• varoth@lemmy.world
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    8 months ago

    Because they’re Diet Republicans. Years ago, Republicans were conservatives and Democrats were liberals. After Reagan trounced them in the 80s, the Democrats decided it was more important to be more like Republicans and have become more and more conservative with each election. Now Republicans are full on fascists and Democrats are the 1980s Republicans. And liberals have become 1980s conservatives. There is no mainstream representation for anyone who is actually left (i.e. communists, socialists, etc.).

    • unalivejoy@lemm.ee
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      8 months ago

      I would like to introduce the toilet bowl political theory. Some parties are closer to the drain than others, but everyone is slowly circling it.

      You can either swim or go down the drain. Either way, you’ll find yourself covered in shit.

    • Optional@lemmy.world
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      8 months ago

      I mean. AOC. Bernie. They’re pretty left and they’re in office.

      I get being cynical, for true. But don’t give up. Winning the election is a new start. We can fix it.

      • RippleEffect@lemm.ee
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        8 months ago

        The fact that Bernie has been in office so long is a testament that there is plenty of room for more like him.

      • varoth@lemmy.world
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        8 months ago

        I respectively disagree. IMO, they’re centrists, Neither are communists nor socialists.

        Both campaigned on being left. But what have their actions been since they got into office? Campaigning and in-office actions are not always the same.

        In Bernie’s case he used to be left, but when Biden got in office he has bent the knee and been milquetoast centrist. And AOC is Pelosi 2.0. Doesn’t care about anything except making money and protecting her own image. She’s full of shit. In any other country she’d be right wing.

    • crusa187@lemmy.ml
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      8 months ago

      This is quite true, and I’d like to add a bit of context. It’s important to understand why Rs won in that timeframe and what Ds did to try to emulate that success. In short, it’s all about the money Lebowski.

      Corporate donors massively favored Republicans in those days. Dems realized that on average, in 96% of the races where a candidate spent more money on ads, that candidate won. So Dems abandoned appealing to their constituents, and instead began appealing to rich donors in order to get more money. This is why campaign finance donations are considered legal bribes, because politicians promise and deliver on favors in exchange for those donations. If they don’t deliver, they lose out on funding for the next election cycle and in turn lose the race.

      The margins have slimmed, but the rich still favor Reps more to this day, and Dems haven’t pivoted from that strategy since. All it does is serve to further marginalize people, and cement the oligarchy. This is why we have to reform campaign finance to get money out of politics before we can ever hope to effect positive change, otherwise normal people will never be represented because it’s impossible for us to compete with unlimited money coming from the elites, corporate dark PACs, etc.