electric_nan

Could they? By what mechanism?

Sure, we're all doing what we think is best. We are all worn down by the system, and by our daily struggles. Politics should be helping us. If it's not helping, people lose interest.

Show me the average American voter. I know a lot of people, but I've never met the average one.

The lesser evil gets more evil every cycle. Foreign policy is the least likely to change between administrations. We are watching how an executive can wield power in spite of the courts and legislature.

Say you're right. What do you do with that information if you're running a campaign? Those are the circumstances. You can't change them, but you want to win.

For me, I understand why you feel that way, but I'm not really in agreement. I think your average voter knows good and well that politicians are generally full of shit. Unfortunately, they feel trapped by the system. This makes them either choose "the lesser evil" or give up entirely. Both of those reactions are understandable given the context. This dynamic has not improved the context.

I'm not sure how to take your comment in this context. Do you have more faith in the dem party to run popular and successful campaigns? Whether you have faith in the voters or not, you still need to get them to vote for you.

It's another way of looking at it. You're always going to have a fascist element in society who loves the "greater evil". Maybe we should demand more than "not quite as bad" to represent the opposition. Every time the "lesser evil" manages to win and then disappoints people, it demoralizes its own electorate. Every time the dems move rightward on issues, they push the "greater evil" even further right. This is how "lesser-evilism" helps bring us to where we are now.

Biden won in 2020 on a "not Trump" platform. He then proceeded to do fuck-all for working people, and fuck-all to prevent another Trump term. Dems figured they could skate by with the same type of campaign again, and they were wrong.

This fuckin guy has been moving right for the last several years. This is the same strategy that lost the Democrats the last election, and it will lose them the next one.

Aw shucks pardner, you've convinced me to vote against my conscience! Adding my vote will surely put us over the top. What's that? We need to convince millions more? Well, okay, sure seems like it might be easier to scare a few politicians into doing what's right, but I'm down to hear your plan. The plan is to gaslight and browbeat people who recognize the moral bankruptcy in the Democratic party until they just vote for them anyway? Can I at least pretend that genocidal dementia patients like Joe Biden are actually "the most progressive president in history"? I can? Damn, I'm really understanding the attraction now!

No, they're the ones who failed to win that election. They're the ones who willfully did everything they could to avoid taking principled positions and connecting with voters. Will they do it again? You betcha. Go ahead and be mad at millions of people, or demand a bit more from the couple of hundred of your "leaders" whose entire job it is to win elections.

Damn this comment section reads like it's sponsored by the Newsom 2028 campaign.