• averagedrunk@lemmy.ml
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    6 months ago

    I’m a big believer in the “both sides” theory. Stick with me here.

    One side is a trash can fire. They do some fucked up shit.

    The other is the Springfield Tire Fire.

    Both sides suck, but one side sucks so bad that there’s no way to ever fix it.

    • OpenStars@discuss.online
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      6 months ago

      If we had a mathematical equation such as “1 + 1 = ?”, Dems would give the answer of -1000000, while Repubs would rape your mother, then kill her (b/c she might get pregnant, you see, and the rights of the fetus mean that you have to do it… right?).

      I get the appeal of DT - to people who don’t know anything at all, he made some good mouth noises, about getting rid of corruption blah blah. But never forget, a lot of people voted on him more to throw the dice because…

      MORE PEOPLE VOTED AGAINST HILLARY THAN FOR DONALD.

      Her corruption was of a special kind, chiefly in terms of the degree to which it was out in the open. Remember her emails? No not those proving that she accepted bribes from the Saudis, no not those other ones either, those other other ones where she illegally colluded with the DNC to do things like receive the questions in advance whereas Bernie was not given those, and to schedule her talks during popular sporting events when people were less likely to actually watch them. The Dems primary problem that year… was her? Also she would not allow anyone to even so much as run against her, which younger politicians NEED to do in spite of having no hope of winning in order to get their names out there for future runs, plus what if they were really that good and deserved to win the whole thing over her? (in comparison, if JEB had done that…) Oh yeah, and remember that time that the Supreme Court told her to turn over all the emails on her server, and she told them to take a hike? Okay so I’m exaggerating slightly: what she actually told them was “wait 3 days, I need to remove the ones that I don’t want you to see first”. THAT WAS WHAT SHE ACTUALLY SAID, IRL!!! (not necessarily word-for-word but as a paraphrase, it is accurate is it not?)

      Many LIFELONG Democrats, immigrants even who have been racially profiled by the police and thus KNOW what the conservative agenda is first-hand, still chose to vote against her, thinking that she was THAT corrupt. Maybe the problem is how we think and talk about corruption in this country? e.g. the Saudis contributing money to a literal and established charity after a vote is given in their favor may be thoroughly “corruption”, but especially if it is out in the open, is it really all that bad? They are an outside entity and you can’t really stop them from doing something, so this channels their attempts at bribery to a (presumably) worthy cause… But what justification can we offer as to why Bernie was treated so unfairly, and she was given that handout, that the broad populace would accept?

      Also, what would she likely have done to advance civil rights? DT made things worse, which ironically might end up making things better in the long run, but she would have just papered over the issue, unquestionably keeping things running FAR more smoothly in the short-term, but what good would that accomplish in the wider view? According to the Stoic philosophy, it’s only worth attempting to fix what you CAN potentially fix, but what Dems CAN attempt to address is why that cry of outright DESPERATION of so very many independent, moderate Americans caused them to vote for him rather than her?

      e.g., to return to our question of “1 + 1 = ?”, where Dems would give the answer of -1000000, while what many middle-ground Americans did was roll the dice on a random number, which while it most certainly did not result in a good outcome, at least had a chance of avoiding that known false quantity (in their minds at least, keeping in mind that many/most of these are blue-collar workers who have other interests than keeping up with politics 24/7 - remember we are talking moderates here, not die-hard Faux News watchers, who also voted for him too).

      i.e., it does no good to blame only the “other side” for all of their faults, whilst ignoring those on our own side. I think that attitude is what makes something unfixable.

    • soul@lemmy.world
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      6 months ago

      This is a fallacy. You’re either one of them or they’ve got you snowed with that nonsense.

      • MotoAsh@lemmy.world
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        6 months ago

        It is very much in no way a fallacy of any kind to point out that the Democrats are also not on the positive side of history.

        Or do you think nicknames like Genocide Joe go down well in history?

        Note that saying something negative about Democrats says literally nothing in support of Republicans. THAT would be a fallacy.

        • Flying Squid@lemmy.world
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          6 months ago

          My dad used to say, even back into the Reagan era, “even the worst Democrat is better than the best Republican.” Meaning that even the Democrats that were totally corrupt pieces of shit would at least be more likely to move the country further to the left and no Republican ever would.

          And that’s still true. I’d like to see Bob Menendez thrown out on his ass, but I’ll take another 49 of him over one more Susan Collins because at least Menendez votes like he gives a shit.

          • OpenStars@discuss.online
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            6 months ago

            I dunno, GWB was an actual progressive, who increased funding for food banks and schooling - historically those being liberal agendas. Ofc being incompetent, he screwed everything up and basically just gave money away to testing companies over the advice of sth like every educator in the country, but at least the mouth noises that he made sounded nice, at the time, so there’s that? :-P

            Edit: /s btw - you really have to strain hard to ignore the genocide to get my point.

          • MotoAsh@lemmy.world
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            6 months ago

            I agree they are the lesser of two evils, clear as day. It’s just important to remember that they are not saviors.

            Especially if you don’t make six figures or more.

            • Flying Squid@lemmy.world
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              6 months ago

              Oh no, definitely not saviors. They are centrist at best and arguably center-right. They’re also, unfortunately, our only hope at stopping a dictatorship.

            • averagedrunk@lemmy.ml
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              6 months ago

              Especially if you don’t make six figures or more.

              Six figures ain’t the line anymore and hasn’t been for a while. If your household income is $100,000 in a lot of places you’re still living paycheck to paycheck. They ain’t working for those people because there’s no immediate money to be made helping the middle class.