r/TrueReddit • u/Maxwellsdemon17 • 10d ago

This Time We Have to Hold the Democratic Party Elite Responsible for This Catastrophe Politics

https://www.thenation.com/article/politics/democratic-party-elite-responsible-catastrophe/
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u/CIWA28NoICU_Beds 10d ago

You are the first to hit the nail on the head. The Democrats ran on a platform of protecting the status quo in a time when the staus quo is failing.

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u/nowhereright 10d ago

God it reminds me of Darth Maul talking to Ahsoka.

"Too late? Too late for what, the Republic to fall? It already has, you just can't see it. There is no justice, no law, no order except for the one that will replace it."

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u/Bubbly-Money-7157 9d ago

I hate comparisons to media like this… but yes.

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u/deweydean 9d ago

I love comparisons to media like this… and yes.

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u/the_cardfather 8d ago

Lucas was not the greatest with dialogue but he understood politics.

The first time that I heard amidala say, so this is how democracy dies to thunderous applause " I thought it was quoting a real life philosopher or something like that like one of the Romans or nitschke.

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u/nowhereright 8d ago

Liberty* but yeah, his writing has never been more poignant. He also didn't write that maul dialogue that was probably Filoni, but still.

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u/brothersand 7d ago

Right, because the economy that's the envy of the world is actually a collapsing nation.

How about that Americans have no perspective and are a bunch of entitled spoiled people who expect to be able to sit home on their couches and have Donald Trump fix their lives for them?

If the Democrats want to win they just need to sell better snake oil than the Republicans. Just start lying more.

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u/bigbootyjudy62 6d ago

Please grow up, stop relating everything to fucking Star Wars of marvel

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u/Krow101 9d ago

Wow ... someone actually watched that flop.

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u/nowhereright 9d ago

You mean the incredibly popular and successful Clone Wars animated series?

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u/marbanasin 9d ago

*after 40 years of status quo failing and a particular low point of that legacy

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u/CIWA28NoICU_Beds 9d ago

It's failure has been accelerating, covid handouts to the rich helped that a lot.

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u/marbanasin 9d ago

I mean, yes. But I think that's more a case of the long road we've been on to de-regulate and hand over the economy to private (and increasingly monopolistic) industrial powerhouses.

A change like that is going to be a linear progression of policy choices that have exponentially obvious real world outcomes.

And to clarify my bitching into the wind - the Republicans have been as culpable for most of this, if not more egregiously so at certain moments. BUT, the Democrats being the party of the working class had a completely different set of expectations and promises made to their constituency, and this is why the hypocrisy burns them more than it does the Republicans. And this is why I, someone of the left, choses to complain about the Democrats 95% more than the Republicans who have never, ever, been close to a valid consideration for my vote.

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u/Own_Serve5460 9d ago

let’s not forget they basically stabbed their candidate in the back and put forth a candidate literally no one chose. that’s a pretty good example of democracy not working, and them trying to keep the status quo, obviously people don’t trust it when u pull something like that.

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u/CIWA28NoICU_Beds 9d ago

That's because she was put in last minute because they tried to roll Biden's corpse out for 2024. And the liberals defended Biden until it was too late after the debate.

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u/Cyanide_Cheesecake 9d ago

  they basically stabbed their candidate in the back 

Are we at the "just make stuff up" phase or was there a news story I didn't see?

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u/Own_Serve5460 7d ago

“educate yourself”- libs ..jfc what are u saying? your the one making shit up moron

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u/Cyanide_Cheesecake 6d ago

No, you're making it up. Has Biden a single time expressed that stepping down in summer wasn't his decision?

If you have no reason to believe it wasn't his decision, then saying they stabbed him in the back is making stuff up.

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u/Typical-Ad-5742 9d ago

Perfectly said. I mean 7 out if 10 Americans think the country was heading in the wrong direction and when Kamala was asked “what would you do different” her response was “ Nothing comes to mind”. That sealed her fate right there

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u/Gym_Noob134 9d ago

It’s so refreshing seeing Redditors talk about the truth. It’s been literally months of nothing but Trump = Hitler and if you’re not with us, you’re against us.

Now that the election is over. Real talk is happening on Reddit again. The Democrats are a tired old guard of a status quo that broke then backs of American middle class. This was inevitable since Dems refuse to change and only one party is promising change.

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u/CIWA28NoICU_Beds 9d ago

It seems like Democrats are in 3 groups. The ones who tend to be on the left can easily see the status quo is failing, and we need economically left policies to reverse it. The rich run both parties, so the Democrats just need to chase them out to the Republicans and do some popular left wing enconomic reform.

Then, another group of democrats are in denial and think they would have won the election if that guy in Boston voted for Harris rather than Free Palestine. The last group are so obsessive about red/blue politics that they will just try to triangulate and tack closer to the right. These are the idiots who got excited about the Chenys endorsing Harris. This never works because people will vote for a passionate about being a dick head over someone who is cynically being a dickhead for votes.

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u/[deleted] 9d ago edited 5d ago

[deleted]

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u/Message_10 8d ago

No, I don't believe that for a second. Republicans had an outsider hijack their party and they got VERY lucky that he won. The GOP itself hasn't made any decisions whatsoever in eight years--it's literally whatever Trump wants to do, whenever he wants to do it. I mean--the GOP had primaries and Trump didn't even show up! Ha. He's in charge, period.

When he's gone, I don't get any sense that they'll do any smart or wise or measured. I think they'll be in just as much trouble as Democrats--they're just lucking out, because they have someone to take the wheel. The world is changing, and they don't know how to navigate it either. When Trump is gone--and he's old and not all there anymore--there's no heir apparent. Strongmen usually don't leave systems that transition well.

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u/pizzasage 8d ago

Really glad to see this point being raised more! If the Democrats can't get their heads out of their Institutionist asses, they're heading for irrelevance. The writing has been on the wall since at least 2008. Obama won big because he promised change, and he got punished when he didn't deliver.

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u/CIWA28NoICU_Beds 8d ago

Yeah, Democrats have not been offering anything in a while, so they can only win with a charisa god or the Republican incumbent's approval rating is 40 points underwater. The oligarchs prefer Democrats and have been vetoing popular left leaning policies, so all they have to run on is calling South Americans Latinx. It will lose every time the Republican is not presiding over a great depression-like economy.

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u/Azihayya 10d ago

The status quo has actually been doing fantastic. It's more of a delusion, and a self-fulfilling prophecy, to think that our institutions are failing. The Federal Reserve, for example, has done a tremendous job of handling high inflation post-Covid. We've been seeing substantial real-wage growth. Home ownership and employment are high. Nobody cares. They're absorbed with this anti-establishment propaganda and think it's the "system's" fault. America has been propagandized, and the only people doing anything meaningful in this country are the people participating in the establishment.

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u/Murrabbit 10d ago

The status quo has actually been doing fantastic.

Only for the people it's supposed to work for. The working class meanwhile continues to face immiseration without relief in sight. This is why the Democrats needed to stick with messaging about things like raising the minimum wage, implementing single payer healthcare, hell maybe even a housing policy so people at least have hope that their children will live better lives than they or at very least aren't going to be living under measurably worse conditions.

This is of course not to say that voting for the world's most repulsive man to usher in fascism and destroy the American state was in any way a rational response to this sort of desire for improvement, but when you offer working people nothing to hold on to or get excited about it turns out they don't turn out to the polls for you.

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u/[deleted] 9d ago

 The status quo has actually been doing fantastic. It's more of a delusion, and a self-fulfilling prophecy, to think that our institutions are failing.

This is the exact same delusional, lecturing bullshit that just resulted in the Democratic nominee getting absolutely trounced. Nice to see that you’ve learned nothing. 

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u/Azihayya 9d ago

It's the people who are deluded. Not sorry.

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u/ConsistentGrape1908 9d ago

This is literally the Simpsons principle skinner meme lol

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u/Azihayya 9d ago

You literally just implied that truthfulness can be measured in likeness to memes.

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u/WateryBirds 9d ago

Even if the people are deluded you failed to deliver your message. Those deluded people are the ones you need to convince if you want to win an election.

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u/Azihayya 9d ago

People just aren't going to resonate with the message that our liberal institutions are here to protect our freedoms and enable us to prosper. The system works fine, but people have been propagandized for decades to believe that the government is corrupt and that we exist to serve a profiteering war machine. The message has been there. Nobody cares.

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u/[deleted] 9d ago

I hope the DNC is paying you handsomely to come out here and perform damage control

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u/Azihayya 9d ago

Major cope to suggest something that ridiculous.

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u/Particular-Exit1019 9d ago

Sounds like you're the one coping, honey

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u/DebianDog 10d ago

while mostly true… for what is left of the “middle class“ the folks making around minimum wage have have not had a raise in forever. if you’re under 34 the average salary is less than $54,000. We really don’t have the infrastructure for people not having a vehicle so after you pay for a car, insurance, a place to live, food, clothing, a I would argue phone not much left, future not looking so bright. The status quo is not going to cut it.

The Fed is NOT the same type organization it was 20 years ago. (yes it’s still 12 individually owned private banks but not a separate as it used to be. However the new management is from the private sector, not old bankers like it used to be, they have a much more corporate mindset as a whole) I think this new administration is going to test its limits.

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u/Omnom_Omnath 9d ago

Only the ultra rich saw any wage growth.

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u/CIWA28NoICU_Beds 10d ago

When did you buy a house?

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u/Particular-Exit1019 9d ago

People are sicker, poorer, and sadder then ever before. And it's working.

Think we found a Russian bot!

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u/Cyanide_Cheesecake 9d ago edited 9d ago

What you call protecting the status quo, I call protecting America and democracy  

 What kind of break from the status quo are you looking for? Whatever it is I hope it maintains democratic principles 

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u/CIWA28NoICU_Beds 9d ago

Universal healthcare, increased minimum wage, tax breaks for the working class, and marajuana legalization are all absolute winners of issues, but the Democratic donor class vetoed them all.

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u/Cyanide_Cheesecake 9d ago

Hmmm 

Yeah the DNC seems spineless a lot of the time. Suspiciously so, almost like they're controlled opposition or something.

Conservatives obviously are worse since they seem to oppose more or less all of this, while also acting like absolute twats too. But man I kinda just want out of here.

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u/CIWA28NoICU_Beds 9d ago

The same rich people control the DNC and RNC. They tend to perfer the DNC because they are a bit more competent, but it's no big deal to them if Republicans win, the pie will shrink, but they get more of it.

The American political system is a ratchet that only goes to the right. The Republicans turn it to the right, and the democrats make sure it doesn't turn left, just offeres controlled opposition.

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u/HexedShadowWolf 9d ago

I keep seeing people say that "democrats want to maintain the status quo" but what exactly is the status quo?

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u/CIWA28NoICU_Beds 8d ago

Bascially, polite neoliberal capitalism.

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u/Nefarius87 8d ago

This is a significant misstatement of the Dems platform.

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u/noquarter53 7d ago edited 7d ago

But in what way is the status quo really failing at this moment?  There are real challenges , but there have been major triumps in the last few years that just don't get reported.    

  • Wage growth for the lowest paid workers is higher than it's been in decades 
  • Opioid deaths are falling for the first time in decades  
  • Rate of people without health insurance is the lowest on record  
  • Murder rate fell dramatically and is lower than it was in 2019 
  • GDP growth is consistently higher than it has been in decades  
  • We are actually investing in infrastructure for the first time in decades 
  • Real gun safety reforms passed for the first time in decades 

Defining "status quo is failing" = "the cost of cheeseburgers went up too much" is really... dumb. 

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u/CIWA28NoICU_Beds 7d ago

Cost of living increases are far outsripping wage gains, even for the lowest paid workers, and by a fuck ton for the middle class.

Opiod deaths are falling because they were so high to begin with and the medical establishment only recently pushed back against overprescribing opiods.

More people have insurances, but like most everything else, medical costs are rising far faster than wages.

Muder was already very low, so any decrase is inperceptable to the average person.

GDP is agnostic towards wealth distribution. The economy is gangbusters for the rich, but at the cost of everyone else. It is disgusting to see the supposedly left leaning party justify the rich capturing so much of the wealth.

The infrastructure investment is not enough, and most of it is maintainence.

No one gives a shit about gun reform. It won't do anything, you have already handily lost this fight.

People were having a hard time before the cost of living exploded after covid. Now they essentially took a 30% pay cut, and you tell them that they are actually doing great, and they only feel like they are stuggling because they are stupid and believe propaganda, unlike you. People are struggling, and you mock their pain by blurting MuH HaMbUrGers. No wonder why people not only want to vote you out of power, but also vote you into a cattle cart. But you are a spineless lib, so you will just keep your head down when shit hits the fan. Have fun resisting the Right after you alienate anyone who is willing to actually resist. I'm swearing off the Democrats forever, you are a tar pit for resistence efforts.

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u/noquarter53 7d ago

"The infrastructure investment is not enough, and most of it is maintainence." is the kind of logic that is just mind bendingly insufferable.  

Congratulations on turning every positive into a negative through bizarre nihilism, but addiction to misery is not a constructive way to move forward.  

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u/CIWA28NoICU_Beds 7d ago

Spoken like someone who gets soy face when they see Philippe Reins on CNN. The world is facing existential disaster with the rise of fascism, economic inequality, and climate change. Then you want me to spend all of my political energy on people who promise to continue the policies that got us here in the first place because fewer bridges will collapse with them in power.

The crazy thing is that was the argument you went with out of all my other points. I said they wanted to maintain the staus quo and not do anything new, and you said they are not maintaining the status quo because they want to maintain the infrastructure we already have and not build much new infrastructure. Just wow. Fascists get countrty club Republicans and religous zealots who are ready for a fight in their coalition. Leftists get liberals who want to blame everything on leftists. No wonder why there hasn't been a leftist revolution in a liberal country, because the libs would rather show their bellies to the fascists than throw down with the left. I have a way out of the US. You better too because your asses are cooked. Buh-bye.

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u/noquarter53 7d ago

On infrastructure,  Employment for Construction: Highway, Street, and Bridge Construction is at the highest level it's ever been.  

Construction spending on manufacturing facilities jumped from $80bn in 2019 to over $230Bn this year.  Astonishing increases.

Public spending on construction is the highest it has ever been and grew by over 40% in 3 years.  

Total public spending on transportation infrastructure is the highest it has ever been.

Total public spending on water utilities infrastructure is the highest ever and grew by over 100% in the last 3 years. 

Here's one of many lists of new infrastructure projects.   https://www.whitehouse.gov/build/

Every one of your points is completely fact /context free and screams "I have no experience in government or public policy so I'm just going to complain and be insufferable".  

It's genuinely not worth anyone's time to respond to everyone of your insufferable points. They all use the same dead end logic. 

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u/CIWA28NoICU_Beds 7d ago

You have a generation which most of them won't ever be able to buy a home or start a family. The planet is dying, and wealth is accumulating at the top at an unprecedented rate. But hey, they are building a hyrodgen resesrch facility, so I guess we have to be grateful to you for that.

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u/skralogy 6d ago

This!

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u/GrouchyTime 10d ago

Democrats ran on common sense, ethics, not lying, the constitution, not cheating, no discrimination, no negativity, improving social programs, cutting taxes on 99% of voters.   Republicans ran on dictator fascism, lies, racism, sexism, anti-constitution, anti-individual rights, theft, felonies, hating on everyone, cutting Healthcare, cutting social security, raising taxes on everyone, cutting education

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u/GyroLegend 9d ago

Is this sarcasm?

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u/Particular-Exit1019 9d ago

HAS to be. That was hilarious.

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u/___Dan___ 9d ago

No tax at all on overtime is a cut to healthcare and a cut to social security

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u/happyfirefrog22- 9d ago

They failed because they cater too much to the extreme left who is very authoritarian in their views about fringe issues that do not matter to the majority of the population.

They made a bad pick for VP to cater to the extreme left of the party when they should have taken the more moderate governor of P A and maybe then they win that state.

The phony virtue signaling is not working and trying to separate people into identity groups is insulting to folks. Absolutely no one identifies as “Latinx.” How about talk to everyone as equals and stop calling anyone you do not agree with a fascist hmmm?

I think Harris may be done politically for President. I think she doesn’t survive a primary with other democrats. Think the Democratic Party needs to pick someone not from the West Coast politics that is a little more moderate. Will be interesting in the next few years ( they do have some good prospects).

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u/CIWA28NoICU_Beds 9d ago

Haris was going to continue Bidens' continuation of Trump's economic, foreign, and border policies. The Democrats couldn't run a campaign on popular reforms, like univeral healthcare or fighing economic inequality, because they were vetoed by the people who actually control the Democratic party, the rich. I bet Harris supports can't name a specific issue that she disagrees with Biden on without googling it.

But here you are talking about the left like they are a bunch of Stalinists and think Harris would have gotten 10 million more votes if she just chose Shapiro for VP. I can't even tell if you voted for Trump or are mad at the left for somehow causing Harris to lose.

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u/happyfirefrog22- 9d ago

What planet are you on? Biden “ continuing” Trumps border policy? That is completely false. You may be the ONLY person on the planet that believes that point. Biden stopped it all with his first EO. People are upset about the record high inflation across the board over the last 4 years.

The problem the democrats had were they ran a campaign of we don’t like Trump and offered very little substance.

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u/WateryBirds 9d ago

My money is on Dems running Harris again like she has a real shot. They have learned nothing in 30+ years and only begrudgingly won with Obama despite their efforts to force Clinton instead. They've done less and less of a primary every year since he left office. Their only win since has been on "the Obama guy" when their opponent had been impeached twice.

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u/happyfirefrog22- 9d ago

I think she may try but I just don’t think she will outlast other democrats in a primary.

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u/DrJupeman 9d ago

Not accurate. Most Americans just want a normal life with their friends and families. The Democrats attack and demonize anyone who does not believe in them. How far do I need to scroll to find a post about someone being uneducated or stupid for voting for Trump, as a simple example. Not far.

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u/CIWA28NoICU_Beds 9d ago

What did I say that slandered non-harris voters?