• abbadon420 ( abbadon420@lemm.ee ) 
      41·
      3 years ago

      I’m sorry, it’s probably considered some sort of a smug European truism by now, but I have to say it. There is no left in the US two-party system. It’s right or center-right, that’s the choices you have, a giant douche or a turd sandwich.

      • SpaceCowboy ( SpaceCowboy@lemmy.ca ) 
        8·
        3 years ago

        There is but you have to think of each party as having sub-parties within them. There aren’t external coalitions between parties but internal coalitions within the parties.

        So a guy like Bernie Sanders is left, though not technically a Democrat, he caucuses with the Democrats effectively creating a coalition. There are many members within the Democratic Party that are also left wing, and others that are center, and others that could be considered right wing.

        The Republicans are similar, but have an internal coalition with the far right MAGA faction. Which causes them a lot of problems.

        The primary system is effectively a run off system which is used to determine a final two candidates to vote for in the final election. This system is old and has some bizarre traditions and has vulnerabilities to there being a third party spoiling everything.

        Obviously it’s a crusty system that developed without planning, but the the Presidential election it’s not that dissimilar to France’s run-off system, just takes more time. And the legislatures having coalitions between people with different politics happens everywhere, it’s just happening within the parties and requires people to vote in primaries to get more representatives that have similar views to their own to make up a greater percentage of the coalition (which also happens everywhere).

        In fact having coalitions within a party gives people more information when voting. If I’m voting for one of a dozen parties I don’t have a say over how a coalition is formed after an election. Someone declaring which coalition they intend to be a part of before the electorate votes gives the electorate both a say as to which individual they want (via primaries) and which coalition they want (in the general election).

      • 𝕽𝖚𝖆𝖎𝖉𝖍𝖗𝖎𝖌𝖍 ( sxan@midwest.social ) 
        1·
        3 years ago

        It can be both true that there is no true Left with any political power in the US - individual congressional delegates, maybe, but no coalition or party - and still recognize that there remain differences in the parties and differing outcomes from their governance.

        It’s not anything like the Southpark situation; leftists forget so easily what could - and has - been lost under conservative leadership, that would not have been lost if the person who won the popular vote in the past 6 elections. Women would still have protected body autonomy in all states - that loss was a direct consequence of the Trump administration.

    • regul ( regul@lemm.ee ) 
      26·
      3 years ago

      If Biden wanted my vote he could simply stop supporting genocide. Really quite a low bar for him to clear.

      There’s “holding your nose” and there’s voting for someone actively aiding a genocide.

      • Gormadt ( Gormadt@lemmy.blahaj.zone ) OP
        26·
        3 years ago

        And I’m sure letting trump have an easier time getting elected will make things so much better.

        I would recommend talking to your local representatives about the current situation and how important it is to you and expressing how you may support other people running against them if they don’t support a ceasefire.

        Local elections are really important.

      • 𝕽𝖚𝖆𝖎𝖉𝖍𝖗𝖎𝖌𝖍 ( sxan@midwest.social ) 
        5·
        3 years ago

        This is the stance I really don’t understand. You do know that if Trump wins, even the limp-wristed calls for constraint go away? That Trump will actively encourage and endorse the genocide? That things will get measurably worse for the Palestinians?

        I really do want to understand how people who hold this particular position think not voting for Biden will improve the lot of the Palestinians. Please, enlighten me.

        • regul ( regul@lemm.ee ) 
          1·
          3 years ago

          I won’t vote for someone who’s pro genocide. It’s pretty simple.

          People who aid and abet genocide don’t get my vote.

          Biden’s not changing course, so he clearly thinks he can win just with the votes of people who are okay voting for a pro-genocide candidate. That’s his call to make.

          • 𝕽𝖚𝖆𝖎𝖉𝖍𝖗𝖎𝖌𝖍 ( sxan@midwest.social ) 
            2·
            3 years ago

            Sorry for the delayed response.

            This year, it’s a choice between a person who’s funding a genocide while applying (admittedly limited) political pressure to restrain Israel, and a person who’s publically stated that he supports the genocide and thinks it isn’t going fast enough, and who would increase funding to increase the speed of the genocide.

            By not voting for the former, you are implicitly endorsing the latter (saying, he’s just as hood as the former), and are culpable if he is elected - the definition of moral evil includes inaction. Sitting this one out because you like neither candidate is a moral evil, since one candidate is categorically worse (genocide-wise) than the other.

            • regul ( regul@lemm.ee ) 
              1·
              3 years ago

              Biden has agency here. He could very easily get my vote, but chooses not to. He’s making conscious decisions with expectations to how people will receive them. That leaves us with two possibilities, which I alluded to earlier:

              1. He cares more about genocide than winning the election.
              2. He thinks he can win without the anti-genocide vote.

              If it’s 1, I don’t want him as my president. If it’s 2, he’s not expecting my vote and nor shall he get it.

    • Fish [Indiana] ( Fish@midwest.social ) English
      4·
      3 years ago

      I live in a red state so it doesn’t make any difference who I vote for. I’m not voting for Biden because I don’t want to support the Democrats and my vote doesn’t matter anyway. If I lived in a state where it mattered then I would probably vote for Biden because he’s not Trump.

    • hex_m_hell ( hex_m_hell@slrpnk.net ) 
      1·
      3 years ago

      Authoritarianism is extremely vulnerable to natural disasters, ask Syria. Climate change will ultimately being about the collapse of all authoritarianism because there simply won’t be enough excess to support hierarchy. The question is if we will be smart enough to being about that change before material conditions force it to happen.

    • Gormadt ( Gormadt@lemmy.blahaj.zone ) OP
      44·
      3 years ago

      I’ve literally had multiple relatives tell me to my face how they’re giddy with excitement for the day they get the order to march through the streets and kill people like me, a queer lefty.

      I’d prefer if we didn’t let that happen here.

      • LallyLuckFarm ( LallyLuckFarm@beehaw.org ) 
        4·
        3 years ago

        Hey, for what it’s worth I have had some similar experiences with relatives bemoaning my family and friends’ rights to exist as who they are and I agree with you about left-accelerationism.

        My earlier comment was low hanging fruit because it’s one of John Beard’s best lines and the last time the non-government crowd took over a place the wildlife took over shortly afterwards.

  • hex_m_hell ( hex_m_hell@slrpnk.net ) 
    6·
    3 years ago

    It’s necessary to hold two truths: liberalism always leads to fascism and accelerationism does not prevent fascism. So one should both delay the inevitability of fascism by participating in liberal democracy and do everything possible to make liberal democracy unnecessary as quickly as possible before the collapse.

    The thing that can be especially hard for some people to understand is that not everyone experiences fascism at the same time. It’s not a switch. It’s a decline. Some people have been expecting fascism for decades or generations now. So people will be at different places in terms of interacting with the system. We are all trying to survive. We need as much time as possible to build a resistence movement, but, at the same time, no matter what compromises we get via electoralism those can be destroyed instantly if we only rely on the state to protect them.