Unless you've got a better plan in the next 6 months, grab a fucking bucket
Unless you've got a better plan in the next 6 months, grab a fucking bucket
Unless you've got a better plan in the next 6 months, grab a fucking bucket
I can understand being unwilling to vote for Biden because he’s supporting genocide. That, taken by itself, is perfectly reasonable.
Why aren’t those otherwise intelligent, thoughtful people looking at the bigger picture, though?
Don’t they understand that under Trump, things will be much worse? What’s their moral rationale for allowing fascism to take over America, and empowering untold numbers of reprehensible people? I’m trying to understand, but I just don’t get it.
They don't seem to understand that the Israel/Palestine situation is not on the ballot this November; does anyone actually think Trump would oppose Israel? Even if he personally wanted to, his supporters are all nominal Christians who would turn on him in an instant if he suddenly stopped supporting God's Chosen People.
Except for the anti-Semites, who make up a decent chunk of his active base. Or are they also pro-Israel?
Can anyone explain to me how the Nazis and pro-Israel crowds seem to be so friendly at the moment? It’s almost like this has nothing to do with Israel.
They understand perfectly and that's why they're making it on the ballot. So what's it going to be: continue supporting genocide and lose votes or stop supporting genocide and gain votes? Seems like an obvious choice, but maybe you're too smart and understand too much over the masses you look down upon.
It is on the ballot if the voters put it there. If the voters say "I'll vote for you no matter what you do or don't do about the genocide", then it isn't on the ballot.
The even bigger picture is the trend of things getting progressivelly worse even when Democrats are at the helm.
For example, it was Clinton that reppealed the Glass-Steagal Act which in turn led to hyperfinancialization and the 2008 Crash and it was Obama who chose to then save Asset owners in general (i.e. the Wealthy), unconditionally and on the backs of everybody else, leading to the slowest recovery from a Crash ever and all the imballances of the US Economy at the moment which as manifesting themselves as a complete total collapse in Social Mobility and rise of Inequality and Poverty.
Clearly electing Democrats doesn't improve things either.
The problem is of course that the US is not a Democracy (hence how there are only 2 carefully selected real options, which in this election are so bad that they're both hard Genocide supporters) so merelly voting for a President won't solve anything, and the only solution probably involves levels of political activism Americans aren't used to (one might even say they've been conditioned against it) such as General Strikes.
It's always going to be this way. Every election will be an emergency. Every election in my lifetime has been. We're in an abusive relationship and we need to get out of it. We need to break the duopoly. We need sane polling methods. But, no. Just like they keep us divided they're keeping us distracted.
If you want to understand, I can explain fairly simply.
Consider this thought experiment. We are getting $100 to split, but only if they can agree on how to split it: I get to make an offer, then you choose whether to accept. If you announce that you'll accept whatever deal so long as accepting is better than the alternative - that is, that you'll act "rationally" - then the rational thing for me to do is to offer you only $1, while I get $99. Researchers have actually tested this game in real life, however, and it generally doesn't play out that way. Why? Because the numbers don't tell the whole story of what you're giving up by accepting a bad deal. Once you've demonstrated that you'll accept a deal like that, then you're communicating something about your behavior for all future deals. It may be rational in the context of a closed experiment, but for the general case, our minds know better than what may appear "rational" at first glance. If you tell me, "I will refuse anything less than $30," then you are openly declaring that you intend to behave "irrationally" and trying to convince me that you will - and it would most likely produce better results than behaving "rationally."
The moment that you say, "My only condition for voting for the democrats is that they be better than the republicans, who are unimaginably horrible," you have sacrificed every ounce of bargaining power that you could've wielded. So the real calculation is not "Who's better between Trump and Biden," but rather, is the difference between Trump and Biden worth sacrificing all my bargaining power?" And for me, the fact that Biden is supporting genocide makes that decision very easy and straightforward. I'd rather at least try to leverage what power I have against genocide altogether, rather than supporting the "lesser genocide." If I cannot set even something like genocide as a red line, then I am very clearly communicating to politicians that they can count on my vote no matter what they do, and they have no reason to ever consider my political priorities.
And yet your actions will lead to "more genocide" while you go and jerk off in the mirror with your newly gained bargaining power! Good job!
Thank you for taking the time to explain. That is by far the best answer I’ve seen.
This is a false equivalence though: In the thought experiment, you denying to split ensures that none of you get anything. In this real-world scenario, you refusing to make a choice between more or less genocide increases the chances of "more genocide" winning. By not making a choice, you aren't punishing the person proposing the deal, you're just allowing someone else to make the choice for you.
There are elections in which it makes sense to vote against a candidate like Biden: In every election where there is a better choice on the table. That includes primaries, it includes backing candidates opposed to him in local elections, and elections for the house and senate. That is when you make your stand.
By not voting, in any specific election, you are simply giving up your right to have an impact on the outcome. That means that if the outcome is an increase in people killed, you are responsible, because you had the option to save lives, and chose not to take it.
By voting for the lesser of two evils, you are not signalling that you accept the lesser evil, but simply that you believe it is the best possible choice of those given. You can signal that you dislike the lesser evil by voting against it when an even lesser evil is on the table (or, preferably, something actually good).
Also, it's not like "the democrats" tactically choose a candidate that they think the voters will reluctantly accept. The candidate is specifically the person that got the most votes in the primaries. The candidates in the primaries are typically people who got enough votes to be either governor or senator or something previously. By consistently voting for the better candidate in all those elections, you can actually have an impact on the presidential nominee, and signal your beliefs to the political party, without running the risk of having a wannabe dictator become president.
So true. Where's all the reply guys who love to say "this is russian propaganda! Vote biden!"
So, say you were in a swing state, right? Then it might make sense to vote for biden. Or, a state where your votes are tallied earlier in the process, since a larger victory earlier in the process has an effect on those votes later on. Or, a state where your votes are disproportionately of more weight, maybe so long as you also live in a swing state. Those are the contexts in which it might actually make sense to vote for biden, because those are the contexts more broadly in which voting actually matters.
But, say you don't conform to those criteria, say you live in a highly populous state, like, say, california, new york, maybe texas. These are states where they've already pre-committed themselves to one candidate over the other, and regardless of like, screeching about like, "oh well all votes count everything has an impact", nothing's realistically gonna change in those states unless some major cultural shifts and maybe even demographic shifts took place. You'd pretty much be an idiot to believe otherwise, right, to believe, oh, well, this time, this time california's gonna vote red. Especially with a candidate like trump. Maybe if somebody like bernie suddenly became a republican or something, that might cause a decent amount of upset, but without a larger shift taking place there basically beyond your control, not much is gonna happen. The race has already been called for you, and been called for those states ahead of time. Maybe egg will be on my face if california votes red this election, but somehow I just don't think that's gonna happen.
In those cases, in those particular contexts, where your vote matters doesn't really matter, it actually makes more sense, in my mind, to vote for the candidate you actually believe in. Even if that ends up being no candidate at all, which, admittedly, I do find pretty unlikely. Like, you have nothing to lose or gain really either way, so the best thing you can do in my mind is just clearly signal what your actual priorities are, and then hopefully someone looks at the poles and changes tactics because of it. To either appeal to your bloc more, or say, the DSA gets more funding because of increased voter turnout, or whatever.
I have never heard anyone really provide a legitimate counterargument to this set of tactics, because I don't think you really can. It's just an elaboration on strategic voting with more specifics than "vote blue no matter who" as sort of a blanket, contextually devoid statement that doesn't make sense for a bunch of different scenarios. And strategic voting is what people are already doing when they're trying to do a compromise vote for one of the two main parties in a FPTP two party system. That's already a form of strategic voting, I'm just elaborating on it, instead of making a generalized party line heuristic that doesn't make sense inm frankly, most cases, for most people that you're gonna be talking to.
If Democrats lose to Donald Trump, then it will be entirely their own fault. Progressives have said for years and years exactly what they want, but Democrats think it's much more important to appease the Trump voters than it is to appease us. Let's see how that pans out.
From my perspective it seems like Democrats are trying to lose.
The people who fund the pro-Oligarchic Neoliberals who control the Democratic Party are the same people who fund a similar faction plus the Fascist faction in Republican Party, so either way they win.
For them the little mice under the table squealing "Vote Biden to stop Trump!!!" are just entertainment.
Yeah, let the country collapse under Trump, that’ll show them! I keep seeing this foolish argument over and over on Lemmy. Not sure if Reddit was this infested with naive and/or Russian trolls.
If Trump wins, everyone who didn’t vote for Biden shares the blame. When the situation in the Middle East gets worse, you’ll be to blame. When LGBTQ people get even more targeted in the US, you will be to blame.
Weasel out of it all you want, but come November, there’s really k lot two choices vote for Biden, or (in)directly help Trump.
America is fascist already. Study history and you'll understand.
Do you have any principles that you won't compromise on?
Do you know how a first past the post electoral system works? Or are you young and naive, thinking that politics isn't about compromise?
Yeah, I do, like harm reduction. Which is what a vote for Biden is. I'm not willing to accelerate the situation in the middle East, climate change, pollution and erosion of rights to make an ineffective point.
Ah but I hear you say Biden isn't perfect, no the fuck he isn't but we're that much further from the left thanks to last time we tried this in 2016.
Don’t they understand that under Trump, things will be much worse?
Under Trump, things were much better. Housing was much more affordable relative to wages. Food was much cheaper. Inflation was much lower. Illegal immigration was much lower. People are used to politicians lying to them, so they believe what they see and experience. That's why Trump is now projected to win.
There were also riots in the streets, huge companies going out of business and massive layoffs, family farms going under because of soybean tariffs, and a massive pandemic where the federal government was confiscating PPE and selling it to Trump's friends. All the while the president of the country was too fucking busy calling Rosie O'Donnell fat on Twitter to care.
Yeah shit was totally better back then.
I would imagine the Dem looking at the Republican and say "don't do it again", then turn towards the non-voter and say "the boat is now repaired" and then sit down pleased with himself.
While also complaining about the boat going slower under democrat leadership as they had to stop rowing to fix the hole
You're not wrong. But I don't have much sympathy for people cheering on the boat sinking and everyone drowning because the Dems are a bunch of dumb, unimaginative, spineless twats.
You're an embodiment of the meme.
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?"
Where are the centrists giving the Republicans a drill and arguing that a just giving them a slight smaller drill bit then they requested is a good thing and the only way to keep the boat from sinking faster?
The editor has foolishly put them at the front of the boat pretending they’re enforcing it instead of slowly pouring cups of water into the boat.
Leftists are the solution, not the far right and right.
Also centrists under a fully right system, are sitting in the centre of the right and thus still rightists.
The analogy from the cartoon is actually deeply flawed for the present situation; back about 10-15 years I think it was pretty accurate.
What it should be now, the best that I can make it out, is a pretty big boat that's in quite a bit of mechanical trouble to the point that there's a lot of unrest on board and it may not make it back to land and may get sunk by the next big storm. And, on board is:
Republicans actively drilling more holes, setting the engine on fire for some reason, stealing the flares and emergency beacon so they can sell them off to each other, shitting in the water supply, basically doing too many different bad things to even count or keep track of
A third of the people labeled with "Democrat" helping them, a third looking the other way or making vague attempts to tell them to stop, a third vigorously trying to stop them, sometimes with some level of success
Biden presiding over that whole process, and somehow producing some level of progress on the most critical of the problems, which is actually pretty shocking considering how fuckin insane the entire boat is at this point.
(Oh and also one of the Republicans has a handgun and keeps talking about how we need to shoot every single person on the boat who isn't a Republican, and a lot of the Republicans are agreeing with him and saying they should have handguns too)
A tiny handful of people who are actually trying to organize, work on problems, work out how we might be able to get to land, put together water distillation since we're running out, better system for choosing who's in charge, some genuine improvement to our situation.
And then, a certain body of people who are swearing they are actually part of that last group, but who spend 100% of their time saying they don't see any difference between Biden guy and handgun guy, and some of the other people were punching some of the last group, and anyway what about the water, no wait I meant what about the flares, he hasn't even done anything about the flares... just more or less a constant drumbeat of opposition with none of the forward movement that comes from the last group. And, whenever someone starts yelling at them about handgun guy who literally might want to murder them, they accuse that person of oh isn't that convenient that now I have to support Biden-guy now, I guess now you're ordering me around that somehow I have to or else handgun guy will come after me, I bet Biden and handgun guy set the whole thing up themselves.
That's still an oversimplification. But it seems somewhat more complete and accurate than the cartoon. My man: Start talking about ranked choice voting. Start talking about joining Extinction Rebellion. If you want to do better than Biden, fuckin do it, it sounds great. But saying that letting Trump win this particular election is anything other than the end of the world, is just lying.
And, whenever someone starts yelling at them about handgun guy who literally might want to murder them, they accuse that person of oh isn’t that convenient that now I have to support Biden-guy now, I guess now you’re ordering me around that somehow I have to or else handgun guy will come after me, I bet Biden and handgun guy set the whole thing up themselves.
This is what gets me. Some (most, if the news is accurate) Republicans are so cartoonishly evil that people's first reaction is "that can't be right, you're just exaggerating" followed shortly by "oh isn't it awfully convenient that you aren't a part of that group?"
A real captain would throw the troublemakers in the brig.
This wall of text makes me think either a bot or non-medicated mental illness.
dOnT lEt PeRfEcT bE tHe EnEmY oF gOoD!
They're the one pretending to bail water out; don't worry, they'll wait until the last minute to crack a new hole in the boat and then blame it on the one bailing water for 'bailing too fast'.
Hey democrats, try plugging the hole.
With what shall they plug it
A bit of false hope, a dash of inaction, sprinkle in some corpo lobbyist dong sucking, and top it off with a "at least we're not the other guy".
I'm voting democrat, because at least they're not the other guy, but this meme is fucking bullshit.
They've pledged to plug it over the course of the next 20 years.
Looks like there's a Republican
Shit, perhaps? Perhaps the shit sandwiches which we have all packed for lunch, apparently?
theyll never agree on how to plug it. might start putting more holes in to spite the other
This is honestly the perfect microcosm of liberal thought. Just continuously posting low effort shitposts that literally state in the meme how ineffective and in-bed with fascists liberals are.
We have OP coming into the comments acting like a holier than thou liberal, repeating the same vapid bullshit over and over.
Meanwhile, Democrats just keep dumping one little bucket at a time as the boat gets lower and lower while screaming in tears at the guy trying to find the fucking life raft.
“And fuck no, I’m not voting for you in November”
Liberals in fucking hysterics throwing a tantrum about why leftists comprising 1% of the vote don’t like their blue MAGA instead of targeting the 60% republican vote with actual popular policy
Lmao fuck liberals, y’all deserve to lose.
“There is no genocide in Gaza”
It's the over-the-top sarcasm and insincere indignation that galls me
Then they'll inevitably try claiming that yea, it'd be nice if we had someone with better politics but NOW'S NOT THE TIME TO MAKE A FUSS
Yes, yes, we get it, you find the idea of American minorities being murdered thrilling, and support all the aid to Israel Trump can muster. You can stop crowing about it from the top of every roof.
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.
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.
Appeal to hypocrisy?
How about you? Live in a glass house, too?
Most of us have day jobs that don't leave time for getting involved in politics.
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.
This would more realistic if Dems were just watching the boat sink. They wouldn't be helping at all. They are perfectly fine with state violence on college protesters, why would they try to save anyone on a boat lol? They would just say you'll be drowning faster if you pick the other guy.
None of that is okay, of course. THOUGH what we must do now is get Biden in to buy time and take all this anger, condense it, and work together
Instead of the usual "Got the President in, time to not talk for four years." shit that always seems to happen.
Yes, for Cthulhu’s sake, everyone get in and bail like your life depends on it. Let’s plan the next 4 years telling politicians where to lug the holes, rather than risk spending the entire four years vpbaling like crazy while still sinking lower and lower, with someone running around drilling more holes when you’re not looking
All modern political parties in liberal democracies are fine with state violence on college protestors. It's kind of the nature of having a state that exercises police power. There is no one arguing against that.
I'm not sure I follow, are you claiming that no political parties in liberal democracies are against violence on college protesters?
It's not all of them. The majority sure, but it is possible to change the democratic party from within.
But that requires heavy voter turn outs that vote as far left as possible in local elections and primaries.
I think it would take a lot of restructuring as well. The systems in place don’t allow the people who may want to do something a chance to do it.
Campaign reform, lobbying abolishment, so many things I can’t list them in a random lemmy reply. It also doesn’t help that a rep can just flip sides after they are elected.
There's nothing worse than a leftist.
Nuremberg 2024
Man, I would just like to not be in line for losing all ability to influence my government, and very likely in line for escalated genocide all across the globe. I don't need the fascists to suffer, I just need them to not run my fucking life, and preferably, not anyone else's either.
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.
It's funny because the boat would sink slower if the dead weight was kicked off.
With the way the boat is tilting, they could all occupy one side of the boat and hole would lift out of the water, averting the scenario. Exactly like the old fibreglass whaler with a hole in the bottom I used at an old job.
Also somehow the boat is taking on water faster than the water level. Like someone's pumping it in.
Though the imagery is way too low effort for any of that to be intentional.
There's a guy under the boat pumping the water in, obviously, the boat is obviously in the middle of a huge wave pool and a "volume", or a big screen dome, similar to what they use on the set of the mandolorian. This, obviously, creates the appearance that they are actually trapped in the middle of the ocean, even though they aren't.
We can therefore see that the meme is obviously representative of a kind of insane abstract illusion, much like the allegory of the cave. But, this cave has no surface. For the people within the simulation, what is the purpose of it? Perpetual torture? Which of them, can we assume, are in on it, are actors, are plants? All of them, perhaps? Does the illustration's highly arbitrary nature create a kind of representation of the nonsense that is political propaganda, and is this elaborate illusion of suffering constructed solely for our observation, or is it just that the people within the painting are trapped in a kind of perpetual toil by virtue of having known nothing different, given that we know nothing of their broader context or past?
Who could say. Truly, this is great art, high art, a high art meme.
Current state of the world: "Should we build another boat, or should we take the train instead?"
Stop the vote blue no matter who spam
He's physically incapable.
Alright one day old baby account, totally a real person
It's warranted imo, it's in the right community and it's for an important cause
No, no, you don't get it, "Biden BAD" is okay and funny and based, but "There are literal fascists we are running against" is CIA Psyop Spam
"The sooner we sink this ship, the sooner we can build our own where we are the captains!"
Sounds like tankie logic
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.
This is not very accurate, at least one of the dems would either argue with the republican and none voters, about it being their fault, or drill a bigger hole.
Accurate. No extra bucket, alleged "non-voters" guy isn't actually refusing to grab one, he just looks smug and isn't praising the Democrats. Dems aren't doing enough, boat's still going to sink. Democrats decided to bring two buckets instead of getting rid of the drill or the Republican. If "non-voters" guy stopped balancing the weight and came over to pat the Dems on the back like they want him to, they would just slide to the right and push their end of the boat under without having to wait for the hole to do it.
Although a lifelong Democrat, I must grudgingly admit that this is a good interpretation
Some of you people are going to become deeply depressed when Trump wins in November.
The dems would be drilling more holes, just with a slightly smaller drill bit
I would be the one bailing and complaining at the same time.
Actually voting is more like cheering on the bailers from the sidelines. Direct action would be actually picking up a bucket.
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.
LOL starting price for me when I tried was $16,000 and that was just to get on the ballot in a minor position.
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.
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.
Not shown, the socialist who already swam to shore and is waving for them to join her.
Too few cops beating up someone with a bucket.
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.
Why aren't the libs doing anything about pedophiles?
Found the non-voter.
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.
That's not fucking true. They would smear Jesus Christ so hard.. a poor brown skinned, long haired hippy peacenik liiiiberal pansy. About the only thing they would like about him is that he hangs with prostitutes. But even that they would get all snooty about.
An actual Jesus they would hate with the passion of a thousand suns.
ya i fkn do actually, i'm planning on growing gills
... u... username checks out...?
NO IT'S A FCUKIN REASONABLE THING TO SAY GDI
ily, and the reason I took 20h to notice this is because I was off slapping everyone who downvoted it.
So when are the (so-called) "democrats" pushing the hole-driller overboard?
Or will they just allow him to continue drilling holes... like they have been doing since forever?
Please explain your alternative to liberal democracy that "pushes the hole-drillers overboard". I'm happy to hear how it's different from fascism. This is the price we pay for living for living in a liberal democracy that allows dissent.
There's dissent and then there's actively working to make sure liberal democracy devolves into far-right fascism. In a functional democracy, it doesn't matter how many hole-drillers there are. Hell, you can be a hole-driller and it wouldn't make any difference because you will always be outnumbered by the people who are bailing. What we have currently are hole-drillers who are sabotaging the buckets to make sure the bailers can't get enough water out of the boat, as well as drilling holes.
Please explain your alternative to liberal democracy
I don't discuss alternatives with people who refuse to admit that there's absolutely nothing democratic about (so-called) "liberal democracy."
Sooo... howzabout it?
"Look, in a democracy we also have to give a platform to the people who want to abolish it"
I have a better plan. Plug the hole.
MAGA keeps the hole open
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
We all float down here, Georgie.
Come play.
Strip em naked. Plug the hole with the clothes. Dump the naked fucks over the side for shark bait
Grab some small floaty part and jump off.
My favorite thing about this comic is that even when reaching Ben garrison levels of caption, everybody is still achieving a different takeaway message.
They should plug the hole with like, a scrap of their shirt, or a finger or whatever, and then throw the guy who drilled the hole off the boat. The problem with non-voter guy is that he isn't throwing the other guy off the boat or plugging the hole like they should be doing. I dunno though, maybe it's funny to sink the boat, I can't really judge the context of this practical joke. Are they in the middle of the ocean by some stroke of horrible luck where somehow this guy was able to drill a hole and everyone else just let him in like a crazy survival situation, and also he had a drill somehow, or are they in the middle of like, an inland lake on a fishing trip? I mean it would still be a major dick move to drill a hole in the boat, cause boats are pretty expensive even if they're just paddleboats like that, but it still might be a funny prank, I dunno, depends.
I dunno if you extend the meme more and think about it a little bit, does it get better or worse as a metaphor?
The plan is very simple, vote for someone who is not corrupt. I will be voting for Jill Stein because that's how democracy works.
Dems provided the drill to the republicans
i like this one, it's funny.
Inflation!!! Cutting taxes on corporations and billionaires has nothing to do with it. It was all Biden being president for 6 months!
A large part of the disaster we're in is because Obama didn't actually fix the causes of the 2007 recession, he brought interest rates to 0% which kept the economy staggering forward but was destined to cause another meltdown eventually.
Trump kept the ball rolling but was only president for 4 years, then biden kept the ball rolling until it started to deflate.
The reason nonvoters dont vote is because retard leftists refuse to take their share of the blame. You were a 16 year part of the problem while Trump was a 4 year one.
It's missing Biden leaning over the side of the boat to beat a pregnant Palestinian woman over the head with an oar while she struggles to swim to shore.
RFK Jr 2024
I think I'd rather vote for the dead worm in his brain
The only thing its missing is Biden being down in the deep end of the boat drilling more holes.
More like maintaining the current flow of water thru plugging and drilling additional holes.
Its at least a 5:1 ratio of making more holes versus plugging.
And there is only one hole he needs to plug to be back in this, and its the US relationship with Israel and their ongoing genocide in Palestine.
He sure isn't making the job of the people trying to carry water for him easy:
This might have been true in the past, but Biden has been too busy putting rainbow stickers on the outside of the boat to use a bucket.
I’m not saying the recognition is bad, but ffs actually try to plug the holes. He was elected basically saying “I’m not going to make things worse” and he’s barely kept that promise. Don’t know why people thought he would actually make things better
And here is the part where I can list point after point of actually good things Biden has done, and the response will inevitably be "Well, it doesn't matter that he's done all of that, because I don't FEEL like he's done enough."
I’m sure you could. Are queer people actually safer under Biden? Or has their safety just not gotten worse? Abortion rights? Health care? Separating families at the border? Has the average American’s life actually improved or is it just “not worse”?
And here is the part where you list all the excuses about why Biden and the Dems couldn’t do anything about those things. And yet, they’re gonna continue to campaign and ask for money on a combination of “we’re gonna do those things” and “OMG Trump scary”. And then they won’t actually act on them.
Like every time Republicans go more fascist, Democrats see it as an excuse to move to the right and go “vote for the not fascist”. Fool me in 2016, shame on me. Fool me again in 2020, shame on you. Play the same goddamn game in 2024, I’m not sure what to say anymore.
And before you say it, I caucused in 2008, 2012, 2016, and 2020. I’ve tried to change things from the inside. The absolute bullshit I saw at EVERY LEVEL made me nauseated. I’ve watched as politicians left the Republican Party, came to the Democratic Party, continued voting with the Republicans AND WERE HIGHLY FUNDED BY THE DEM PARTY OF MY STATE. And they still are! I watched as “progressive policies” like “let’s push against Republicans trying to privatize Medicare” were tabled because they didn’t want to “offend moderates” EVEN WHEN THEY POLLED AT 70%+ of folks polled in the state opposed privatization.
They are a lost cause beyond all repair. They may have not lead the march into fascism, but they sure as hell haven’t done anything to slow it down.
Chips act, green energy via IRA, union empowerment, student debt, marijuana reform, infrastructure (build back better), drug price controls, etc etc etc. Non-competes banned (by FTC, but apparently was voted for along 'party lines').
But you want to say he's not making things better.
You know what, I take this back. This is perfect. Because Democrats are bailing water instead of trying to plug the fucking holes.
As a representative of the world outside the US. We root for the Republicans. Not because we like them. We just see that the world outside US Is better of that way, the US not so much, but we just waiting for the empire to crumble.
Republicans drop less bombs on us than Dems do.
Republicans drop less bombs on us than Dems do.
This is definitely true for Russian conscripts in Ukraine ;)
Modern Republicans started the War In Iraq, War in Afghanistan and consistently push for war with Iran. Most major US Interventions that people dislike happened under Republican presidents, Panama, Grenada, Gulf War 1 & 2, Afghanistan, etc.. but most of these happened with Democratic support.
What I'm trying to say is, your gonna get bombed regardless, but with Republicans those bombs are more likely to be nukes. You should probably just turn off the TV and hope for the best rather than rooting for any side.
"We elected him once and our boat isn't flying!1! Why isn't he doing anything?!?" (/s)
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.
Behind Bloomberg and DeLaney.
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!"
you guys are commiting a genocide. there ain't no flying boats here.
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.