Not shown is the Democrats let the Republicans drill the hole and did not use the fact they had a majority to stop it.
I am not saying the Democrats aren’t the better of two bad options, but we shouldn’t settle for the lesser of two evils. We should expect more. With that said, it requires effort, coalition building and local effort.
If you are further left than Democrats, you should try running for local office, push the narrative to the left from all levels.
Running for office requires money a lot of people don’t have, even for local positions.
Not true. My wife ran and won for less than 300 dollars. It was a local city position, but still. It’s more community building than finances at the local level.
Also, hold events for donations.
LOL starting price for me when I tried was $16,000 and that was just to get on the ballot in a minor position.
The problem is that people just don’t vote often enough.
*If there’s a primary and the candidates are almost identical, you vote for the one who is one step closer to your position.
The Moral Majority pulled the GOP away from Rockefeller by the simple trick of showing up at every GOP function with enough bodies to win every nomination.
We have to adopt that simple trick.
Other than the fact that the Democratic majority is often in name only, I agree. Dems are only the lesser evil - we must fight to build REAL alternatives in the long term.
The reason this meme works is that it’s vague. If you zero in on a specific issue, you usually find the Dems helped drill the holes. Mass incarceration? Biden and Clinton led the charge on the largest expansion of prison-industrial complex in my lifetime. 2008 financial collapse? Clinton eliminated Glass-Steagall, which allowed banks to bundle and sell mortgages-backed securities. Iraq and Afghanistan? Bush may have started the wars, but Obama not only failed to end them, he created an unaccountable drone assassination program that killed thousands of civilians. Biden is rescheduling Marijuana, and that’s great, but he also co-sponsored anti-drug legislation in '86 and '88 that gave us draconian mandatory minimums. Are we gonna pretend he didn’t drill that hole?
Anyway, I’m not gonna sit here and pretend the parties are the same; the Republicans have been complete ghouls for my entire life, and now they’re fascist ghouls. But let’s not pretend that the Democrats are just well meaning idealists fighting against the Republicans and apathetic voters. They’ve done plenty to help sink the ship.
Yeah these are just the same reactionary knee-jerk boomer memes that racist uncles posted on Facebook in 2016. These people’s post and comment history is actually just sad, when you realize this is pretty much what they spend every waking hour of their life doing rather than joining local orgs to build and contribute to their community. I hope they get the help they need.
I have a better plan. Plug the hole.
MAGA keeps the hole open
The fact that it’s even close is an indictment of the American people. Clearly we’re too stupid to run a country. What a shithole.
I figured the point the comic was trying to make is, “undecided voters are the dumbest people on the face of the Earth.”
And the best part is they determine who runs the country
I love this.
Though, it would be more accurate if the guy said “I’ll eat your enemy’s kids to death! Oh also, that guy is your enemy, k?”
“Vote for me or the other guy will eat your children to death” is closer to what’s going on.
(“vote for me instead, I will only eat the tallest of your children!”)
“Vote for me or the other guy will eat your children to death”
Only if the image has the person who is saying that covered in signs of having eaten children.
I have seen so many memes like this about people not voting for Biden cause he is awful, but none saying we shouldn’t vote for him. Or any comments from people saying they won’t vote for him. This is starting to seem like the Vegan people meme.
There are DEFINITELY many comments about not voting for Biden and voting for West/Stein instead.
As a former Green Party activist… People still think Jill Stein is a person worth voting for? Literally she is like Biden but a woman and a little closer to Russia.
Stein rejects helping Ukraine so you could say she is willing to stand by and watch genocide happen.
edit: West also rejects aiding Ukraine in its defense.
I don’t really doubt you I guess. I’m not as immersed yet in the fediverse as I was in that other thing.
The memes that suggest Biden is also no good for us seem to get a hell of a lot of downvotes tho.
I’m not a hundred percent sure myself what I will do in November. I still remember in either 7th or 8th grade when our social studies teacher taught us that George Washington was very opposed to a two party system and why. Around 15 or 16 years old, I realized I could vote for AL Gore, or some third party. Not because they would win. My father explained very clearly that we will never see a third party president in his lifetime, and it’s very unlikely I will either. But I did/do think more votes for them could help start the idea that it’s possible. But every fucking election, including that one against George W Bush, it was wayyyy to important to stop these awful republicans from ruining the country. I still have voted Democrat every fucking presidential election and they have been a fucking let down every time.
I’ll admit Trump was the first to actively and directly make almost everything worse, almost immediately. And no I don’t want him back. But I also don’t think he will ever get around the two term limit so the installation of a permanent fascist government does not scare me. And the public fucking thumbs up for a genocide may be my last straw with the dems for president.
I don’t know. Sorry for the rant.
I agree. They just also hasn’t been a single good candidate for either party or any third party that is truly worth voting for. They either support Israel unconditionally or oppose Ukraine’s defense.
Understandable. I dont need my third party candidate to be perfect on every issue, they won’t be elected anyways right? But yea genocide and war, those are pretty major.
Honestly, and partly because of these fucking browbeating “you HAVE to do what I say” posts, I’m not voting for him. Fuck y’all telling me what to do, I’m voting libertarian out of spite, just to piss them off.
So, now you’ve seen one I guess.
Now I can post memes telling you to vote for Biden! When I first heard the term Libertarian and realized they considered themselves a third party, I thought oooo maybe this is it. Read a little about them and realized I would have to pass.
More power to you tho.
Lol they won’t win anyway so you’re safe, but it seems to be the best party to spite-vote for because it pisses off both sides equally.
Hey you do you, but spitting them doesn’t mean much to me. They are not worth it. I just want to feel like seeing some good change in this country is possible.
I don’t want to be to defeatist, don’t get me wrong. People in this country fight for and accomplish good things every day, just feels like one step forward two steps back.
Idk, I’d like to think the same, but I think with how fractured we (citizens) are and how focused the politicians are on not making meaningful good changes, we move further from seeing any good changes anytime soon. I don’t think that Biden is the guy who will bring said good changes, and frankly my vote doesn’t matter where I am anyway. I think no matter what happens it’s no steps forward and two steps back.
Hot dam yall taking my last slivers of hope.
Lol sorry, I know the feel. Not trying to be a downer! In better news I’m installing fedora KDE on a framework laptop I just got!
At least for me, it’s the little things that keep me going!
I know they joke about me being a Russian troll a lot but it’s honestly kind of like they’ve never met an American before
These “memes” irk me beyond belief. We need to stop blaming people who are uninspired or unmotivated to vote when it’s grease-ball politicians fucking us over and complacent, spineless democrats who let them get away with it. It’s their fault we’re in this mess and we need to direct the energy and anger towards them, not the result of their machinations. Yes, voting is important, go vote, but this anger towards “non-voters” is wholly misplaced; you’re just falling into the same divide and conquer strategy of the ruling class by turning on your fellow human.
We absolutely need to blame people who are uninspired or unmotivated to vote. Their unwillingness to participate is the problem. Not just the country’s, but their problem as well. You aren’t going to bring about change by opting out. It’s what that ruling class you so passionately speak out against want - for you to sit by and let it happen.
Americans who engage or even know what a primary election is are the most diehard, motivated, and engaged voting members of an American political party’s base.
That is the political phase we are in with the 2024 American elections. The convention for the Democratic Party’s platform is in August.
Republicans understood something Democrats (and their voters) didn’t. You can’t just elect your president and that’s it, problems solved. Biden could be an angel descended from heavens, but with hostile congress, ultra-conservative courts and no cover in local states’ politics either, he can’t do shit (again, he has a ton of flaws worth criticizing)
So what people need to realize is that the key isn’t to vote, to choose anarchy or to throw their hands up in a final display of fatalism. The key is to vote more. Vote every chance you get. A school oversight election? I’m there. Local elections? At least know who the candidates are and show up. Presidential election? Don’t wait until November to choose the lesser of two evils - engage with the primary system.
Now, obviously, this takes a lot of time that people don’t have. It takes a lot of evergy on top of living your life, taking care of your family, working a job or several. Not to mention, if your state is late in the process, you might not even have that many candidates to choose from during your primary/caucus.
But this is why it’s crucial for people who have that time, money and energy to do it. Do it for people who can’t afford to take a day off to go to a school-board meeting or something.
Also, engage with your representatives. They are representing you. If you don’t agree with the way they’re voting, tell them. If they ignore you, keep the receipts and campaign for their opponent in the next primary.
And I fully realize this is a shit-ton of work. But the other side has installed fundamentalists closing down libraries and banning books, stripping women of their rights, even if you do 'the things outside of your state… they want to register pregnancies and clamp down on women who don’t reproduce. They’ve elected people who will watch the world burn while their donors profit and the Supreme Court will make sure no harm comes to them.
Is this true for some democrats? Yes. Is this true for all Republicans? No. Both sides have the power to choose the best people. Make sure you do your part and inspire others to do the same.
Ok, so I think I can see what you’re trying to say, and yes you’re right the dems aren’t actually trying to fix anything or at the very least not succeeding. BUT, fixing one hole in a boat is bad enough without having to fix more. The best course of action is always to use the votes to reduce the damage done to the country and trying to fix it from a less fucked starting point.
Like my car lost all of the oil in the engine due to a cracked sump. You better believe I’m getting that fixed even though the rest of the car isn’t anything to write home about. Because attempting to continue driving it would be retarded. Allowing fascism to fester is a bit like driving your car after all the oil has been drained from the engine.
Believe me if you allow fascism to take root in your country, you will have no choice other than to submit, or risk being killed. Take a look at history. Fascist dictatorships don’t usually go away without foreign intervention. And who is going to intervene when the country with the strongest military is the fascist dictatorship? If you allow this to happen, you’re taking the whole world down with you. No freedoms for anyone. Seriously fucking fix it you ignorant fucking gun monkeys!
The boat has been sinking my entire life.
Yet you refuse to join a party, or go into local politics, curious.
Ignorant assumption is ignorant.
Semi-Hemi-Lemmygod is cynical and tired. I can’t blame them considering how long this has been going on for. Fuck, I’m just heading into my 30s and I’m already fucking bitter and exhausted.
Thanks buddy
Appeal to hypocrisy?
How about you? Live in a glass house, too?
I’m not an American, our Democracy is not in jeopardy.
You won’t get past local politics unless you’re 100% all in on supporting one of two political parties. You deviate on even one party position and they might throw you under the bus calling you a radical that supports the other side. Both of the two parties are continuing to support policies that grow the income inequality divide so it’s difficult to believe this time will be different. Telling people the other side will be worse gets less motivating every election cycle. If the “good” side was serious about doing the right thing they wouldn’t keep nominating the worst candidates possible. * I’d say this cartoon looks accurate as soon as you realize that the characters bailing out water are just there for the photo op and the boat will still sink but just a bit slower.
You won’t get past local politics unless you’re 100% all in on supporting one of two political parties.
Have you ever participated in local politics?
deviate on even one party position and they might throw you under the bus calling you a radical that supports the other side
I don’t know about local politics, but D party has well known members Mancin and AOC, who differ a lot from the platform, and in opposite directions
Local politics is this place where things can change. You’re absolutely wrong. The national party doesn’t really care too much about political positions in local politics. Hell, many times in local elections people run unopposed.
Local politics is this place where things can change.
I used to believe that. So did my dad. Until he won a local office and learned how much our system resists actual change. At all levels.
Most of us have day jobs that don’t leave time for getting involved in politics.
you don’t seem to have a “day job” based on your comment history. maybe stop being terminally online and get some sunshine you cave dweller.
Says the guy stalking my account
dont flatter yourself boy
Not shown, the socialist who already swam to shore and is waving for them to join her.
My favorite thing about this comic is that even when reaching Ben garrison levels of caption, everybody is still achieving a different takeaway message.
Just saying PugJesus you’re fighting the good anti propaganda fight over here. The thread is rife with em.
Lol this post is literally neoliberal propaganda.
Found the non-voter.
Found the useless neoliberals who thinks scooping out a cup of water is better than plugging the hole.
Do tell how we plug it then.
Get a politician to stick his “finger” in the hole, while the rest of the politicians bail out the water.
The govt is for the people by the people. If politicians dont serve the public interest, then they are by definition Traitors. Hang’em, shoot’em doawaywith’em voteout’em.
All this “Non-Voter” bullshit is really depressing when in the US you guys dont seem to want take ANY action at all.
Ya totally, we’ll just do a quick leftist Jan 6th. I’m totally sure the police will be nice and respectful to us and not immediately shoot everyone on sight. It’s totally a real possibility for a handful of regular leftists to kill all the politicians they don’t like and the government totally wouldn’t immediately send in the troops and use it as an excuse to ban being left of Clinton for the next century.
I swear to God you people are more delusional than the “gotta keep my Walmart brand AR in my bedroom in case the feds try to kill me in my sleep” kind of conservatives.
dude. This sub-lemmy is political memes. Also Im not in the US. Also I dont get 'Murican politics.
At least start at the local level and try to change things. Local school boards, local municipal elections, local county boards, local townships and fix the stuff that is going wrong so fast that it is no longer funny and just memes :-(
There are elections where you can afford to send democrats a message, and others where the price is too high.
Trump has said he’ll only be a dictator on day one. What he means by that is that Project 2025 and the Heritage foundation already has the list of hires and fires drawn up, as well as several laws.
They already know who to pay, and already have the Supreme Court loaded. What he means is he’ll only need a day to institute Unitary Executive theory and he only needs a day to put it place legally.
After that it will be a legal dictatorship… And irreversible.
So all you have to do is weigh up the cost of not voting.
You can look up Project2025, and Unitary Executive Theory on Wikipedia yourself if you think this comment is neoliberal propaganda.
This is all the more reason for Democrats to listen to progressives. They could easily win this election with no issues if they just listen to progressives. So if the stakes are so high, then why are they not compromising?
Because “easily win the election with no issues if they just listen to progressives” is not a known statement. We don’t know how it’ll work. If we knew that’d be the case, I’d be all for it. But right now on the West Coast, progressives are losing to Republicans in city district attorney races.
Does that mean progressives are guaranteed to lose nationally? Not at all. But it isn’t a given either way, and we shouldn’t pretend it is.
Removed by mod
If that is the choice, Mussolini was actually not such a bad guy. Except for his army getting whipped in Abyssinia and in Greece and all his civilizational offering being supposed strength.
yeah and the mass murder, violent suppression of workers rights, the invention of fascism, etc etc etc etc etc
You do not under any circumstances have to hand it to fucking Mussolini lmao
Depends on the alternative.
“We elected him once and our boat isn’t flying!1! Why isn’t he doing anything?!?” (/s)
A little later:
“Okay SURE the boat is flying but as a strong leftist advocate I really think it’s problematic how he’s treated the underpaid people who build flying boat motors, and I think we need to focus more on what Biden should be doing better to convince me to vote for him against the hole-drilling-and-baby-punching club, because I think probably I’ll sit this one out”
Also “sure, the boat’s flying now and we aren’t drowning, but what we really need is to get to land, being in a boat doesn’t even make sense. So I’m going to sit this one out because both parties want us in the boat. What’s that? The other party’s trying to sink the boat before we get to land? I don’t care, it’s about the principle of wanting to be on land!”
“I don’t see the boat flying, see this is the whole problem with the Democrats is that when people tell them they’re HURTING they just break out all these figures about altitude and tell you to stick your hand out the boat and see if you can touch the water, that’s super condescending and not very productive and unresponsive to criticism, it’s like a cult man, blue MAGA amirite, so anyway I’m definitely not voting for them NOW because now you hurt my feelings.”
you guys are commiting a genocide. there ain’t no flying boats here.
Israel is committing genocide, and that’s not the only thing happening in the world right now.
the us is funding it and propping it up. they recently went as far as threatening the hague for saying so.
Like, fuck, Biden was like, my third least favorite pick in the 2020 primaries. And he’s risen to maybe middle-of-the-pack by his actions (that is to say, I wasn’t expecting much, but I was mildly pleasantly surprised), compared to his 2020 peers. I’m not exactly his fucking fanboy, I just recognize that he’s not a Republican fucking ghoul. But the way people seem to judge actions in complete ignorance of how our government works, or of how fucking byzantine the processes even just for passing, much less implementing, legislature is… it’s exhausting, frustrating, and infuriating.
The way people talk around here you’d think the president was a monarch. I know that’s the way Trump and his sycophants want it or believe to be true, but Biden is only 1/3rd of the entire government.
If we could get people to turn out to vote in local elections, we might actually see some reforms over a period of couple years that could lead to lasting change, at least on a local level, but long term planning is impossible to sell when everybody demands a strongman who can solve every problem or issue on the federal level right now.
It’s a simple understanding that absolve them of having to think critically and take a stance. And it’s not even that hard it’s just they don’t want to consider that they might be lacking something within themselves.
Like, fuck, Biden was like, my third least favorite pick in the 2020 primaries.
Behind Bloomberg and DeLaney.
DeLaney wasn’t even on my radar. I apologize for being an ardent Bernie voter with Warren as my second choice; I understand that basically makes me a conservative in the eyes of Lemmy’s Very Serious Leftist Brigade.
Cue Aamon’s Punished Bernie.
Oh well, now we get to choose between stagnation and decline or a fairly rapid fall into christian nationalism.
Anyway, fun thing I learned: It only costs $400 USD to apply for a residency permit to Ecuador, all you have to do is prove you have over roughly $1500 of reliable income a month.
You can rent a fully furnished studio apartment for $350, like a modern apartment, kind that goes for thousands in Sea, SF or LA. A few places have very reliable public transit for a quarter, groceries cost something like a third or less than they do in the US. Also, Ecuador features a diverse range of microclimates where you can almost certainly find something you will love.
Downsides: Youre going to need to learn at least some spanish, do not go to Guyanquil, and be prepared for the power and internet to brown out with some regularity. Also in many places you will probably want a water filter.
Though for many in the US, unreliable power, internet and water likely won’t be that different.
Edit: Also crime statistics.
While Ecuador is basically only in the Western media recently for its ‘skyrocketing’ murder rate, and yes there have been lockdowns and curfews… comparing most of the affordable cities in Ecuador to most cities in the US I would ever be able to afford to live in, nearly every crime statistic, including murder, is significantly less.
Bernie voter with Warren as my second choice
If you say so.
In a world full of ‘flying boats’, asking why we aren’t also flying is valid
Nobody reasonable is asking for the impossible, we’re asking for what those who are “worse off” financially have
It’s not a world of flying boats. It’s a world of a sinking boat, see meme.
