this post was submitted on 13 Feb 2024

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122

Get Used to It: Biden Isn’t Going Anywhere (www.politico.com)

submitted 7 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

165 comments fedilink hide all child comments

Democrats have all the spontaneity of the House of Windsor. Or, closer to home, they’re closer to what Republicans once were, a party that falls in line not in love.

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[–] [email protected] 55 points 7 months ago (13 children)

I would totally be open to someone other than Biden running... If the DNC (or any party) had actually started promoting and positioning anyone good 2-3 years ago.

It's too late now. Biden is the guy.

And all the people on the Internet I see whining about how they don't like the choices available: if you actually want to do anything productive instead of just bitching you need to do the work in advance. Get involved with political organizations, campaigns, etc.

Even looking further ahead to he 2028 elections (assuming the US is still having elections)... Who is the DNC planning on running? Harris is cop who doesn't excite anyone. AOC is probably too polarizing to get moderate support, and is probably move valuable in Congress right now. Newsome maybe? I hate to throw out celebrities, but it's happened enough that it's possible and John Stewart seems like he might just go for it. Heck, even he is 62 right now, so he'd be 66 if he ran in 2028, and 67 by inauguration day.

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[–] [email protected] 48 points 7 months ago (9 children)

It's ridiculous that the DNC doesn't understand this shit depresses turnout.

People want to choose who to vote for, voting for someone you dislike because the other candidate is worse doesn't get enough voters to comfortably win

Biden is going to fuck around and lose, and the "moderates" are going to blame it on progressives (even tho they always show up) and say the 2028 candidate has to be even more rightwing

Or, Biden squeaks out a victory, and the party says that also proves the party needs to go more rightwing

No matter what happens, both parties keep drifting right.

And that reality is why we spend 100s of millions every election, and still barely crack 2/3s turnout.

[–] [email protected] 41 points 7 months ago (2 children)

Any democracy based on FPTP voting will trend rightward. It's a fundamental flaw in the voting system from a game theory perspective. The dynamics of a two party system will always support a good cop/bad cop dominant strategy (think of spoiler candidates, and how we always are faced with the prospect of voting against a bad candidate rather than for a preferable one). Good candidates exist, but our preferences are not a priority inherent to the design of the system.

We would do better with approval voting or Concorcet, but the only way to change the voting system is to get buy-in from the parties to whom it would be certainly fatal.

[–] [email protected] 12 points 7 months ago (1 children)

Except American democracy has existed for longer than this issue...

FDR won in a two party system, sure, the parties instituted term limits to get rid of him, but he won in FPTP.

But the reason both parties drift right is because of the neoliberal movement that's only been around 30 years.

It's been working out terribly, but party leadership doesn't care because there's more money in being rightwing

[–] [email protected] 19 points 7 months ago (1 children)

Dark money out of politics would alleviate a lot of the issues we've been seeing. The voting system is still the game we have to play if we want democracy, and badly designed games are only fun for the winners. An approval vote would get us more broad consensus in leadership, and a return to government based on a shared vision of society, rather than a Congress perpetually locked in a darkly comedic reimagining of the French National Assembly.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 7 months ago (3 children)

But republicans will always be against that, and so will neoliberals.

Doesn't mean we can't do it, but we need to wrest control of the Dem party from neoliberals, and primary a bunch of incumbent Dems first.

It's like climate change, it's not a quick fix, but that doesn't mean we shouldn't be trying immediately, just that we're not going to see noticeable results for a long time.

Which is why I feel like I'm insane no one else is losing their shit that NH got their primary taken away for a law only state republicans could have changed. The DNC told NH Dems if they didn't violate state law, they didn't get primary delegates. And then followed thru.

It's not a coincidence NH has been voting progressive in primaries over the party pick.

If they did it this year, what's stopping them from doing it in 2028?

Without a primary, voters have zero say. And legally the DNC can do whatever they want in a primary, even outright ignoring the result.

If we lose the Dem party, we're all fucked.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 7 months ago

It’s not a coincidence NH has been voting progressive in primaries over the party pick.

The party wanted to punish New Hampshire and reward South Carolina because the former went for Sanders and the latter proved pivotal for Biden in 2020.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 7 months ago (2 children)

You don't sound crazy to me at all. The only part where I differ is that I lost hope a few years ago and emigrated. My family was only there for a generation and it hasn't worked out. I still follow US politics because it's all I know. Every time I try to learn UK politics I get uncanny valley vibes.

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[–] [email protected] 13 points 7 months ago (3 children)

No matter what happens, both parties keep drifting right.

Go back 20 years and the Democrats had a significant anti-abortion faction, formally opposed gay marriage, even acknowledging trans people was taboo, the core of John Kerry's health care plan was some minor government subsidies for employer-based plans, any acknowledgment of police racism was absolutely not done, Kerry voted for the Iraq war with no regrets, and I could go on.

To say that the Democratic party is more right-wing today doesn't hold up to a second of actual scrutiny.

[–] [email protected] 14 points 7 months ago

Kerry voted for the Iraq war with no regrets,

Same as Biden and Clinton

The populace has gotten more progressive on a few individual issues and forced Democratic lawmakers to update their talking points a bit, but actual policy on things like the roll of the federal government in regulating and subsidizing businesses, campaign finance regulations, civil liberties and surveillance, and granting asylum to migrants has all gotten markedly more regressive

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[–] [email protected] 8 points 7 months ago

Or, Biden squeaks out a victory, and the party says that also proves the party needs to go more rightwing

No matter what happens, both parties keep drifting right

Shit, this is so fucking true and so fucking depressing. Thanks, truly, for being real.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago) (11 children)

Meanwhile, back in consensual reality, Biden is the most Progressive president we've had in my lifetime in terms of policy actually passed into law.

p.s. I'm never going to block you. It's far too important to show the rest of the class why you're wrong.

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[–] [email protected] 36 points 7 months ago (1 children)

Anybody surprised by another Trump/Biden election hasn't been paying attention for at least 6 months.

[–] [email protected] 33 points 7 months ago (1 children)

Maybe the last 3 and a half years

[–] [email protected] 17 points 7 months ago (1 children)

There was a good six month stretch after Biden was elected where I had hope that Trump was old news, a used up Republican tool.

Ah, to be so young and naive...

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[–] [email protected] 8 points 7 months ago (3 children)

"a AAA single-player shooter in today's market was a truly awful idea" -See it's the single-player bit that's the issue back to live services! An EA exec

[–] [email protected] 16 points 7 months ago

"If players didn't like so called 'pay to win mechanics' they wouldn't spend so much money on them!" - Citizens United (paraphrased)