Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has endorsed President Joe Biden’s reelection campaign, a sign of the president’s strength in uniting his party to have the backing of one of its most liberal members
People don’t understand the importance of this endorsement. AOC is considered as the next generation. Most 16-24 yr olds agree heavily with her and would identify closer to the left.
If Democrats play it smart, they could hold a majority for 10-20yrs. We are seeing swing states lean more blue than red ( Wisconsin, Michigan, Minnesota, North Carolina, Arizona, and Virginia). This is a huge problem for Republicans bc they always relied on these states to combat large democratic states.
The issue is that this might not matter much in the short run anyway. Democrats have been playing well at the national level, sure, but they don’t seem to notice that Republicans have figured out that state sovereignty means they can just have fascist fiefdoms rather than coast-to-coast national-level fascism. I don’t see Biden or Harris putting their foot down on a state if shit gets real bad - hell, Florida literally passed a law allowing CPS to take kids from out-of-state parents and nobody at the national level so much as said boo about it.
Believe me, I understand Republicans have gerrymandered a lot of states but those states are fighting back. Look at Minnesota, they have a democratic majority for the first time in years. They have been pushing progress programs left and right that benefit everyone.
My point is that Democrats should stand united behind Biden. This will show everyone that they have two goals, combating corruption and pushing for legislation to better others’ lives. If they attack a red state then Republicans will use that for years. It will feed into the “they’re coming for your guns” crowd.
Democrats need to continue pushing progressive reforms and nominate a good candidate in 2028. Win more senators’ seats and flip the house back. Then go after corrupt judges.
Biden wasn’t my first choice in 2020 and I really wish he was younger, but he has done extremely well as President so far. If he wins again and stays healthy, I have almost no concerns he will continue to get things done.
but he has done extremely well as President so far.
pfffft who decided that
Dark Brandon did.
I think the rail unions might disagree, as well as everyone who’s going to spend the rest of their lives in debt slavery to colleges, as well as everyone throwing out college plans due to his letting affirmative action get gutted, so… Fuckin lmao…
Tell me more about Republican judges being Biden’s fault.
Maybe he should’ve ran with the ‘legal and aboveboard’ plan B first, because now I don’t believe for a second it’s in his interest or the interest of his party to see relief go out. But y’know, feel free to shake out more of that insufferable settler blue-no-matter-who table salt.
Blue no matter what? No. Blue as long as the only other choice is a Republican? Yes.
What’s the difference?
Might want to check recent news on rail unions…
Omg this guy doesn’t know what an opinion is!
He has accomplished a lot. But the issue is that the Biden administration is pretty bad at showing this. Maybe it has something to do with them being so busy at doing the changes they need.
The issue for people is to understand what’s going on. Most people are not able to comprehend what makes a good president to begin with because the tasks they do are so complex.
Yes… Destroying Unions and allowing the Supreme Court to undo 50-100 years of progress was doing extremely well as a president.
Unfortunately you’re displaying your ignorance. Biden has zero influence on the currently-ghastly Supreme Court. In fact given how little actual power a President has here, Biden has accomplished a lot, despite the razor thin Democrat majority (and Manchin! and Sinema!) in the Senate.
I mean, he doesn’t really have direct power to control the court, but the court is vulnerable and responsive to public opinion and he could do more on that front. We have justices themselves saying the court is acting unconstitutionally and Biden’s putting out statements worried about how expansion would “politicize” the court. The more worried they are with their legitimacy the less bold they are in their rulings.
On the second thing are you aware of how our system of government works? You should read up on it. Blaming Biden for it is just plainly misinformed.
The criticism is that he didn’t pack the courts, which while strongly going against tradition, he is not prohibited from doing.
I disagree with what he did in the railroad union, but to say he’s destroyed unions is a bit of a misnomer. Other replies have already explained how stupid the second part of your comment is, I don’t need to add to that.
She understands that we are under attack by a global RW fascist insurgency. Keeping the GOP out of the WH will save democracy in the US and around the world. Any GOP winner would stand back and allow the russian terrorists to take Ukraine and beyond.
Ribbit
100%
Yes, this is why we must unequivocally support the guy who couldn’t get any laws passed to protect against said RW fascist insurgency. The guy who can’t get his own party to pass voting rights expansion. The guy with no plan to counter the hijacked Supreme Court, and who has steadfastly refused to develop one. Yup, this is the guy that’ll stop American Fascism.
Always blaming everyone except for the actual fascists is exactly where the fascists want you.
No one’s blaming biden for the facists existence but are you expecting the facists to stop themselves? If not someones gotta do it, like maybe the commander in chief of the country under attack.
And exactly how would Biden get anything through a Senate currently spilt between the two parties? You would need 60 votes to overcome the constant filibusters the Rs would throw up since this would not be a budgetary vote.
Last time I checked, there are only 48 Dems plus three independents who caucus with the Dems, for a total of 51. We’d need at least 62 to account for Sinema and Manchin, so expecting Biden to solve this is delusional.
Don’t dwell on the past. Plan ahead. Vote. Give him the tools. This is a global emergency.
What tools does he need and how do I give them to him
A country with no elected R politicians at any level or as close to that as possible. VOTE
The Democrats had control of both the White House and Congress, and they still didn’t codify Roe v. Wade into law.
bro we gave him the presidency and congress for two years
Manchin, Sinema, and fillabusters prevented any real change during those two years. IIRC Biden and congressional democrats were able to use budget reconcillation rules to get past the 60 vote rule to get stuff done, after they placated Manchin and Sinema though.
This is correct. They had to shove a ton of initiatives into the reconcilation to get anything done with Sinema and Manchin blocking everything.
sigh
It’s so easy to keep the status quo going when you’re able to convince both sides that it’ll be the literal end of the world if the other side wins. Keep voting for one of the two parties which are chosen for you, it’ll turn out alright.
It’s so easy to keep the status quo going when you’re able to convince both sides that it’ll be the literal end of the world if the other side wins. Keep voting for one of the two parties which are chosen for you, it’ll turn out alright.
What makes you think he’ll use those tools when he won’t use the ones he already has? This is like when the police say they need more resources in order to tackle police brutality.
It’s so easy to keep the status quo going when you’re able to convince both sides that it’ll be the literal end of the world if the other side wins. Keep voting for one of the two parties which are chosen for you, it’ll turn out alright.
It’s so easy to keep the status quo going when you’re able to convince both sides that it’ll be the literal end of the world if the other side wins. Keep voting for one of the two parties which are chosen for you, it’ll turn out alright.
The filibuster exists. Biden isn’t all powerful. None of the things you mentioned would get past the current congress.
Biden isn’t perfect. But trump is the end of America. Vote Biden 24
If it were reversed, Trump would be bullying the GOP senators in his way (and he might even pull a couple of Democrat votes because they lack party unity)
Trump isn’t bullying his way past 60 senators and the house for anything major. They passed one major piece of legislation (tax cuts) when he was in office. That’s it. No Obamacare repeal, no abortion legislation, nothing of significance. And now they don’t have any platform anyway so….
The choice is between guy we don’t like and aren’t that excited about, and literal fascists. If you have a viable, shot in hell alternative, glad to hear. If not, you’re doing the work of the fascists.
deleted by creator
No. You’re pushing a Kremlin propaganda line.
deleted by creator
What you stated is false. No matter what your personal RW/Kremlin disinformation manipulated beliefs may be, the Biden admin DO NOT support russians murdering and kidnapping Ukrainian children.
Did you post a source?
What is your source for this claim?
We’re not making anything. All the profit goes to American arms manufacturers.
Old man who vaguely agrees with my politics and is just mildly disappointing or a literal shit filled dumpster fire? Hmmm tough choice.
How is Biden disappointing? Before he became President he gave every indication of being yet another appeasement-oriented centrist, but he’s actually gotten a surprising amount done. Biden has ended up being far better than I expected him to be.
If you’d told me we could virtually eliminate Russia’s army and remove them as a competitor on the world stage for a couple billion bucks with no american troops in 2020 I would have taken that deal any day.
Before I start, let me say that Biden absolutely has my vote, because the alternative is the end of our democracy.
I’ll also say he’s away better than I thought he’d be.
But here’s how he’s a disappointment:
-
He failed to appoint an attorney general that would give us a special prosecutor to go after Trump for the most egregious case of Obstruction of Justice in the history of the country, as laid out in the Mueller report. This was a matter of national security, should have been the first set of indictments against Trump, and should have happened a couple years ago.
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Student loans. Our economic engine requires a strong consumer class… Right now two generations of Americans are drowning in debt, and can’t buy goods and services from other Americans. It’s hurting EVERYBODY. Biden should be aiming to erase ALL student debt. Instead he’s taking half-measures that leave the United States still in crisis. And that’s BEFORE we talk about how weak his attempt to do this was, from a legal standpoint.
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Healthcare. We are still in crisis. The ACA was supposed to be a first step. Instead, it has been the only step, and Republicans continue to attempt to chip away at it. Why hasn’t Biden put out a universal healthcare plan? Or at least a public option? How can we ever make progress when he won’t even be the standard-bearer for these ideas?
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The Supreme Court was captured by fascist theocrats. Any future moderate (to say nothing of liberal) laws will be struck down by these assholes. Why is Biden not talking about packing the court until it once again reflects the values of the overwhelming majority of Americans?
I could go on, but the jist here is that the United States is in absolute crisis, and like Hillary before him, Biden is the “nothing will essentially change” or “incremental change” candidate. Not acceptable during an emergency.
-
He literally called Cuba “terrorist” just a few days ago, and did the same for Xi a little while before that. He also kept in place all of trump’s international sanctions, and even added new ones on top.
He seems to try really hard to be agitative, I don’t understand how someone could see him as “appeasement-oriented”.
Cuba and China are authoritarian hell states.
Bro I am a near-total prison abolitionist, and even I know the difference between a place with poor policies driven by an increasingly dangerous internal threat of authoritarians and countries that regularly disappear dissidents.
My point wasn’t to say that they’re one and the same. I just think that any American politician who isn’t actively trying to abolish the Department of Homeland Security and permanently repeal the PATRIOT Act has no business condemning authoritarianism. I think that defending Biden or a Democrat for this reinforces the idea that it is somehow different or indicative of something else when we do it vs when China does it.
It reflects a worldview that the US is neutral/good at its core, one that I don’t share given what I know about US history. It’s barely qualified as a liberal democracy for most of its history/
When book bans happen in the US, western media doesn’t frame it as an inevitable outcome in a country with a long history of right-wing nationalism, unlike when book bans happen in China, where it’s framed as a product of communism/socialism.
Likewise, the US prison population is framed as a mistake, an error, something that “shouldn’t happen” in a “free country”, when it’s literally a legacy of Jim Crow laws (which themselves get framed in US history/media as a regrettable period, and not something that is inherently a product of the United States’ ruling social and political class).
Lastly, the US state of Florida is already practically a single-party regime under Desantis. He’s actively trying to purge the Universities down there, which is something straight out of 1930s Germany.
I mean I share your general take, but we also have to live in reality. The American people support this shit, and they get a say. That’s what democracy IS.
That’s a low quality source and you’re putting words in Biden’s mouth.
Now imagine what he could accomplish if the people in this thread who complain so much actually went out and grassroots volunteered and got some progressives elected in their districts.
Sorry. Too busy making petitions asking others to remove Alito from the Supreme Court to do any actual, useful volunteer work.
He compromises with the Fascists a little too much for my taste.
I mean he’s the only president I’m aware of who just came out and straight called the fascists fascists, and didn’t backpedal when the fascists got mad.
But when the alternative is literally putting those fascists in office…
Oh for sure. I’ll vote for him. Just mildly disappointed I can’t vote for someone I really want.
Yeah…
That’s what everyone is complaining about.
And why everyone is more upset at the people running the national party who refuse to let Americans have a primary.
The ones who are willing to say “if you dont vote for this 80 year old who lied to you four years, have fun with trump!”.
Do t worry tho, progressives will do what we always do and vote for the lesser evil.
Doesn’t mean we have to pretend we like it
Progressive candidates lose elections, which is rather the problem here. There aren’t as many of you as your online circles would have you believe
By that logic since world peace hasnt been achieved, we need to give up.
That climate change is still happening, so fuck doing anything about.
That a wealthy ruling class has always existed so it always will.
That children dying of hunger is part of life and we just need to move on.
Is that really the outlook of “moderates”?
If something is bad, just accept it. Nothing will ever improve so stop trying
It really explains a lot
This is a nonsensical interpretation of what I’ve said. If you lose elections, you don’t get a say in how the country runs. Progressives aren’t popular, and suggesting the system is rigged rather than piss-poor communication and outreach among progressives (combined with a total unwillingness to compromise and the fiery rhetoric that entails) is the reason why.
What has he gotten done that you support?
I’m pretty disappointed in the Inflation Reduction Act that actually prints a trillion more dollars.
We need inherent change in the government, we need congress to get off their asses and create good bills. We need to get away from the 4th branch of government.
Not print a trillion more $ that goes to government subcontractors and the top 1%
You listed a lot of legislative issues there. What should the executive branch do for those issues? Veto the Inflation Reduction Act? Not enact bills passed by congress?
Executive branch should enforce laws passed by the legislative branch and do what they can to keep us out of more international military conflicts.
The IRA was Biden’s baby, it’s not that he was silent on the bill then it just happened to cross his desk. The executive should NOT be pushing legislation, the executive branch should NOT be trying to unilaterally pass $1T in debt relief with an executive order and should NOT promote divisiveness.
do what they can to keep us out of more international military conflicts
Hard disagree. The Pax Americana is the best thing to happen to the geopolitical landscape in all of human history.
Between the dogwhistle about wanting to end our support for Ukraine, and complaining about the IRA-- the largest climate change bill passed by any nation in human history-- because it “cost too much”, I’m starting to wonder if the guy you’re replying to is on the left at all.
EDIT: Just checked their post history, and yep, they’re openly a conservative.
Well, there is an exhaustive list of everything he’s accomplished in his term so far; which is a lot.
I can post a lot of links to different people talking about different things.
What has he gotten done that you support?
Or do you support every single thing in that exhaustive list? If you do support every single thing, that might be more telling of you than Biden’s ‘accomplishments’
There is far fewer things there that I don’t support than those I do. Considering majority of that list were wildly popular, and in many cases supportive of basic human decency, I suspect it is less about my personal views than you’re trying to make it.
What has he done that you support?
It’s a very simple question, I don’t know why you have such a difficult time answering it since you just spoke so highly of everything he’s done!
Not OP, but anything good for the planet I support. Anything that helps equality for all I support. All the steps he took to help us during Covid, including securing enough vaccines for everyone and helping people out of jobs due to covid with stimulus checks and small business protections (though I agree it probably could’ve been handled better, to curtail fraud), I support.
So, three large key points that in truth pertain to a LOT of small initiatives he’s done, I support. Much better than Trump would’ve done.
That being said, I wish we had better democratic alternatives for president. Biden (and honestly, a good chunk of our representatives on both sides) is just too old. We need to have term limits and age limits for all seats in government and SCOTUS.
Hasn’t legalized cannabis on a federal level and considering his career long stance on the war on drugs, I don’t really expect that he ever would support legalization.
Status quo keeps on truckin’ along.
Rich keep getting richer. Poor people? Well, who cares about them anyway.
Yes but don’t you see? The blue team wins (the presidency).
Use the poors as a cheap source of teeth for aquarium gravel.
The fact that the majority here is okay to settle with a mildly dissapointing 80 year old, just so the other “evil” side doesn’t win is a bit disheartening for the state of US politics and democracy.
And this is comming from a politically shithole country I am born and living in.
Trump has all of Bidens issues AND he’s a fascist idiot. Trying to say he’s in any way better than Biden just shows either how uninformed you are in American politics, or you think people like Trump are attractive candidates. If it’s the latter you may want to take a look at the type of people who, in your own words, are making your country a “political shithole”.
Thank you! The “evil” in quotes is what did it for me. We don’t need the quotes. Trump and their side right now has no redeeming qualities and shouldn’t be in charge of an airport Starbucks. This isn’t a choice between slight differences in policy, this is “do you want to vote for nazis, or no?” Oh, I know about Godwin’s law, how boutcha google that and see how he feels about it.
I am not even remotely saying that, and I wasn’t even refering to a specific Republican candidate (least of all Trump given the latest events). Personally, I preffered Biden’s policies last election, however this is not at all relevant to the point I was making.
Failing to see Biden shortcomings over Trump (or any other candidate) and vice versa is just a reflection of how black and white your view of politics is. Keep in mind that half of your country voted for the oposite candidate of your liking, and labeling them all as fascists is hurting you the most.
I am looking at my country as well, it’s not like it’s an exclusive thing you can have an opinion on. Keep in mind that the current people on position in my country are actually appointed by the American democracy police, so what happens on your side of the pond has some impact on my end as well.
It took me a second to figure out why you called Biden a fascist but I came to the realization it’s because that Biden wanted to relieve student debt which is considered a socialist policy and that for is considered an extension of fascism. But that’s not the problem that most people have with fascism coupled with the fact one can be a socialist without being actually fascist. The aspect everybody is more concerned about is the totalitarian side that tends to be with a true fascist. The water is easily muddied by terms.
I believe if you reread the comment he’s actually saying that Trump is the fascist. That might be why it took you a second to figure out what he was saying
Yeah I got busy today just reread it and misunderstood it. I thought that the original commenter was saying that Trump and Biden were both fascists. I was a little upset with that comment because Fox and other medias were pushing that Biden was a fascist because socialism is the most important aspect of fascism. Which I do not agree with.
Fascism is a political ideology, not an economic structure. I also don’t know how you could miss read a comment that badly, maybe you did maybe you didn’t. Either way your comment is just really poorly thought out and written. Please try and contribute something more useful to the conversation. It was nice to not worry about people trying to stir shit up like they do on reddit, however briefly it lasted.
Treat youself while it last I guess. It’s the internet that is the issue not reddit tbh.
She wouldn’t win, at least not yet, we’ve got to drift more to the left as a country to have an election she’d become President in. And if not Biden who? Who should run for President that has a chance of actually winning the election? It’s easy to piss on them selecting Biden, but no one else is a viable option. You want more younger options to vote for, run for office yourself, get your friends to run for office, can’t vote for young left leaning politicians if they don’t freaking run and win elections.
We could run Clinton again. It’s Her turn!
People not understanding there is no such thing as a “protest” vote protest voting during her run are why we are in this mess in the first place. Not sure risking it a second time for those that didn’t learn the lesson is a good idea. It would be interesting and fun to watch the oppositions heads explode though if it did happen.
We’re in this mess because millions and millions of people that voted for Trump and they’re going to vote for him again.
The lesson here is that we need to do something about Trump voters, not waste time on a few percent of dorks that think voting 3rd party matters.
You know that the “evil” have no idea what he’s doing half the time right? He has zero clue as to what he is actually doing. He is saying a lot of shit but in reality he has no idea what the fuck is going on.
Trump is one of the few presidents that actually has no idea of how to govern at all. If that don’t scare you then I have no freaking idea what will.
At least Biden understands the political prosses and how things work. And also he don’t take cases of files with him so he can brag about how the US had plans to attack Iran…
“Good choices” don’t exist bro it’s just shit or less shit. My life is gripped with pessimism and I’ve never been happier
/s
Well said. Really embarrassing, but still leagues better than the other option.
aintthatamerica.mp3
wtf is happening. This is a - rep for AOC in my eyes. She realizes the fucker is real old right? Elect someone younger please.
Its not like she has a realistic alternative. What do you want, a split democrat ticket going up against the republicans ?
I’m an ideological purist and I’m voting for Jill Stein! This won’t backfire in any way!
AOC is being smart/practical. Is Biden anyone’s first choice on the left? Fuck no. We can have some more ideological purity when the choice isn’t between milquetoast and literal fucking fascists.
Biden wasn’t even my third choice in the '20 primary. That said, he’s one of the most legislatively accomplished presidents in modern history. Still zero chance I’m going to be excited about voting for him in '24, but who has a shot at beating Trump right now? is maybe the guy that already did?
I’m just tired of living in a country where I have to hold my nose and vote for the worst democrat, because the worst democrat still in no way comparable to the awfulness of even the best republican.
We can have some more ideological purity when the choice isn’t between milquetoast and literal fucking fascists.
I agree with this sentiment, but how long must we wait to vote for actual exciting, progressive candidates? It feels like we’ve been “holding our nose” for decades now, and each time we vote for the “lesser evil” they become more emboldened to ensure that they always have power.
Given the data? 2032 the least. 2028 if millennials and Gen Z voted near 100%. I recall a study that points to only 2-3 red states if every single eligible millenials and Gen Z voted.
I think lots of Democrats could beat Trump, but none of them could beat Biden in a primary. He’s the incumbent and he’s just not disliked enough for people to abandon the sitting president.
Definitely. Again, it’s just practicality. Too much at stake that’s why the only ones feigning towards a primary challenger are doing so in bad faith. Also, re: dislike, I really think Biden just doesn’t get enough credit. I definitely thought he wasn’t the man for the job in spite of voting for him in '20, but he’s pleasantly surprised me.
He’s pleasantly surprised me, but taken some pretty unforgiveable actions (breaking the rail strike, Title 42) and still isn’t the man for the job (continually reinforcing norms while conservatives ignore them for advantage). This is better than I expected, but still not great.
But he’s the guy we have and as much as I wish it was someone else, there’s no real path to changing that. If AOC endorses Kamala Harris in '28 we can start to talk about her losing her fight, but the people talking about primarying Biden are just detached from reality or, as you said, bad faith actors.
Absolutely not, but I wouldn’t mind a primary
this not happening shows a HUGE problem on the left. You should feel cornered with only one choice
It’s one position. I assume Biden will keep Harris as his VP, giving a younger option to take over if need be. But there’s fucking hundreds of other positions just as valuable. Those are the ones we should be trying to overturn with primaries imo. Get the house back and widen margins for the Senate.
Just please, if you’re in the US, vote. We had a local election where I’m at recently with <15% turnout. It’s fucking maddening to me that people only show up for the president, and even that is lucky to get >60%.
It might be a minus. in your eyes, but look at the other candidates we have for the Democratic Party. None of them are anywhere near as appealing as Biden. I’m saying that as some one who voted for Bernie in the primary before, and would flock to vote for AOC. And no, Marianne Williamson is not who I want for president given some of her questionable history though I would happily vote for her at a local level if the other person is a conservative or even a moderate.
In principle I agree, but splitting the Dem vote is a good way to lose an election. Biden is a compromised candidate, but still leagues better than another 4 years of Trump. Fact is there’s no real chance of a younger president until 2028. Which is depressing.
How is the best case scenario Joe Biden? ♫
They really gonna make me vote for Joe Biden ♫
Like I get that is what we probably are getting, and fine, he is better than whatever the republicans are putting forward, so I’ll vote for him.
But
Come on
I wish, so much, we had a better candidate
You need a better voting system.
Any single-winner system is inherently flawed, which is why presidential systems are just straight-up worse than parliamentary ones. They’re by their nature going to be less representative. A system where the president is largely a figurehead is far better, along with a legislature which is elected proportionally using something like Mixed-Member Proportional, Single Transferable Vote, or party-list PR.
But failing that, the bare minimum to call your system democratic is to use Instant Runoff Voting. First Past the Post is just straight-up not democracy. It’s a farce. The idea that two candidates with similar views both being very successful actually makes it less likely that either will win is an obvious complete failure of the system. (And, fwiw, you could have IRV presidential elections for a powerful POTUS while also improving congress by making it proportional, if you want to go a step further than just making Congress & President both using IRV, but not as far as the fundamental constitutional change required to make the president a figurehead.)
A parliamentary system with fully proportional representation would be best. The US is big though, so I think an electoral threshold of 4% may be needed. That, or require parties to fulfil the below condition before being able to participate in elections.
• They need enough support through party membership from the area’s population, as a % of the latter. On counties, this would be about 4%. On a state level, that would be 1%. On a national level, 0.25% would be enough.
You might think, why lower with each level? But the larger the population size is, the smaller the membership can be while remaining representative. This also stimulates smaller parties since now they have a chance to actually grow.
Electoral districts also need to be thrown away – counties, states, and the entire country, are where the elections get held in. Because of proportional representation, it doesn’t matter however you were to divide up areas: 25% of votes on one party means 25% of seats.
Lastly, force the Democratic and Republican Party to break up into separate parties with each no more than 20% of all seats. Or tell the parties that putting through with proportional representation as an agenda point will give them more votes. The Dems can argue, “One man, one vote”, the Reps can argue “America NEEDS to keep it Great! Vote the Dems away, get Proportional!”. Both should have this as agenda point.
I also think it critical that the supreme court of the US isn’t 7 judges. It worked for a country with 2 million people, but you lot are a country of 300+ million now. You need something like 100 members, and make the supreme court appointed by the judges themselves, who are chosen by multiple random ballots themselves.
The US Congress also could be expanded. Make the House go from 435 to 500 members, and the Senate to 250. They need to be updated for a big country.
It also makes it harder to manipulate politicians, since there are far more needed to bribe.
I have a whole writeup, if anyone is interested. I think that both Dems and Reps and anyone else can find themselves in it.
I think an electoral threshold of 4% may be needed.
I have absolutely no problem with such a threshold.
I also think it critical that the supreme court of the US isn’t 7 judges.
Okay so here’s a really controversial take. I think the problem with the SCOTUS actually stems from there being too many rights enumerated in the American constitution. I should note that I’m not a legal scholar, but I’ve read a lot of opinions from non-American lawyers who have explained this viewpoint, and it makes sense to me.
Where I live in Australia, our constitution is largely uncontroversial. It doesn’t say what rights people do and do not have, but really just lays out the basic functioning of our democratic institutions, like how elections work, how Government works, how the Commonwealth interacts with the States, etc. Rights are left to Parliament to implement. This has the interesting difference from America in that it means that our High Court decisions are largely far less political than SCOTUS’s. Because the High Court of Australia doesn’t get to make the inherently political ruling of deciding how to interpret individuals’ rights as laid out in the constitution. By putting the right to bear arms in the constitution, SCOTUS is inherently given the power to decide what should be a legislative matter of how much people are allowed to own guns. It’s what lead to the morally-good but legally-nonsense decision that lead to Americans having the right to abortion*, which itself stopped the legislature from ever feeling like it needed to do its job in relation to abortion protections, which is in turn what made the disastrous outcome of Dobbs possible.
This is, obviously, something so deeply ingrained that it would be basically impossible to change. Americans view their constitution almost like a religious text. Even though some of the founding fathers supposedly thought a constitution is something that should be basically rewritten from scratch every few decades, Americans view it as written in stone and as something that must not be changed except perhaps to enumerate more explicit rights. But fundamentally, a less politicised constitution would lead to a less politicised judicial system, which would allow each branch of government to do its part without encroaching on the others like they currently do.
I’m with you on increasing the size of the legislature though. 2 senators per state is far too few (and makes it impossible to reasonably add in a proportional system on a per-state basis). I have much the same feeling about my country. I’d like to see our Parliament almost doubled in size, especially if we were to move to a more proportional system (we currently have a proportional Senate, but use IRV for our House of Representatives).
* legally nonsense because if you look at how SCOTUS justified it in Roe, it just doesn’t make sense, legally. Somehow the right to an abortion is derived from…a right to privacy? That doesn’t make sense. And it makes even less sense when you consider that the right to privacy itself is somehow derived from the right to due process and equal rights under the law.
And how do you expect us to do that, revolt? Because it turns out elected officials are reluctant to make significant changes to the system that elected them from which they profit handsomely.
Suspending reality, it would be interesting if enough progressives moved to states like Wyoming (pop 580k) and the Dakotas (780k and 890k) to move them blue. Then vote in progressive senators. For reference, NJ alone has a population of 9.2m.
If that could happen It would be great to link senators to state population.
I agree with you but it’ll never happen. That would require a constitutional amendment and that bar is so high it can only be cleared under the threat of national revolt (like when the voting age was lowered, or prohibition was repealed). States would not be so eager to give up their power, and three fourths of them would have to agree.
I don’t know how you achieve it, but if you haven’t got at least IRV, then electoral reform should be the top issue people push their elected representatives for. As I understand it, some states have already done it in some elections, so it’s not like it’s impossible. Without a functioning democratic system, you can’t ever get good outcomes on the things that actually matter. And with FPTP you don’t have a democratic system.
My only real misgiving with Biden is age, but I do still agree. With how crazy and dangerous Republicans have become however, we can’t afford to take any risks. We don’t just need to beat them, we need to beat them by the largest margins possible. We need to send a sharp condemnation. Biden’s incumbency advantage is indispensable for this.
You really don’t have any additional misgivings about a man who sold out the people of the United States to the credit card companies for a few measley hundreds of thousands of dollars, and who cosponsored a large percentage of why our student loan crisis is as bad as it is? There is a reason that all predatory credit entities are based in the state he represented for his entire political career. He doesn’t get a pass after decades of being a predatory corporate shill selling out the American people. How can the Dems not be capable of fielding literally anyone remotely electable if they weren’t competing opposite truly garbage candidates like Desantis and Trump? I have the same question for the Repubs, for fielding Desantis and Trump. And neither side actually solving abortion rights, gun rights, healthcare, etc when they hold all 3 branches because they are all afraid of losing their major wedge issues, without which they aren’t confident they can win elections.
What exactly has Biden done wrong? He may not be as crazy left wing as you’d prefer, but really I don’t see why so many on the left are saying he’s so bad
Although I think Biden has overall done a good job I am disappointed that they’re running someone who is 80 years old. I would also like to see a general shift to the left, but at the same time I realize that the increased political division in the US makes this unlikely in the near term.
Giving up the incumbent advantage at a time like this is short sighted at best, and destructive and dangerous at worst.
People always have some reason ready to roll out when telling you to settle for some shitty candidate you don’t really like. I’m done with it. I compromised on Joe Biden to save America from Trump. I compromised in every election for my entire adult life. Now I’m voting for people I actually like. If the US is collectively dumb enough to go back to the GOP then we deserve the consequences of that choice.
You can call that selfish if you want but I’ve been waiting 35 years for the compromise candidate to be the one from my camp and there’s always a bunch of armchair poly-sci experts coming out of the woodwork to explain why that would be irresponsible in the current political climate. Well too bad, I’m not voting for the geriatric anymore.
Must be nice to be a wealthy, single, white man who knows he won’t suffer under a Trump admin.
Fuck the rest of the country, right? And our overseas allies.
Like I said, if America is collectively dumb enough to vote Republicans into power after everything that’s happened then another 4 years of a boring Democrat isn’t going to fix that problem. If we’re headed for some sort of collapse I’d rather deal with that now rather than later. Call that what you like but it’s not my way of doing things that got us in this mess in the first place so you’ll have to forgive me if I don’t put much stock in your “keep doing the same things and hope something magically changes” approach.
I personally believe someone in the Bernie Sanders mold has a better chance of pulling in moderate voters than a Joe Biden does.
I’m sorry but the idea that Bernie Sanders brings in moderate voters is obliterated by the fact that he gets blown out in primaries because of moderate voters
I really don’t understand this attitude after how far the entire country backslide under Trump after 2016.
Like, I get it, I felt the same way in 2016 and pissed away my vote, but you’ve got to realize how counter productive this is after how much more fucked everything got in four years right? Assuming you aren’t leaving the country, you do have to live with the consequences of another Trump presidency and further erosion of your rights.
Ribbit
Thanks for the pointless reply. Next time just downvote and spare people from having to read “I disagree with you” but in dumber form.
Biden has been great. The most transformative policies in 80 years. Great for the world.
dafuq are you on about? Do we already have political shill bots on here?
Being able to see through the RW/Kremlin propaganda fog does not make me a “shill bot.” I suppose by your metrics, AOC is also a “shill bot” for supporting Joe Biden? He’s the first in a LONG WHILE to promote any kind of true global unity on important issues. Not perfect, but DAMNED good.
Yes. AOC is controlled opposition at best. Biden’s only redeeming quality is that he’s not Trump.
This comment will stay in the negatives, but anyone who is looking at this objectively knows you’re correct. They just don’t like it.
It’s getting downvoted for the “crazy left wing” part, not the “what has Biden done wrong” part.
Because he’s ancient. He’s a half century older than the majority of the voting population.
Why is this a bad thing, specifically? Like, articulate reasons that this is bad.
Because he isn’t the one that’s going to have to living in and running the world in another 20 years or fewer.
Because there are plenty of other choices that better represent the current and future population.
Because he was alive during a time that is so drastically different than the current world.
I don’t want a representative of the population. I want someone competent who can accomplish policy objectives I share.
That’s a very individualist way to look at a national decision.
I don’t understand what you mean. The rest of the population can make the same choice in the same contest
That’s what voting is.
To say the quiet part out loud, he simply isn’t charismatic enough to hold the President position. Common people don’t feel their future to be secure under his leadership. Look at GOP’s candidates meanwhile (DeSantis, Ramaswamy, Trump) - they are all populist if not anything else.
And like it or not, this perception matters. I can guarantee he’ll recieve less votes this time (compared to last year, he can still marginally win simply because of how unpopular the Right has become).
Populists should be fought because populism is a cancer. Biden is exceptionally charismatic, in my view. Significantly more so than most Presidential candidates not named Obama or Clinton.
Populism alone isn’t bad. Sometimes, it’s the only way to get a perspective or idea out there, and make it not seem like a taboo anymore. And some ideas out there are worth supporting.
Populism is indeed always bad
Biden is exceptionally charismatic, in my view
I’m sorry, but that’s a delusional take. A fricking potato has more charisma than Biden.
It must be weird to be so wrong about what is cool or not.
He ran on getting kids out of cages and there is still a giant open-air prison for refugees on the border. He busted the railroad union. Those are two pretty big issues for the left. He’s further right than Obama, and probably futher right than Nixon, if you compare their platforms. Fighting fascism by moving further right is a really bad way to fight fascism.
I didn’t vote for Mr. Crime Bill '93 last time, and I certainly won’t be voting for the segregationist eulogizer the next time around; but y’know, feel free to shill for Jim Crow Joe to your heart’s content.
“The white conservatives aren’t friends of the Negro either, but they at least don’t try to hide it. They are like wolves; they show their teeth in a snarl that keeps the Negro always aware of where he stands with them. But the white liberals are foxes, who also show their teeth to the Negro but pretend that they are smiling. The white liberals are more dangerous than the conservatives; they lure the Negro, and as the Negro runs from the growling wolf, he flees into the open jaws of the “smiling” fox.”
– Malik el-Shabazz
You didn’t, but the black congressional caucus advised on it and supported it, as did the black community overwhelmingly at the time
It ended up being the bad choice, but it wasn’t a racist choice.
…You’re gonna invoke the Black Misleadership Class at me now? All them capitalists talkin bout “buying up the block” then turning around fucking their block sideways on their way to living in a gated community? Laughable.
I am 100% pro-gentrification and believe it is possibly the only place where subsidized rent for a set period of time is truly effective at eliminating poverty.
Yeah, the Democrats really fucked up by uniting against Bernie in 2020, and Warren fucked up by not getting behind him.
So we’re stuck with Biden, who aims too low on all our critical issues.
But it’s vital to understand that we ARE stuck with him. There’s no path to victory for anyone else in the party.
So it’s Biden or … A fascist takeover of the country.
Easy choice.
Painful. But easy.
How is RFK Jr. the primary opposition? I know he wasn’t, but it feels like he was put there by the dem establishment as a threat. When I’m feeling like I would support any other democratic candidate to run in place of Biden, this barely younger absolute crank leans in and goes ‘anyone?’ Ah fuck, let’s go dark Brandon… if i have to… I guess.
it feels like he was put there by the dem establishment as a threat.
Hahahahahaha, no. He’s been entirely enabled by those on the right and their hangers-ons in the podcast dork-o-verse. He’s an entirely artificial candidate that only appeals to the fringe 5% or so that would have otherwise voted for Nader, or Jill Stein, or Kanye West.
The problem is really that the whole system is fucked up.
Elections being about “the lesser evil” instead of voting FOR what you actually want is just horrible - no wonder so many people are losing faith in democracy over there…
Biden was a clear “best choice” instead of a “lesser evil” for me. I think he’s a great guy doing a great job.
I want someone who wouldn’t have greenlit the Willow Project in the Arctic. We are way past making compromises in the climate emergency.
I am literally a climate lobbyist. I have a meeting with a republican rep in 2 weeks. His stance is that climate change is probably real, but is undecided on if humans cause it.
That’s what we have on the other side. That’s a MODERATE position for the other side right now. Compromise is the only way we’re gonna make any progress if we can’t get them out of office, and majorities are tough to come by
Approval of drilling projects is an executive decision. The president doesn’t need to compromise with anyone in making those decisions.
That is not how politics works at all
Ok, what environmental benefit did he gain for us from compromising on his executive authority, Mr. Politics Understander?
Man, screw Biden. I would rather vote for AOC
Ranked voting needs to happen otherwise it will always be democrats vs republicans most of the time.
I think we’d need a parliamentary system to end up with anything more than 2 parties being relevant. The 2 party system is sort of hard-wired into the way the house and Senate work. Ranked choice could have some cool effects on party primaries, though.
Also, the two party system can be broken quite easily if any state switches to proportional representation. If a third party wins even a small number of congressional seats, it could make them the kingmaker in a divided house.
Agreed, RCV would essentially mean that the primary is part of the election.
I wish. Ranked voting would be phenomenal. It’s obviously more democratic. Makes no sense not to have it. But politicians are dirty corrupt pieces of shit.
Is this not the case in the US? Sorry for not being up to date on this as I don’t live in the US.
The US Constitution specifies that each state must elect a senator and house of representative, must send electors to the Electoral College for President. It does not specify how.
As such, some states have ranked choice voting. Others do not.
Ah I see. It’s so weird how it works. Why not federate it so those laws are the same all over? I guess it’s a reason for it but in my eyes it sounds very ineffective.
Also the whole electoral college sounds like s bad idea i guess. But it’s also a “safe guard” i guess?
Going a bit OT on this one.
Because that would require a constitutional amendment. The GOP would lose the most so not a single red state or GOP senator or congress member would vote for it. Amendments take a 2/3 majority or a constitutional convention, which requires 2/3 of the state governments to agree to it, which is even harder to pull off.
Thanks this was very informative!
When the country was founded they needed to convince the state governments of a bunch of different states to agree to unify as a single nation.
At that time state governments had more power and influence on the federal government than they do today. Senators were picked by the state government, not popularly elected as they are today, and it was left to the state governments to decide how they would conduct elections and select delegates to represent them in the Electoral College which is the actual body that picks the president.
I would rather vote for a bird. Yes. Birds should govern the US! Imagine. To all seriousness AOC would have lost by so insanely amounts. Let’s hope she and more of the liberal parts of the democratic party gets tractions. Getting young people in those positions would be great.
Keep in mind that the more power we give up to conservatives now, the less likely it is that you’ll ever have a chance to do that further down the line. Aoc is backing the future of the world right now, but also her political future. The last conservative presidency did a LOT of damage to this country, if only by installing the justices who would go on to overturn Roe V Wade. She doesn’t want to see more of that damage, and neither do you.
Biden is pretty unambiguously awful, and only looks good against any Republican. AOC is doing the right thing here, but long-term we have got to get rid of these cobwebheaded oldsters and move on to the next generation, or the generation after.
When we do, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez would be a good choice.
I don’t agree, but I’m objectively curious why you hold that opinion.
Which opinion, sorry. There were a few in there… :)
AOC is a great choice, but Biden is far from awful. Certainly not ideal, but let’s be reasonable.
Biden is awful, from a left perspective, and I’m of the left. I imagine for middle-of-the-roadsters, though, Biden’s the yellow line.
Did anyone expect anything different? I don’t recall incumbent presidents ever having a real primary.
Jimmy Carter did-- Ted Kennedy challenged him for the 1980 presidential nomination. The result was them doing so much damage to each other that the ultimate winner of the primary (Carter) came out battered and bruised, giving Reagan the edge he needed to win the general. And we all know how well that worked out for the planet. (Spoiler alert: horrifically.)
That was the opposite tho…
That was “moderate” party leaders trying to sabotage a progressive at any cost.
That fucked America up reeeeeeeally badly. But the people who decided to do it got what they wanted: an excuse to tell voters that progressives can’t win.
That was “moderate” party leaders trying to sabotage a progressive at any cost.
Wait, what? I thought Jimmy Carter was considered really progressive for his time. And Ted Kennedy wasn’t some perfect progressive hero, he had some pretty major blemishes on his record like Chappaquiddik. So I always saw it as more pointless infighting than any kind of centrist-vs-progressive showdown like 2016.
Then again, my parents were in high school when all this was going down, so my knowledge is obviously pretty limited, lol.
I thought Jimmy Carter was considered really progressive for his time
Which is why he got a primary challenger…
From Ted Kennedy, who was also extremely progressive for his time. 1980 was progressive vs progressive (which is part of how Reagan was able to win so decisively in the general, by portraying himself as being a centrist-- even though nothing could be further from the truth).
Who is the moderate and who is the progressive in this?
Carter is our most progressive president since FDR…
The “moderates” were the ones running the party that allowed a primary…
I thought my comment was pretty clear, but hopefully that’s clearer
Not everyone’s American and not everyone knows history from 42 years ago of foreign countries.
Also, OP’s ignoring that Kennedy was also a progressive hero, too. The primary was progressive vs. progressive-- which is part of the reason it’s remembered today as the poster child of pointless infighting that did nothing but benefit the opposition. I’ve literally never heard anyone here in the States have OP’s take on the primary until this thread.
It’s pretty clear from context.
I mean, things like primary challenger and stuff like that aren’t really terms non-Americans are familiar with. I also wasn’t quite sure which of the two people I didn’t know was the progressive one.
Well that’s unfortunate. Wish we could find someone other than an old fucking white guy to represent us.
The fact that someone like Biden and Bernie exist in the same party tells you how awful the 2-party system is.
For real. Even as a white guy, I’m tired of this shit as well. Wish we could get someone younger and more progressive on the ballot. It’s time to get those old ducks out of office. They have no grasp on how shit really works these days.
“we’re under a fascist insurgency and we must ensure that the GOP doesn’t gain the White House, this is why we must vote for a politician who refuses to do anything to prevent this insurgency from gaining strength like expanding the court or making abortion available on federal land and who refused to use their constitutional authority to prevent giving the House GOP any concessions on the budget/debt ceiling”
He got more done than we thought. Way better than the last guy and that WMD degenerate.
Yeah, I’m not a Biden fan by any stretch, but he went way more left than team I thought he would, and has been very effective on a number of issues.
I’d rather have almost any other prominent Democrat, to say nothing of an actual liberal, but I can live with 4 more years of Biden. He’s the only realistic candidate in the party. No one was going to win a primary challenge against him.
Isn’t she eligible to run herself now? Things can absolutely get worse but can we try to have some imagination? Sigh
To run for president you need to be at least 35. She is currently 33. This is the same for VP.
AOC does turn 35 on 10/13/24, one month before the presidential election
Let’s fucking go, sick and tired of geriatric candidates.
At least make her VP so when Bernie becomes a Force ghost, we’ve got someone on the inside at the top.
what if he already is a force ghost 0_0
I was there for the sparrow landing moment at the Moda center, back when. Literally 100ft from the podium (on the clock), and after that sight? I gotta say: I wouldn’t be surprised.
