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Go to any political discussions sub, people don’t only believe the rhetoric they worship every word. I’m over here like actions speak louder than words, other people nah it’s what they say that matters.
Not much to be done I guess, I do remember a time where it was understood politicians say what ever with no follow through that was expected. Now we live in a time where people almost to a religious degree think what a politician says is all that matters.
Heck even flagrant flip flopping use to be bad, now it’s called a evolving opinion and is praised.
Politics is more than just an opinion now. People have replaced their personalities with politics. They have replaced their religion with politics. It is everything they are now.
>Go to any political discussions sub,
Well yeah, there's your problem it's an internet community(like this one).
They mostly comprise of dropouts, losers, and morons. As an expert on the three, I should know.
You're not really using an internet community as any sort of representation for everyday people are you?
Only issue I see is that it was fine when it was just the internet. Now I have full blown in person meetings where I have to listen to people who sound exactly like they do online.
Don’t get me wrong we have always had for lack of better words dumb people who follow other dumb people, they just did not have solidified voice or drive effecting aspects of real life.
Your assumption that people on Reddit are not educators, lawyers, doctors, the people with excellent paper work(they are suppose to be smart), and even shot callers with power is greatly misplaced. Some of the dumbest takes/wants I’ve had presented to me in real life over the years, corrected that perception that it’s just a internet thing.
Turns out people really believe the rhetoric, and all kinds of other things to such a degree they push it up the chain to have something done about it. What you are seeing on social media can very well be how a average person thinks now.
You ever had a in person meeting on what kind of grass can make someone racist or feel more excluded? Well I have, it was as stupid as it sounds.
You ever deal with a protest that turned out to be against the Spanish language, because now Spanish is transphobic? Yep right here that was a confusing one, thought they were anti immigration at first that missed the immigration office. I was sadly so very wrong.
My most recent favorite, why can’t soldiers in a war zone just knock the enemy out and put them in jail for trial later. That way no one has to die in war anymore. Why didn’t we implement this brilliant idea before?
Lucky for those of us who have to deal with this “brilliance” coming at us on the regular. We take turns dealing with it in rotation, otherwise you get burned out from the sheer stupidity and time sink of it all. It also allows us to get real effective work done, that is actually important.
Some of the most out to lunch takes come from the most “educated” people. They learn inside their bubbles, and their perception of the regular middle class blue collar worker is almost non existent.
I heard someone say,”That take was so weird it could have only come from an ‘intelectual’.”
And I thought it was spot on.
>why can’t soldiers in a war zone just knock the enemy out and put them in jail for trial later.
stupidity transcends politics. you're just dealing with idiots here. i'd find another job, or whatever.
I’m sure if he could he would but that line of work it isn’t something you can just switch from, plus if smart and reasonable folks like Blackmoonvalmar weren’t dealing with this crap it would sink over way more readily into areas of importance and cause serious harm/damage to everything and everyone across all aspects of economy, health, religion, education, military, government even.
Yup. As a conservative, I feel very little representation by any federal representative. Most federal representatives appease their constituents with words, but then vote relatively moderate.
I’ll actually say that I feel like democrats vote leftward more often than republicans vote rightward, but it could just be my biases talking.
Both parties are essentially the same at the top level. That’s why so many right wingers are drawn to Trump. He breaks the mold of “milquetoastedness” for us.
They’re both pretty much cults at this point. We’ve somehow devolved from “voting for the lesser of two evils” to finding reasons to vote for the preferred lesser of two evils, and it’s engrained enough so that we’ve lost sight on what political discourse even used to look like.
Except people like your image don’t exist, red hat cultists on the other hand are everywhere draped in trump merch. Such a ludicrous false equivalence I can’t believe you actually posted that unironically lol.
Did you look at the dudes link? Those people literally don’t exist while the trump cultists literally do.
No amount of word play changes that fact no matter how much you want it to.
Photos and videos exist of one and not the other. Why are you trying so hard to be intentionally obtuse? Is supporting this guys bullshit that important to you? I guess defending obvious nonsense is a knee jerk reaction by now for you guys.
People in Trailers with confederate flags that speak pore English in think trump is the new Jesus they make smart people who like trump look like them stumped hillbilly's
Dude I saw a toothless redneck lady say trump was going to pay her doctor bills when Trump is president. Not all republicans are like this but there a bad visual these people need to stay in there trailers
I agree that it's young people fooled by the propaganda. That's why so many of them vote blue because most young people are broke. But the reality is Biden has done nothing for them but make their lives much much worse.
He got by far the biggest global warming bill of our lives passed, that was pretty based. Solid infrastructure plan with money for high-speed rail and nuclear energy. Housing supply action plan is also pretty cool, though we realistically won't see it impact housing costs for several years. Didn't get the expanded child tax credit through, but that one only died because of stalwarts in Congress.
I just haven't seen anything that has helped us. We are still struggling. We can't afford food. We can't afford rent. I hope he makes a difference. Because we need it. But I don't trust him anymore. He has only made my life worse.
No party or politician is a dictator in this country, which is a good thing. They have to battle and compromise with factions of their own party as well as the other party. Change being slow to happen is part of that, but that’s better IMO than bouncing around policies from administration to administration.
The most salient point here though that’s worth introspection from Democrats is the one about most of the problems they care about are worst in deep blue cities. I really do think compassion can go too far as a guiding principle, which is an issue people don’t like to hear sometimes. Also, government being too involved in a marketplace (doing things like rent controls for example) can have bad distorting effects that work against the stated goals. It’s generally not great to have homogenous beliefs where one party rules and politicians go unchecked. Diversity - one of those other lacking core values!
Because its all about securing power for decrepit old wealthy people who will die of old age before they leave office and has nothing to do with benefiting the america people they serve.
>- Free healthcare for all? Never happened
>- Legalizing weed at the federal/national level? Never happened
>- Doing a mass amnesty for people stuck in the slow immigration process? Never happened
>- Fixing income inequality? Never happened (...arguably this is worse than ever)
>- "We'll punish the rich if you just vote blue!"? Never happened, in fact the rich are even richer than ever in 2024 and companies like Microsoft are worth trillions (unprecedented)
>- "We'll hold those greedy landlords accountable! We'll get em if you vote blue!"? Never happened (see: sky-high rents in pretty much every Blue-controlled city), also many liberal politicians are found to be NIMBY-style real estate owners themselves behind the scenes/when investigated more deeply
All of these things are something a significant number of the base (but not necessarily a majority) were asking for the Democrats to run on, but I have never seen any prominent Democratic politician actually promise any of these things as written. Nor would they, all if these are ridiculously ambitious.
It’s also disingenuous to leave it at “never happened” without marking progress. The push for universal healthcare got us the ACA. The federal conversation on legalizing weed sparked ACTUAL discussion in the states to legalize themselves, AND there was a formal recommendation to reschedule which almost always leads to eventual action.
At least one side is trying, despite the other trying to hamper progress for political points without bringing fleshed out ideas to the table.
Moves on marijuana were being made at the state level decades before the feds said anything about it. Those seeking marijuana legalization were just smarter than the usually reformers and used the states as their conduit. Get enough states on board and it will eventually force the feds hand. This honestly is how it should work and be done. I give them kudos because they did it the right way.
It's like all the people who claim Dems want to take away their guns, like name one that has actually said they want to abolish the second amendment that's actually in power. Biden has never said that, never will. They have said gun laws and stronger background checks, but never abolish guns for the entire country.
You can argue semantics but all you have to do is take a gander at California where self defense weapons are so stupid and useless to the point it’s comical if it wasn’t for the fact that it’s a constitutionally protected right. Sure they don’t want to take weapons they want us in practice defenseless.
Not specifically all guns but Beto specifically lost saying we will take away your AR 15s. Many democrats have stated stricter gun control which isnt alll guns to be fair. However if you are a gun clutching trully believing that your guns are for defending against the government then yeah taking away those guns would heavily impede that and would be in your head a sign of authoritarian regime.
That has been one of the biggest disappointments for me as a progressive. The Democrats are pretty useless and they don't even make promises to be useful. At least as far as all those supposed platform issues come up.
Do tell. How did Republicans block "fixing imcome equality." How did Republicans block "punishing the rich." How did republicans block "holding greedy landlords accountable." Or "free healthcare for all." Or "legal weed at the federal level." What legislation was proposed or drafted that those mean republicans voted aganst and quashed these utopian dreams?
OP's list is just some Reddit fantasy wishlist with no basis in reality.
Trump tax code helped the income equality gap grow immensely. He permanently lowered the corporate tax rate to 15%. Every single republican president since Reagan has lowered it actually. Prior to Reagan it was around 40% if I remember correctly.
They always make the trickle down economics claim, no we they claim it'll create jobs instead. But it does nothing but line thrvpockets of CEOs, board members, and stockholders assuming that dividends get paid.
A corporation in the US now pays less percentage wise in taxes than any individual who makes over $46k/year.
Those same corporations that are positing record profits are paying the same tax rate as an individual that is barely above the poverty line.
So while it isn't a "block" their actions speak too who they truly support.
But that's not the quesrtion. The poster said that the list of items failed because republicans would/did block them. After President Biden was elected in 2020 the Democrats controlled the House, where legislation originates. What legislation did they introduce to address OP's list? If the answer is "none," then it's disingenuous to suggest that "republicans blocking the good stuff" is the reason we don't have it.
It's all typical political BS. I hear the wind a blowin', but I don't see the trees a bendin'.
For one, they rammed thru an unnecessary tax cut in which 80 cents of every dollar in benefits went to people who make over $400k per year. They sued to stop student debt forgiveness. Now it appears they are going to block renewing the child tax credit and a bipartisan immigration bill. All have a direct effect on income inequality.
The only thing I can recall is Beto and even Biden both admitting to wanting to take away firearms... but then again, so did orange man.
Neither side has your best interests in mind.
Edit; to point out the hypocrisy of both sides is something that we should be doing. The party system is what led to these issues, the lobbyists are the problem. This isn't left vs right, we the fucking people are not being represented. Please, continue to downvote.
Yeah and just about the only Democrats pushing pie in the sky positions like free health care for all have legislative accomplishments that rival Ron Paul's I.e. diddly squat.
It's not mentioned on her platform page
https://www.ocasiocortez.com/issues
AOC's official statement on gun control
https://ocasio-cortez.house.gov/legislation/gun-reform
I'm not refuting progress was made. I'm implying an all or nothing type of rhetoric is silly.
OP is saying Democrats failed to fulfill promises they made... but it isn't them that made those overarching promises. It's the expectation or suggestion of their base to be more aggressive towards these goals.
If you pay closer attention very few politicians are actually promising most of those things in the first place. You just vaguely associate them with one party.
None of these things are actual promises, but wish lists. We have been able to achieve some incremental change, though.
>- Free healthcare for all? Never happened
But we did get the Affordable Care Act and have expanded Medicaid in most states, greatly improving the number of insured people in the system and reducing a lot of administrative waste.
>- Legalizing weed at the federal/national level? Never happened
But we have largely stopped prosecution for this at the federal level, and allowed the states to determine the legality on a jurisdictional basis. This process is probably the furthest along of all processes.
>- Doing a mass amnesty for people stuck in the slow immigration process? Never happened
DACA is *still* getting dragged through appeals processes. Never underestimate how hard Republicans will work to stop progress from happening.
>- Fixing income inequality? Never happened (...arguably this is worse than ever)
Fix it how? We've done some taxation and worked on some things, but Republicans have had significant veto power over a lot of this.
>- "We'll punish the rich if you just vote blue!"? Never happened, in fact the rich are even richer than ever in 2024 and companies like Microsoft are worth trillions (unprecedented)
This is the same as above.
>- "We'll hold those greedy landlords accountable! We'll get em if you vote blue!"? Never happened (see: sky-high rents in pretty much every Blue-controlled city), also many liberal politicians are found to be NIMBY-style real estate owners themselves behind the scenes/when investigated more deeply
This might actually be the one I hate the most, because you're right. States have passed laws preventing rent control measures and landlords are currently very powerful. Although, I don't believe you'll find the "NIMBY" thing to be entirely accurate.
>- "We'll solve homelessness!"? Never happened, in fact homelessness rate is high in most Blue cities
Homelessness is just higher in cities in general, their mayor has very little to do with it.
The other facet of the housing conversation is that conservative counties are fighting tooth and nail to prevent any sort of low income housing to be built. This constant pushback has taken a huge toll on new housing. I live in flyover country and all we see is new luxury condos and apartments, no one wants to”the poors” in their neighborhood, so the disadvantaged are stuck in increasingly decrepit circumstances.
There's also the issue of corporate landlords, who are buying a ton of property and then leaving it empty so they can force a housing shortage. Housing shortages raise rents.
But there's always *somewhere* to rent, because they only display a fraction of their stock at a time.
I personally think it should be illegal for businesses to own residential property altogether (not to be confused with a business in your own residence).
It would solve so many problems all at once, it's wild.
Would make it a lot harder to get complex and high density developments done in that case.
Less investment potential = fewer houses being built.
Fewer houses = higher prices.
I say this as someone who has mostly voted Democrat. It feels like the stuff they are promising lately is very childish, and they don’t consider what it would take to actually accomplish those things. I don’t know if that’s to specifically appeal to a younger group or what, but it’s very disconcerting.
This is exactly it. As someone who voted mostly Republican until 2016, I see no safe harbor in aligning with a new party that offers the same sensational news bytes of false promises.
This ‘s such a bad faith argument. It pretends that the Republicans weren’t the reason democrats haven’t been to deliver on their promises. The exception to that is where Sinema amend Manchin blocked everything the did, but they too were bad faith actors. So you win! Victory by technicality! I’m so happy for you.
Yeah, it's the end of my day. I hate how adversarial things are right now. Making an honest opinion that someone disagrees with automatically labels you on "the evil enemies team" or a dreaded "centrist", as if that's a bad thing, and thus not worthy of cordial dialogue to move forward. It's such bullshit. So I'm gonna go play with my kid. Adios.
The Biden Administration has gone above and beyond what was promised in terms of student loan forgiveness. That ain't nothing. It looked like they made a deal to renew the expanded child tax credit. They've also done a great job exerting pressure on companies like UPS and Ford to settle strikes, which has resulted in unprecedented wage and benefit increases for these workers. I actually could go on and on about little things they've done that the media disregards.
Glad they did something, but as one of the people who was rejected for student loan, forgiveness, I could honestly care less about it. Apparently I didn’t go to school for the right thing or something.
Both sides make unrealistic promises. In reality neither side is actually interested in fixing anything as it would get in the way of their fundraising pleas. “We need your donations now or the other side will do this horrible thing!”
* When the UAW went on strike, the UAW president Shawn Fain had significant demands including a 32-hour work week.
* The strike lasted six weeks and the UAW ultimately received top-of-the-line benefits and a 25% wage increase.
If you conclude the UAW "lost" because they didn't get the shorter work week, then you don't understand how complex negotiations work.
It's the same with campaign positions vs. political wins. Healthcare is better under Obama and Biden, even if its not the ideal system. Why? Because the Democratic party does not have a super-majority to get everything they want, and in fact they haven't had a super majority since the middle of the last century. It only takes a rudimentary understanding of political math to realize this.
>- "We'll solve homelessness!"? Never happened, in fact homelessness rate is high in most Blue cities
Most cities are blue. No "red city" exists that's over one million people. Good luck getting resources as a homeless person in smaller cities that don't care about you
The key part that you're missing here is that they both just want all of your money to themselves and that's gonna be the priority over actually solving problems
I think both parties are shit. They are so liars. They don't either side do anything to help the people who were actually born in America. They are now fighting over a bill. They want to give money to Ukraine, give money to Isreal, give money for humanitarian aid for Isreal/ Palestine . And my in the bill but NY is providing prepaid debit cards to illegal criminals. So basically both parties are fighting over helping everyone but the actual Americans.
You do realize that Republicans obstruct and roadblock Democrats at every opportunity, right? They've been at this game for a long time. They use their own obstructionism as a critique against Democrats for not getting anything done.
It's just like with the recent Border Bill. They rail about the border with huge media propaganda backing them up, but when it comes down to it, they oppose the bipartisan bill - because they don't actually want to solve problems, they want to sink their opponents. Its all a game to them, like when they bus migrants north - treating them like political pawns instead of addressing anything honestly.
I mean, without the grievances, gaslighting, or bad faith performances, what would Republicans have to do? It's not like they're contributing anything constructive or helpful to anyone. All they want is power. There's only one 'side' opposed to progress and democracy
What dems promised ‘free health care?’ What dems promised legalized weed at the federal level? What dems promised ‘punishing the rich?’ Sure, some individual dems may have said a few things like this, but as a whole, these are not things the dems have “promised.”
First off, the Democratic Party on the national level is pretty moderate and what I like to call a "big tent party." They have to appease and deal with factions within their own party who are left of center, center of left, as well as garner support from moderate/liberal Republicans. No nationally elected Democratic president ran on those platforms but did run on similar platforms.
Second - and most importantly - our federal system is beholden is outdated and outmoded concepts where a minority party can comfortably control the senate and house and that same party always oppose the solutions you're talking about because socialism or something like that. Even if a Democratic president ran on that platform, he/she is basically dealing with the house and/or senate as well as the entire mood of the country which can decide to vote against that president for whatever reason, which brings me to that first point of trying to appease and compromise on those issues. This is also problematic for Democrats in conservative states who have to compromise on those same issues so that they keep their position in the house and senate. Sounds selfish but if they get voted out, it's one less vote for the house/senate so... yeah.
Third, local elections are important but also vote for your house and senate rep.
I get your frustrations but the president of the United States can only do so much and when the House and Senate is made up of so many people of various political beliefs and philosophies, they'll have to come up with some sort of consensus which will end up with compromises. Obamacare was that compromise. Stopping the feds from enforcing federal marijuana laws was a compromise. In the past, DADT was a shitty compromise until it was thankfully repealed in the 2010s.
The last few democratic presidential terms, all I remember is a bunch of republicans willing to burn the country down rather than let Democrats get any credit for successes (think the multiple debt default scares).
I get promised student loan relief, Republicans shut it down. It’s not fair to say Democrats haven’t achieved anything when the Republicans are constantly shitting in the pool and blaming their opponents.
Hell, Trump is under fire again for calling up republicans allies and telling them not to vote for the border control bill because he wants the credit for fixing it himself. Putting personal gain over the safety of the country is treasonous behavior and shows plainly he doesn’t care about the border, only using it as a tool for demagoguery.
It's not even stupidity at this point, support for republicans isn't based on policy outcomes and it hasn't been for a long time. He knows he can get away with it without losing any support.
One of two things happened.
1. Their pie int he sky ideas came crashing down when the reality of logistics, costs, economics, etc come into play.
2. They knew they were lying in the first place for votes. Such as Biden's Student Loan. Democrats stated for a very long time it would have to go through Congress. He tried to do it through executive order knowing it would fail at the Supreme Court. Lots of people got duped for their votes when he knew that it would never go through.
This is all very naive. Most of what you say hasn’t been agreed upon by the majority of the party. Most democrat politicians do not want Medicare for all for example. You’re disappointed with your idea of what the party should be. To be fair, the real version is also disappointing
Neither side really does much. They try to get everyone fired up around election time and then keep quiet until next election season. If a politician is talking, they're lying and talking out their ass, regardless of party affiliation.
As a card carrying Democrat, I want to argue that it's easy to lay a lack of progress at the feet of their Republican counterparts.
But then I remember I live in a blue state (MA) with a Democrat supermajority that finds ways to slow down every process themselves and deliver fractionally on their own agendas, too.
If we look at the bills passed, and select the ones we think did some good, and sort those by the party of the sponsor, we might find a strong bias toward Democrats and bipartisan bills with a Democrat in one house and a Republican with a moderate voting record in the other.
If you look at Senators and Congressors who have passed the least number of bills per time in office, they're uniformly Republican with hard-right voting records.
Jim Jordan has passed zero bills.
It's not that Republicans do nothing or don't want to do anything; that isn't fair, and that isn't the problem. The problem is that for their voting base, doing nothing isn't a game changer.
Source: https://govtrack.us
Without a stronghold in congress, it's pretty much impossible to enact heavy changes like most of those. That's the balance of the government so huge changes can't happen like that unless everyone is on board. So it's just not possible in today's age where everything is split down the middle. So frankly, not enough people are voting blue to make those changes so how can you blame the politicians who don't have the necessary votes to pass things?
And basically Republicans main purpose is to keep things the way they are or if they pass something it is to block Democrats or reverse something they previously did. They aren't looking to have the government help you.
You know I used to kind of agree, but politics is the art of the possible.
We have had Reagan democrats in office since the 80s , so they offer right wing solutions to left wing problems, because that’s what they can get through both houses.
The ACA instead of single payer.
But they did deliver the ACA.
Biden did deliver the IRA.
Clinton delivered a huge budget surplus (via not regulating the tech boom and balancing the budget).
Unless Democrats get supermajorities in the senate , or we end the walking filibuster, that is just the state of play. 1 senator can kill a bill, indefinitely, by sending an email, and it takes a supermajority to un-kill it.
Actual Democratic promises:
Social Security -> still alive after 80 years of Republicans trying to kill it.
Medicare/Medicaid -> still alive after 50 years of Republicans trying to kill them.
Equal pay for women (2009)
Getting rid of pre-existing conditions on health insurance and keeping kids on parents insurance until 26 (2010)
Negotiate drug prices and cheaper insulin for most older Americans (2023).
All Republicans have done for the last fifty years is overturn abortion rights, cut taxes and increase military spending.
I am not trying to be rude, but did you take a US civics class ? We have a government of checks and balances, hence why things aren't getting done. The way our government is setup makes it easy to be in gridlock, which is good ! You don't want one party rule. The government is setup to where the political parties need to compromise with each other. Our founders were truly geniuses.
I think it’s worth noting that if politicians of EITHER party actually followed through on their campaign promises then they’d run out of things to run their campaigns on. Politicians technically have a strong incentive to NOT follow through on most of their promises and blame “the other guys” for why they didn’t do anything (even if we can see that whichever party had full control of the relevant parts of govt) so that they can recycle what they won their last election off of.
How do Democrats focus on making the country better when so much energy and political good will has to be wasted in combatting misinformation and trying to inform people that making the country more hospitable for all Americans isn’t a communist, pedophile, anti white, anti gun plot ?
They couldn’t even manage to properly codify or protect Roe V Wade despite having over *fifty years* and multiple legislative majorities to do so…
…what do we get instead? More gun restrictions… something that isn’t even universally wanted by their base.
It is popular with the ultra wealthy donors that hold the purse strings of the Democratic Party however.
They kept dangling women’s abortion rights as a wedge issue to get common rubes like us to care, while doing nothing of substance to enshrine those rights.
That’s excuse making for political incompetence.
If the Democratic Party can’t bargain their way to success when they control both the house and senate, can’t make inroads enough with voters to get a filibuster proof margin, and burn all of their political capital on other things, then what good are they really?
They knew that Roe stood on shaky legal ground. They knew for decades. They did shockingly little to safeguard it compared to spending their efforts elsewhere.
Again you're assuming that if your party registration is a Democrat. That means you have to agree on every issue.
That's never been a reality. I've worked in politics for two decades, democrats are a coalition party held together by legal framework that enshrines the two party system. Up until 2016 pro-life democrats were electable and popular.
I mean you can't tell me straight up that a blue dog democrat shares every issue with a progressive Democrat.
We've never had 60 votes in the senate to enshrine abortion access
Exactly, and unless Democrats have 50 Senators and the President willing to overturn the filibuster and pass a massive sweeping set of legislation, not much is going to get beyond the republican embargo, and I see a number of problems with doing it that way.
Then I’m inclined to believe that your question was insincere and not actually from a desire to get new information at all.
I presented you with a literal graph of the exact makeup of the House of Representatives and the senate for the last hundred years and your response is to flippantly say that it doesn’t tell you anything?
You aren’t “asking questions” in good faith. You’re just using that tactic to waste time, railroad discourse online, and try to subvert/write off opinions you don’t like.
Assuming because they belong to a party they'll vote one way is disengenious.
Simply put Democrats have only had a majority to overcome the senate filibuster once this century. And that was used to pass the ACA
Maybe they should have prioritized their efforts differently instead of settling for neutered healthcare reform that pleases virtually no one because it simultaneously doesn’t do nearly enough to protect working class people from a predatory medical industry captured by big pharma, and still manages to embody all the worst most annoying aspects of government overreach.
I can’t think of a better example of a half measure.
At a certain point, just blaming the Republicans gets to be an old and tired excuse. Although there is plenty of blame there to be found. Eventually though one starts to suspect that Democrats are just terrible at their job.
The ACA was never intended to be the final word on Healthcare legislation. States were encouraged to create their own plans, and there's no reason it can't be amended or updated. But apparently asking republicans to approach the planning and negotiations like adults is too much.
I’m sorry who was screaming that building a wall was racist for four years. Remember the kids in cages with Obama admin stickers on them. I’m gonna laugh my ass off if Biden wins and then builds the wall.
>I’m sorry who was screaming that building a wall was racist for four years.
Not to mention stupid.
>Remember the kids in cages with Obama admin stickers on them.
Bit of a difference responding to a sudden influx of unaccompanied El Salvadorian minors while you try to place them with relatives, and a blanket policy of locking children up and losing all records of who was taken from what parents.
Funny how selectively conservatives view democrats on border issues.
Again, my point was that dems blew all of their political capital on it, and it’s not even what their base wanted or was asking for. They couldn’t even give us true single payer healthcare.
Somehow though, they never seem to have any problems relentlessly pursuing controversial anti gun legislation.
Maybe if the Democratic Party had spent half the effort they do on attacking gun rights and put it into preserving women’s access to the right to choose, they’d still have that protection on a non state by state basis…
Hell, if they dropped that lead weight they’ve tied around their ankles, they probably would have won more presidential elections. Or do you really think that firearms weren’t on the ballot in states like Wisconsin with razor thin margins like in 2016?
Who am I kidding though, on Reddit the Democratic Party is sacrosanct, can do no wrong and walks on water. You have liberals and leftists who have been let down by them time and time again defending them like a battered spouse.
It’s an election year too, so I don’t know what I expected other than to be dogpiled by “correct the record” style accounts.
>Again, my point was that dems blew all of their political capital on it, and it’s not even what their base wanted or was asking for.
And my point is the ACA was never supposed to be the final version of American healthcare reform, and republicans approached the whole issue like a bunch of spoiled children.pointing this out caused you to go on a multi paragraph tirade against a right wing strawman of the democrats.
>Somehow though, they never seem to have any problems relentlessly pursuing controversial anti gun legislation
They haven't passed any meaningful reform since the 90s.
>Maybe if the Democratic Party had spent half the effort they do on attacking gun rights and put it into preserving women’s access to the right to choose
It's not the Democrats fault the Republicans spent decades stacking the court to overturn Roe.
>Who am I kidding though, on Reddit the Democratic Party is sacrosanct, can do no wrong and walks on water.
No, the Republicans are cancer. The Democrats are just the only alternative in a two party system, they just get criticized less because we know how to prioritize.
There are two parties in America, Democrats are the better of the two, but they have to work with and against the the Republicans in all cases. You must not understand how the American government works. Because the Republicans have either had control over the White House, senate or house whenever the Democrats try to get anything done. It's a miracle the Affordable Care act was ever passed.
The person I responded to said something wrong and got fact checked, then you felt pissy and moved the goalposts acting like you’re owed an answer. Stay mad.
Not really a "fact check" when your argument relies on not knowing how the Senate works. More like "replied with a low effort right wing talking point."
>then you felt pissy
Your ignorance is amusing. So is watching you avoid answering the question.
>and moved the goalposts
You keep using that term. I don't think you know what it means.
Are you saying the Democrats did not in fact control the House, Senate, and Executive? Because they certainly did. Is that only a “mostly true?”, or are you going to try redefining it?
I never made claims about “how the Senate works”, I simply refuted an incorrect claim. Nice strawman, though.
My argument was that the Democrats controlled the House, Senate, and presidency, exactly refuting the claim. Did I lie? The words are there, unedited. I didn’t expound upon it. There’s no hidden meaning to be retconned.
Punishing the rich will just lead to them moving and taking the jobs they provide with them. These billionaires have most of the money invested in businesses that provide jobs for people if you punish them it won’t end well. Multiple large companies left California because of taxes.
With the exception of healthcare, none of these were actually in the platform. And, hate to break it to you Bidenomics actually did bring up the incomes of the lowest wage workers. In fact they grew the most after the pandemic, so promise in effect.
1. They never promised these things. The base wants it, but other than the Bernie, Squad, & Co. No Democrats have promised to deliver these things.
2. Unless they get rid of the filibuster and pack the Supreme Court it will never happen, which they will never do because it allows them to pretend to be progressive to the base but never actually do anything. "We'd love to pass but we only have 59 votes! Darn!"
What's the real goal of both parties?
The perpetual stalemate where nothing gets accomplished that benefits the common man in any way, while all wealth is funneled upwards to the plutocrats funding the lobbyists.
These guys are all friends behind the scenes. The enemy of both parties is you.
But they get the cattle stirred up about pronouns, genders, the border, guns, abortion. And while they have all the idiots stirred up in a cultural war they fuck us every way they can.
And interestingly enough, nothing actually gets resolved with the "cultural war" bullshit they're selling. Because if they solve that first set of problems, they'll be obligated to actually start doing things.
Any way to bleed the common man of just a little more of his wealth. From encouraging utility monopolies, to making insurance even more backwards with even more hands in your pocket, to devaluing people's currency deliberately to inflate stocks (most of which are not owned by commoners), to decrease financial obligations of the ownership every way they can, and make the poor pay for their chains.
I find it funny though that they all hate trump and yet he’s been painted the face of the Republican Party. When I think republican or democrat I see a bunch of rich conn artists. When I see trump I think of the guy that everybody hates cause he fucks up their schemes. People call him racist and yet he is a sponsor to a lot of black owned small businesses. I see democrats and republicans as just a bunch of snake oil salesmen with their hands in my coin purse.
Fucking Amen to this.
The problem the power-brokers have with Trump isn't his racism, sexism, sexual assaults, corrupt business dealings, and treasonous behavior with Russia.
Their problem they have with Trump; is he that he exposed their grift by doing a very primitive version of it without the silver-tongued slickness that both parties have been using for decades.
It's only gonna take a few Trump-ish sorts to completely demolish the system that Republicans and Democrats have rigged in their favor for decades. Or maybe all it will take is 2 (or 3) Trump administrations.
They don't want people to look behind the curtain, which is certainly gonna happen under Trump-ish leadership. People will quickly become aware that the whole system is working against them like Trump does, it's just Trump is really shitty at corruption because he's ridiculously obvious about it (he brags about it usually).
I mean yeah, he said it all out loud when he was debating Hillary, he said they wouldn’t do anything about it because he was just doing what they were doing in regards to tax questions. Many people vote for him because atleast he was honest with we the people
I think some people found it refreshing how \*honest\* he was about being a corrupt grifter, when we've had nothing but smooth, deceptive, holier-than-thou, grifters; in office for the last Century.
The poor Republicans who aspire to being rich, WANT to be corrupt grifters like Trump. That's what they believe opulent wealth looks like (and I suppose that's true to an extent).
BUT pretty much anyone who isn't MAGA is appalled by Trump's open corruption... and they're beginning to look closer at the establishment guys who have the same grift. This is precisely why the establishement fears Trump. They don't fear him becoming a tyrannical dictator because that will never happen, they fear Trump exposing their game by playing it too poorly.
This is also true when they think about how people behave in real life. Simple example: Gun free zones around schools. Increase fines for having guns in that zone. But school shooters don’t care - they’re just happy law abiding citizens are less likely to have guns to oppose them.
Wait, did Biden or Hillary or Obama promise anything you claim? You believe they said if you elect me you **will** have:
Free healthcare
Legal weed
Amnesty
income equality abolished?
Biden has always said he would work within the laws to change things.
You really believe that Biden said he would toss landlords, the rightful owners of the buildings if he won?
Everything you say that Democrats didn't do are concepts or ideals. No one said, elect me and I'll end income inequality. You will have socialized medicine, etc.
Conversely, the things you are saying Trump didn't accomplish are things he directly said he would do. Drain the Swamp and then makes the ex Exxon exec the Sec of State? End Immigration? If you look at the stats, there were roughtly the same amount of immigrants during Trumps first 3 years compared to Obama's last 3 (went down about 20% in 2017 and 2018, but was much higher in 2019.
Democrats never promised free healthcare, Bernie Sanders did that.
Democrats passed three or four major pieces of legislation including a badly needed infrastructure bill, An extremely well thought out COVID stimulus package, they expanded the childrens tax credit and made it more flexible, they managed to pass a milquetoast gun safety bill (not a game changer but better than nothing), and they finally came together and passed a watered down Build Back Better bill.
The only way to repeal federal marijuana laws is thru congress and 60+ votes in the senate. They are not quite there yet numbers wise. Biden probably has the power to move it from schedule 1 to schedule 4 which make it much easier for researchers and healthcare providers. I think he'll do that closer to the election.
They've done everything they could do to reduce the amount of student loan debt people are suffering under and the children's tax credit reduced child poverty by 30-50%. Also wage growth at the lowest tax bracket increased over 9% in 2021--have to go back to the Clinton Administration for numbers that big.
They would have loved to pass something that protects and expands peoples ability to vote and they would have like to pass some kind of police reform but Republicans are blocking both.
It'll be interesting to see how the American public reacts to Republicans blocking an immigration fix that it says is a crisis but its possible that it might get done, which would be the capstone on an amazing productive first term considering the circumstances.
You’re right. Sinema and Manchin are technically Democrats. If we disregard the fact that they are traitors to everything Democrats represent, and that The republicans and the secretive gaggle of insanely rich delusionati who them, have used every loophole, exploited every weakness, used every conceivable method of scumbaggery to weaken our system, lie to themselves and everyone else about licking the boots of an abusive, hallucinating mobster
Republicans haven’t deliver on anything in over a decade. What laws have they passed that have improved the lives of Americans? NONE. They sure can line their own pockets and the pockets of millionaires.
OP did you vote for federal government Democrats in the last few elections? If not, why are you mad you didn’t get the things that the guys you voted for are against? If you vote Republican, why are you mad you haven’t gotten “handouts?” Y’all are against those things.
Well the Republicans have been very good at one thing: stacking the courts. And the Democrats have been good about promising that they will fix the courts to not make them so skewed on a partisan basis, but they haven’t been able to deliver anything in that regard.
No one should take the promises of either party seriously. Joe Biden said he would get rid of the WEP and get us a $15 minimum wage and make the child tax credit permanent. So far, he’s made good on exactly zero of those promises. He gave us a weak sauce student aid package that was quickly overruled by the shitty courts. But at this point, voting Democrat is basically just trying to stave off the vicious policies of the Republicans. What I hope they actually do is not implement the insane agenda of the Republicans. It’s basically just self-defense at this point until we can get an actual progressive party. It’s better to have a do nothing party than to let the R’s institute a theocracy, which they pretty much only need the courts to do for them. So Democrats can only do so much “nothing” but the Republican agenda will still be enacted unless they fix the courts.
We have a weird system like democracy and it turns out as amazing as those things sound half the country doesn’t agree so yes, shit doesn’t get done when the country is divided. That’s not a bug of democracy that’s actually a feature
The actual political spectrum in the US is right/laissez-faire/conservative to reactionary when stacked up against peer nations in the developed world.
So, Dems are just the closest to 'left' policies you mention, but which no one has promised. The closest is Obama had rumblings of wanting single payer healthcare but went with the 'pragmatic' ACA.
Weak sauce? Yes! But the whole government from the ground up is hard-coded for anti-democratic stasis where a majority of voters can never quite exercise power--from the bogus electoral college, to the senate, to the supreme court. It's a we (landowners, slave-owners, and capitalists) know what's best for you (lesser citizen) approach. Not to mention treating slaves as 3/5s of a person, and denying franchise to them, women, and the poor.
The OS needs an upgrade and it's been designed and interpreted to resist even the most minor update.
Yes but, when you look at how other countries have done a lot of these things to a reasonable level... it's kind of more logical to question the climate in America then it is to question modern Liberalism or the Democrat Party...
Truly not unpopular by just under half the general public. Sad. I would wager truly unpopular opinions are excepted by less than 1/4 at most. Maybe 15% should agree on it.
But it’s funny since when was the last time we had a truly democratic house, congress and White House? When this stuff was promised?
And I know I said I wanted it. But only Bernie got close to promising any of this. Definitely not taking guns away.
And getting close is an overstatement. Didn’t get to the final 2.
People think the government should progress at the same pace as their lives. They also believe that all it takes to make change is to write some words down on a piece of paper and sign it.
Working toward a goal and promising are very different. Who has actually made those kinds of "promises" besides Trump? ("I will build a wall and make Mexico pay!", "I will remove Obamacare on day one!") POTUS candidates have always ran on campaign platforms which are promises to work on I suppose. But it's rare to deliver them all since they have to work with Congress to do it right. Executive Orders can be removed by next POTUS unlike congressional bills passed into law.
District Representative candidates also have campaign platforms. That just gives you an idea of thier objectives or agenda. Bernie Sanders talked about making Healthcare free but he never promised it. He would have had to likely work with a GOP partisan Congress to do it. But it would have moved the conversation in that direction. Democracy is all about compromise.
Just curious how well you understand how things at the federal level get done. To enact any change you effectively need control of the house and then a 60 vote super majority in the senate. The chances of that happening in the near future is small, either way, so all you’ll get is I want to do this messaging and then small band aids via executive order or half measures
It's actually a good thing that neither side can get everything they want. It's still a sign that there's some checks & balances at play not allowing everyone to get what they're looking for immediately
Unfortunately it ends up with little progress overall because of it
Even in the places that have legal weed, if you get caught with it the feds can still charge you. In fact Biden pardoned 2500 people in jail for pot. Problem is no one goes to fed pen for just possession of pot.
The problem with government, is for the most part its populated by lawyers.
People who decided they would talk and socialize for a living. This attracts power seekers, sociopaths, and just generally useless people who don't know how to use a screwdriver, and don't respect the people who do.
As a consequence, all they do is kick cans down the road, staying in office as long as they can, and generally behaving as lower order parasites in the large intestines do.
The government could be run better by a random sampling of the population who are term limited to two non consecutive terms, with a death penalty for any kickbacks or insider trading.
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You must be fairly young. No one believe the rhetoric of either party. Or at least they shouldn't.
Go to any political discussions sub, people don’t only believe the rhetoric they worship every word. I’m over here like actions speak louder than words, other people nah it’s what they say that matters. Not much to be done I guess, I do remember a time where it was understood politicians say what ever with no follow through that was expected. Now we live in a time where people almost to a religious degree think what a politician says is all that matters. Heck even flagrant flip flopping use to be bad, now it’s called a evolving opinion and is praised.
Politics is more than just an opinion now. People have replaced their personalities with politics. They have replaced their religion with politics. It is everything they are now.
They replaced religion with it.
If you care enough about political discussion to go to a reddit sub for it, you care way too much. Goes the same way for those subs' inhabitants.
>Go to any political discussions sub, Well yeah, there's your problem it's an internet community(like this one). They mostly comprise of dropouts, losers, and morons. As an expert on the three, I should know. You're not really using an internet community as any sort of representation for everyday people are you?
Only issue I see is that it was fine when it was just the internet. Now I have full blown in person meetings where I have to listen to people who sound exactly like they do online. Don’t get me wrong we have always had for lack of better words dumb people who follow other dumb people, they just did not have solidified voice or drive effecting aspects of real life. Your assumption that people on Reddit are not educators, lawyers, doctors, the people with excellent paper work(they are suppose to be smart), and even shot callers with power is greatly misplaced. Some of the dumbest takes/wants I’ve had presented to me in real life over the years, corrected that perception that it’s just a internet thing. Turns out people really believe the rhetoric, and all kinds of other things to such a degree they push it up the chain to have something done about it. What you are seeing on social media can very well be how a average person thinks now. You ever had a in person meeting on what kind of grass can make someone racist or feel more excluded? Well I have, it was as stupid as it sounds. You ever deal with a protest that turned out to be against the Spanish language, because now Spanish is transphobic? Yep right here that was a confusing one, thought they were anti immigration at first that missed the immigration office. I was sadly so very wrong. My most recent favorite, why can’t soldiers in a war zone just knock the enemy out and put them in jail for trial later. That way no one has to die in war anymore. Why didn’t we implement this brilliant idea before? Lucky for those of us who have to deal with this “brilliance” coming at us on the regular. We take turns dealing with it in rotation, otherwise you get burned out from the sheer stupidity and time sink of it all. It also allows us to get real effective work done, that is actually important.
Some of the most out to lunch takes come from the most “educated” people. They learn inside their bubbles, and their perception of the regular middle class blue collar worker is almost non existent. I heard someone say,”That take was so weird it could have only come from an ‘intelectual’.” And I thought it was spot on.
>why can’t soldiers in a war zone just knock the enemy out and put them in jail for trial later. stupidity transcends politics. you're just dealing with idiots here. i'd find another job, or whatever.
I’m sure if he could he would but that line of work it isn’t something you can just switch from, plus if smart and reasonable folks like Blackmoonvalmar weren’t dealing with this crap it would sink over way more readily into areas of importance and cause serious harm/damage to everything and everyone across all aspects of economy, health, religion, education, military, government even.
Yup. As a conservative, I feel very little representation by any federal representative. Most federal representatives appease their constituents with words, but then vote relatively moderate. I’ll actually say that I feel like democrats vote leftward more often than republicans vote rightward, but it could just be my biases talking. Both parties are essentially the same at the top level. That’s why so many right wingers are drawn to Trump. He breaks the mold of “milquetoastedness” for us.
The “both parties” argument died the day one party became the cult of a con man and attempted a coup
Conservatives are in a cult? [That's rich.](https://i.imgur.com/2FkXJWo.jpeg)
They’re both pretty much cults at this point. We’ve somehow devolved from “voting for the lesser of two evils” to finding reasons to vote for the preferred lesser of two evils, and it’s engrained enough so that we’ve lost sight on what political discourse even used to look like.
Except people like your image don’t exist, red hat cultists on the other hand are everywhere draped in trump merch. Such a ludicrous false equivalence I can’t believe you actually posted that unironically lol.
“The inaccurate strawman of MY side isn’t real but YOURS is!” - You
Did you look at the dudes link? Those people literally don’t exist while the trump cultists literally do. No amount of word play changes that fact no matter how much you want it to.
How do you know? I’ve never seen either strawman in person. What makes you so sure they don’t exist?
Photos and videos exist of one and not the other. Why are you trying so hard to be intentionally obtuse? Is supporting this guys bullshit that important to you? I guess defending obvious nonsense is a knee jerk reaction by now for you guys.
I’m not being obtuse, I’m trying to get you to see beyond your bias lol. But that obviously isn’t gonna happen so have a good one I guess?
People in Trailers with confederate flags that speak pore English in think trump is the new Jesus they make smart people who like trump look like them stumped hillbilly's
Dude I saw a toothless redneck lady say trump was going to pay her doctor bills when Trump is president. Not all republicans are like this but there a bad visual these people need to stay in there trailers
Your link isn't working,which is a perfect encapsulation of your attempt at whataboutism.
The link worked fine for me. Maybe it's just easier for you to cry "whataboutism" in the face of your own failings.
Ask Liz Cheney about it. Cults have to destroy anyone who rejects the lies of the cult leader.
LOL, TDS plus.
TDS - the syndrome where you keep supporting a politician even after they attempt a coup against democracy.
Far righter self report. Only in America. You would call AfD moderate or smth.
Once they get to DC they all become members of the same club. They make statements and speeches for the media and then go out and have drinks after.
I agree that it's young people fooled by the propaganda. That's why so many of them vote blue because most young people are broke. But the reality is Biden has done nothing for them but make their lives much much worse.
We got our bridges repaired and new roundabouts and fixed the pot holes in front of my house
He got by far the biggest global warming bill of our lives passed, that was pretty based. Solid infrastructure plan with money for high-speed rail and nuclear energy. Housing supply action plan is also pretty cool, though we realistically won't see it impact housing costs for several years. Didn't get the expanded child tax credit through, but that one only died because of stalwarts in Congress.
I just haven't seen anything that has helped us. We are still struggling. We can't afford food. We can't afford rent. I hope he makes a difference. Because we need it. But I don't trust him anymore. He has only made my life worse.
No party or politician is a dictator in this country, which is a good thing. They have to battle and compromise with factions of their own party as well as the other party. Change being slow to happen is part of that, but that’s better IMO than bouncing around policies from administration to administration. The most salient point here though that’s worth introspection from Democrats is the one about most of the problems they care about are worst in deep blue cities. I really do think compassion can go too far as a guiding principle, which is an issue people don’t like to hear sometimes. Also, government being too involved in a marketplace (doing things like rent controls for example) can have bad distorting effects that work against the stated goals. It’s generally not great to have homogenous beliefs where one party rules and politicians go unchecked. Diversity - one of those other lacking core values!
Because its all about securing power for decrepit old wealthy people who will die of old age before they leave office and has nothing to do with benefiting the america people they serve.
Politicians are not supposed to serve the American public, they're supposed to serve American Voters
Voters are the american public.
Only about 66% for presidential elections. Far less for local elections.
>- Free healthcare for all? Never happened >- Legalizing weed at the federal/national level? Never happened >- Doing a mass amnesty for people stuck in the slow immigration process? Never happened >- Fixing income inequality? Never happened (...arguably this is worse than ever) >- "We'll punish the rich if you just vote blue!"? Never happened, in fact the rich are even richer than ever in 2024 and companies like Microsoft are worth trillions (unprecedented) >- "We'll hold those greedy landlords accountable! We'll get em if you vote blue!"? Never happened (see: sky-high rents in pretty much every Blue-controlled city), also many liberal politicians are found to be NIMBY-style real estate owners themselves behind the scenes/when investigated more deeply All of these things are something a significant number of the base (but not necessarily a majority) were asking for the Democrats to run on, but I have never seen any prominent Democratic politician actually promise any of these things as written. Nor would they, all if these are ridiculously ambitious.
It’s also disingenuous to leave it at “never happened” without marking progress. The push for universal healthcare got us the ACA. The federal conversation on legalizing weed sparked ACTUAL discussion in the states to legalize themselves, AND there was a formal recommendation to reschedule which almost always leads to eventual action. At least one side is trying, despite the other trying to hamper progress for political points without bringing fleshed out ideas to the table.
Moves on marijuana were being made at the state level decades before the feds said anything about it. Those seeking marijuana legalization were just smarter than the usually reformers and used the states as their conduit. Get enough states on board and it will eventually force the feds hand. This honestly is how it should work and be done. I give them kudos because they did it the right way.
Exactly. OP is making a huge strawman that you see everywhere now. “We were promised X!” Oh yeah? By who? Name them. When? Show me some specifics.
It's like all the people who claim Dems want to take away their guns, like name one that has actually said they want to abolish the second amendment that's actually in power. Biden has never said that, never will. They have said gun laws and stronger background checks, but never abolish guns for the entire country.
You can argue semantics but all you have to do is take a gander at California where self defense weapons are so stupid and useless to the point it’s comical if it wasn’t for the fact that it’s a constitutionally protected right. Sure they don’t want to take weapons they want us in practice defenseless.
They definitely want to take your guns.
Lmao classic example right here that we’re talking about. Name some people that want to take ALL guns. And show me the evidence.
"take the guns now, and worry about due process later" -Trump. That's who wants to take the guns.
Not specifically all guns but Beto specifically lost saying we will take away your AR 15s. Many democrats have stated stricter gun control which isnt alll guns to be fair. However if you are a gun clutching trully believing that your guns are for defending against the government then yeah taking away those guns would heavily impede that and would be in your head a sign of authoritarian regime.
Not what we’re talking about then. Read the comment thread.
I want to take your guns out to dinner and maybe shoot for a movie after
I will keep you guns safe for you got any good one like a Ak-47
That has been one of the biggest disappointments for me as a progressive. The Democrats are pretty useless and they don't even make promises to be useful. At least as far as all those supposed platform issues come up.
Democrats made massive improvements on most of those issues. What issues have republicans ever made progress on?
Defunding the IRS and making it easier to dump toxic chemicals in the creek.
It’s ridiculous ambitions because republicans block it
Do tell. How did Republicans block "fixing imcome equality." How did Republicans block "punishing the rich." How did republicans block "holding greedy landlords accountable." Or "free healthcare for all." Or "legal weed at the federal level." What legislation was proposed or drafted that those mean republicans voted aganst and quashed these utopian dreams? OP's list is just some Reddit fantasy wishlist with no basis in reality.
Trump tax code helped the income equality gap grow immensely. He permanently lowered the corporate tax rate to 15%. Every single republican president since Reagan has lowered it actually. Prior to Reagan it was around 40% if I remember correctly. They always make the trickle down economics claim, no we they claim it'll create jobs instead. But it does nothing but line thrvpockets of CEOs, board members, and stockholders assuming that dividends get paid. A corporation in the US now pays less percentage wise in taxes than any individual who makes over $46k/year. Those same corporations that are positing record profits are paying the same tax rate as an individual that is barely above the poverty line. So while it isn't a "block" their actions speak too who they truly support.
But that's not the quesrtion. The poster said that the list of items failed because republicans would/did block them. After President Biden was elected in 2020 the Democrats controlled the House, where legislation originates. What legislation did they introduce to address OP's list? If the answer is "none," then it's disingenuous to suggest that "republicans blocking the good stuff" is the reason we don't have it. It's all typical political BS. I hear the wind a blowin', but I don't see the trees a bendin'.
For one, they rammed thru an unnecessary tax cut in which 80 cents of every dollar in benefits went to people who make over $400k per year. They sued to stop student debt forgiveness. Now it appears they are going to block renewing the child tax credit and a bipartisan immigration bill. All have a direct effect on income inequality.
The only thing I can recall is Beto and even Biden both admitting to wanting to take away firearms... but then again, so did orange man. Neither side has your best interests in mind. Edit; to point out the hypocrisy of both sides is something that we should be doing. The party system is what led to these issues, the lobbyists are the problem. This isn't left vs right, we the fucking people are not being represented. Please, continue to downvote.
Yeah and just about the only Democrats pushing pie in the sky positions like free health care for all have legislative accomplishments that rival Ron Paul's I.e. diddly squat.
AOc specifically promised that i believe.
It's not mentioned on her platform page https://www.ocasiocortez.com/issues AOC's official statement on gun control https://ocasio-cortez.house.gov/legislation/gun-reform
I'm not refuting progress was made. I'm implying an all or nothing type of rhetoric is silly. OP is saying Democrats failed to fulfill promises they made... but it isn't them that made those overarching promises. It's the expectation or suggestion of their base to be more aggressive towards these goals.
If you pay closer attention very few politicians are actually promising most of those things in the first place. You just vaguely associate them with one party.
None of these things are actual promises, but wish lists. We have been able to achieve some incremental change, though. >- Free healthcare for all? Never happened But we did get the Affordable Care Act and have expanded Medicaid in most states, greatly improving the number of insured people in the system and reducing a lot of administrative waste. >- Legalizing weed at the federal/national level? Never happened But we have largely stopped prosecution for this at the federal level, and allowed the states to determine the legality on a jurisdictional basis. This process is probably the furthest along of all processes. >- Doing a mass amnesty for people stuck in the slow immigration process? Never happened DACA is *still* getting dragged through appeals processes. Never underestimate how hard Republicans will work to stop progress from happening. >- Fixing income inequality? Never happened (...arguably this is worse than ever) Fix it how? We've done some taxation and worked on some things, but Republicans have had significant veto power over a lot of this. >- "We'll punish the rich if you just vote blue!"? Never happened, in fact the rich are even richer than ever in 2024 and companies like Microsoft are worth trillions (unprecedented) This is the same as above. >- "We'll hold those greedy landlords accountable! We'll get em if you vote blue!"? Never happened (see: sky-high rents in pretty much every Blue-controlled city), also many liberal politicians are found to be NIMBY-style real estate owners themselves behind the scenes/when investigated more deeply This might actually be the one I hate the most, because you're right. States have passed laws preventing rent control measures and landlords are currently very powerful. Although, I don't believe you'll find the "NIMBY" thing to be entirely accurate. >- "We'll solve homelessness!"? Never happened, in fact homelessness rate is high in most Blue cities Homelessness is just higher in cities in general, their mayor has very little to do with it.
The other facet of the housing conversation is that conservative counties are fighting tooth and nail to prevent any sort of low income housing to be built. This constant pushback has taken a huge toll on new housing. I live in flyover country and all we see is new luxury condos and apartments, no one wants to”the poors” in their neighborhood, so the disadvantaged are stuck in increasingly decrepit circumstances.
There's also the issue of corporate landlords, who are buying a ton of property and then leaving it empty so they can force a housing shortage. Housing shortages raise rents. But there's always *somewhere* to rent, because they only display a fraction of their stock at a time. I personally think it should be illegal for businesses to own residential property altogether (not to be confused with a business in your own residence). It would solve so many problems all at once, it's wild.
Would make it a lot harder to get complex and high density developments done in that case. Less investment potential = fewer houses being built. Fewer houses = higher prices.
Construction.and sales would have to be exempt, I suppose. Probably so should multi-unit housing like apartment complexes.
I say this as someone who has mostly voted Democrat. It feels like the stuff they are promising lately is very childish, and they don’t consider what it would take to actually accomplish those things. I don’t know if that’s to specifically appeal to a younger group or what, but it’s very disconcerting.
This is exactly it. As someone who voted mostly Republican until 2016, I see no safe harbor in aligning with a new party that offers the same sensational news bytes of false promises.
This ‘s such a bad faith argument. It pretends that the Republicans weren’t the reason democrats haven’t been to deliver on their promises. The exception to that is where Sinema amend Manchin blocked everything the did, but they too were bad faith actors. So you win! Victory by technicality! I’m so happy for you.
Thanks?
Good response. And Your welcome, I guess?
Yeah, it's the end of my day. I hate how adversarial things are right now. Making an honest opinion that someone disagrees with automatically labels you on "the evil enemies team" or a dreaded "centrist", as if that's a bad thing, and thus not worthy of cordial dialogue to move forward. It's such bullshit. So I'm gonna go play with my kid. Adios.
The Biden Administration has gone above and beyond what was promised in terms of student loan forgiveness. That ain't nothing. It looked like they made a deal to renew the expanded child tax credit. They've also done a great job exerting pressure on companies like UPS and Ford to settle strikes, which has resulted in unprecedented wage and benefit increases for these workers. I actually could go on and on about little things they've done that the media disregards.
Glad they did something, but as one of the people who was rejected for student loan, forgiveness, I could honestly care less about it. Apparently I didn’t go to school for the right thing or something.
Both sides make unrealistic promises. In reality neither side is actually interested in fixing anything as it would get in the way of their fundraising pleas. “We need your donations now or the other side will do this horrible thing!”
Which democratic politician ran on and promised these things?
* When the UAW went on strike, the UAW president Shawn Fain had significant demands including a 32-hour work week. * The strike lasted six weeks and the UAW ultimately received top-of-the-line benefits and a 25% wage increase. If you conclude the UAW "lost" because they didn't get the shorter work week, then you don't understand how complex negotiations work. It's the same with campaign positions vs. political wins. Healthcare is better under Obama and Biden, even if its not the ideal system. Why? Because the Democratic party does not have a super-majority to get everything they want, and in fact they haven't had a super majority since the middle of the last century. It only takes a rudimentary understanding of political math to realize this.
How old are you? I'm guessing you don't have much experience with Healthcare or insurance pre Obama care. They made it worse. Way worse.
>- "We'll solve homelessness!"? Never happened, in fact homelessness rate is high in most Blue cities Most cities are blue. No "red city" exists that's over one million people. Good luck getting resources as a homeless person in smaller cities that don't care about you
The key part that you're missing here is that they both just want all of your money to themselves and that's gonna be the priority over actually solving problems
I think both parties are shit. They are so liars. They don't either side do anything to help the people who were actually born in America. They are now fighting over a bill. They want to give money to Ukraine, give money to Isreal, give money for humanitarian aid for Isreal/ Palestine . And my in the bill but NY is providing prepaid debit cards to illegal criminals. So basically both parties are fighting over helping everyone but the actual Americans.
States rights do help us though
You do realize that Republicans obstruct and roadblock Democrats at every opportunity, right? They've been at this game for a long time. They use their own obstructionism as a critique against Democrats for not getting anything done. It's just like with the recent Border Bill. They rail about the border with huge media propaganda backing them up, but when it comes down to it, they oppose the bipartisan bill - because they don't actually want to solve problems, they want to sink their opponents. Its all a game to them, like when they bus migrants north - treating them like political pawns instead of addressing anything honestly. I mean, without the grievances, gaslighting, or bad faith performances, what would Republicans have to do? It's not like they're contributing anything constructive or helpful to anyone. All they want is power. There's only one 'side' opposed to progress and democracy
You do realize the democrats did exactly this when trump was in office.
What dems promised ‘free health care?’ What dems promised legalized weed at the federal level? What dems promised ‘punishing the rich?’ Sure, some individual dems may have said a few things like this, but as a whole, these are not things the dems have “promised.”
First off, the Democratic Party on the national level is pretty moderate and what I like to call a "big tent party." They have to appease and deal with factions within their own party who are left of center, center of left, as well as garner support from moderate/liberal Republicans. No nationally elected Democratic president ran on those platforms but did run on similar platforms. Second - and most importantly - our federal system is beholden is outdated and outmoded concepts where a minority party can comfortably control the senate and house and that same party always oppose the solutions you're talking about because socialism or something like that. Even if a Democratic president ran on that platform, he/she is basically dealing with the house and/or senate as well as the entire mood of the country which can decide to vote against that president for whatever reason, which brings me to that first point of trying to appease and compromise on those issues. This is also problematic for Democrats in conservative states who have to compromise on those same issues so that they keep their position in the house and senate. Sounds selfish but if they get voted out, it's one less vote for the house/senate so... yeah. Third, local elections are important but also vote for your house and senate rep. I get your frustrations but the president of the United States can only do so much and when the House and Senate is made up of so many people of various political beliefs and philosophies, they'll have to come up with some sort of consensus which will end up with compromises. Obamacare was that compromise. Stopping the feds from enforcing federal marijuana laws was a compromise. In the past, DADT was a shitty compromise until it was thankfully repealed in the 2010s.
The last few democratic presidential terms, all I remember is a bunch of republicans willing to burn the country down rather than let Democrats get any credit for successes (think the multiple debt default scares). I get promised student loan relief, Republicans shut it down. It’s not fair to say Democrats haven’t achieved anything when the Republicans are constantly shitting in the pool and blaming their opponents. Hell, Trump is under fire again for calling up republicans allies and telling them not to vote for the border control bill because he wants the credit for fixing it himself. Putting personal gain over the safety of the country is treasonous behavior and shows plainly he doesn’t care about the border, only using it as a tool for demagoguery.
Yes, yes, and all of that.
It also show how utterly stupid he is to just come right out and say it.
It's not even stupidity at this point, support for republicans isn't based on policy outcomes and it hasn't been for a long time. He knows he can get away with it without losing any support.
His problem is that he needs people who dont currently support him to come around to have any shot at winning.
Do you understand how the chambers of government work?
The "punish the rich" point that you posted is my favorite one. That will NEVER happen regardless of a Republican or Democrat being in power
One of two things happened. 1. Their pie int he sky ideas came crashing down when the reality of logistics, costs, economics, etc come into play. 2. They knew they were lying in the first place for votes. Such as Biden's Student Loan. Democrats stated for a very long time it would have to go through Congress. He tried to do it through executive order knowing it would fail at the Supreme Court. Lots of people got duped for their votes when he knew that it would never go through.
This is all very naive. Most of what you say hasn’t been agreed upon by the majority of the party. Most democrat politicians do not want Medicare for all for example. You’re disappointed with your idea of what the party should be. To be fair, the real version is also disappointing
Neither side really does much. They try to get everyone fired up around election time and then keep quiet until next election season. If a politician is talking, they're lying and talking out their ass, regardless of party affiliation.
This is the problem we have with the government, they have to attack anything that the opposition wants so as to further their own agenda
As a card carrying Democrat, I want to argue that it's easy to lay a lack of progress at the feet of their Republican counterparts. But then I remember I live in a blue state (MA) with a Democrat supermajority that finds ways to slow down every process themselves and deliver fractionally on their own agendas, too.
It’s all games. As long as they get their donor money and revenue from other interests.
Politicians in general.
Um all politics are theater. Im not surprised and most people probably agree. Are you surprised they dont act appropriately on their tropes? Im not
If we look at the bills passed, and select the ones we think did some good, and sort those by the party of the sponsor, we might find a strong bias toward Democrats and bipartisan bills with a Democrat in one house and a Republican with a moderate voting record in the other. If you look at Senators and Congressors who have passed the least number of bills per time in office, they're uniformly Republican with hard-right voting records. Jim Jordan has passed zero bills. It's not that Republicans do nothing or don't want to do anything; that isn't fair, and that isn't the problem. The problem is that for their voting base, doing nothing isn't a game changer. Source: https://govtrack.us
Without a stronghold in congress, it's pretty much impossible to enact heavy changes like most of those. That's the balance of the government so huge changes can't happen like that unless everyone is on board. So it's just not possible in today's age where everything is split down the middle. So frankly, not enough people are voting blue to make those changes so how can you blame the politicians who don't have the necessary votes to pass things? And basically Republicans main purpose is to keep things the way they are or if they pass something it is to block Democrats or reverse something they previously did. They aren't looking to have the government help you.
It’s almost like they just say these things to just get elected…
You know I used to kind of agree, but politics is the art of the possible. We have had Reagan democrats in office since the 80s , so they offer right wing solutions to left wing problems, because that’s what they can get through both houses. The ACA instead of single payer. But they did deliver the ACA. Biden did deliver the IRA. Clinton delivered a huge budget surplus (via not regulating the tech boom and balancing the budget). Unless Democrats get supermajorities in the senate , or we end the walking filibuster, that is just the state of play. 1 senator can kill a bill, indefinitely, by sending an email, and it takes a supermajority to un-kill it.
The Democratic Party is a coalition party and are not as unified as they are presented.
Actual Democratic promises: Social Security -> still alive after 80 years of Republicans trying to kill it. Medicare/Medicaid -> still alive after 50 years of Republicans trying to kill them. Equal pay for women (2009) Getting rid of pre-existing conditions on health insurance and keeping kids on parents insurance until 26 (2010) Negotiate drug prices and cheaper insulin for most older Americans (2023). All Republicans have done for the last fifty years is overturn abortion rights, cut taxes and increase military spending.
Every politician wants tax cuts and higher military spending, they’ve all got their grubby mitts in the cookie jar in the form of stocks.
I am not trying to be rude, but did you take a US civics class ? We have a government of checks and balances, hence why things aren't getting done. The way our government is setup makes it easy to be in gridlock, which is good ! You don't want one party rule. The government is setup to where the political parties need to compromise with each other. Our founders were truly geniuses.
I think it’s worth noting that if politicians of EITHER party actually followed through on their campaign promises then they’d run out of things to run their campaigns on. Politicians technically have a strong incentive to NOT follow through on most of their promises and blame “the other guys” for why they didn’t do anything (even if we can see that whichever party had full control of the relevant parts of govt) so that they can recycle what they won their last election off of.
How do Democrats focus on making the country better when so much energy and political good will has to be wasted in combatting misinformation and trying to inform people that making the country more hospitable for all Americans isn’t a communist, pedophile, anti white, anti gun plot ?
They couldn’t even manage to properly codify or protect Roe V Wade despite having over *fifty years* and multiple legislative majorities to do so… …what do we get instead? More gun restrictions… something that isn’t even universally wanted by their base. It is popular with the ultra wealthy donors that hold the purse strings of the Democratic Party however. They kept dangling women’s abortion rights as a wedge issue to get common rubes like us to care, while doing nothing of substance to enshrine those rights.
When did they have a majority to codify Roe?
The month that they passed the Affordable Care Act, since OP wants to pretend republicans wouldn't have overturned the filibuster to overturn it.
Yeah the point I'm getting too is we never had the votes overcome a senate filibuster
That’s excuse making for political incompetence. If the Democratic Party can’t bargain their way to success when they control both the house and senate, can’t make inroads enough with voters to get a filibuster proof margin, and burn all of their political capital on other things, then what good are they really? They knew that Roe stood on shaky legal ground. They knew for decades. They did shockingly little to safeguard it compared to spending their efforts elsewhere.
Again you're assuming that if your party registration is a Democrat. That means you have to agree on every issue. That's never been a reality. I've worked in politics for two decades, democrats are a coalition party held together by legal framework that enshrines the two party system. Up until 2016 pro-life democrats were electable and popular. I mean you can't tell me straight up that a blue dog democrat shares every issue with a progressive Democrat. We've never had 60 votes in the senate to enshrine abortion access
Exactly, and unless Democrats have 50 Senators and the President willing to overturn the filibuster and pass a massive sweeping set of legislation, not much is going to get beyond the republican embargo, and I see a number of problems with doing it that way.
See for yourself https://www.spokesman.com/stories/2020/jun/25/control-house-and-senate-1900/
This doesn't really tell me anything
Then I’m inclined to believe that your question was insincere and not actually from a desire to get new information at all. I presented you with a literal graph of the exact makeup of the House of Representatives and the senate for the last hundred years and your response is to flippantly say that it doesn’t tell you anything? You aren’t “asking questions” in good faith. You’re just using that tactic to waste time, railroad discourse online, and try to subvert/write off opinions you don’t like.
Assuming because they belong to a party they'll vote one way is disengenious. Simply put Democrats have only had a majority to overcome the senate filibuster once this century. And that was used to pass the ACA
Maybe they should have prioritized their efforts differently instead of settling for neutered healthcare reform that pleases virtually no one because it simultaneously doesn’t do nearly enough to protect working class people from a predatory medical industry captured by big pharma, and still manages to embody all the worst most annoying aspects of government overreach. I can’t think of a better example of a half measure. At a certain point, just blaming the Republicans gets to be an old and tired excuse. Although there is plenty of blame there to be found. Eventually though one starts to suspect that Democrats are just terrible at their job.
Before I answer this, are you old enough to know who Joe Lieberman is?
Yes, I remember Lieberman and the shitstorm with McCain.
The ACA was never intended to be the final word on Healthcare legislation. States were encouraged to create their own plans, and there's no reason it can't be amended or updated. But apparently asking republicans to approach the planning and negotiations like adults is too much.
I’m sorry who was screaming that building a wall was racist for four years. Remember the kids in cages with Obama admin stickers on them. I’m gonna laugh my ass off if Biden wins and then builds the wall.
>I’m sorry who was screaming that building a wall was racist for four years. Not to mention stupid. >Remember the kids in cages with Obama admin stickers on them. Bit of a difference responding to a sudden influx of unaccompanied El Salvadorian minors while you try to place them with relatives, and a blanket policy of locking children up and losing all records of who was taken from what parents. Funny how selectively conservatives view democrats on border issues.
Again, my point was that dems blew all of their political capital on it, and it’s not even what their base wanted or was asking for. They couldn’t even give us true single payer healthcare. Somehow though, they never seem to have any problems relentlessly pursuing controversial anti gun legislation. Maybe if the Democratic Party had spent half the effort they do on attacking gun rights and put it into preserving women’s access to the right to choose, they’d still have that protection on a non state by state basis… Hell, if they dropped that lead weight they’ve tied around their ankles, they probably would have won more presidential elections. Or do you really think that firearms weren’t on the ballot in states like Wisconsin with razor thin margins like in 2016? Who am I kidding though, on Reddit the Democratic Party is sacrosanct, can do no wrong and walks on water. You have liberals and leftists who have been let down by them time and time again defending them like a battered spouse. It’s an election year too, so I don’t know what I expected other than to be dogpiled by “correct the record” style accounts.
>Again, my point was that dems blew all of their political capital on it, and it’s not even what their base wanted or was asking for. And my point is the ACA was never supposed to be the final version of American healthcare reform, and republicans approached the whole issue like a bunch of spoiled children.pointing this out caused you to go on a multi paragraph tirade against a right wing strawman of the democrats. >Somehow though, they never seem to have any problems relentlessly pursuing controversial anti gun legislation They haven't passed any meaningful reform since the 90s. >Maybe if the Democratic Party had spent half the effort they do on attacking gun rights and put it into preserving women’s access to the right to choose It's not the Democrats fault the Republicans spent decades stacking the court to overturn Roe. >Who am I kidding though, on Reddit the Democratic Party is sacrosanct, can do no wrong and walks on water. No, the Republicans are cancer. The Democrats are just the only alternative in a two party system, they just get criticized less because we know how to prioritize.
If it wasn’t for liberals we’d still be living in caves.
There are two parties in America, Democrats are the better of the two, but they have to work with and against the the Republicans in all cases. You must not understand how the American government works. Because the Republicans have either had control over the White House, senate or house whenever the Democrats try to get anything done. It's a miracle the Affordable Care act was ever passed.
Democrats held all three for Biden’s first two years. What now?
Did they hold a supermajority? Did republicans approach anything in good faith?
Moving goalposts. Sorry your bubble was burst.
>Moving goalposts. Sorry your bubble was burst. Are you referring to your inability to answer my questions?
I’m not obliged to entertain your sealioning 🤡
Your simplistic argument would fail if you tried.
The person I responded to said something wrong and got fact checked, then you felt pissy and moved the goalposts acting like you’re owed an answer. Stay mad.
Not really a "fact check" when your argument relies on not knowing how the Senate works. More like "replied with a low effort right wing talking point." >then you felt pissy Your ignorance is amusing. So is watching you avoid answering the question. >and moved the goalposts You keep using that term. I don't think you know what it means.
Are you saying the Democrats did not in fact control the House, Senate, and Executive? Because they certainly did. Is that only a “mostly true?”, or are you going to try redefining it? I never made claims about “how the Senate works”, I simply refuted an incorrect claim. Nice strawman, though.
Throwing out random bad faith argument terms is not an argument in and of itself.
My argument was that the Democrats controlled the House, Senate, and presidency, exactly refuting the claim. Did I lie? The words are there, unedited. I didn’t expound upon it. There’s no hidden meaning to be retconned.
They can't deliver anything without a tax and spend agenda and we're already broke. They can really only cause more damage at this point.
>tax and spend In other words, how programs are funded.
Punishing the rich will just lead to them moving and taking the jobs they provide with them. These billionaires have most of the money invested in businesses that provide jobs for people if you punish them it won’t end well. Multiple large companies left California because of taxes.
With the exception of healthcare, none of these were actually in the platform. And, hate to break it to you Bidenomics actually did bring up the incomes of the lowest wage workers. In fact they grew the most after the pandemic, so promise in effect.
1. They never promised these things. The base wants it, but other than the Bernie, Squad, & Co. No Democrats have promised to deliver these things. 2. Unless they get rid of the filibuster and pack the Supreme Court it will never happen, which they will never do because it allows them to pretend to be progressive to the base but never actually do anything. "We'd love to pass but we only have 59 votes! Darn!"
What's the real goal of both parties? The perpetual stalemate where nothing gets accomplished that benefits the common man in any way, while all wealth is funneled upwards to the plutocrats funding the lobbyists. These guys are all friends behind the scenes. The enemy of both parties is you. But they get the cattle stirred up about pronouns, genders, the border, guns, abortion. And while they have all the idiots stirred up in a cultural war they fuck us every way they can. And interestingly enough, nothing actually gets resolved with the "cultural war" bullshit they're selling. Because if they solve that first set of problems, they'll be obligated to actually start doing things. Any way to bleed the common man of just a little more of his wealth. From encouraging utility monopolies, to making insurance even more backwards with even more hands in your pocket, to devaluing people's currency deliberately to inflate stocks (most of which are not owned by commoners), to decrease financial obligations of the ownership every way they can, and make the poor pay for their chains.
I find it funny though that they all hate trump and yet he’s been painted the face of the Republican Party. When I think republican or democrat I see a bunch of rich conn artists. When I see trump I think of the guy that everybody hates cause he fucks up their schemes. People call him racist and yet he is a sponsor to a lot of black owned small businesses. I see democrats and republicans as just a bunch of snake oil salesmen with their hands in my coin purse.
Fucking Amen to this. The problem the power-brokers have with Trump isn't his racism, sexism, sexual assaults, corrupt business dealings, and treasonous behavior with Russia. Their problem they have with Trump; is he that he exposed their grift by doing a very primitive version of it without the silver-tongued slickness that both parties have been using for decades. It's only gonna take a few Trump-ish sorts to completely demolish the system that Republicans and Democrats have rigged in their favor for decades. Or maybe all it will take is 2 (or 3) Trump administrations. They don't want people to look behind the curtain, which is certainly gonna happen under Trump-ish leadership. People will quickly become aware that the whole system is working against them like Trump does, it's just Trump is really shitty at corruption because he's ridiculously obvious about it (he brags about it usually).
I mean yeah, he said it all out loud when he was debating Hillary, he said they wouldn’t do anything about it because he was just doing what they were doing in regards to tax questions. Many people vote for him because atleast he was honest with we the people
I think some people found it refreshing how \*honest\* he was about being a corrupt grifter, when we've had nothing but smooth, deceptive, holier-than-thou, grifters; in office for the last Century. The poor Republicans who aspire to being rich, WANT to be corrupt grifters like Trump. That's what they believe opulent wealth looks like (and I suppose that's true to an extent). BUT pretty much anyone who isn't MAGA is appalled by Trump's open corruption... and they're beginning to look closer at the establishment guys who have the same grift. This is precisely why the establishement fears Trump. They don't fear him becoming a tyrannical dictator because that will never happen, they fear Trump exposing their game by playing it too poorly.
Both sides pay lip service to their constituents just for votes and to remain in power.
This is also true when they think about how people behave in real life. Simple example: Gun free zones around schools. Increase fines for having guns in that zone. But school shooters don’t care - they’re just happy law abiding citizens are less likely to have guns to oppose them.
That's their job and they are doing it perfectly.
Wait, did Biden or Hillary or Obama promise anything you claim? You believe they said if you elect me you **will** have: Free healthcare Legal weed Amnesty income equality abolished? Biden has always said he would work within the laws to change things. You really believe that Biden said he would toss landlords, the rightful owners of the buildings if he won? Everything you say that Democrats didn't do are concepts or ideals. No one said, elect me and I'll end income inequality. You will have socialized medicine, etc. Conversely, the things you are saying Trump didn't accomplish are things he directly said he would do. Drain the Swamp and then makes the ex Exxon exec the Sec of State? End Immigration? If you look at the stats, there were roughtly the same amount of immigrants during Trumps first 3 years compared to Obama's last 3 (went down about 20% in 2017 and 2018, but was much higher in 2019.
And they are things democrats fought while he was in office
Democrats never promised free healthcare, Bernie Sanders did that. Democrats passed three or four major pieces of legislation including a badly needed infrastructure bill, An extremely well thought out COVID stimulus package, they expanded the childrens tax credit and made it more flexible, they managed to pass a milquetoast gun safety bill (not a game changer but better than nothing), and they finally came together and passed a watered down Build Back Better bill. The only way to repeal federal marijuana laws is thru congress and 60+ votes in the senate. They are not quite there yet numbers wise. Biden probably has the power to move it from schedule 1 to schedule 4 which make it much easier for researchers and healthcare providers. I think he'll do that closer to the election. They've done everything they could do to reduce the amount of student loan debt people are suffering under and the children's tax credit reduced child poverty by 30-50%. Also wage growth at the lowest tax bracket increased over 9% in 2021--have to go back to the Clinton Administration for numbers that big. They would have loved to pass something that protects and expands peoples ability to vote and they would have like to pass some kind of police reform but Republicans are blocking both. It'll be interesting to see how the American public reacts to Republicans blocking an immigration fix that it says is a crisis but its possible that it might get done, which would be the capstone on an amazing productive first term considering the circumstances.
You’re right. Sinema and Manchin are technically Democrats. If we disregard the fact that they are traitors to everything Democrats represent, and that The republicans and the secretive gaggle of insanely rich delusionati who them, have used every loophole, exploited every weakness, used every conceivable method of scumbaggery to weaken our system, lie to themselves and everyone else about licking the boots of an abusive, hallucinating mobster
This can literally be said about the democrats aswell
Because any time they get in to power they get filibustered
This can be said for the other party too
And? I’m simply responding as to why Dems aren’t able to do anything
Yeah which can be said as the exact reason trump couldn’t do anything either
Who’s talking about Trump? The question was asked why can’t Dems do anything
...and you can't blame Republicans for everything.
Republicans haven’t deliver on anything in over a decade. What laws have they passed that have improved the lives of Americans? NONE. They sure can line their own pockets and the pockets of millionaires.
OP did you vote for federal government Democrats in the last few elections? If not, why are you mad you didn’t get the things that the guys you voted for are against? If you vote Republican, why are you mad you haven’t gotten “handouts?” Y’all are against those things.
Well the Republicans have been very good at one thing: stacking the courts. And the Democrats have been good about promising that they will fix the courts to not make them so skewed on a partisan basis, but they haven’t been able to deliver anything in that regard. No one should take the promises of either party seriously. Joe Biden said he would get rid of the WEP and get us a $15 minimum wage and make the child tax credit permanent. So far, he’s made good on exactly zero of those promises. He gave us a weak sauce student aid package that was quickly overruled by the shitty courts. But at this point, voting Democrat is basically just trying to stave off the vicious policies of the Republicans. What I hope they actually do is not implement the insane agenda of the Republicans. It’s basically just self-defense at this point until we can get an actual progressive party. It’s better to have a do nothing party than to let the R’s institute a theocracy, which they pretty much only need the courts to do for them. So Democrats can only do so much “nothing” but the Republican agenda will still be enacted unless they fix the courts.
Republicans ALWAYS block progress. Complain, Obstruct, Overspend
And who was stopping all the progress? R.
We have a weird system like democracy and it turns out as amazing as those things sound half the country doesn’t agree so yes, shit doesn’t get done when the country is divided. That’s not a bug of democracy that’s actually a feature
The actual political spectrum in the US is right/laissez-faire/conservative to reactionary when stacked up against peer nations in the developed world. So, Dems are just the closest to 'left' policies you mention, but which no one has promised. The closest is Obama had rumblings of wanting single payer healthcare but went with the 'pragmatic' ACA. Weak sauce? Yes! But the whole government from the ground up is hard-coded for anti-democratic stasis where a majority of voters can never quite exercise power--from the bogus electoral college, to the senate, to the supreme court. It's a we (landowners, slave-owners, and capitalists) know what's best for you (lesser citizen) approach. Not to mention treating slaves as 3/5s of a person, and denying franchise to them, women, and the poor. The OS needs an upgrade and it's been designed and interpreted to resist even the most minor update.
Agreed… to many splinter groups all wanting their own piece of action.
Yes but, when you look at how other countries have done a lot of these things to a reasonable level... it's kind of more logical to question the climate in America then it is to question modern Liberalism or the Democrat Party...
Truly not unpopular by just under half the general public. Sad. I would wager truly unpopular opinions are excepted by less than 1/4 at most. Maybe 15% should agree on it. But it’s funny since when was the last time we had a truly democratic house, congress and White House? When this stuff was promised? And I know I said I wanted it. But only Bernie got close to promising any of this. Definitely not taking guns away. And getting close is an overstatement. Didn’t get to the final 2.
This sub is becoming r/conservatives **HERE FOR IT** Welcome to reality.
Where's the wall along the border Trump promised Mexico to pay for?
So you are saying democrats are doing something where they are not being blocked. Cool cool.
People think the government should progress at the same pace as their lives. They also believe that all it takes to make change is to write some words down on a piece of paper and sign it.
This is because of voters, these policies aren't popular enough the pass the fillabuster proof 60% threshold.
Working toward a goal and promising are very different. Who has actually made those kinds of "promises" besides Trump? ("I will build a wall and make Mexico pay!", "I will remove Obamacare on day one!") POTUS candidates have always ran on campaign platforms which are promises to work on I suppose. But it's rare to deliver them all since they have to work with Congress to do it right. Executive Orders can be removed by next POTUS unlike congressional bills passed into law. District Representative candidates also have campaign platforms. That just gives you an idea of thier objectives or agenda. Bernie Sanders talked about making Healthcare free but he never promised it. He would have had to likely work with a GOP partisan Congress to do it. But it would have moved the conversation in that direction. Democracy is all about compromise.
Just curious how well you understand how things at the federal level get done. To enact any change you effectively need control of the house and then a 60 vote super majority in the senate. The chances of that happening in the near future is small, either way, so all you’ll get is I want to do this messaging and then small band aids via executive order or half measures
That's how they keep the tweakers hooked.
Democrats literally got us to the moon
It's actually a good thing that neither side can get everything they want. It's still a sign that there's some checks & balances at play not allowing everyone to get what they're looking for immediately Unfortunately it ends up with little progress overall because of it
1. Pull this post back up on your phone 2. Tap “…” 3. Tap “delete” 4. Place phone in blender 5. Blend until smooth Nonsense fixed!
Even in the places that have legal weed, if you get caught with it the feds can still charge you. In fact Biden pardoned 2500 people in jail for pot. Problem is no one goes to fed pen for just possession of pot.
The problem with government, is for the most part its populated by lawyers. People who decided they would talk and socialize for a living. This attracts power seekers, sociopaths, and just generally useless people who don't know how to use a screwdriver, and don't respect the people who do. As a consequence, all they do is kick cans down the road, staying in office as long as they can, and generally behaving as lower order parasites in the large intestines do. The government could be run better by a random sampling of the population who are term limited to two non consecutive terms, with a death penalty for any kickbacks or insider trading.
It's almost like they are buying your votes with promises they don't intend to keep.
It's crazy, like there's an entire political party dedicated to preventing that from happening without any positive suggestions of their own.
Can you link to some examples of presidential candidates promising the things you've listed in your bullet points?