• @OldWoodFrame@lemm.ee
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    09 months ago

    I don’t think anyone was arguing you can push Biden to the left. I guess you had that Bernie commission but nothing was promised beyond that. What happened is more people voted for Biden so he won. That’s democracy.

    I’m not saying you have to vote for Biden, you’re allowed to do whatever, but it’s not some fairy tale that by not voting for Biden you’re helping Trump. You are, you just don’t care. You would rather Trump be president for the next 4 years because you think Moderate Democrats will learn some lesson that they didn’t the last time the exact same thing happened in 2016.

    What will really happen is moderates will claim the candidate catered to the left so much that it turned off moderates (or pick a group, didnt cater enough to suburban Hispanics or whatever), and the Left will say the candidate didn’t cater to the left enough, and in 2028 that won’t be resolved and the person who wins the most votes will win again entirely unrelated to the question. So you’re not sending the message you think you’re sending, you’re just hurting the candidate whose interests are the closest to yours. Allowed, but not what I’d recommend as a political strategy.

    • Cosmic Cleric
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      19 months ago

      What will really happen is moderates will claim the candidate catered to the left so much that it turned off moderates (or pick a group, didnt cater enough to suburban Hispanics or whatever), and the Left will say the candidate didn’t cater to the left enough, and in 2028 that won’t be resolved and the person who wins the most votes will win again entirely unrelated to the question.

      But, thats what always happens anyways in every election, regardless if Trump is running or not.

      So you’re not sending the message you think you’re sending, you’re just hurting the candidate whose interests are the closest to yours. Allowed, but not what I’d recommend as a political strategy.

      I guarantee you, when they go back to do a postmortem post-election, and see a whole voting block not showing up, that’ll definitely send a message.

      They’re actually already seeing it today, or do you not wonder why Biden keeps trying to pay off student loans every way he has available to him.

      Its the party’s responsibility to offer candidates that people can vote for, and not demand people to vote for the party so the other party does not win. Coercing a vote out of someone is not the American thing to do.

      • @OldWoodFrame@lemm.ee
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        29 months ago

        But, thats what always happens anyways in every election, regardless if Trump is running or not.

        Right, my point is that you aren’t “teaching moderate Democrats a lesson” by helping Trump. You’re just helping Trump.

        I guarantee you, when they go back to do a postmortem post-election, and see a whole voting block not showing up, that’ll definitely send a message.

        No post mortem has ever decided the candidate needed to be further from the center to gain more votes. I don’t see why you think it would happen now. There are more people in the middle, and winning over a vote from Trump is worth twice as much as moving a non-voting Leftist to vote. Those are the tradeoffs of campaigning.

        They’re actually already seeing it today, or do you not wonder why Biden keeps trying to pay off student loans every way he has available to him.

        Magnificent. Biden is doing something you like, this is somehow evidence of why you shouldn’t vote for him.

        Biden does some left wing stuff too, yes. He’s not trying to alienate left wing people, he is doing electorally popular things, and he has to get Republicans on board for any law he wants to pass. This forces moderation. If you are demanding Medicare For All or you won’t vote for him, you just aren’t living in reality.

        Its the party’s responsibility to offer candidates that people can vote for, and not demand people to vote for the party so the other party does not win. Coercing a vote out of someone is not the American thing to do.

        To be clear, the party isn’t saying this, I am. Biden is trying to be popular to the widest swath of people possible, to beat Trump. If you’re saying you’re going to vote against him to send a message nobody is going to listen to, I think you’re making a mistake and helping the guy you hate, way more than you are doing any good.

        The way to send an inter-party message is in the primaries. Get your person (or a person significantly closer to you ideologically) to be the candidate and make everyone else choose between them or the guy they hate. If Bernie was the candidate I’d be telling moderates to vote for him just like this.

        • Cosmic Cleric
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          19 months ago

          I honestly disagree with you on many of your assertions, but I have already voted in the primary to someone else besides Biden, to do that signaling you mentioned.

          And as far as the student loan thing goes, the Democrats know they’re really in trouble with the younger voting block, and the quantity and the insistence of them trying to do something over and over again is the point I was trying to bring to the discussion, to show that not voting party lines send signals (which you disagree with). Its not just about that I disagree with something that I like for him to do as you have asserted. It’s a signal that they recognize already the problem and they’re trying to course correct on it. The signal was received.

          To bottom line this, it’s the party’s responsibility to save America from Trump, and not the voters. The party has to put up people that the voters will want to vote for. If he’s not fit for office today, there’s a good chance during the next four years he will become unfit for office.

          For the good of the country, Biden should step aside, and let someone healthier run for the party nomination, OR have third party medical personnel confirm his cognitive abilities right now, and how long they will last throughout his whole second term in office, and make that information available publicly, so voters can use it to help decide on who to vote for.

    • @go_go_gadget@lemmy.world
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      -29 months ago

      I don’t think anyone was arguing you can push Biden to the left. I guess you had that Bernie commission but nothing was promised beyond that. What happened is more people voted for Biden so he won. That’s democracy.

      Ok and I’m not voting for him again. That’s democracy.

      • @OldWoodFrame@lemm.ee
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        29 months ago

        I said several times you’re allowed to help Donald Trump win if you want to, millions of Republicans are doing it too.

          • @OldWoodFrame@lemm.ee
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            29 months ago

            It isn’t because the only question to be asked is whether a choice is helping Biden beat Trump, or not.

            Biden is trying to be as electable as possible, to get himself elected over Donald Trump. If he doesn’t go Leftist enough on your preferred policy, it’s because he thinks being that far left will lose him votes. So “refusing to compromise with leftists” is the choice that helps beat Trump. And voting for Biden is the choice that helps beat Trump. One can be the consequence of the other, but that doesn’t change the fact that not voting for Biden is helping Trump.

            • @go_go_gadget@lemmy.world
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              -19 months ago

              It isn’t because the only question to be asked is whether a choice is helping Biden beat Trump, or not.

              That’s your interpretation. You’re free to have your own and I’m free to have mine. Buddy, the only reason you’re continuing to engage is because you believe you can affect the outcome. You can’t.

          • Cosmic Cleric
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            9 months ago

            By refusing to compromise with leftists moderates are allowing Trump to win.

            No, the party is allowing Trump to win, by not putting up candidates that people can vote for.

            It’s ultimately the party’s responsibility.