If we set our standard as just “better than trump” we’ll only get candidates a little better than trump
Because the fact is the worse a candidate is, the more money they’ll get from corporations and the wealthy during a primary. And that is very very hard to beat when the DNC wants to claim 1/10 of states voting means the primary is over.
If we set a higher standard, the money will think they’re over-reaching, and back a candidate that’s a little bit better and will get just enough votes to win. But if the Republicans win, that’s good for their money too, so not a big deal.
Until we get money out of Dem primaries, nothing will change.
And the people getting that money are going to fight like hell to stop it from changing, because that’s the only way they’re getting past primaries against people the voters actually fucking like and agree with on policy.
It ain’t gonna be easy, and as long as even pointing out the flaws of a D candidate you’re still voting for gets met like in OP’s meme it’s probably going to be impossible.
But modern politics is two fights, and we need voters to at least acknowledge that if we don’t fight hard in the primary to get a good candidate, we’re never going to really win.
We don’t even really have to win in the primary. Biden would have been a hell of a lot worse if Bernie hadn’t run and pulled him left.
If we ignore everything wrong with Kamala, the only pressure she’ll have the next four years is from the right. And no one zshould be surprised in that scenario if her moving to the right is what happens during her presidency.
Agree we need to get corporate money and interests out of our government (not just the Dems - weird you only mention that side) and we need to pressure candidates to go more and more progressive. But that pressure needs to come from putting the screws on congressional reps. The president can’t do anything unless Congress is in.
Also, who would you suggest as a viable candidate that is more progressive than Harris AND has a real chance of winning the election? Dems are playing it safe as usual and trying to appeal to the mysterious “centre”, most of whom have followed the Overton window rightward. Fixing any of this needs to be done slowly, starting at the local level and building a progressive party from scratch. You’re looking at a minimum of 8-12 years of grueling, thankless work that nobody has so far bothered to do. After that you might have your dream candidate.
If we set our standard as just “better than trump” we’ll only get candidates a little better than trump
Because the fact is the worse a candidate is, the more money they’ll get from corporations and the wealthy during a primary. And that is very very hard to beat when the DNC wants to claim 1/10 of states voting means the primary is over.
If we set a higher standard, the money will think they’re over-reaching, and back a candidate that’s a little bit better and will get just enough votes to win. But if the Republicans win, that’s good for their money too, so not a big deal.
Until we get money out of Dem primaries, nothing will change.
And the people getting that money are going to fight like hell to stop it from changing, because that’s the only way they’re getting past primaries against people the voters actually fucking like and agree with on policy.
It ain’t gonna be easy, and as long as even pointing out the flaws of a D candidate you’re still voting for gets met like in OP’s meme it’s probably going to be impossible.
But modern politics is two fights, and we need voters to at least acknowledge that if we don’t fight hard in the primary to get a good candidate, we’re never going to really win.
We don’t even really have to win in the primary. Biden would have been a hell of a lot worse if Bernie hadn’t run and pulled him left.
If we ignore everything wrong with Kamala, the only pressure she’ll have the next four years is from the right. And no one zshould be surprised in that scenario if her moving to the right is what happens during her presidency.
Agree we need to get corporate money and interests out of our government (not just the Dems - weird you only mention that side) and we need to pressure candidates to go more and more progressive. But that pressure needs to come from putting the screws on congressional reps. The president can’t do anything unless Congress is in.
Also, who would you suggest as a viable candidate that is more progressive than Harris AND has a real chance of winning the election? Dems are playing it safe as usual and trying to appeal to the mysterious “centre”, most of whom have followed the Overton window rightward. Fixing any of this needs to be done slowly, starting at the local level and building a progressive party from scratch. You’re looking at a minimum of 8-12 years of grueling, thankless work that nobody has so far bothered to do. After that you might have your dream candidate.