Photuris

Younger GenX are basically Millenials (but cooler and less uptight), and older GenX are basically Boomers (but nastier and louder).

Democrats suck. But Fascists are far, far worse.

We have a first-past-the-post system. It sucks, but it’s what we’ve got right now.

Which means, every major election, there are usually two viable candidates. Occasionally three, but most often two. That’s it.

And yes, the Democratic primary will most likely be set up in such a way so as to exclude progressives. They did Bernie dirty, we know.

Yes, it’s horrible, but a third party vote, or a protest non-vote, is a vote for MAGA Fascism nowadays. Let’s be clear-eyed about this.

When MAGA succeeds in destroying democracy and implementing a theocratic dictatorship, in addition to the red hat hillbilly cousin-fuckers, I will remember and blame people like you.

Our first order of business is keeping Fascism out within the system we have. If we fail at that task, then we will no longer have any rule of law, period. Our only recourse then will be violence - shooting and stabbing Fascists.

Are you ready for all that? I’m not.

So fucking hold your nose and vote for the corporate mainstream Dem in the general. Get him elected, and then fight him tooth and nail to pull him hard to the left, as hard as you can, and work hard to get either real progressives into the Democratic Party and primary out the corporate neolibs, or build a real, viable third-party option that can win elections at the local, county, and state level and threaten them that way.

It can be done, but it takes a lot of time and energy.

But if Fascists succeed in dismantling democracy, we won’t have a standing chance to ever do that, now will we?

Politics isn’t about electing people you love. Politics is about getting certain things done. That’s it. Newsom can be a tool towards that end, towards keeping Thiel, Yarvin, Vance, and co. at bay. One step at a time.

We’re backed onto our one-yard line, and the clock is running out. We don’t have a lot of options, dipshit. We’re facing the End here. Be practical. At least Newsom is a high-profile individual, with a lot of institutional pull, who’s fighting back. We need that, desperately.

We’re in such a bad spot right now.

I won’t vote for Newsom in the primaries. I will dutifully vote for him in the general if/when he wins the primary.

If we want real progress, we need to defeat the GOP and then completely dismantle and reform/replace the DNC. It’s a tall order. So we do what we can with what we’ve got in this moment.

President Newsom is suboptimal, but, like, look around. We need to stop the bleeding and set the bones before we worry about building strength and health.

So I dunno. Will any real solid progressives be running against him in the primary? Bernie is, sadly, aged out now. And the establishment Dems will try to ratfuck any other progressive that runs. So that sucks.

But they are correct in that any Dem is better than the Trump regime. A houseplant would be better.

I am at least grateful for Newsom playing deftly against Trump. I wish more mainstream Democrats would step up. The folks in Texas are an inspiration.

It’s not.

But here in the US, we just die, so.

So long as both public and private exist, and the existence of private options doesn’t create incentives to erode funding of the public option (that’s the big danger), that’s fine.

People who can afford it choosing private options frees up the queue for the public option. And they’re still funding the public option. Likewise, when the private option innovates, those innovations eventually make their way to the public space. A public option also forces the private facilities to keep costs relatively competitive, even as they do charge for premium service. They can’t go apeshit on charges like the American facilities do.

Alas, private companies are incentivized to push for dismantling the public option, so it’s up to the people to protect it. A less-than-stellar option that’s available to all is definitely something worth having and protecting.

If there’s one thing better than religion, it’s a religion merged with the state.

American wingnuts see things like this, and are getting excited at the possibilities.

deleted by creator

So it appears that ~30% of people in any given population are evil. That tracks.

I hate the internet now

Added bonus of not having to talk to anybody.

Like, don’t tell them your lemmy username?

deleted by creator

Oh fuck antivaxxers

How does this work, and how is it legal?

I hate everything about this. Because it’s probably spot on.

So, what is to be done about authoritarians?

What are those of us who simply want to live free and be left alone (and leave others alone, if they’d only tend to their own business) to do?

Maybe the answer really is guillotines idk. The paradox of protecting liberalism with illiberal means and all that.

It must be such a radically different mindset to live in. Like, I can’t imagine ever feeling enthusiastic about enforced hierarchies and monarchy.

Social mobility feels the most liberating, and social constraints the most confining. How can anyone feel differently? I genuinely do not understand.

Weren’t we supposed to be in suppprt of free markets? Aren’t those supposed to empower people to make deals with other people on their own terms, create value, compete, and prosper? Enforced hierarchy and oligarchy feels like not at all that.

It must be control-freakery which, again, I cannot relate to at all.

eat grubs

Hakuna matata

Thank you!!!

GOOD

When Nazis game the system and try to dismantle the rule of law, the ethical thing to do is to start breaking the damned rules and fighting back.

Just ask O. John Rogge how it’s done.