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Democrats Shocked By Success Of Left-Wing Candidate Offering Left-Wing Policies To Left-Wing Voters (www.betootaadvocate.com)

submitted 1 day ago by geneva_convenience@lemmy.ml to c/progressivepolitics@lemmy.world

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Mamdani, a proudly socialist 33-year-old, holds a 44-36 percent lead over over former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo – who was hoping that New Yorkers had short memories, and were ready to re-elect the textbook centrist Democrat.

However, after the disaster of Trump’s first year back in the White House – with everyday American life interrupted by protests, immigration raids, corruption allegations and the unshakebale feeling that the nation is about to enter World War 3… It seems the pendulum is swinging back towards left-wing politics.

It appears that the success of Mamdani isn’t so much a vote against Trumpian politics, but more a vote against the stale nothingness of the Democrats top brass – who, while pitching themselves as the progressive option in America’s political system, very seldom action – or even – offer – left-wing policies.

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[–] inbeesee@lemmy.world 6 points 1 day ago (2 children)

The massive problem a lot of Americans are struggling with is that they only have two choices, and one vote. I think there would be massive pressure on terrible Democrat candidates if voters felt like they could vote for who they really want to and keep these terrible candidates as a reluctant backup. We have the system we have now and have to work within it, but God damn I am so hungry for a instant runoff voting system.

[–] WoodScientist@sh.itjust.works 13 points 23 hours ago

Part of working with the system we have now is to not myopically focusing on just the election in front of you. Short term thinking and voting blue no matter who is what got us to where we are today.

[–] Aceticon@lemmy.dbzer0.com 6 points 23 hours ago* (last edited 23 hours ago)

They have two choices in each election, but if they look at mid and long term, they have more than two choices because how they vote (or refuse to) today influences who gets put forward next time around.

The US Elections aren't a Trolley Problem from Philosophy (because: most effects of the choice can be undone, they're a cyclical choice rather than one-off, you don't really know for sure what each choice gets you because politicians lie, they're not an individual choice) they're more like a Cyclical Ultimatum Game from Game Theory between the party of the political side of a voter and the voter, and the party puts forward a candidate with a certain mix of policies and the voter can Accept - and then both the party and the voter get a little closer to getting that mix of policies - or the voter can Reject - and then the party and the voter get a little further from getting that mix of policies.

This being the cyclical version is what matters most here: both sides get to do another run of the game in 4 years time, which is why a Reject on the side which can chose "yay or nay" can make sense as a way of inducing the other size to put forward a candidate with a different mix of policies on the next round.

(The main difference from the actual cyclical Ultimatum Game is that the actual Accept or Reject is the sum of many votes, and both Parties in the US use the inherent difficulty of people in working as a group to get Accepts when they should be getting Rejects)

The American Voting System is fucked up and not really Democratic, yet unlike and actual Power Monopoly, there are still ways to influence the Power Duopoly in the US but they require voters to be Strategical in how they vote rather than only Tactical.