I’ve voted democrat for every election I can remember. And while I like to see my “team” win as much as the next guy, at some point you realize that other countries have better electoral systems in place.
Meanwhile, we’ve all acquiesced to this 2-party winner takes all bullshit.
The most confusing thing to me is how Democrats can have majorities in the House and POTUS and their agenda gets inched along but the second Republicans have that their agenda gets rammed through asap.
Is that a misconception? It certainly seems that Republicans make much more aggressive and active use of their power.
If you’re referring to relatively recent events (like the first 2 years of Biden’s term) you need to look no further than Kyrsten Sienema and Joe Manchin. “Democrats” that opposed the agenda (and general Good Things™) for personal greed and lobbying interests. Biden had a majority in the house, and a hostile supreme court, which we’re going to be dealing with for a good long time that’s to McConnell’s fuckery. The defection of Sienema and Manchin made progress very difficult.
It’s also harder to get the wider variety of interests in the big tent of left to go in the same direction. Kinda like herding cats.
Republicans have forced out anyone who doesn’t walk in lockstep with the party. They have gone as far as to run alternative Republicans in some races, causing the conservative vote to be split and forcing the incumbent Republican to lose to the Democrat.
Meanwhile, Democrats will let a far-right nutter like Joe Manchin run as a Democrat because he is slightly to the left of some other even crazier bastard.
Even when the Dems win a majority the Republicans do everything they can to keep elected people from being sat for as long as possible.
During Obama’s term, Franken was elected, but the Republicans drug out every legal battle they could to contest his win and keep him from being seated.
In the end, the Dems had an actual majority for only 4 months, and even then had to get 3 Republican votes to break the Republican filibusters.
Sweden, Germany, Colombia, Australia, etc. Ranked/Alternative/Proportional voting. We should have multiple choices without fear of voting for less popular options being useless. With our current system we basically can’t vote for third parties.
It takes a while for the effects of party decentralization to take hold. The underlying party structure is at the core of two-party systems. RCV is just one incentive (a big one) to restructure parties to be more democratic and diverse, instead of coalescing into monolithic amorphous blobs. Along with Gerrymandering laws, campaign financial regulation and voter civic education. It all has to work in concert to dismantle the social control version of democracy.
Australia, Ireland, New Zealand, Malta, Northern Ireland and Scotland all have ranked choice vote. Slovenia had it previously but regressed to FPTP in 2021.
The people we need most to turn out and vote this election season (18-24) are the most susceptible to this kind of campaign. And you very much can get them to vote with the right message.
That’sa lie. I’ve voted every election since eligible age but fuck the two majors. I’m happy to write in, but I’m not keen on Cornell anymore either so I’m about to nope, unless someone better than the status quo comes along.
Give up? More like the Republicans are grasping for straws considering how bad they have done in local and midterm elections. They could be putting propaganda to dissuade Democratic voters, which I don’t see happening anytime soon. Biden (and many Democrats) has surprisingly been more progressive for me as a leftist and many people appreciate that. My theory is that the pandemic and the government response to alleviate the costs after the lockdowns made Americans appreciate more government assistance.
I see the campaign to suppress Democrat voter turnout has started.
I’ve voted democrat for every election I can remember. And while I like to see my “team” win as much as the next guy, at some point you realize that other countries have better electoral systems in place.
Meanwhile, we’ve all acquiesced to this 2-party winner takes all bullshit.
Same. Democrats are shit but I mean…fuck republicans more.
Look I hate a two party system as much as the next person but the both sides are the same thing is just not true, don’t say it.
The most confusing thing to me is how Democrats can have majorities in the House and POTUS and their agenda gets inched along but the second Republicans have that their agenda gets rammed through asap.
Is that a misconception? It certainly seems that Republicans make much more aggressive and active use of their power.
If you’re referring to relatively recent events (like the first 2 years of Biden’s term) you need to look no further than Kyrsten Sienema and Joe Manchin. “Democrats” that opposed the agenda (and general Good Things™) for personal greed and lobbying interests. Biden had a majority in the house, and a hostile supreme court, which we’re going to be dealing with for a good long time that’s to McConnell’s fuckery. The defection of Sienema and Manchin made progress very difficult.
It’s also harder to get the wider variety of interests in the big tent of left to go in the same direction. Kinda like herding cats.
this is incorrect, the GOP controls the House atm. The Dems control the Senate.
Really, take time to understand how legislation is crafted in a bicameral congress, it’s worth it.
I didn’t say they controlled the house, I described what they do when they control the house.
Do pay attention to the complexities of the English language, it’s really worth it :-P
man I’m just reading what you wrote.
Gottem lol
They clearly meant in the past
there are words and phrases which could indicate that which they chose not to use, so clearly? really?
Republicans have forced out anyone who doesn’t walk in lockstep with the party. They have gone as far as to run alternative Republicans in some races, causing the conservative vote to be split and forcing the incumbent Republican to lose to the Democrat. Meanwhile, Democrats will let a far-right nutter like Joe Manchin run as a Democrat because he is slightly to the left of some other even crazier bastard. Even when the Dems win a majority the Republicans do everything they can to keep elected people from being sat for as long as possible. During Obama’s term, Franken was elected, but the Republicans drug out every legal battle they could to contest his win and keep him from being seated. In the end, the Dems had an actual majority for only 4 months, and even then had to get 3 Republican votes to break the Republican filibusters.
The way to end the 2-party stranglehold is to implement RCV or similar, and the only party trying to do that is the Democrats.
They are? More info please.
Sadly, no. It benefits them to keep it the way it is.
DC democrats do not represent Democrats nationally, but if you find that compelling, far more local Democratic groups support it:
Compare which cities and states have implemented RCV in the US, (mostly blue,) and which states have outright banned its use (mostly red.)
Democrats did a big push for RCV in 2019, and while the Biden administration hasn’t weighed in yet, the Obama administration he served in supported it.
Not to say that a grassroots movement can’t enact RCV. But as we saw with Bernie, the establishment will not give up power easily.
Thanks!
Oh. I thought we’d reached the ninth circle and hell had frozen. :-<
See my other post
What country would you point to as a good example?
Sweden, Germany, Colombia, Australia, etc. Ranked/Alternative/Proportional voting. We should have multiple choices without fear of voting for less popular options being useless. With our current system we basically can’t vote for third parties.
Let’s not pretend that ranked choiced voting in Oz didn’t elect Tony Abbott, the prototype for Trump’s one liners and spewing hate.
Every answer to whatever question: “Stap the boats”
Don’t get me wrong. I’m all for it. But it’s not some silver bullet that will make all the party candidates turn into Jesus.
It takes a while for the effects of party decentralization to take hold. The underlying party structure is at the core of two-party systems. RCV is just one incentive (a big one) to restructure parties to be more democratic and diverse, instead of coalescing into monolithic amorphous blobs. Along with Gerrymandering laws, campaign financial regulation and voter civic education. It all has to work in concert to dismantle the social control version of democracy.
I’m skeptical of ranked choice voting being a panacea after watching Eric Adams get elected in New York
Wtf NYC, electing a cop to be mayor ? Surely there were better options.
Australia, Ireland, New Zealand, Malta, Northern Ireland and Scotland all have ranked choice vote. Slovenia had it previously but regressed to FPTP in 2021.
They do and I’d love to have a better method available to us.
However the meme is a little off.
One party doesn’t give a fuck about you, the other actively wishes you harm and works to that end.
They’re not “my team” but they’re well past “the lesser of two evils” given the other one.
It is all over everything right now. It’s giving me PTSD from 2016. Are we voting Jill Stein again?
If you’ll match my donation I’ll explain how Bernie can still win
If the duopoly of our government is enough to convince folks not to vote, they weren’t going to vote anyway and were just looking for a reason.
I don’t disagree with OP, but at the same time, we’ve only got one tool to enact change. So let’s use that tool to get things like ranked voting.
But you’re also right, plenty of folks out there telling folks to give up. All the more reason to not in my opinion.
The people we need most to turn out and vote this election season (18-24) are the most susceptible to this kind of campaign. And you very much can get them to vote with the right message.
That’sa lie. I’ve voted every election since eligible age but fuck the two majors. I’m happy to write in, but I’m not keen on Cornell anymore either so I’m about to nope, unless someone better than the status quo comes along.
Give up? More like the Republicans are grasping for straws considering how bad they have done in local and midterm elections. They could be putting propaganda to dissuade Democratic voters, which I don’t see happening anytime soon. Biden (and many Democrats) has surprisingly been more progressive for me as a leftist and many people appreciate that. My theory is that the pandemic and the government response to alleviate the costs after the lockdowns made Americans appreciate more government assistance.