You absolutely have to show up and vote D in Pennsylvania. Come on.
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lol @ states that still require in-person voting.
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Im sitting it out (well, returning a ballot blank for the House). Id have voted in a close Senate race, but go vote for my D House rep basically running unopposed? Nah, I absolutely do not support what the party is doing so, no. I also tell every volunteer that texts or emails about the races asking for donations and for me to vote or volunteer that this party is a disgrace so not a chance.
Ive also had these discussions with my rep staffing office and what Id like to see done differently, but they dont really care as they arent in a competitive race and my views arent the majority views so, is what it is.
Election night going to suck, but the one tiny bit of positive will be knowing the existing eDem power players are going to be permanently out of power and that the new House will be looking to embarrass them personally in every way possible.
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I mean thatâs what I said, the only race I could consider voting third party for is US House. Thereâs zero chance my district decides House control.
You can do that in the primaries or through donations to more left leaning candidates. Using the actual ballot box to send this message rather than just vote as Democrat as possible makes little sense.
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If the establishment views progressives as a fickle voting bloc that canât be counted to show up on Election Day, theyâll continue to prioritize chasing after mythical swing voters over treating progressives as a core constituency that gets catered to the way black voters are.
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Note that they will also do this if progressives show up and vote blue while elected officials thumb their noses at progressives and their priorities.
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Why ever give the progressives anything when they can hold them hostage and shame them into voting for corporate lackeys every election cycle?
Not if you think that an incumbent is tougher to beat in the primary, making an easier seat easier to get a halfway decent candidate into.
The bottom line is it doesnât matter anyway because weâre already fucked.
A hearty LOL at the idea that progressives can get the party to cater to them by showing up in general elections, and also this isnât even about progressive or not, itâs got more to do with understanding reality and fighting versus respecting norms one-sidedly.
Precisely.
Iâve decided that I canât control the polls so Iâm going to take a large Hopium hit and choose to believe the suburban woman is going to turn out and carry the day.
Iâm certainly not happy with a lot of what Dems are doing but I truly do think every bit of power the Reps attain is going to that much harder to dislodge them and more heinous things will occur.
If I end up massively depressed Nov 9, so be it.
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Itâs truly hopeless. Not showing up will just result in them moving further to the right and will be a relief to the corporate whores currently running the party as they wonât even have to pay lip service to achieving anything. Showing up gives these same assholes more power which they will use to crush progressives. WAAF, truly.
Progressives have no power because theyâve never had an election which theyâve been able to spin as progressives showing up providing the margin of victory. Progressives sitting out 2022 or 2024 just confirms the narrative that theyâre a bunch of crybabies who pout if they donât get their way and arenât in any way a reliable ally.
If progressives truly wanted to play hardball, theyâd put forward some demands as conditions for getting their votes on things they already agree with. No abortion bill passes without some economic concessions.
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Gee I wonder why progressives never get a story spun their way?
Because they donât know how to grab attention using the mediaâsâ biases against them. As long as conservatives are the ones escalating, they take the lead and get to control the spin by taking advantage of the primacy effect.
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The corporate media is never giving them positive attention. Never.
At least at the start, progressives should take the view that any publicity is good publicity. Just getting an alternative viewpoint out there, framed in a way where they have to report on it, is a start towards normalizing it, even if it is initially reported negatively.
This is a very hard ask for the left, because it requires giving up on the idea that the Fourth Estate is a key mechanism of democracy, instead viewing journalism as something to be cynically exploited and manipulated. People need to understand that we shouldnât be hoping for the media to âwake upâ and start doing their âjobâ any more than we should be hoping for the Republican Party to âwake upâ and throw off the chains of Trumpism.
Or else maybe progressives were never that strong and never had sufficient strength to ask for more than they currently receive.
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Abortion bill probably the stone worst bill to use for this purpose.
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Not voting for the better candidate at every opportunity is dumb unless you subscribe to accelerationism. It takes like 15 minutes to vote.
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I guess Ive come to subscribe to accelerationism then, because Id have thought his way until a few years ago now barely think it matters for where we end up in five years.
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Iâve lived though 12 years of accelerationism, it hasnât turned out very well at all.