Democrats have all the spontaneity of the House of Windsor. Or, closer to home, they’re closer to what Republicans once were, a party that falls in line not in love.
It’s ridiculous that the DNC doesn’t understand this shit depresses turnout.
People want to choose who to vote for, voting for someone you dislike because the other candidate is worse doesn’t get enough voters to comfortably win
Biden is going to fuck around and lose, and the “moderates” are going to blame it on progressives (even tho they always show up) and say the 2028 candidate has to be even more rightwing
Or, Biden squeaks out a victory, and the party says that also proves the party needs to go more rightwing
No matter what happens, both parties keep drifting right.
And that reality is why we spend 100s of millions every election, and still barely crack 2/3s turnout.
Any democracy based on FPTP voting will trend rightward. It’s a fundamental flaw in the voting system from a game theory perspective. The dynamics of a two party system will always support a good cop/bad cop dominant strategy (think of spoiler candidates, and how we always are faced with the prospect of voting against a bad candidate rather than for a preferable one). Good candidates exist, but our preferences are not a priority inherent to the design of the system.
We would do better with approval voting or Concorcet, but the only way to change the voting system is to get buy-in from the parties to whom it would be certainly fatal.
Except American democracy has existed for longer than this issue…
FDR won in a two party system, sure, the parties instituted term limits to get rid of him, but he won in FPTP.
But the reason both parties drift right is because of the neoliberal movement that’s only been around 30 years.
It’s been working out terribly, but party leadership doesn’t care because there’s more money in being rightwing
Dark money out of politics would alleviate a lot of the issues we’ve been seeing. The voting system is still the game we have to play if we want democracy, and badly designed games are only fun for the winners. An approval vote would get us more broad consensus in leadership, and a return to government based on a shared vision of society, rather than a Congress perpetually locked in a darkly comedic reimagining of the French National Assembly.
No matter what happens, both parties keep drifting right.
Go back 20 years and the Democrats had a significant anti-abortion faction, formally opposed gay marriage, even acknowledging trans people was taboo, the core of John Kerry’s health care plan was some minor government subsidies for employer-based plans, any acknowledgment of police racism was absolutely not done, Kerry voted for the Iraq war with no regrets, and I could go on.
To say that the Democratic party is more right-wing today doesn’t hold up to a second of actual scrutiny.
Kerry voted for the Iraq war with no regrets,
Same as Biden and Clinton
The populace has gotten more progressive on a few individual issues and forced Democratic lawmakers to update their talking points a bit, but actual policy on things like the roll of the federal government in regulating and subsidizing businesses, campaign finance regulations, civil liberties and surveillance, and granting asylum to migrants has all gotten markedly more regressive
Meanwhile, back in consensual reality, Biden is the most Progressive president we’ve had in my lifetime in terms of policy actually passed into law.
p.s. I’m never going to block you. It’s far too important to show the rest of the class why you’re wrong.
In your lifetime, sure. Id argue Nixon.was far more progressive, and he was a Republican. Go look up the tax rates back then. Now look go who started the EPA.
Maybe you’re just really really young?
Obama was a lot more progressive than Biden, and he left office in 2016?
Obama’s healthcare reform wasn’t perfect, but what has Biden done that you think is more progressive?
Maybe I’m almost 50 & you’re just not aware of what Biden has actually accomplished.
What Progressive laws did Obama get passed in his TWO terms? I’ll start: AHCA & Cash for Clunkers.
What else?
Progressives do not show up to vote. What state are you looking at? Biden is a clear representation of his electorate. If young people actually bothered to vote the landscape would be so much different. The good news is young people are actually starting to be more politically active now.
Edit: you can downvote, but we can also look at the stats. I don’t get this anti-reality sentiment on Lemmy.
2nd edit. Just in case it’s not clear for those needing sources (even though this is extremely researched):
In 2022, younger voters made up a smaller share of the electorate than they did in 2018. In 2022, 36% of voters were under 50, compared with 40% of voters in 2018. Decreased turnout among these more reliably Democratic voters contributed to the GOP’s better performance in November.
Older voters turned out more reliably in both elections – and continued to be largely loyal to Republican candidates. For example, among adults ages 69 and older in 2022
Pew research 2022 election.
If you still believe that, no amount of evidence is going to change your mind bud …
But feel free to keep shouting into the void that you don’t understand it, maybe someone will try and explain it.
What are you talking about? Progressives are the least reliable voting block in the US. This isn’t some speculation, it is a known, well-studied fact. It is the very same fact that leads to the Dems becoming more conservative.
