Democrats have done a shit ton in the 4 years of the last 30 that they’ve had majorities in both houses and the presidency. But sure let’s just ignore all that and play into the literally right wing propaganda that “Democrats don’t do anything when they have power”.
Also, it’s really frustrating that I see so many people both being upset Democrats are only doing political theatre stuff because they want them to do something with a minority that has next to no power, but also see people say that Democrats need to do more political Theatre. Often I see this from the same people.
Obama had full control of both houses for 133 days, including the Holiday break.
He needed 60 seats in the Senate to stop Republican fillibusters. Ted Kennedy had a seizure during Obama’s inauguration dinner and never returned to vote, but didn’t step down. He eventually died, and was temporarily replaced by Paul Kirk on September 24, 2009, but in the Special Election for Kennedy’s seat, the Tea Party won and the Senate majority was no longer fillibuster-proof as of February 4, 2010.
It’s almost like it’s harder to fix things than it is to break things. Also, fixing things is booooooooooooring, so much so that it’s never covered by news outlets who act like they live and die by viewership counts. The only things that do get covered is “some dem SLAMS some repub over some controversial issue”, so we only hear about utterly meaningless nonsense that portrays the dems as weak incompetent failures. Well, they are failures, after all they did lose to fascists in what should have been the easiest win in history, but let’s not derail this into a debate about the Last Election.
Democrats didn’t do shit. Democrats didn’t codify Roe v Wade when they had a majority. Democrats didn’t improve public transportation. Democrats deported the most people in the history of the country. Democrats financed the genocide and constantly blocked any efforts at ending it. Democrats tripled the budgets of cops during the BLM protests. Democrats are a right wing party that only care about their rich donors. There are reasons why MLK, Malcolm X and the Black Panther Party all hated the Democrats.
Democrats have definitely not done enough and done some shitty things. They also passed the first infrastructure bill in 15(?) or so years under Bidens first 2 years. They passed a bill fucking saving the economy during both Obama’s and Bidens first 2 years, providing stimulus and saving a collapsing economy. They passed the Dodd Frank act in Obama’s first 2 years that regulated Wall Street even if it wasn’t enough, it still significantly helped shit. They passed the the ACA which, while not perfect, mandated insurance companies to cover people with preexisting conditions which got healthcare for tens of millions. It expanded Medicaid which, despite being refused by red states, in the states that accepted the funds it provided relatively cheap healthcare to tens of millions. They passed the first bill that has ever had any climate change initiatives in it during Bidens first 2 years and Harris campaigned on doing more. They introduced the EV tax credits that have got people to buy non gas producing cars at massive rates, even if not enough. They increased the minimum wage in 2009 and tried to again in 2021. That only failed because they simply didn’t have the votes. They could have gotten rid of the parliamentarian if they wanted but then it still wouldn’t have had the votes even for a simple majority so it wouldn’t have mattered. They invested in expanding trains across the country but because of trump being elected last year that’ll probably be cut.
They have passed plenty of really progressive legislation that died in the Senate because of the filibuster and Republicans refusing to vote for even the most basic things. They could have tried to get rid of the filibuster but to do that they need a majority of the Senate to vote for that rule package and 2 Democrat senators refused to because they’re assholes. They could have fixed much of that if they had been given by the voters a larger majority in the Senate so they could have tanked those 2 senators votes.
Democrats should have done more. They should be doing more when they have power. They have run on progressive policies time and time again, however, and even though they’re not as progressive as they should be and still have some shit policies, that doesn’t mean they do nothing.
If not for the ACA I wouldn’t have healthcare, I have a preexisting condition and that law mandates insurance companies to keep me on. I also happen to live in a state with expanded Medicaid which has given healthcare to tons of people I know when they could only afford the cheap stuff. Should there have been a public option? Absolutely, health insurance shouldn’t be a for profit industry.
But to say they did “nothing” is to directly say you either, refuse to acknowledge anything positive they have done because it wasn’t perfect or because they also did shitty things, or that you simply aren’t paying attention enough to know they did positive things.
Listen, you’re a .ml user. That makes me assume you’re a communist, which is completely okay in my book. Ya know the only time in American history that communists have had any amount of influence in American society? It was under FDR because they went out every primary and every year to vote for progressive and leftist Democrats to have representation in government just as much as non communists. Earl Browder was the leader of the party at the time and he pushed for supporting Democrats and it worked. They didn’t run candidates during the election years because FDR was their candidate. Browder correctly realized and stated that American parties are coalitions. If communists, of which I am one too, want to get a seat at the table, want to be able to actually influence policy instead of just twiddling our thumbs and yelling at fucking walls without getting anywhere, we have to vote in the primaries for progressive leftist Democrats and change the party. We have to be consistent voters. There will never be a third party that takes root, it will never happen, but that doesn’t mean we can’t have a seat at the table and work towards moving the Overton window back left by voting in primaries and voting out establishment Democrats in favor of people with better views who will do more. This is how we as leftists had power under FDR, its how we helped introduce more socialist policies. We had a seat at the table and were able to influence shit. We need to be able to recognize that that was a time when we had the most power, acknowledge why we had any, and do what we can to get back there.
Here is a paper showing that just having medicaid isnt enough: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC6452575/ if you can’t get a Dr does it matter if you have insurance? I am in the same boat as you and your friends, except… no one I know can actually get to a doctor anyways. I am glad you are able to be insured, dont get me wrong. I just want to see you also not die in medical debt, which I am certain you will because they didn’t fix the biggest problem with health insurance (the profit in it).
I know you think you’re a communist, but if you don’t work towards it you’re just a complacent person accepting of the tide. Check out your local DSA, I bet they are already working with Democrats in your area unless your Democrats won’t play ball.
First point, this is not an instance to simply give up working with Democrats. That one bad experience shows that what you need to do is be consistent and when democrats withdraw from their views and moderate that you need to the primary them and show them that if they do those things they will be kicked out of office. You don’t elect people once and then expect everything to always work out. You go and continue holding their feet to the fire. The article you linked is interested only in trying to show that working towards leftist politics in mainstream parties is a dead end because it’s not taking the lesson of the experience to the logical conclusion of voting again to kick out the Democrats that moderated. But I’m not surprised since it also seems to think a third party will ever take root which will never happen and only removes any power we have as individuals.
Second. I totally agree just medicaid isn’t enough, I mentioned that. I think the system of for profit insurance needs to go but I was talking to someone who said Democrats don’t ever do anything and that was my point. They do shit all the time even if it’s not as good as it should be, that just means more work needs to be done. Which is always a normal thing in any form of government, persistence is how things change and keep changing, not voting once and thinking everything will magically be fixed like what many did in 08 with Obama.
Third. I also agree that FDR saved capitalism but we as communists still had power back then through our voting bloc that was massively voting for the Democratic party. The communists back then supported FDR because they understood that we need to have a seat at the table and that to do that we need to vote for leftist Democrats. They did that and then had a seat at the table pushing for more socialist policies. Again, Communists, particularly during the war when FDR used a communist like structure of a federal government directed economy to great success, the people like Browder knew that we can be communists and have a seat at the table only when we vote for Democrats, that running our own people for the presidency and often for federal offices in general is a fools errand and that we need to invest in changing the democratic party because that’s how the two party system works. Then they were cast out post FDR death at direct instruction by the authoritarian piece of shit Stalin.
A third party is a lovely idea until you remember that that’s not how the American system works. First past the post, the different voting restrictions, all the other shit, these keep third parties from being able to impact anything but local politics. But until many of those things change third parties are wasting your vote. Federal funding does fuck all when it means you lead to fascists wanting to put queer people in camps and wanting to create trump Gaza into power. Federal funding also won’t fix any of the systems that keep third parties out of power. A third party can’t simultaneously take power and change the system while also not be capable of taking power and changing the system. It’s running around in circles pretending you’re moving towards a brighter future when it’s be better to just remake the democratic party who already has the infrastructure and funding and who many will just always vote for and who doesn’t have the system literally making it impossible for them to take power.
Edit: I’ve helped some of my local communists and socialists impact our local area but being in a deep red state most of what everyone does is outreach and organizing as opposed to actual governmental stuff. I’m also disabled and trans and have my own shit going on working to getting out of my red state so that I’m in a much more blue area where I will be more comfortable working with my fellow communists and socialists.
Democrats have done a shit ton in the 4 years of the last 30 that they’ve had majorities in both houses and the presidency. But sure let’s just ignore all that and play into the literally right wing propaganda that “Democrats don’t do anything when they have power”.
Also, it’s really frustrating that I see so many people both being upset Democrats are only doing political theatre stuff because they want them to do something with a minority that has next to no power, but also see people say that Democrats need to do more political Theatre. Often I see this from the same people.
Obama had full control of both houses for 133 days, including the Holiday break.
He needed 60 seats in the Senate to stop Republican fillibusters. Ted Kennedy had a seizure during Obama’s inauguration dinner and never returned to vote, but didn’t step down. He eventually died, and was temporarily replaced by Paul Kirk on September 24, 2009, but in the Special Election for Kennedy’s seat, the Tea Party won and the Senate majority was no longer fillibuster-proof as of February 4, 2010.
It’s almost like it’s harder to fix things than it is to break things. Also, fixing things is booooooooooooring, so much so that it’s never covered by news outlets who act like they live and die by viewership counts. The only things that do get covered is “some dem SLAMS some repub over some controversial issue”, so we only hear about utterly meaningless nonsense that portrays the dems as weak incompetent failures. Well, they are failures, after all they did lose to fascists in what should have been the easiest win in history, but let’s not derail this into a debate about the Last Election.
Yep, there is a lot of this rhetoric today. From a comment I did earlier.
Right now, it goes like this:
If only the dems knew about what Trump would do well ahead of time and planned for it instead of sitting on their hands.
Democrats didn’t do shit. Democrats didn’t codify Roe v Wade when they had a majority. Democrats didn’t improve public transportation. Democrats deported the most people in the history of the country. Democrats financed the genocide and constantly blocked any efforts at ending it. Democrats tripled the budgets of cops during the BLM protests. Democrats are a right wing party that only care about their rich donors. There are reasons why MLK, Malcolm X and the Black Panther Party all hated the Democrats.
Democrats have definitely not done enough and done some shitty things. They also passed the first infrastructure bill in 15(?) or so years under Bidens first 2 years. They passed a bill fucking saving the economy during both Obama’s and Bidens first 2 years, providing stimulus and saving a collapsing economy. They passed the Dodd Frank act in Obama’s first 2 years that regulated Wall Street even if it wasn’t enough, it still significantly helped shit. They passed the the ACA which, while not perfect, mandated insurance companies to cover people with preexisting conditions which got healthcare for tens of millions. It expanded Medicaid which, despite being refused by red states, in the states that accepted the funds it provided relatively cheap healthcare to tens of millions. They passed the first bill that has ever had any climate change initiatives in it during Bidens first 2 years and Harris campaigned on doing more. They introduced the EV tax credits that have got people to buy non gas producing cars at massive rates, even if not enough. They increased the minimum wage in 2009 and tried to again in 2021. That only failed because they simply didn’t have the votes. They could have gotten rid of the parliamentarian if they wanted but then it still wouldn’t have had the votes even for a simple majority so it wouldn’t have mattered. They invested in expanding trains across the country but because of trump being elected last year that’ll probably be cut.
They have passed plenty of really progressive legislation that died in the Senate because of the filibuster and Republicans refusing to vote for even the most basic things. They could have tried to get rid of the filibuster but to do that they need a majority of the Senate to vote for that rule package and 2 Democrat senators refused to because they’re assholes. They could have fixed much of that if they had been given by the voters a larger majority in the Senate so they could have tanked those 2 senators votes.
Democrats should have done more. They should be doing more when they have power. They have run on progressive policies time and time again, however, and even though they’re not as progressive as they should be and still have some shit policies, that doesn’t mean they do nothing.
If not for the ACA I wouldn’t have healthcare, I have a preexisting condition and that law mandates insurance companies to keep me on. I also happen to live in a state with expanded Medicaid which has given healthcare to tons of people I know when they could only afford the cheap stuff. Should there have been a public option? Absolutely, health insurance shouldn’t be a for profit industry.
But to say they did “nothing” is to directly say you either, refuse to acknowledge anything positive they have done because it wasn’t perfect or because they also did shitty things, or that you simply aren’t paying attention enough to know they did positive things.
Listen, you’re a .ml user. That makes me assume you’re a communist, which is completely okay in my book. Ya know the only time in American history that communists have had any amount of influence in American society? It was under FDR because they went out every primary and every year to vote for progressive and leftist Democrats to have representation in government just as much as non communists. Earl Browder was the leader of the party at the time and he pushed for supporting Democrats and it worked. They didn’t run candidates during the election years because FDR was their candidate. Browder correctly realized and stated that American parties are coalitions. If communists, of which I am one too, want to get a seat at the table, want to be able to actually influence policy instead of just twiddling our thumbs and yelling at fucking walls without getting anywhere, we have to vote in the primaries for progressive leftist Democrats and change the party. We have to be consistent voters. There will never be a third party that takes root, it will never happen, but that doesn’t mean we can’t have a seat at the table and work towards moving the Overton window back left by voting in primaries and voting out establishment Democrats in favor of people with better views who will do more. This is how we as leftists had power under FDR, its how we helped introduce more socialist policies. We had a seat at the table and were able to influence shit. We need to be able to recognize that that was a time when we had the most power, acknowledge why we had any, and do what we can to get back there.
Lemmy deleted my long comment :(
Here is what socialists working with Democrats looks like: https://lvdsa.org/2023/02/13/dempartyelection/
Here is a paper showing that just having medicaid isnt enough: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC6452575/ if you can’t get a Dr does it matter if you have insurance? I am in the same boat as you and your friends, except… no one I know can actually get to a doctor anyways. I am glad you are able to be insured, dont get me wrong. I just want to see you also not die in medical debt, which I am certain you will because they didn’t fix the biggest problem with health insurance (the profit in it).
FDR saved capitalism, common misconception
I know you think you’re a communist, but if you don’t work towards it you’re just a complacent person accepting of the tide. Check out your local DSA, I bet they are already working with Democrats in your area unless your Democrats won’t play ball.
First point, this is not an instance to simply give up working with Democrats. That one bad experience shows that what you need to do is be consistent and when democrats withdraw from their views and moderate that you need to the primary them and show them that if they do those things they will be kicked out of office. You don’t elect people once and then expect everything to always work out. You go and continue holding their feet to the fire. The article you linked is interested only in trying to show that working towards leftist politics in mainstream parties is a dead end because it’s not taking the lesson of the experience to the logical conclusion of voting again to kick out the Democrats that moderated. But I’m not surprised since it also seems to think a third party will ever take root which will never happen and only removes any power we have as individuals.
Second. I totally agree just medicaid isn’t enough, I mentioned that. I think the system of for profit insurance needs to go but I was talking to someone who said Democrats don’t ever do anything and that was my point. They do shit all the time even if it’s not as good as it should be, that just means more work needs to be done. Which is always a normal thing in any form of government, persistence is how things change and keep changing, not voting once and thinking everything will magically be fixed like what many did in 08 with Obama.
Third. I also agree that FDR saved capitalism but we as communists still had power back then through our voting bloc that was massively voting for the Democratic party. The communists back then supported FDR because they understood that we need to have a seat at the table and that to do that we need to vote for leftist Democrats. They did that and then had a seat at the table pushing for more socialist policies. Again, Communists, particularly during the war when FDR used a communist like structure of a federal government directed economy to great success, the people like Browder knew that we can be communists and have a seat at the table only when we vote for Democrats, that running our own people for the presidency and often for federal offices in general is a fools errand and that we need to invest in changing the democratic party because that’s how the two party system works. Then they were cast out post FDR death at direct instruction by the authoritarian piece of shit Stalin.
A third party is a lovely idea until you remember that that’s not how the American system works. First past the post, the different voting restrictions, all the other shit, these keep third parties from being able to impact anything but local politics. But until many of those things change third parties are wasting your vote. Federal funding does fuck all when it means you lead to fascists wanting to put queer people in camps and wanting to create trump Gaza into power. Federal funding also won’t fix any of the systems that keep third parties out of power. A third party can’t simultaneously take power and change the system while also not be capable of taking power and changing the system. It’s running around in circles pretending you’re moving towards a brighter future when it’s be better to just remake the democratic party who already has the infrastructure and funding and who many will just always vote for and who doesn’t have the system literally making it impossible for them to take power.
Edit: I’ve helped some of my local communists and socialists impact our local area but being in a deep red state most of what everyone does is outreach and organizing as opposed to actual governmental stuff. I’m also disabled and trans and have my own shit going on working to getting out of my red state so that I’m in a much more blue area where I will be more comfortable working with my fellow communists and socialists.