Yet another reminder that most Americans don’t understand how the government works. What is one Dem senator going to do in a government that is 100% controlled by Republicans?
Voters need to do something and actually give the Dems a majority before complaining that they don’t get anything done.
The Dems still control the Executive, including the Attorney General, and the Senate.
They didn’t before and won’t do it now.
I’m going to be ignoring the news for the next couple years. “Trump Did Something Horrific,” followed by nothing of any consequence but “raising awareness.”
Wake me up when there’s a real resistance.
I’m not American and will do the same. The amount of artificial and inflated drama is just unbearable. Not for another four years.
“Trump said this unacceptable thing!!!1!” followed by a few days of outrage, nothing changes, then he says another stupider shit a few days layer and the cycle continues.
In a way I’m sure the media are very happy for that Trump win. They’re gonna have some drama every fucking day.
Ah yes the embodiment of the French Revolutionaries spirit. Paraphrasing the slogan, wasn’t it something like
“wake me up my brothers after the king gets beheaded, why would I go out with my pitchfork if nothing’s gonna happen”.
I can’t speak to others but it’s exhausting. All the “did something illegal” “got egg on the face of the US” “made a clown of himself”. I can only be outraged for so long before I’m burned out. I’ve voted every election big and small. I’ve argued and talked with people about how bad this could be. I’ve told people who didn’t know there are still literal wars going on and how there is an avenue for ww3. People don’t care or they think trump is the one to see us through and any changes he wants to make are good.
What else can I do? I’m not going to take up arms because I still believe in our democracy.
get organized! there are loads of community-based action groups that provide mutual aid services. the democratic socialists of America is a great example but there are plenty of other options if that’s not for you
Just like I’ve been telling my queer friends: some days you fight; some days you rest. You cannot fight if you don’t take care of yourself.
Looking at US politics from across the pond, there seems to be a healthy dose of activism, except it’s exclusively online.
Unfortunately nowadays this is totally irrelevant, because it’s so easy to counter by anyone with money to burn.
When people have actually gathered (mostly unions) they have found success.
Except all the college students who got arrested/kicked out for pro-palestinian protests.
Too small, but an interesting example.
In many countries, and across history, universities are the breeding ground of anti-establishment protests. Young people with a strong desire to change the world, not yet shackled by the burdens of society and all that.
Except that in the US, students are chained down with massive debt they can’t escape from, so that they can be kept on a leash.
be sure to hashtag that resistance!
And smash that like button!
I suspect that’s going to be a long long looooooonnnng sleep you will be having there :(
Well don’t bother starting it yourself.
Maybe charisma is their dump stat.
Or you could start a protest or join an organization actually fighting him. Instead of whining about people not doing anything on the internet.
Ah well, nevertheless.
If there is no enforcement then there is no law.
There is enforcement, if you don’t have enough income or if you have the wrong skin tone-
How about we do something about it instead of expecting someone else to?
You go first. Let us know what and how it worked out.
I don’t even know what this text is in reference to and I have no concrete suggestions immediately. But I will be thinking, connecting, and sharing in the coming months as a strategy emerges. Trumpism can still be defeated. The election was plan A but it’s time to come up with plan B. I am thinking that it’s going to take massive organized civil disobedience. We directly disrupt their ability to govern and harm marginalized people.
But it’s going to take more than just me, so I ask everyone here to be ready and participate in whatever capacity you can.
My “text” is a direct response to your comment that proceeded it. Im not sure how that’s confusing.
The fact of the matter is the election results are legal, certified, and recognized by every country on Earth. As much as I hate it, and I really really hate it, that’s reality.
Unless things get ridiculously out of hand, which has yet to be seen, the only real thing anyone can do is create protests and marches, and vote for change when the time comes.
If you think you’re going to create a “resistance army” you’re going to be checked very hard by reality. Your little keyboard warrior “massive organized civil disobedience” will be as lame as Jan 6.
(They meant the text in the OP, not your comment)
(Let them fight for our entertainment)
(Why are we whispering?)
SORRY Y’ALL, THIS IS MY WHISPER. MY VOICE JUST REALLY CARRIES.
(thanks, I didn’t realize that. I appreciate it)
I went to DC and yelled at a bunch of brutalist buildings. I’m sure someone in one of those knows a guy who knows someone who sometimes gets close enough to see a representative. I did my part!
There’s a reason peaceful protest is legal, and that’s because it seldom accomplishes anything meaningful.
The 60s did happen.
The part of the 60s that enacted change was not peaceful.
That said, here is an especially relevant section of a document from 1963:
[ We have waited for more than 340 years for our constitutional and God given rights. The nations of Asia and Africa are moving with jetlike speed toward gaining political independence, but we still creep at horse and buggy pace toward gaining a cup of coffee at a lunch counter. Perhaps it is easy for those who have never felt the stinging darts of segregation to say, “Wait.” But when you have seen vicious mobs lynch your mothers and fathers at will and drown your sisters and brothers at whim; when you have seen hate filled policemen curse, kick and even kill your black brothers and sisters; when you see the vast majority of your twenty million Negro brothers smothering in an airtight cage of poverty in the midst of an affluent society; when you suddenly find your tongue twisted and your speech stammering as you seek to explain to your six year old daughter why she can’t go to the public amusement park that has just been advertised on television, and see tears welling up in her eyes when she is told that Funtown is closed to colored children, and see ominous clouds of inferiority beginning to form in her little mental sky, and see her beginning to distort her personality by developing an unconscious bitterness toward white people; when you have to concoct an answer for a five year old son who is asking: “Daddy, why do white people treat colored people so mean?”; when you take a cross county drive and find it necessary to sleep night after night in the uncomfortable corners of your automobile because no motel will accept you; when you are humiliated day in and day out by nagging signs reading “white” and “colored”; when your first name becomes “nigger,” your middle name becomes “boy” (however old you are) and your last name becomes “John,” and your wife and mother are never given the respected title “Mrs.”; when you are harried by day and haunted by night by the fact that you are a Negro, living constantly at tiptoe stance, never quite knowing what to expect next, and are plagued with inner fears and outer resentments; when you are forever fighting a degenerating sense of “nobodiness”–then you will understand why we find it difficult to wait. There comes a time when the cup of endurance runs over, and men are no longer willing to be plunged into the abyss of despair. I hope, sirs, you can understand our legitimate and unavoidable impatience. You express a great deal of anxiety over our willingness to break laws. This is certainly a legitimate concern. Since we so diligently urge people to obey the Supreme Court’s decision of 1954 outlawing segregation in the public schools, at first glance it may seem rather paradoxical for us consciously to break laws. One may well ask: “How can you advocate breaking some laws and obeying others?” The answer lies in the fact that there are two types of laws: just and unjust. I would be the first to advocate obeying just laws. One has not only a legal but a moral responsibility to obey just laws. Conversely, one has a moral responsibility to disobey unjust laws. I would agree with St. Augustine that “an unjust law is no law at all.”]
https://www.africa.upenn.edu/Articles_Gen/Letter_Birmingham.html
The civil unrest of the 60s worked because the black panthers were presenting the path to real change, so the establishment compromised by giving rights to people without threatening their power.
What are you referring to exactly?
o7 commander
if you want things to change, first you have to find a way to be able to confidently say “I’m ready for things to change”. Then, you have to help other people find a way to say it too. And when there’s finally enough people, nobody has to “go first”.
I mean that’s a nice sentiment, but it’s not the late 19th century anymore. Even if it was, that’s not really how revolutions worked in the past.
The majority of revolutions that have been successful in the past have sprung from pre-arranged hierarchical bodies like the military. There is a reason the US military was developed to be domestically apolitical, and is forbidden to operate in any real sense within the United States.
If there is some sort of revolution it’s perfectly reasonable to assume there will be Martyrs, it’s also perfectly reasonable to not want to willingly participate in martyrdom.
There is a reason the US military was developed to be domestically apolitical, and is forbidden to operate in any real sense within the United States.
well buckle up…
I honestly don’t understand how you can read what I’m saying and think that I must be specifically talking about people martyring themselves or violent political revolutions and I would really appreciate it if you could just take my words for granted without making broader inferences about them.
And when there’s finally enough people, nobody has to “go first”.
I mean, it’s what the person you responded to was talking about… Am i supposed to “take your words for granted” and also assume you were making a point completely disjointed from the original context?
so like I’ve spent a lot of time studying history and revolutions and political movements, so personally when I see somebody say something as vague as “we should do something about this ourselves instead of expecting other people to” it’s very hard for me to assume that they must be talking specifically about violently overthrowing the government.
If you’ve spent a lot of time studying history and revolutions…in your opinion, what does it mean when someone says “we should take care of this ourselves”?
In reference to our current political situation, how else would an individual or a small group of like minded individuals “take care” of the situation?
I agree with you on that.
Yeah! You first
It’s the perennial coordination problem. Consider these truths: 1. Anybody who stands up alone will get viciously hammered down. 2. If a large number of people stand up together, they can make a difference. 3. People have to trust others to stand up with them, otherwise see #1.
How do we organize a large crowd of people that trust each other without the people in power catching wind of it and viciously hammering down the organizers? It sure would help to have some support from people already in positions of power…
This is part of why, as much grief as it gets, the 4B movement is something that can plausibly gain traction. Because it doesn’t really require anyone “outing” themselves and thus putting themselves at risk, it can be done without coordination, leadership, and trust. Boycotts function on a similar premise.
They are a useful tool in some ways, but the issue is the relatively limited scope of what these sorts of efforts can accomplish.
I’m reading a book on this topic right now. It’s called civil resistance. Hope to find the answer soon!
Trump will go down in history as the world’s most successful career criminal.
Can you imagine siding with the political party that got completely decimated by a career criminal on a national level?
The Democrats just have unsuccessful career criminals.
I bet people avoid you in your personal life.
You lost the plot at “siding”. I know you’re incapable of understanding this, but “sides” aren’t a thing when it comes to fascism. Every neck has the same boot on it, some of us just decided we don’t want to kiss it.
You deep throat it all you want, it’ll keep your ass nice and safe and warm for when the long dick of the law comes round to fuck it.
Imagine siding with the dude who got mugged and not the mugger smh
I think you meant serial rapist, paedophile, fraudster and insurrectionist, who has the support of a third of the country and who knows how much money.
We wouldn’t in a functional democracy with a multi-party system and proportional representation
Is it really a law if it’s unenforceable?
*selectively enforced against poor people
- The understood value of “poor” will also increase.
Is it really justice when laws cannot be applied to presidents as the founding fathers argued that doing so would interfere with president’s purported ability to govern - even if they commit crimes?
The USA is comically naive in assuming presidents would act honorably and would respect the law voluntarily.
They should add a new amendment
as someone who has never used twitter, it always confuses me that twitter sometimes puts the reply before the message that’s being replied to. why do it this way?
It isn’t so much as a reply on a re-tweet, if you comment or “reply” to any tweet then the layout is the same as any other social media site and nests it under the post. Whereas for re-tweeting it is more like sharing something, like a link or an article, and your desired message into a post, just like here in lemmy your title or message is at the top and your content is under it. In this context the tweet is your content.
I hope that made sense
this does make sense. thank you for explaining it. i had always thought that retweet was the twitter word for reply (a reply that is also a tweet), but this makes way more sense.
If you’re following someone but not the person they’re replying to, this is how it shows up because the design assumes you’re more interested in what the person you’re following has to say, and just includes the original for context
disclaimer: I don’t really use the website so I could be slightly off. It probably doesn’t require you only be following one of the two users, moreso that reply tweets (sorry, reply Xs on X) from people you follow show like “normal” top level posts in your feed
No I’m sure the current plan of wag your finger and then refuse to actually enforce the law out of a desire to “not sink to his low” will continue to work just fine /s
I’m not an American. Does Congress actually have the ability to enforce the laws they write? What would someone expect a Senator to do?
Warren’s party currently controls the executive branch. Though she can’t enforce the law, she knows and works with those who can.
works with those who can.
*with those who should be able to
Ftfy
And they have had that “official acts” thing from the supreme court for months. Zero reason this problem should have ever lasted this long.
They won’t. They are going to hand the keys to the next admin, as is decorum. They do things by the book and maintain tradition. This party at every opportunity shows how completely inept they are.
They’ve abandoned us.
Biden… Uses “decorum” as an excuse for not understanding the current world. His mind is stuck on the world as it was in the 80s
The FBI is the one that’s supposed to be acting on political corruption. Bureaucrats can only write the laws, even the Justice dept mostly prosecutes instead of actively going after criminals.
Well the issue as I see it is the courts. The insurrection clause was already written and amended into the constitution. Colorado took him off the ballot for it, the SC said he couldn’t be taken off the ballot for it, not answering to whether he could hold office. They avoided it because they would have to state that The Oval Office, is an office. If brought before the courts now, they would have to rule again, saying that the he doesn’t fit into these terms
“No person shall be a Senator or Representative in Congress, or elector of President and Vice President, or hold any office, civil or military, under the United States, or under any State, who, having previously taken an oath, as a member of Congress, or as an officer of the United States, or as a member of any State legislature, or as an executive or judicial officer of any State, to support the Constitution of the United States, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same . . .”
He took the oath of office upon entering his presidency. The presidential position is listed, he is also a military office.
Was Jan 6 an insurrection or an act of rebellion? Was calling Georgia and telling them to make up votes and act of rebellion? Was calling Nevada and telling them to change the electors and act of rebellion?
If the Supreme court says they are not. Biden has legal right to call all 50 states and tell them to submit new electors for whomever he wants and cannot be held responsible.
If they rule they are an act of rebellion, than he legally cannot hold office.
It’s a pretty big stretch of the imagination to think that Warren has any ability to get Biden to act that isn’t just publicly shaming like this.
If they had a house majority and 60 Senators then they could either never inaugurate Trump or remove him via impeachment and vote to remove, same with federal judges he appointed.
Problem is they only had 60 for one month over a decade ago, now currently don’t even have a majority.
The USA voted for crime and destruction.
This was the last time i vote for a dem candidate. they pay mouth service to progressive policies, but at the end of the day, they do next to nothing for us.
back in in the 2010s when obama was president, there was a time when the dems controlled the house AND the senate at the same time. we still didn’t get any real progressive shit passed. the only thing i can think of is daca and obamacare. we didn’t get single payer, universal nationalized healthcare, we didn’t get robust protections for the working class, we didn’t responsibly pull out of iraq or afghanistan, the environment is fucked and there’s nothing that we can do about it anymore, big banks got bailed out at the expense of the working class, university cost was and has continued to be at an all time high. They didn’t fix the gerrymandering the gop has been getting away with. They didn’t set term limits on justices. they didn’t fight back when the Rs blocked merick garland. They did nothing to fix the broken electoral system. They did nothing to fix the economic policies set in the reagan era. they did nothing to set a law banning PACs, lobbyists or special interests. the only thing the dem party has going for it is that they are not literally the party of fascists.
2 weeks before the election wasn’t the time to start getting excited about a third party. The time for third partying is now, and keep it up until the next one. I’m not going to forgive the dem party for their inaction and they should absolutely be punished by no longer existing as the opposition party.
Didn’t even close fucking Guantanamo. Remember Guantanamo? It’s still a thing.
This was the last time i vote for a dem candidate.
I’m sure that’ll fix things right up!
This reformist sentiment is how we got here with the Dems.
I could understand reform to an extent but holy fuck come on. They’ve demonstrated they really truly don’t give a fuck about the leftist ideals they carry around like a vestigial organ.
Kamala “Do Not Come” Harris Joe “Nothing will fundamentally change” Biden (Bonus) Joe “Strongest union president ever until it might impact the economy” Biden Nancy “Insider trading is cool when I do it” Pelosi
They exist as the last wall between more serious leftists and actual change.
They co-opt and absorb grassroots movements and then talk them down into a whimper. (e.g. BLM, defund the police, single-payer, etc.) Usually the discourse devolves into “well it might be hard and take some time, and it’s something we’re not used to, and some people might be mad too, and oh the economy and jobs or something” and that’s that. Dismissed until the next crisis, where we’ll rinse and repeat.
Notice the verbiage when they’re talking: “middle-class” this “middle-class” that. How often do they talk about the lower class? They usually don’t, because they primarily want to appeal to the affluent and educated. Meanwhile actual leftist organization meet people where they are on the regular - hungry, unsheltered, endangered - instead of sitting at galas and fundraisers sucking the big green dollary dick and feeling really sad and concerned about those people on the street. But hey maybe more spikes on a bench and more camp raids will solve the problem. After all, they’re making the place unsightly for their affluent, educated friends.
“When they go low we go high” is a hollow appeal to civility they use to say “aw shucks guys we tried real hard but then Republicans said no”. How many times have Republicans whipped out that “one simple trick” to leverage their position? How many times are Democrats gonna say “hey man that’s not cool” until they realize that honor or decorum are like boyscout merrit badges in the face of an opposition that demonstrates they don’t give a fuck about any of that?
Right or “left” or anything in between - any time there’s a labor dispute you can bet (and you’d be quite succesful) that within the first WEEK they’ll be drumming up distrust amongst the working class:
They tell their fellow workers through the media “these union workers are making your shit cost more. Here’s how much their asking for in wage increases.”
To ask “well, couldn’t the company just make a little bit less” is heresy. How could you suggest such a thing? They’re a business dummy, they have to make money! Line goes up! Line go down is bad! Jobs and yadda yadda.
They frame the majority of the conversation in terms of monetary or fringe benefits for the workers. They report very little on the safety and PTO/QOL demands of the union.
In the case of Biden and railroad workers, they say “hey just play along and let the rail companies strategize and undermine you for a few more years while we try really super megahard to get you what you want”. Newsflash if you didn’t know: the element of surprise (within a short time frame) is important for strikes. Now that the companies know the union is willing to take it to that level, the railroad companies being in a position of power and control are in an advantageous position with that knowledge. And by the way nothing was ever done about the safety concerns the rail workers had with PSR or lean operation (or the being on call constantly), and shortly after Biden put down that strike the East Palestine disaster happened. And yeah those people aren’t done with their suffering either. But hey at least you, out precious affluent, educated voter didn’t have to do anything to support your fellow workers or deal with any upset in your life.
And then there’s the laser-focus on identity issues. WHILE IMPORTANT, you know what most helps people in these groups fight for their rights? Better working conditions. Better benefits. Better healthcare. Better work-life balance. More time off to organize, more time off to participate in politics, or spend time with family, or do hobbies, or relax, or do anything that might give them solid footing against the ebbs and flows of capital and fight for themselves and their own rights and communities. Not that help from more advantaged people isn’t useful, but when that’s step one instead of step four or five it comes off as a “white man’s burden” approach. Give them the foundation that every working person deserves.
No one’s required to vote for your dog shit, milquetoast party and their old crusty ass kingmakers. And before you start coming at me with the usual stuff, I voted for Harris to buy more time for vulnerable people, leftists, and whatever semblance of free expression and journalism we have left. I sucked it up and put my opinions aside for a bit.
And wow what a fucking waste. How could that party fuck up so bad? Maybe they didn’t pay enough money to political consultants? Surely that’s the reason.
I’m really sympathetic to all you say. I get the frustration and anger - I’ve had it for years.
Alas…
They exist as the last wall between more serious leftists and actual change.
It’s not a wall. More of a roadblock that can be moved or even removed. We’ve seen progress, which I get is easy to forget.
The issue is this: pointing all this out and being vocal about the issues is important but does not itself solve the problem. We can protest and complain all we want and it does not result in actual change. And this is kind of the central problem - folks such as yourself (and me, at one time) harp on how bad things are under both parties and even refuse to participate. We don’t get politically involved, don’t vote, and just complain.
That does not move the needle and never will.
As many have pointed out, with Democrats you can move the needle. You can elect and re-elect progressive candidates and push elected officials to enact progressive legislation. It does actually happen but too often this fact get’s forgotten or ignored in all the doom and gloom. Meanwhile, because we didn’t get 100% of what we wanted and kept complaining about how nothing changes (when in fact it does) we end up with a neo-fascist authoritarian regime with which there will be NO negotiation, NO active or meaningful protests and during which we will take many many steps backward. Seriously, we are looking at a Christian Nationalist takeover of government and all that entails. This is REALLY bad.
A cynical and less tolerant person would say “stop complaining and do something about it”. I would say “ok, I hear your complaints and agree. What are we going to do about it?”
This was the last time i vote for a dem candidate. they pay mouth service to progressive policies, but at the end of the day, they do next to nothing for us.
I’m genuinely hoping (but not holding my breath) that this is a come to Jesus moment for the Democratic party and that they start actually representing the left side. They need to get it through their heads that trying to play the “lesser evil” isn’t going to work anymore. If they didn’t learn from this election, they will never learn. I’m expecting the latter, btw.
Dont worry. With some luck you wont need to
If you truly want to see how much effort the Democrat party wastes punching Left, then stick with your convictions about organnizing and voting third party up through the next presidential election.
I’m done. I can’t with them anymore. I’ve voted dem every single election since 08 and they can’t seem to beat a literal fascist 2 out of 3 times. It’s not because they aren’t the progressive party, it’s because they don’t actually do anything. they talk, but don’t act.
I get it. I came to similar conclusions sometime between Hillary’s loss and the end of the 2020 primaries. -Trump is not some intellectual mastermind, it takes a special amount of arrogance on behalf of his opponents to lose a presidential campaign against him. To think the Dem party lost to him twice…
they talk, but don’t act
The main messaging from the Harris campaign seemed to consist of:
- the economy is fine
- immigrants are fentanyl carrying criminals and we need to build the border wall
- fracking good
- war good (continued expansion of Israel, keep arming Ukraine instead of pushing for a diplomatic resolution, and let’s invade Iran next with the most lethal fighting force in the world)
- what, do you want a DANG CHEETO in the white house?
They don’t walk the walk of a pro worker party, but they sure as shit don’t talk the talk either.
when the hell did the dem party become the party of lethal military, border wall and fracking? It’s like they wanted to alienate their base.
And right on cue, they admitted that the 30-day humanitarian aid deadline for Gaza was a lie. I mean we knew it was, since the deadline was conveniently after the election, but it was still an insult.
Failed state?
In denial no less
Now more than just a river.
Crumbling empire
Nick Fuentes address is public and he’s still breathing. Tells me all I need to know about liberal activists.
You could say that about all activists. It’s not like the leftists don’t think Nick Fuentes is a Nazi shitstain. You know it, why are you here posting rather than carrying out the assassination you’re condemning others for not performing?
I mean, there’s over 3,000 billionaires in the world, could be they’re busy with other targets 🤷
I mean, it’s not like he’s still there.
Actually apparently he is: https://www.newsweek.com/nick-fuentes-address-marla-rose-pepper-spray-women-1985059
“I’ll make it legal” -Palpatine
Twitter is dumb as fucking fuck. Political leaders shouldn’t be there. If you shitpost, you shouldn’t be in charge of anything but shitposting.
