“What’s going to happen in this next election? I’m terrified about what could possibly happen, because our leaders matter. Who we select, who speaks for us, who holds that bully pulpit, it affects us in ways sometimes I think people take for granted,” Obama told Jay Shetty on his podcast “On Purpose.”
“The fact that people think that government — ‘eh, does it really even do anything?’ — and I’m like ‘Oh my God, does government do everything for us, and we cannot take this democracy for granted.’ And I worry sometimes that we do. Those are the things that keep me up,” she said.
“The bars are different for people in life. That I’ve learned,” she said.
Without naming Trump, she continued: “Other people can be indicted a bunch of times and still run for office. Black men can’t. You just learn to be good. And in the end, you benefit from that extra resilience.”
Im gonna be real with y’all. Fascism in the US is already here and it’s only getting worse. Whether you vote Democrat or Republican you are voting to maintain a system that actively harms and kills millions. These days voting Democrat only means minorities in the US get a little more rights if they’re nice while everything else stays the same or gets worse and honestly I can’t tell if it was ever any better. It makes me genuinely sick that I have choose between two of the worst people I’ve ever had the displeasure of observing and any consideration of an alternative is met with active hostility or dismissal. I cannot fathom how people can accept being forced to choose between two genuine evils
My vote will accomplish nothing because there is no one to represent me
This sounds an awful lot like a the old ‘both sides’ boogaloo.
Fuck that.
America under the democrats is a vile bully that pokes its nose in where it doesn’t belong and causes a great deal of suffering across the planet.
I grant you that, but America under MAGA unleashes the true evil in the hearts of men. The malady caused by four years under Trump lingers on in so many aspects of life.
Comparing the two is a massive mistake.
I’ll give you that republicans are genuinely worse yes. I do not doubt it. However, there is not a single Democrat president in my lifetime I would not also deem to be a war criminal
That’s because basically every president we’ve had is a war criminal to one extent or another.
Eh, the problem is that people think they’re making progress with establishment democrats in office.
The lesser-evil is still evil. A slow loss is still a loss.
The word forced is right there in your sentence, what’s hard to fathom? A third party vote is effectively a vote for Trump. I’m not going to argue with you if you still feel morally compelled to vote third party - but let’s not pretend otherwise.
I understand that. Neither option is ‘good’. But one of the options will (in my opinion) have a bloody good go at removing your ability to have the option at all in the future.
In this case, people accepting being force to choose between two genuine evils is because one of the two evils plans to make it so there is no chance at change and would likely turn to slaughtering people who don’t fall in line with the regime
What makes this time in America’s history so terrifying is that the difference between Democrat and Republican has only been greater one other time and it resulted in a civil war. You can’t say “both sides are evil” because it’s not even close. Democrats haven’t really changed and that’s not the progress they claim to represent. However Republicans have abandoned the concept of the US as a whole and are actively attempting to corrupt our voting and end democracy state by state. Republicans are so close to crossing a line that cannot be uncrossed and it will result, at best, in states operating as independent nations. In other words, a fucking disaster.
There is only one “evil” side right now.
I mean, we’re still caging children at the border and a genocide is happening right now and we have given the ally who is perpetuating that genocide more weapons. Both sides are evil.
You are correct of course. As has played out historically, the liberals have been utterly ineffective at combating the rise of fascism.
It was not until what, about 12 to 6 ish months ago that finally, you could actually tell a liberal that Trump and the Republicans /are fascists/ without a bunch of hoity toity himming and hawing about tone policing and catastrophizing accusations.
A sad, sad joke.
We are a historically ignorant country, still high on our own supply of American Exceptionalism, unable to grasp that It Can In Fact Happen Here.
We ruled by geriatric politicians who have not been able to connect with the actual politics or material concerns of anyone under the age of 40 in a way that would effectively improve their lives. The mechanics of our political system are ossified and incapable of being changed to even /allow/ for changing into a system that would allow for more effective representation of the many, many poor. We will never have ranked choice voting on a large scale, nor reform to the electoral college, nothing like that. Not that those things would even work in a society where over 50% of possible voters have the literacy level of 7th graders.
We are ruled by corporate overlords who do not give a functional damn about any social justice issues and only feign it as a brand and marketing strategy to lull those who might otherwise actually do something useful to address those issues in society into inaction, as they can pay for the conspicuous consumption of media and more animal friendly foods or eco friendly cars or whatever to allow them to /feel/ like they are helping to solve the problem, when in reality they are just continuing to fund it.
I hope I am wrong and some actual good change will happen. But I do not think it likely at this point.
in that case you have to vote to at least make sure that you get a dog instead of a wolf
I shouldn’t have to choose between evil and slightly less evil. My vote is already useless in the state I live in because it’s been gerrymandered into dysfunction so it’s hard to even find a reason to bother
What should be and what is are not the same thing, and if you spend all day crying about how it shouldn’t be like this, you’ll never change how it is.
It is not possible to change the system through voting. Not to the extent it needs to be changed
And who cares how much worse you make it because you wont even try to make it better? The system sucks, so lets burn it down! I can’t wait until we get the handmaiden’s tale because the system isn’t changeable enough.
You think I am not trying to make it better? I do and I am, just not through voting. The most direct way you can affect the world around you is through volunteer work and organization. Voting is the least efficient way to change people’s lives
That’s good to hear, but please, do not pretend that ignoring the presidency wouldn’t set back the good you’re working towards at the local level.
You’re only correct in the positive direction. The relationship is inverted for negativity, and not voting is the most efficient way of making lives materially worse, given the shitheads that end up in office when you let those with an authoritarian bent control who holds national office.
It’s also how you make sure you get the dog not the wolf in the short term. A lot of your other action is going to get a lot harder if Trump takes the whitehouse and never leaves.
Gerrymandering does not affect Senate and Presidential elections.
Gerrymandered districts elect state governments, and state governments get to make their own election laws.
I am aware of this and probably shouldn’t have mentioned it considering the topic is primarily the presidential election. The electoral college is more of a factor in this case. Regardless I live in the most red state possible
At the very least, your vote lends credence to gerrymandering or electoral college reform, if it is part of popular vote showing different results from actual vote
I think voting, while important, is ineffective for fixing a political system. One man having the correct idea can’t change anything by one vote.
I’m climbing my career ladder and starting to control good portion of company resources. At least, it has more potential than a single stupid vote. How to make use of that power I need to figure out, but as nobody knows the solution, the only route is to think while trying.