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this post was submitted on 07 Aug 2023
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Politics
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Republican obstructionism is worse than Democrat foot-dragging. Sorry, I know people get frustrated with the lack of progress, but one of those things is clearly a bigger problem than the other.
If a third party revolutionary candidate were actually viable and likely to provide even incremental improvement in the lives of real people, then I'd be on board. But it's not viable. Incremental progress is preferable to no progress or negative progress.
Democrat foot dragging enables Republican obstructionism.
The ACA, the infrastructure bill, the climate bill, getting sick days for rail workers without crashing the entire country
It's not perfect, but it is progress
It's the almost invisible boring little bureaucratic improvements that I actually find most exciting because they signal the real intent of the administration: https://prospect.org/labor/2023-08-07-biden-admin-labor-rule-davis-bacon/
So, since you recognize the importance of tackling climate change, let's focus on that for a minute. Even with the climate bill, we are still looking at a bleak future.
This "don't let the perfect be the enemy of good" speil is literally enabling a worse, more drastically dangerous climate future. Period.
It will get worse if not addressed seriously and the band-aids Democrats are offering will not prevent that bleak, bad future.
Scientists have been saying as much for decades and we are still not even close to taking it seriously enough. So the climate bill and how far it falls short is actually a mark against them, imho.
If it won't prevent the worst climate catastrophes that could result in global mass extinction (already happening, arguably), then it isn't even close to enough and we will be leaving our children and grandchildren a horrible hollowed out husk of a planet.
This matters, and so acting like it is "letting perfect be the enemy of good" is flat out disingenuous.
People will die because of decades of inaction. Lives that didn't have to end that way. It is selling out the future of our species for so-called "stability" now.
Republicans are actively working to make it worse on purpose
What do you propose? Give me something that is viable.
People are going to die. Our stupid populace always refuses to come around and pay attention to an issue until they see bodies in the streets. That's the real reason we haven't seen major action on climate change until now. I don't prefer that reality, but it is sadly the one that we are working with whether we like it or not.
The climate bill isn't enough, but is that a reason to throw all progress out the door and allow the ones who are actively trying to destroy the world into power?
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/what-scientists-say-about-the-historic-climate-bill/
Who is proposing throwing all that progress out?
I have been very clear that I understand the clear and present danger the GOP represents and that I will continue to vote Democrat while gritting my teeth knowing people deserve better. I have stated as much in this thread.
Am I not allowed to critique them without insinuations that I must be making bad choices in voting or am a Republican plant? Why am I not allowed to point out the reality that what the Democrats have given still isn't enough?
Ok, well you didn't say that in any comments to me, so I didn't see it. But also, let's not pretend like there aren't right-wing bad actors out on these platforms pushing that exact "both sides" message to discourage people from voting. Because you and I both know there are. These public comments have consequences
Nineteen kindergartners were murdered in cold blood in a school and nothing changed.
Bodies in the street don't even affect them anymore.
But a third party will likely never be viable in within the lifetimes of people alive today, unless the Democrats suddenly decide to overturn FPTP voting.
So understand what you are asking of people. People are more than "frustrated with the lack of progress", they are enraged because they recognise that the current system will NEVER deliver them real justice and dignity. That they will be faced with this exact same situation every single election. And you are asking them to be content living with their rights and well-being on a knife-edge, likely for the rest of their lives. Because while the Democrats won't give them justice, the alternative is fascism.
So you are correct, the Republicans are objectively worse, and people should vote for the most progressive viable candidates possible. But the neoliberal tendency to demand that leftists stop complaining while they give up everything in the name of "compromise", and then tendency to blame leftists for neoliberal losses anyway, is galling.