I keep seeing this talking point on :reddit-logo: whenever people complain about manchin, sinema or whatever other rotating villain of the week people are mad at. It's supposed to be some sort of "gotcha" or defense for these neolib ghouls...

It's glib, and it flies in the face of their other favorite response "we can walk and chew gum at the same time".

Do they honestly think people dont know republicans exist? Does it really need to be said that republicans are awful? They're not even confusing progressives and leftists for right wingers anymore.

It's just so lame, and I needed to vent about it. I need to quit going to :reddit-logo:

  • star_wraith [he/him]
    ·
    edit-2
    3 years ago

    In a sense they're not wrong. But it's not that Democrats good and Republicans bad. It's that we have a undemocratic bourgeois "democracy" that was specifically designed to keep the wealthy in power and put the brakes on any form of mass social energy. Exhibit A, the senate. An institution that by design only allows things to get done that serve the bourgeoisie. It's always been that way. Even people who like the Senate basically defend this notion when they say "we need the senate to stop people from getting crazy things done that you would see if we only had proportional representative government".

    So the answer isn't that it's the GOP that's the problem, it's that the system is rotten and trying to effect any meaningful change by voting is a suckers game that just gives legitimacy to the dictatorship of the bourgeoisie.

    • OldSoulHippie [he/him]
      hexagon
      ·
      3 years ago

      How would you go about explaining this without getting the Le epic "BoTh SiDeS" response though? It's maddening, but for whatever reason, I keep trying. Some of my online radicalization came from comments sections where people like us argued against a brick wall, and me, the passerby read the comments and picked up some new ways of thinking.

      • star_wraith [he/him]
        ·
        3 years ago

        Well on one hand, it's true that both sides do not work for what the people want. On most economic/material issues, the people are to the left of Democratic politicians. So even if we had 60 or more Democrats in the Senate, it's unlikely even they would enact legislation that the people really want. So if both parties act the same...

        But even if by some miracle we had a super majority of Democrats, it doesn't matter as the system is so heavily tilted against the working class by design. You can pass all the progressive bills you want but then there's the supreme court to block any and all good things you want to do. Just one example though.

        • OldSoulHippie [he/him]
          hexagon
          ·
          3 years ago

          Great write-up! But I'll bet libs would just be like "one side is trying to overturn the sacred electoral process and the other isn't. Checkmate Vlad"