use now)

Videos on alternative electoral systems

STAR voting

Alternative vote

Ranked Choice voting

Range Voting

Single Transferable Vote

Mixed Member Proportional representation

[–] Cowbee@lemmy.ml 15 points 3 weeks ago (29 children)

Historically, that doesn't actually fix systemic issues, though, like the only parties of relevance electorally being pre-approved and backed by the bourgeoisie. Moreover, electoral reform doesn't have a real path to implementation that would make more sense than revolution to begin with.

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[–] dessalines@lemmy.ml 11 points 3 weeks ago

This has never done anything in countries that use it, like SK, Japan, Australia, etc. It might make the candidate stacking a little more expensive, but that's it.

If capital stands above the political system, the method of voting doesn't matter.

[–] bstix@feddit.dk 8 points 3 weeks ago (4 children)

I've seen a lot of similar comments lately. People wanting to start 3rd parties etc, because the Democrats suck so bad.

Yes, it's true. They suck, but if you're going to beat the Republicans, you'll need to look at what Trump did. He didn't start a 3rd party. No, he took the existing party and changed it into whatever the fuck it is now.

You need to change the democratic party from within too, because 3rd parties will always lose because of the first past the post. 3rd parties also have a tendency to branch out, because quite frankly, not being Democrat or Republican isn't enough of a politic in itself, and you guys don't get along well on anything else. The Republicans had this issue for a long time until Trump came along providing them with something that united their voters more than the previous politic of simply being not Democrats.

The democratic party already has a framework for running politics and they actually have some kind of democracy within that allows people to change it. Yeah, it will require a lot of work to get enough people engaged in politics to make the change, but it is absolutely much less than what is required to start a successful 3rd party.

[–] Cowbee@lemmy.ml 11 points 3 weeks ago (4 children)

The difference with the Republican party's changes with Trump and the idea of performing entryism in the Democrats to make it a worker party is that Trump's changes to the GOP are already in line with what the Bourgeoisie wants. The DNC cannot be entered and changed into a working class party because they too get their base from the bourgeoisie.

This is why revolution is necessary to gain real change in favor of the working class.

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[–] ycnz@lemmy.nz 6 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

Your problem is that Democrat politicians are also largely rich white dudes, who'd rather be republican than progressive.

[–] bstix@feddit.dk 5 points 3 weeks ago

.. that is why you need to join and elect other politicians.

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[–] miguel@lemmy.ml 6 points 3 weeks ago

They literally have a donkey (jackass) as mascot.

[–] NutWrench@lemmy.ml 6 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

Stop re-electing these ancient incumbents who are WAY too comfortable being Republican-lite. Vote for younger candidates, preferably someone who was born AFTER the Battle of the Bulge.

[–] Confidant6198@lemmy.ml 5 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

I don't think that makes a difference. Ben Shapiro is young and is alt-right

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[–] stinky@redlemmy.com 4 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago) (3 children)

Your title should have read "How do you destroy the notion that Republicans are the good guys?"

There are far too many Americans that support the far right. They've been convinced that conservatism will protect their interests, even while it blatantly destroys them. It is a morally greater objective to turn these people around, and more practically achievable, than undermining its opponent.

Yes, we know. You think liberalism is an ally of conservatism, not an opponent. We're all very impressed with your extensive knowledge, bravo. You've shown nuanced and deep understanding of the political landscape by criticizing the contender of the enemy.

I think most people who criticize the left are like you. More interested in stroking their egos than actually solving a problem. You're trying to demonstrate mastery of a subject by being critical of it, not because you want it to change but because you want people to be impressed with you.

If you actually wanted things to get better you'd be teaching people to undermine conservatism, which is the greater threat.

Be better.

[–] Cowbee@lemmy.ml 9 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

Conservativism is a wing of liberalism, though. They are based in the same general underlying understanding of economics and methods of solving social problems. Right here you accuse OP of wanting to stroke their ego more than solve a problem, but I don't believe that's the case at all. You believing in a different solution does not mean they aren't also trying to solve problems, this is more of a character assassination than anything else.

Conservativism cannot truly be undermined without also undermining liberalism. Leftists must organize, millitant labor organizing remains the most effective means of combatting conservativism, and is held outside the realm of liberal problem solving, usually. In my opinion, we cannot effectively combat conservativism without also addressing liberalism.

[–] easily3667@lemmus.org 4 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

Barring whatever other insanity is in this thread, you're left with the problem that OP is asking how to destroy democrats. If it were "how do we destroy republicans? Also I'm chill if democrats are also destroyed" that would be a different message. But the message was how do I destroy democrats.

[–] Cowbee@lemmy.ml 9 points 3 weeks ago (4 children)

That's not the issue being discussed, though. In the US, there is the notion among the Working Class that just backing the Democrats harder will solve the ails of society. This isn't true, though, the answer lies in millitant labor organizing.

Moreover, without erasing the foundations for why there's a Republican party in the first place, you can't truly "destroy" it. Another far-right party will continue to take its place, be that the Democrats or a new party. Asking how to destroy a party isn't the problem, here, the problem is in moving away from using the Democrats to push for change, which historically is a strategic failure, and instead push for millitant labor organizing.

Not sure what you mean by "insanity" in this thread, either.

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[–] geneva_convenience@lemmy.ml 4 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago)

Democrats destroyed it when Chuck Shumer sided with Republicans. It is Joever.

I posted this and to my utter amazement both the comments and votes went completely opposed to my expectations:

https://lemmy.ml/post/27323640

[–] nutsack@lemmy.dbzer0.com 4 points 3 weeks ago

they're not good guys they are simply more competent at government

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