• Clairvoidance@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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    14 hours ago

    I empathize a bit, but it’s not like democrats haven’t been getting more leftward either.

    The truth is though that ultimately, politicians are gonna be malleable to those who are going to vote, both because of the very simple “if I focus here, I will be more likely to get the most votes while providing due change”, but also because the idea of democracy is based in the trust that publics will emerge to voice their concerns to the politicians.

    Most politicians are just not online enough to gather the discourse that we would be experiencing, and also there’s the whole issue of not knowing how much of it is foreign interference in a trench-suit pretending to be the voices of the locals. That’s why direct calls to voicing these concerns to local politicians, and being willing to hear them out as much as they hear you out matters a lot. Some do forget over the years, but a lot join politics because they genuinely want to make life better.

    • Collatz_problem [comrade/them]@hexbear.net
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      2 hours ago

      The truth is though that ultimately, politicians are gonna be malleable to those who are going to vote

      No, they are not. A single donation from a billionaire would buy more press to get more voters from name recognition than a million working class supporters. And if the politician betrays his base, the most he can fear is losing reelection, and even this is not assured. If a politician goes against billionaires, he is going to be smeared, harassed and have his opposition funded. This ensures that the only politicians in any significant elections are already guaranteed to serve billionaires.

    • Evilsandwichman [none/use name]@hexbear.net
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      13 hours ago

      The truth is though that ultimately, politicians are gonna be malleable to those who are going to vote

      Literally not the truth; polls showed several times more voters wanted a ceasefire than who didn’t and Kamala still decided to go with wholeheartedly supporting the genocide.

      • Clairvoidance@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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        5 hours ago

        My personal recollection is that while she defended Israel as a victim, she still said that she would work to stop what was happening in Gaza and specifically didn’t want to provide further arms to Israel

    • orcrist@lemm.ee
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      13 hours ago

      Oh no, I entirely disagree. The majority of Washington Democrats are right in the corporate center. They aren’t working to make life better for the average person. If they were, why didn’t they seriously push for universal healthcare, raising the minimum wage, or regulating big banks and other monopolies?

      (I know, you’re going to say the Republicans stopped them, but everyone who actually remembers when the Democrats had the majority knows better than that. But even if we’re mistaken, like our memories are entirely false, that would only show that the Democrats have the power to stop Trump right now, which they’re failing to do… Either excuse only goes to prove the aforementioned claim.)

      • Clairvoidance@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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        6 hours ago

        Bernie and Warren were definitely contributers to making Biden move on minimum wage,

        but everyone who actually remembers when the Democrats had the majority knows better than that

        the democrats did not have the overwhelming majority (60) that can surpass a filibuster, and yeah, the big-tentism hurts to an extent with more conservative democrats, but the states they come from don’t have a lot of alternatives in terms of what type of politician is going to get voted.

        Democrats have the power to stop Trump right now, which they’re failing to do

        Trump is engaging in a lot of bypassing that the judicial branch should be taking care of, but the judicial branch is compromised. They could in theory prevent bills that require overwhelming majorities yes.

        They can and should protest it, but a lot of it is on the judicial branch saying no and reversing demands by the executive branch

    • FunkyStuff [he/him]@hexbear.net
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      13 hours ago

      I empathize a bit, but it’s not like democrats haven’t been getting more leftward either.

      The furthest left democrat with any sway is Bernie “Israel has a right to defend itself” Sanders.

      Most politicians are just not online enough to gather the discourse that we would be experiencing,

      I think you don’t have to be online to understand several incredibly acute contradictions that are mounting at the moment, between the horrible brutality of genocide in Gaza, concentration camps at the border that have been active since the Obama years in addition to CECOT and Guantanamo, the coming climate collapse, erosion of queer rights, and all manner of civil rights. These phenomena signify a movement of the entire capitalist ruling class, who wield empire in their hands, to the most extreme forms of violence. It’s a bipartisan affair. They aren’t carefully measuring public opinion, Joe Biden deliberately went out and confidently lied about Palestinians beheading Israeli babies while the IDF massacred the children of Gaza. There is no calculation of how to balance public concerns in that action, they only want to control you and brutalize the weakest among the oppressed people of the world, to consolidate power in uncertain times and weather the storm. If the public rejects the carrot, we get the stick and that’s Trump. They want you to be a good little peasant and go back to the carrot while they slaughter the people of the oppressed nations and the most marginalized minorities.

      Some do forget over the years, but a lot join politics because they genuinely want to make life better

      She’s only one woman, but she’s probably the most visible example of this myth. AOC is not a “bartender and community organizer turned political leader” she’s a Democratic Party plant who operated an LLC that received mysterious funding and became a prominent political figure out of nowhere. Obama has a similar legendary backstory as a “community organizer” but his family on his dad’s side has intelligence ties. I don’t think every single local politician is part of some crazy conspiracy, though, but you’re engaging in some level of magical thinking if you think the Democratic Party can somehow be run by well-meaning local leaders, in a world where the establishment can create an AOC to capture and redirect public sentiment very easily.

      • Clairvoidance@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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        6 hours ago

        You know what, fair enough, America is a little too cooked on the national level and the national issues that involves (and significantly overcooked internationally), though I never meant to communicate you should just say pwease and twank you democwats if thats what it comes off as as well,

        The AOC thing though, it feels highly selective with its points,

        Ted Kennedy co-wrote NCLB but there isn’t really malice you can imply in him, especially when he’d been pushing for UBI since the 60s, it more seems like naïve One Size Fits All ism and thinking that Bush would follow through with funds when he promised to. He was also a rare from-the-start Iraq War opposer, and was also hoping for Obama to be the change many others hoped, even pushing Obama to put universal health care as a top priority.

        The article doesn’t really disprove her working-class status, and her work with the non-profits mentioned show a clear interest in working with her local communities to make both their stories known and education better.

        She also didn’t come out of nowhere, she came from her mostly-working-class district, seeing that her district was taken by someone who did not reflect their constituents and worked that opportunity in her favor. At that point, everyone comes out of nowhere. Doesn’t it make more sense that the left being starved of strong political figures to represent our cause herald the young working-class woman for being loud against injustices?

        She’s also a huge part of why Build Back Better, COVID relief, PACT act, actually pushes for a lot of the good things they do, even though she wanted more. It’s not like she afks for 2 or 4 years.

        Also, where’s the part about mysterious funding? I don’t think I caught that in the article

        • FunkyStuff [he/him]@hexbear.net
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          5 hours ago

          Also, where’s the part about mysterious funding? I don’t think I caught that in the article

          Here:

          One of the Israeli venture capitalists, Joe Raby, oversaw admission to the Sunshine Bronx business incubator, which also provided Ocasio-Cortez space for a company she founded called Brook Avenue Press. This was a publishing company for children’s books, though it is not clear whether the business ever published a book.

          If you google the name of the company there’s a ton of articles from right wing rags scrutinizing the shady finances. I’d rather not link them, but I think at the very least the fact that this enterprise which was basically a front company operating under an Israeli venture capital firm is extremely suspect and obviously bears resemblance to something like a CIA front (in this case, probably not the CIA, but the DNC working as if it was the CIA).

          And I think you might be missing the point a little bit. Yes, of course she’s advocated for positive changes. And it’s not like working for Ted Kennedy instantly discredits you (that’s probably one of the weaker points raised by the article). The point is to show that she didn’t enter politics because she was a community organizer, she entered politics as a ladder climber and a creature of the Democratic Party. She was identified by the party as someone who moved a certain base and represented the right people, but that would fall in line; and she does! she didn’t have to defend Joe Biden like that, and she constantly punches left because her role is to represent the farthest left the establishment is comfortable with anyone going: further left than AOC and she turns into a cop and will beat you back in line, using her position and credibility to make everyone else believe only she understands how power works.

          • Clairvoidance@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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            5 hours ago

            That company stuff is weird, especially how she’s apparently not just paying the tax debt on it. She also says she’s contested it but for some reason there’s no public cases whatsoever to look at.

            You do speak to something overall I can concede, when I’m retrospecting with the sentence that she punches left, I think I have to give you that she could’ve had a way way bigger progressive part of the tent if she wanted to, especially with the disregarding of Gaza.