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Two Options, Same Rule
(ani.social)
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this post was submitted on 03 Jan 2024
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I'm not going to say most Democrats aren't capitalists and in corporations' pockets. But one party got ACA passed and tried to get some student loan forgiveness passed. Along with a whole number of different laws passed for worker protections and similar over the last few years.
On the other hand, Republicans have Trump who tried to pass Schedule F for government workers which would have taken us back to the spoils system where Presidents hand out government appointments, jobs and ambassadorships as rewards for loyalty. FYI we got rid of this system after it directly caused President Garfield's assassination. That's just one of many anti-worker, anti-poor, and anti-people reforms the last Republican president tried to accomplish. We don't even need to touch the entire Republican party's fascination with stripped rights away from women and trans people.
Both sides is bullshit.
"Ya know, they say the next bomb will be sent by a Democrat in office rather than a Republican."
"Damn, that makes my Genocide feel so much nicer. I hope they maybe legalize weed for them in another 4 election cycles."
Either guy will send the bomb but one guy will reform elections and taxes so that your opinion matters perpetually for every guy after. I feel like that's worth not saying they're literally the same.
Also, Obama actually ended a lot of conflicts and shielded a lot of the middle east against violence, even if Biden added shit to the bed filled with Trump's shit.
Keeping you placated with those less than bare minimum gestures which, while helpful on a superficial level to some, don't actually change anything fundamental in the grand scheme of things, is exactly how liberals enable fascism.
Equating left and right wings as "both sides" is bullshit, but liberals aren't on the left, therefore pointing out that democrats and republicans serve the same system and people isn't "both sides" at all, it's a statement of demonstrable fact, however uncomfortable that might be - both parties exist to keep those with power and money with power and money, for that to happen, they have to keep you (never mind those exploited overseas, out of sight out of mind) poor and powerless.
For anyone willing to challenge their bias and comfort:
https://truthout.org/articles/fascism-is-possible-not-in-spite-of-liberal-capitalism-but-because-of-it/
https://www.counterpunch.org/2020/10/14/liberalism-and-fascism-partners-in-crime/
https://web.archive.org/web/20230803021951/https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2022/08/22/american-democracy-was-never-designed-to-be-democratic-eric-holder-our-unfinished-march-nick-seabrook-one-person-one-vote-jacob-grumbach-laboratories-against-democracy
The ACA?
You mean RomneyCare?
The Republican plan Obama chose because they wouldn't vote against their own plan?
Oh and Biden is the reason we can't discharge student debt in bankruptcy. He personally helped pass that bill. So happy he tried and failed to undo his own mess. (Which was a half ass plan anyway instead of just making student loans discharchable in bankruptcy again.)
Yeah. Sure, Jan.
EDIT: Links of proof added.
And your alternative for this next election cycle is what exactly? Be crystal clear. What is the realistic outcome of not supporting Biden over any Republican? How would Trump or Nikki Hailey as president be better for the left than Biden?
Feelings about the past are important, but strategies for the future matter more. Biden has done shitty things, but the best Republican would be orders of magnitude worse. We can't expect bad people to get what they deserve because it usually isn't possible. The only achievable justice is the mitigation of future injustice. Cosmic punishment can only be delivered by a god, and attempts to enforce it will often lead us astray.
Bro you can critique the people you vote for.
I don't know why people always assume correctly critiquing democrats for being failures to the left and to workers means they think we would vote for an actual fascist.
No we want better options period.
Leftist equivocation is more than a simple "critique." It distorts reality to paint a hopeless picture that encourages apathy and people who unironically choose to not vote for the lesser evil. It brings this both sides bullshit into the realm of acceptable conversation when it really shouldn't be.
It's like when Nazis talk about Soros controlling the world and promoting "globalism." There are valid criticisms that must be made about billionaires like Soros and their promotion of global capitalism, but that isn't what Nazis mean when they fear monger about them. They single out Soros because he's Jewish, say he controls the world because of cabal conspiracy theories, and don't give a fuck about fixing capitalist exploitation. You don't let the Nazi stay once they become identifiable; you kick them out and avoid feeding their arguments.
Just like how many conservatives that complain about Soros are unaware of the Nazi dogwhistles, many Leftists who equivocate the parties don't recognize the accelerationist underpinnings. Your critique of Biden isn't the problem. Unintentionally feeding apathy and accelerationism is where you fuck up. Bring up those critiques in a post that doesn't promote apathy. A generic "Democrats suck" post would be better than this meme.
So I'm still going to vote for a Democrat, which is all you wanted from me 15 hours ago.
But now I'm getting a screeching screed about how that's not enough.
Fucking fuck off man.
I'm sorry. I wasn't explicit or careful enough in my wording. To clarify, you aren't the one equivocating, the op of this meme is. The only mistake you made is supporting his argument unintentionally. You're right about Biden, but context matters.
The internet sucks, and people automatically interpret a critique of a critique as defense of the original point. I do it to others even though I get caught up in the same trap all the time. I feel your pain.
Beautifully put.
The ACA fails to provide healthcare access to the most vulnerable and disenfranchised groups. It's an epic failure and capitist nightmare.
Biden didn't attempt to forgive student loan debt. If you dig just a bit, you'll find it was all theater. He even worsened the situation for many. The only people he's helped are select groups of the "right" people.
He has also expanded the reach of ICE, continued Trump's wall, and expressed support for the genocidal state of Israel.
I'm not saying Republicans aren't worse, but it's foolish to try to silence leftists and progressives when we point out how deeply problematic all of this is.
The ACA was not what Democrats were looking to pass originally. It was a compromise reached with idiot republicans (who mostly wanted no reform at all) in the context of an absolutely massive propaganda and lobbying effort from insurance and pharmaceutical companies.
The ACA could have been potentially a great law, despite being based on RomneyCare... until Joe Lieberman stripped out the Public Option that would have slowly undermined the corporate insurance industry by being cheaper, and was meant to be a path to Universal Healthcare.
Fucking Blue Dog Democrats, they may as well be Republicans.
biden was blocked from doing anything on sweeping blanket forgiveness of loan debt by the supreme court but that hasn't stopped him from forgiving thousands of dollars of it
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.cnbc.com/amp/2023/10/29/biden-administration-has-forgiven-127-billion-in-student-debt.html#cobssid=s
The post is about the core policies of both parties being to shit all over the worker while enriching the capitalist class. It's important to weigh the bad things that Republicans do against the good things that the Democrats don't do. Why has the federal minimum wage not increased from 7.25/h since the year 2009 despite Democratic legislative majorities? Why did the DNC prop up Hillary, quite possibly the most unelectable candidate in American history, When Bernie had such obvious grassroots support? What have the Democrats done to stop massive hedge funds like BlackRock from buying up all the single family homes so they can rent them to workers essentially creating a slave state? Oh great the average worker is never going to be able to afford their own home in their lifetime but at least our Democratic overlords are making sure employers can't be racist and students who made bad financial decisions are getting bailed out. Speaking of being bailed out, Democrats certainly didn't stop the bank bailout of 2008. Guess the party of the people thinks they should pay for the mistakes of the 1%.
Both sides completely throw the worker under the bus.
In 2003 I was working as a Master Control Operator for a local television station. This was complicated work and legalese work. We had to legally sign off on what commercials were being aired, while also doing the job of actually airing them on time, and recording shows from satellite so we could air them. We had to sign off on this legally to prove to the companies that had paid for the ads that they were running when and how long they were supposed to. I literally answered to the FCC and could be fined massive amounts and/or jailed if I screwed up too badly.
I was being paid the Federal Minimum of $5.15 an hour at the time. It hasn't gotten better. Even complex technical work has been completely devalued.
You're right. accounting for inflation 5.15 in 2003 would be worth 8.45 in 2023 dollars. That's a 16.5% loss of purchasing power. That's before you account for the soaring mortgage/rent rates. But young people are just lazy these days...
It gets "better." Back then, MCO's were only expected to do Master Control for one television station, because that's all the technology could handle at the time. Each local station had their own Master Control division.
All those got chopped up with technology around the time they switched from analog broadcasting to digital broadcasting. Now an MCO handles up to 15 stations at one time. Half the local stations lost their Master Control offices, and soon, their local news with it.
For example, the station I used to work at no longer functionally exists. They only exist as one reporter and one production assistant in a tiny block inside of a strip mall. They do "cut-ins" for the "local news" that airs from their "sister station" over 200 miles and over 3 hour drive away. Screams "local" to me. What a joke.
So now MCO's can get paid minimum wage with 15x the labor to do!
I'm fine with this