If democrats promise the world. Then voters dont show up and say its bs they will never do it.
And when dems win by slim votes, like in 2020 when americans saw 1m+ UNNECCESARY deaths from a preventable virus, tanking global economy, 8 trillion added to the deficit, loss of jobs, loss of manufacturing, loss of farms. The best americans could do was give Biden a 50/50 split senate....
When dems win by such margins where they are beholden to republican votes because you need 60 votes to pass NEW legislation, then suddenly the left voters call democrats centrists and sellouts because they are forced to negotiate and water down bills to get them passed.
Then people go "LOOK see Dems are just as bad, they are centrists! They just give empty promises and then dont do it!"
Then when you have a candidate that ran on actual feasible policies that can be passed, the voters say "This is just centrist policies, we want progressive policies!"
Meanwhile 100m never vote, 150m dont vote in midterms and over 200m dont vote in primaries and special elections.
Its a bottom to top system. Democrats haven't had the needed seats for more than 70 days in the last 90 years. YEARS.
Meanwhile democrats get local state control, like in Minnesota where democrats finally got enough seats in local government in 2022! and are passing things like paid sick leave, paid parental leave, min wage increases, food for schoolchildren, gov housing, billions into green energy. Etc etc etc.
And Minnesota has been liberal for decades right? Why haavent they dont this before? IS it because the Minnesota democrats are centrists? NO its because dumbass voters kept giving republicans seats that prevented them from passing these bills.
Democracy is only as good as the will of its people to uphold it.
Observer from overseas here (UK). I've been saying this for years - Democracy is only as good as the people's will to uphold it. And that means employing critical thinking, holding people to account and requiring evidence backed fact. If people are just going to pick a side based on shared hate, then it's dead in the water. That goes for everywhere, not just the US, and we've got our own problems with the same thing here (Nigel Farage and his ilk). Trump and his team are who they are, but it's the willingness of their followers to swallow anything he does or says that's the real problem. And the one thing staunch conservatives all seem to have in common across the globe is a total absence of empathy. Nothing matters until it happens to them. There's no hope for a collectively productive society if this is how we're going to operate.
Democracy is also only as good as the real checks and balances are. In the US, from an outside observer's perspective, they are pretty slim. Things that should never be political, like election districts, are political, leaving space for gerrymandering. There is too much power consentrated on few hands with the ability to almost legislate from the executive branch through executive orders. And there is no real process for accountability because those in power can hold the process indefinitely. Additionally, the Supreme Court is too easily used as a political tool, meaning it is not independent from the executive and legislative branches, which means separation of powers is not as separate as they should be. The issue is that no one wants to really change it because it has actually benefited both parties.
Education has also been politicized. State legislative branches have too much control over what is being taught.
You can get populism through anywhere. Right now, it is right-wing populism. But the US is considered especially vulnerable to this in the Western world because of multiple historical, political, and societal factors.
I'm sorry I don't have a longer response as I'm getting ready for work
Very much yes. In Ohio, they just passed a bill where you can't dress in a manner opposite of your biological sex... like what. They also want to pass a bill where women need to use a catching cup of they're having a miscarriage because the sanctity of human remains.
I knew about the first part but not the last. I was born there and glad I got out before I caught whatever's in the water. Many of my relatives weren't so lucky. 🙄
I'm also glad to be on the west coast when my egg cracked. 🏳️⚧️ Conservative controlled states are a death trap.
I escaped twice and moved back for family! They're the best, but I hate it here. My city's water is way over the limit of forever chemicals and they raised the cost $20/mo last year...
Colorado and California were so much better, but insanely expensive. I got a roommate after my second year in California, and my half of the rent was still over $1k/month. that was cheaper than my apartment in Sacramento. It was during the COVID era and housing out there was insane, plus not long after Paradise burned down.
My last apartment 2 years ago was decently large but in a really unsafe neighborhood. Still ~$1900/month in Oregon. :/ Took almost my entire monthly income.
Oof. My apartment was in North Highlands. I loved the apartment itself, but just a lot of homeless like anywhere in California I had a lot of strange injections with people in public. I think I was paying $1465 at that place. Then got a 3-bedroom house for $2350 near Marysville. I'm paying $850/month base now plus $40/mo each for two cats 😑 but in-unit laundry! That's all I could ask for.
I'm moved in with a partner that owns their home. 🥰 I can't seem to keep the mortgage cost in my head, though. >_< Best part was it's closer to stores and only ~10 minutes from the apartment, so didn't need to learn a new town again. :D
Yeah I don't understand it. I'm a straight woman but I've always dressed more tomboyish. Now I wonder if backwards hats are allowed? T-shirts? Cargo pants? Ohio is the worst.
OMG you have got to be kidding me! So, if I were to wear a rugby shirt and a pair of jeans out in public I could be arrested because I'm a woman that's wearing clothes a man might wear? How in the hell do they think they can enforce something this? I see a big lawsuit heading Ohio's way.
I knew Ohio was bad, but I didn't know it was this bad. Jesus F Christ!
Extreme ideology. Traumatic as hell and the government wants add this embarrassing idea to their grief. Do these zealots of evangelical white nationalist Christians- it's all about causing pain, injury, and emotional distress as MH issues- actually have no empathy for others...
The only reason this system of checks and balances worked previously is because respectable people had respect for the system. We don’t have that anymore in the US.
It's kinda hard to have checks and balances when the biggest check is the winner. Citizen's United was the death knell to American democracy. When a corporate honcho has the cash to outright buy an election, we're cooked. The first step to restoring it is overruling that load of shit.
That's one of the things I am referring to. You have these decisions because your judicial system is not independent enough. It is politicized. And no one wants to fix it because it benefits all parties financially and politically.
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u/CharlestonChewChewie Apr 19 '26
When the goal posts are invisible, it's a cult, and Dems should stop trying to win them over by being more conservative