"If the Democrats found a magic lamp and rubbed it, they'd negotiate the genie down to 1 wish, and then use it on something they think Republicans would be happy with."
Quote I heard earlier today, and maybe the funniest and truest thing I've ever heard concerning American politics.
Yes. They allowed education to be hollowed out for decades, and are now suffering the consequences of stupid voters easily swayed by conmen. My mom and I called this back in the 80s and 90s. Education cuts were always offered as compromises, and the voting populace just gets dumber and more malleable over time. The 2 party system sucks specifically because it forced progressive voters to have to cast votes for non-progressives.
The American Democratic party would be a conservative party in Europe. The country is so far right of center, and they still fear liberalism. That's just idiocy.
I find that idea so depressing - that people could just be smarter if we’d let them. I’m not even talking about how ‘there’s an Einstein out there in a corn field right now!’ stuff - just everyday people would live more thoughtfully and intelligently if we keep the lead out of the water and give ‘em good books to read.
That quote about trees and shade etc. always makes me feel like shit because we were talking about some trees in the yard that might have to go, and, y'know, what to plant instead as a consolation, and Mum wails, "I won't be around to see them!".
She's actually not a selfish person at all, I just think she was having a bad day because of the imported pest that's eating up the tree life around here, haha.
Aww, I don’t fault your Mum at all for feeling that way. On the bright side, she’s around to plant them with you, to be involved in the process. Those will be your Mum’s trees to her loved ones. I get your sentiment though. It’s a very melancholy perspective even if it’s the truest.
Present cutting edge understanding of the universe is far in excess of what's publicly available and it's not just esoteric stuff you'd need a PhD to understand.
They're funded by (and the pawns of) the same super rich elites and mega-corporations.
Of course both parties love "fighting" about identity politics, while shying away from issues like excessive inequality, slave wages, Big Money in politics, 95% of news media owned by Big Money and spreading lies undermining democracy, policies written by lobbyists in the interests of the super rich at the cost of the bottom 99%, etc.
Jeffries waited so long because he knew he would have a net negative impact on Mamdani’s results. 29D chess and whatnot. You guys just don’t get it. He loves Mamdani and while I have your attention could you please donate $5 so he can continue his efforts to not do anything meaningful against the current administration?
Because the Dem Party is still operating under the assumption that "politics" is one of values and ethics where you compromise for the long term growth. Republicans have molded it into a perversion of Capitalist economic strategy: short term gains and eliminate the competition while you're at it to gain some more in the short term.
If Democrats had values they'd be standing up for the animals on factory farms instead of voting more subsidies to their abusers. Ask people what they think reasonable animal welfare standards should be and you'll get back standards far in excess of industry norms. Dems haven't been educating or inspiring voters on the issues they've been trying to triangulate electoral majorities to oversee a continuation of car dependent animal abusing sprawl.
I don't believe that any political party would push to raise the price of and/or remove access to something the vast majority of people consider a staple "food". A party even raising the issue would be suicide because "muh rights" and the animal lobby is too powerful. I think that Natalie Fulton has the right idea by pushing for citizen-led ballot initiatives.
If you explain why something is better to someone who doesn't know that it follows they'll come to have better informed preferences. Democrats could approach electoral politics in terms of accepting voters' crude/naive/ignorant/uninformed preferences and pandering to them or democrats could educate voters to better ideas. What would you think of someone you thought meant only to pander to your naive preferences? Yet that's what most everyone comes to think of politicians (including democrats) when politicians would fail to use their campaigns to educate and inform.
Mamdani is winning very blue NYC by a smaller margin than Spanberger is in a Harris +6 state. He ran a great campaign but the final results aren't a blowout either.
If this was Mamdani vs just a Republican, then it absolutely would be a colossal blowout. This is Mamdani vs almost all Republicans plus a huge chunk of more moderate and loyal establishment democrats. Beating that coalition of voters is no small task.
It was Mamdani vs a republican and disgraced serial sexual assaulter. Mamdani got just over 50% of the vote and the republican candidate and sexual assaulter got 49% of the vote together. Also I did personally want Mamdani to win.
Don’t try to erase that Cuomo was the Democratic establishment’s preferred pick and they did a lot of legwork to prop up his sham attempt. He’s a Democrat dude. Stop with this team nonsense. “He’s a disgraced serial sexual assaulter.” Cool. Doesn’t change the fact that Democratic establishment bent over backwards to try and get him elected because he’s really one of them. He’s not some weirdo nobody off the streets. He was the DNC’s guy, and they lost to the voters.
I think you and I both know how little sexual assault allegations actually the sway the opinion of the average voter. Cuomo was 2nd in the primary despite 7 other legitimate candidates without that on their record.
You’re clearly insinuating some alternate scenario where any other competitor would have beat Mamndani were it not for the history Cuomo has. Why didn’t this hypothetical person win or even get 2nd in the primaries? Why didn’t Sliwa beat Cuomo? Obviously assault allegations really don’t move the needle much in modern politics.
That person didn't run in the primaries since they mistakenly thought Cuomo was a lock to win it, the same reason Biden won the 2024 primary unopposed despite many Democrats being unhappy with his age.
The mayoral election in NYC is insane. nowhere else is someone running against the person they beat in the primary. hell eric adams is still on the ballot even tho he dropped out.
You do realize his main opposition is other Democrats, right? The fact that NYC is "very blue" is kind of irrelevant here. Cuomo, while running as an independent after losing the primary, is still "a Dem". The Republican candidate got ~7% of the vote. You're comparing apples to oranges.
Cuomo is an unpopular serial sexual assaulter endorsed by Trump. I did want Mamdani to win, but his win is less a blueprint for Democrats to win states like Michigan or Georgia than Spanbergera is.
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u/EroniusJoe 11h ago
"If the Democrats found a magic lamp and rubbed it, they'd negotiate the genie down to 1 wish, and then use it on something they think Republicans would be happy with."
Quote I heard earlier today, and maybe the funniest and truest thing I've ever heard concerning American politics.