It's rant time because depression and racing thoughts are fun.

I've been thinking about all of the more blatant Dem actions lately to push the "left" away from the party as far as possible. Part of me is confused. Why push away a potential voting block? After all, aren't you calling yourselves the "big tent" party?

Part of me wants to think that there is an ideological push from the centrist and Conservative Dems to get us out of their way. That they honestly did a 180 on the border and suddenly love cops, etc.

Maybe part of it is fear? Are Democrats getting enough credible death threats behind the scenes that they are running to the right out of fear?

A material analysis might come up with this: Democrats know how their bread is buttered and want to keep the money flowing. There is a large "industry" or NGOs, 501c3/4 orgs, party organizations, vendors, and other groups that make their money from donations or grants to push for this or that reform. If abortion becomes legal, Planned Parenthood Action Fund doesn't need to exist. If elections stop being close Priorities USA PAC can go away.

Money comes from all of the bullshit PACs like the Lincoln Project getting funded by bazinga-brained dipshits from Silicon Valley that believe in "both sides"/"unity" crap. They have all of the money, so those are the PACs we get. Black Lives Matter doesn't have money, so there are no orgs to sponsor it, which means no staffers needing to cover their asses.

Of course AIPAC is a huge part of this as well.

All the shitty Dem behavior kind of makes sense when you see it as a bunch of career staffers trying to protect their paychecks. They may not even be thinking about things this way, but they sure are acting like it.

What do you think?

  • Vingst [he/him]
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    edit-2
    4 months ago

    I agree with your material analysis, they know who butters their bread. The left is poor, disorganized, and powerless by comparison.

    They soak up leftist movements when they become a threat. Then they cast them aside when they think mass fervor has died down, like BLM, kneeling in kente cloths, and going on to promote more police and border control.

    Palestine does seem different though. Like they barely even pretend to care before casting it aside.

    • Frank [he/him, he/him]
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      4 months ago

      I think they already conclusively proved to themselves that we're under their boot in '20. Walz is literally the guy who called in the army to put down the center of the uprising in Minneapolis. Their ticket is one of America's highest ranking cops and a governor who proved he is willing to use military occupation to crush a black uprising against the police. They don't need to pretend on Palestine. If anyone tries anything they can send in the cops and army right away and crush the insurgency without much risk of public resistance. And they did. I wasn't watching the news at the time but from what I understand they quickly crushed student organizing earlier this summer using police squads and gangs of fascists. They did it, it worked, there's no organized opposition or resistance, this is their victory lap. Walz serves the same purpose as Biden - an old mean honky with a proven record of racial violence to ease the fears of the Klan voters. They're dominant. We'vr got nothing to fight them with. If they lose they can either do it again in four years or switch teams and join the gop.

        • MayoPete [he/him, comrade/them]
          hexagon
          ·
          4 months ago

          In my area there were local Palestinian families that wanted to stay. There were plans to keep the camps going in a reduced capacity during the summer. :(

  • queermunist she/her@lemmy.ml
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    4 months ago

    They're disciplining us. Biden was forced out of the race so they need to make sure we don't get the idea that we have any power to force the Party to capitulate to our demands.

  • the_post_of_tom_joad [any, any]
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    edit-2
    4 months ago

    They absolutely will not budge an inch on Palestine, the blood will flow. I don't think they give us any more thought than they ever do. Its not about us, it's about the project closest to their hearts and boy oh boy the things they'll show us if it is actually resisted effectively...

  • Andrzej@lemmy.myserv.one
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    4 months ago

    We've seen a similar phenomenon with UK Labour recently, and I think it's down to a complex of all of the above, multiplied by the fact that these people really are just incredibly right wing ghouls who believe that the silent majority are on their side 🤷

      • Andrzej@lemmy.myserv.one
        ·
        4 months ago

        In the case of UK Labour, they got fewer votes in absolute terms this time than under Corbyn, and only marginally improved on his vote share in 2019's wipeout— what really got them into power was Conservative discipline collapsing as soon as Corbynism was dead and there was no longer any threat to the political consensus, combined with the quirks of a constituency-based fptp electoral system. Veering right is a 'vote winner' for a nominally left/centre party only in that it buys you the right to participate in the first place.

  • Owl [he/him]
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    4 months ago

    I don't think any of this is targeted at us, it's all targeted at donors. The donors panicked when Biden fucked up the debate because they were worried that he wouldn't be able to deliver enough votes to stay in office and pass their policies. The Harris campaign is trying to settle them down by loudly declaring her strength and proclaiming that she's going to win. It's entirely marketing.

    They will probably be able to push this through all the way to the election ("we're strong winners" is a popular message and Trump is washed) but then the marketing spend will drop off and we'll be stuck with Harris in office pushing the same failing policies as the Biden admin.

    • MayoPete [he/him, comrade/them]
      hexagon
      ·
      4 months ago

      I'm thinking more of the things that would have cost $0 that the Dems just didn't do during their convention:

      • Tell your delegates to ignore protestors. Don't cover your ears, don't say anything, no smirks. That was an optics fail and def cost them votes.

      • Put a Palestinian on stage for five fucking minutes. Sherrif Porky can wait!

      • Was there even anything positive about trans people at the convention? I didn't watch it so IDK.

      These are stupid simple mistakes for a PR event which tells me it's deliberate.

      Another theory: The liberal establishment (both parties) see the "left" gaining traction since Bernie ran in 2016 and are trying to burn us all out and discourage the movement from growing. Yes the left is very small in the US but there's potential to grow. There's some exciting stuff happening in my area that I can't share because it would doxx me...

      • Owl [he/him]
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        4 months ago

        Their donors want the genocide against Palestine to continue so they can sell weapons, real estate developments in Gaza, and oil contracts. Putting a Palestinian on the stage would signal to them that they might not get what they want.

        • Pentacat [he/him]
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          4 months ago

          Signaling to a Zionist that they might not get what they want is akin to murder and a hate crime.

  • RyanGosling [none/use name]
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    edit-2
    4 months ago

    The sooner you realize that Democrats do not see Arabs and Muslims - and in turn, anybody else who goes against the empire - as human beings, the easier it is to process our realities. The big tent leftist nonsense is just that, nonsense. They know nothing will be done. They are afraid of the actions and protests against them, their leaks have said as much. But at the same time, their best tactic is to ignore the noise because people will get exhausted and jaded like with previous movements.

  • SpiderFarmer [he/him]
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    4 months ago

    At several points at the GNC, they would bring up "reaching across the aisle" or the "good Republicans of old". With the cop talk and mention of "securing the border" they really are just replacing the Republican party. Hell, they're even stealing some of the visual aesthetics.

    • Shinhoshi@lemmygrad.ml
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      edit-2
      4 months ago

      points at the GNC

      My brain went to "gender non-conforming" and "Democratic National Convention" at the same time and got "Gender Nominating Convention"

  • Monk3brain3 [any, he/him]
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    4 months ago

    The Dems and Republicans are two sides of the same coin. The Republicans push capitalist and insane conservative social agendas. The Dems push capitalist and liberal social agendas (but very mildly because they can't lose their reason for existing). They have no interest in progressive policies. Together the two parties keep the electorate believing they're actually voting for something.

  • TheLastHero [he/him]
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    4 months ago

    Low key believe simple laziness and careerism plays a role. Dems believe they are doing innate good by simply being in power because they say the polite words. The left say that isn't enough, and we make all these nasty demands and criticisms of them. If democrats can tell us to shut up and still win that means they don't have to actually do any dirty political work, which is a really comfy situation for them

    #1 priority is always going back to brunch