When I wrote Harris offered more of the same, I meant more of Biden's agenda. He didn't do anything to tax billionaires, raise the minimum wage, or offer an affordable housing plan. The Dems are also in thrall to Big Money. We need new blood & new ideas in our party, a la Zohran Mamdani.
Yup. I have voted for Democrats, including HRC, Biden and Harris, for my entire life. Under Biden my rent, my healthcare, and every other cost of living went up faster than my wage. Even when the stock market was up and the economy looked good on paper, this was the norm for most Americans.
Denial of context lost the election. Inflation was a real issue but real wages grew 1% over inflation during the the Biden administration. Post-pandemic, the US had lower inflation and a better recovery than other developed countries. www.brookings.edu/articles/the...
Yeah, and the Democrats helped create that context. As people were having trouble making ends meet, people like you were out here saying “but see, we are looking good on paper!” instead of acknowledging that things were (and are) really bad for a lot of people, while the rich got much much richer.
Even now the Democrats are like “we need to focus on kitchen table issues” but are not actually doing anything except repeating that phrase. When someone like Zohran shows up and promises to freeze my rent, the Democrats actively run away from those policies.
I have voted for Democrats my entire life, but I don’t have any doubt that my choices have been “things get worse” vs “things get worse faster” - the Democrats never roll back things like the patriot act when they have the chance. Kathy Hochul sent the national guard to NYC subways last year.
I’m not even a Democrat, but believe our choice right now is between corporate oligarchy with some desire to smooth the rough edges (democrats) and an autocracy with a “fuck you, I got mine” attitude (republicans). Dems have trouble distinguishing between bad and horrible.
I can tell the difference, and I’ve sucked it up and voted for the “lesser of two evils” my entire life, and I don’t need to be lectured for complaining about how the system is awful and we need to demand more from Democrats.
Instead of useless finger wagging about how we should just accept the Democrats being awful because they aren’t as bad, let’s focus on how to get them to be the political party we actually need.
Saying that the Democrats lost because people complained about them is like saying that a wet sidewalk causes rain, when it is the other way around. The Democrats lost because they do not listen to the complaints of their constituents.
So my comment on context is “lecturing” and “finger wagging”, but your multiple comment rant is ?? And I neither lectured (for a good comparative reference look at your comments) nor finger wagged. I just stated a belief about context and that your “impression” of the economy wasn’t the economy.
I also never said or implied that democrats lost because people complained. I said democrats’ loss was significantly influenced by their and the press’ inability to provide real context to our economic situation.
I do not and never have denied the adverse impact of inflation. It affects me too. But I do realize we got off better than most. The PR of this reality was mismanaged, but it doesn’t change the reality. We also have absolutely no indication it would have been anything but worse under republicans.
It would have been way worse under Republicans. But also my Democratic congressman is worth over $200 mil. That number went up millions since being elected. He won his primary by 2% after outspending everyone else by a factor of 10x, out of his own pocket. He does not support universal healthcare.
“More of the same”, as flawed and captive to corporations as it was, is still far superior to our current attack on constitutional protections of institutions and individuals. The difference between flawed and criminally malicious. And they’re doing nothing about any of the problems you listed.
I totally agree. Almost anything would have been better than the lunatic in the White House now. I think my point was the Dems have been no shining light for needed change, and I don't think the existing group of Dems will be going forward. I am all for new blood, new thinking, and new energy.
I agree. One of the strongest arguments to term limits has been the absolute inability of “senior” legislators do anything about the trump overreach, despite the YEARS of experience and system knowledge the long-termers claim justifies their presence. Hence, their presence is no longer justified.
I am agreeing with you. Trump and his toadies are horrific and are destroying our democracy and ripping the Constitution to shreds.
And I agree with you that both parties are captives of the very rich - be they individuals, corporations, etc. It’s just a difference in how cruel and extreme the process and goals are. “Liberals” want to soften the blow of oligarchy, “republicans” don’t give a damn or see cruelty as the point.
Thanks for your thoughts. You're right - in this administration, cruelty is the whole point. It isn't as if Trump likes his own base & hates everyone else. It's like he hates everyone b/c the awful things he's doing - the destruction of so many government programs, research, services - hurts us all.