this post was submitted on 17 Mar 2025
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cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ml/post/27293783

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[–] dessalines@lemmy.ml 32 points 2 days ago (9 children)

It's the most anti-communist country on the planet, so there's not much hope. Talk of raising wages or organizing collectively, or not agreeing with US imperialist foreign policy gets you labelled a commie / tankie by its witch-hunting, McCarthyite majority.

If there's a list of countries to next take the communist road, the US would be dead last.

[–] adarza@lemmy.ca 55 points 2 days ago (2 children)

democrats are simply the 'lesser evil', and have been since the 1960s, at least.. and we've needed a viable third party left of the mainstream for longer.

republican administrations drag us down and undo gains made. democrats repair some of the damage--but never quite enough, never push progress enough. they lose. it gets undone again and the cycle repeats.

but now it's all getting destroyed. there may not be a continuation of the cycle. it's hell from here on until 'trumpism' and maga are what is completely destroyed.

[–] HobbitFoot@thelemmy.club 11 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Yeah.

There is always that cycle that includes "Democrats didn't do everything they promised so they deserve to suffer", which brings in Republicans that cause far more damage.

And given the number of election cycles, you would think there would be some organization by now for overall leftist causes, but there isn't. There is no party or organization out there that can pose an electoral threat. The right produced the TEA party, which morphed to MAGA. Leftists have nothing.

[–] AfricanExpansionist@lemmy.ml 26 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Democrats don't even promise anything anymore. Not since 2008

[–] LinkOpensChest_wav@lemmy.blahaj.zone 19 points 2 days ago (2 children)

2008 is what ultimately radicalized me. I volunteered for Obama, put in so much footwork, and really believed he would seek to make change. Looking back now, what a fool I was.

2006 made me suspicious of the Democrats forever. Pelosi and the party ran on defunding the Iraq War, then promptly dropped it upon taking office.

I DID primary for Obama because he was promising a public healthcare option. We all know how that turned out: he ultimately championed a Republican scheme to entrench private insurers. Democrats failed to support their party's signature policy proposal when it mattered.

While Obama expanded the Bush wars...

That's when I gave up all hope in the party making any progress or acting in good faith. They haven't given me any reason to rethink that stance.

Sorry your efforts and enthusiasm were wasted and abused by the DNC...

I recall the Coffee Party having a moment, a nationwide movement planned meetups all coordinated. In Asheville, I attended. the meetup was crashed by Obama's Organizing for America, and I later learned that they crashed meetups everywhere.

I remember the smooth-talking guy and how he hijacked the meeting as we were making real progress. Fuck Obama and fuck the DNC

[–] sunzu2@thebrainbin.org 5 points 2 days ago

The hope and change trick worked twice with Obama 1 and trump 1...

Now it feels like a tired trope to get a "safe" regime whore into the white house

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[–] stinky@redlemmy.com 1 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (8 children)

Your title should have read "How do you destroy the notion that Republicans are the good guys?"

There are far too many Americans that support the far right. They've been convinced that conservatism will protect their interests, even while it blatantly destroys them. It is a morally greater objective to turn these people around, and more practically achievable, than undermining its opponent.

Yes, we know. You think liberalism is an ally of conservatism, not an opponent. We're all very impressed with your extensive knowledge, bravo. You've shown nuanced and deep understanding of the political landscape by criticizing the contender of the enemy.

I think most people who criticize the left are like you. More interested in stroking their egos than actually solving a problem. You're trying to demonstrate mastery of a subject by being critical of it, not because you want it to change but because you want people to be impressed with you.

If you actually wanted things to get better you'd be teaching people to undermine conservatism, which is the greater threat.

Be better.

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[–] Commiunism@beehaw.org 16 points 2 days ago

Realistically, it's an impossibility. This view is mostly propagated via liberal news sources, having the main battle be conservatism vs progressivism or left vs right (as opposed to class struggle, the poor vs rich, working class vs capitalists), and since the democrats are more progressive than republicans, they're the "good guys" who should be supported.

For it to be destroyed, we'd have to catch up to their level of influence and reach or even surpass it, to show people that they're a party of capitalists who sometimes are progressive, and not an actual ally of the working or middle classes but only pretending to be one. Maybe going one step further too and influencing progressive movements democrats support to pay attention to economic aspects too, given how their root causes aren't purely social?

But again, it's impossible for us workers to have such reach, given how well funded media is.

[–] silentjohn@lemmy.ml 19 points 2 days ago (12 children)

The Deprogram podcast, Hakim, and Second Thought YT channels all exist to address this. It's rather obvious to anybody willing to learn

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[–] UltraGiGaGigantic@lemmy.ml 14 points 2 days ago (2 children)

We don't have to do anything other then work on passing electoral reform one state at a time. Democrats can be whatever the hell they want, so long as everyone is free to vote how they want with the ability to transfer their vote.

Electoral Reform Videos

First Past The Post voting (What most states use now)

Videos on alternative electoral systems

STAR voting

Alternative vote

Ranked Choice voting

Range Voting

Single Transferable Vote

Mixed Member Proportional representation

[–] Cowbee@lemmy.ml 16 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Historically, that doesn't actually fix systemic issues, though, like the only parties of relevance electorally being pre-approved and backed by the bourgeoisie. Moreover, electoral reform doesn't have a real path to implementation that would make more sense than revolution to begin with.

[–] pupbiru@aussie.zone 6 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (1 children)

it’s a long road with a lot more steps but simply β€œdestroying” the notion that democrats are the good guys simply gets you republicans and that’s gotta be the worst way to shift left ever

[–] Cowbee@lemmy.ml 6 points 1 day ago (1 children)

The road is revolution, not just against the Democrats or Republicans, but the entire system.

[–] pupbiru@aussie.zone 2 points 1 day ago (1 children)

revolution is easy to say on the internet but at the end of the day a lot of people die

[–] Cowbee@lemmy.ml 6 points 1 day ago (25 children)

People die without revolution, historically revolutionary Socialism has come with dramatic improvements in quality of life for the Working Class. Taking down the US Empire would massively uplift the burden on the Global South as well.

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[–] dessalines@lemmy.ml 11 points 2 days ago

This has never done anything in countries that use it, like SK, Japan, Australia, etc. It might make the candidate stacking a little more expensive, but that's it.

If capital stands above the political system, the method of voting doesn't matter.

[–] weeeeum@lemmy.world 26 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Cause they aren't, they are just the "better guys".

[–] tias@discuss.tchncs.de 18 points 2 days ago

They're basically "republicans light": still bad but at least not literal nazis

[–] orcrist@lemm.ee 27 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Step 1: Don't generalize. Don't say "Americans" when you mean "some Americans". As you can see from browsing here and on other media sites, there are a great many vocal people who have voted Democrat for years but are entirely disappointed by decades of failed DNC leadership.

Step 2: Remind people that everyone is on their own side. Politicians might vote the way you want, or not, but their interests will never be exactly the same as yours. Don't ever believe that the two-party system is an accurate description of our values.

Step 3: Share memes of Schumer.

[–] jerkface@lemmy.ca 5 points 2 days ago

"Some Americans" is still a generalization. Generalizations are extremely useful. We cannot function without them. Perhaps you mean to say, don't over-generalize.

[–] alykanas@slrpnk.net 18 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Can’t do it . You must just get labelled a Russian bot and banned

[–] UltraGiGaGigantic@lemmy.ml 9 points 2 days ago

I'm ready for my ban I guess.

[–] altima_neo@lemmy.zip 18 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Because three real fight is the rich vs the poor. Even rich democrats.

[–] badbrainstorm@lemmy.world 12 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

Also this. As NOFX says, Americas for sale, and you can get a good deal on it, and make a healthy profit. Fucking Pelosi and her kind gotta go

[–] Nemo@midwest.social 11 points 2 days ago

Believe you me, I've been trying for years. Tribalism runs too deep in the human condition for there to be any obvious fix.

[–] Madbrad200@sh.itjust.works -3 points 1 day ago (3 children)

Without electoral reform, there's no functional reason to. The lesser evil of the current system is Democrats. If you want to enact change, push support for the progressive wing of the party and push for electoral reform.

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[–] nutsack@lemmy.dbzer0.com 5 points 2 days ago

they're not good guys they are simply more competent at government

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