- cross-posted to:
- onehundredninetysix@lemmy.blahaj.zone
- cross-posted to:
- onehundredninetysix@lemmy.blahaj.zone
cross-posted from: https://lemmy.dbzer0.com/post/57114233
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I’ve said this before but I want to scream it from the rooftops.
Fuck the GoP.
I am a white 50 year old man.
I grew up poor as shit. Moving constantly, sometimes living in a car, even dumpster diving for food.
I have been a Republican my entire life.
I thought a Republican meant personal responsibility and the freedom to carve out the life you work for.
I don’t even know where my ideology lies anymore.
I spent a career in the Navy and am now a successful electrical engineer.
I only know a few things with firm certainty:
The GoP is a tool for the rich. It gives zero fucks for right or wrong, etiquette, integrity, or the Christian teachings it supposedly lauds and fights for.
America is already an oligarchy, it just hides it better. The amount of wealth available to so few people allow them the ability to control narrative and flood the truth with bullshit. Their only goal is to protect and grow their wealth.
The Democrat party is worthless. Led so long by Pelosi who did champion some important issues, but was also enriching herself and allowing the Democrat Party to also become a tool for the wealthy.
My success is due, in part, to various assistance programs that were made available to me by the government. (I also have no doubt that my gender and race also made the path easier.)
I believe I have a responsibility to help those in need. But I am a terrible supporter of local programs. What I mean is I do not like volunteering. I want to, but it makes me uncomfortable and it reminds me of the shame I felt as a child. But I have no problem paying taxes. I see my success as the success of those that supported me. I am not so naive or arrogant to think I pulled myself up by my own bootstraps. Those same programs will help the next generation and so on.
We are not all equal. Some people ARE better than others, in many ways. That does not mean we are not all of equal worth or do not deserve good lives. Everyone deserves the same opportunity, even if it means part of my success is needed to fund it.
I don’t know how to fix this country, but I do know who is NOT fixing it.
History does not repeat itself. The real issue is that people don’t change. The people today act the same as the people 1000 years ago. Only the rules have changed.
I lost hope for this nation when Trump was elected this last time. I couldn’t understand how people could not see the obvious. But I also understand the disenfranchisement and lack of leadership the Democratic Party has caused.
If free healthcare, free child care, free education, UBI, affordable housing, and good old monopoly busting means I have to live in a home barely big enough for my family and lose half my paycheck… that is a price I would pay without thinking twice.
The election of New York’s newest mayor, despite the forces working against him gives me hope.
I’m 50. This is not my country anymore. My generation made its bed, we need to let the next make theirs.
I will continue to be a registered Republican and vote straight Democrat until there is a clearer path for me to take.
Oh, and fuck AIPAC and the ADL. They support genocide and have become what they supposedly stand against.
I have hope again and I have NY to thank for that.
A few more pearls that I always thought was obvious:
AI is a bubble.
STOP USING CRYPTO, IT’S A FUCKING SCAM FOR GRIFTERS AND WAS SUPPOSED TO BE A CURRENCY, NOT A FUCKING INVESTMENT. THANKS FOR RUINING IT, ASSHOLES.
Pasty faced millennial here.
Also EE dropout (working on that).
I hope I am as enlightened and put together as you when I’m 50. Cheers.
But I do have one answer for you:
I lost hope for this nation when Trump was elected this last time. I couldn’t understand how people could not see the obvious.
Facebook.
My ‘moment of clarity’ was when I saw a local news station running clips of college girls’ enthusiasm for Trump, just after the election. The sentiment was along the lines of “He’s so strong!” or “I really feel like he gets us, you know?” and almost directly quoting some meme’s I’d seen.
And seeing die hard libertarians I know swallow Trump’s accumulation of executive power, via their perception of events, drove it home.
…Walk the street, and look around. I’m using ‘Facebook’ as a catch-all here: algorithmic feeds and influencers are warping reality for smart folks, both ways. Every generation is caught up in it, but I feel the age extremes (Boomers and Z) are most vulnerable here.
The ease with which echo chambers are created and weaponized is unreal.
Watching my late father-in-law, also a Navy Vet, say John McCain was a traitor, was just … unreal. And he was on Medicare.
Don’t give up on your EE dreams. I went to school when I was younger, dug a huge GPA hole, and almost never went back.
I had to go to school part time because I had to work and was the main stay-at-home parent. Took me 7 years. (Also had undiagnosed ADHD. If I had then, the medication I have now, it probably would have been a different story 🤣).
But the real journey is finding what we love. Adversity and struggle suck, but it teaches you to fight.
Good luck, internet stranger, I hope you find the journey you need.
I’m not a NewYorker, but his winning also brought me hope. So he’s winning outside of NY too.
Highest voter turnout in like 50yrs…hope he destroys the rich NYC establishment and corrupt government departments.
Mamdani told a heckler that he wanted him to be able to afford to live in New York as well.
A pastor who asked Trump to have empathy for people he doesn’t like, was attacked by the entire political movement.
When they say culture war, that is what they want winning and the realization really sucks.
I love how upset the old guard is about Mamdani. Fuck every single one of them.
Inviting them to have a seat at the table can send them into a tailspin. It’s kind of funny how they pretend to be the adults in the room while doing so.
it also got the gop panties in a wad, and they colluded with the old guard dnc to derail his campaign. it tells you they are one in the same, hence a uniparty.
I give lemmy 365 days, tops, until we utterly despise the man for making political compromises.
the expectation of a single charismatic leader to solve everything is basically “great man theory” and pure fascist rethoric.
My dude he’s the mayor of New York, that’s literally his job. The mayor of New York is a lightning rod for all the frustration people experience living in the city. Mandani just took the most hated job in the world, sure he can do some good for the city. He’s still going to be hated for it. That’s just New York.
Everyone is chronically upset on the internet is what I have learned
Some people hate things as a hobby. I say that a lot, and I’m really serious.
Some people play video games, watch movies, or read books, and other people just hate stuff. That’s their whole thing. They seek it out. They doom scroll until they find something to hate, and then they latch onto it and spread that hate wherever they can. Most of them don’t even realize they’re doing it.
I’ve seen so many good things fall apart because of this internet hate machine. It’s sad.
I wish it wasnt so easy to hate all those things. Video games getting bastardized with monetization, movies being the same recycled shit year over year, and books getting censored so that kids won’t even know what the originals are anymore. It all fucking sucks. I wish it was easier to just like things and enjoy them but god damn they make it so hard sometimes just to enjoy the little things we used to love. But that’s just capitalism for ya
/rant over
There’s still plenty to like out there.
I dislike exploitative games as much as anyone else, but I just don’t play them. But that’s not really what I’m talking about, since that’s a legitimate complaint.
Movies being recycled year over year isn’t a thing.
Books being censored is an example of conservatives hating things.
It’s just the new innovation in hating. Instead of yelling at the TV it’s broadcasting your hate to others via social media.
Well adjusted healthy people living a happy life don’t waste their time arguing in comment sections.
you sir have impugned my honor. pistols at dawn?
I’ve already seen comments here that say he’s toxic, simply because he’s a politician.
Those people aren’t of voting age yet, so let them cry about it. When they grow up- they’ll see how it works.
Australia has the right idea. If you can’t operate a car, you can’t operate social media.
I can dig that actually. I’d be willing to wager SM is worse for a developing brain than weed or alcohol.
100%
Teenage drug use is very dangerous, but fixable with a lot of work and TLC. Even the most sober teenage brain on SM however, breaks them on a deeper psychological level that is almost impossible to reverse unless social society as a whole moves away from SM.
Without a doubt.
Great idea but I’ve no idea how they’re going to implement it. Our digital security is abysmal.
I wish this was a global rule.
You either die a hero, or live long enough to become a politician.
Referring to tankie users/communities is cheating.
Had a pretty good government teacher in high school. Scored one of the only D grades I every got in life. (Unthinkable!) But she really nailed how politics work IRL. Not even realpolitik, merely, “This is how Congressmen live and operate. Here are the benefits and powers of their position.” Nothing partisan either! Eye opening.
Raise your hands if you know the word “franking” and what it implies. :)
Other great points were that money doesn’t mean the same thing to them as it does us. (SEE: Franking.) Need a new suit? Tailors will line up to make you one for free! “We serve the best of the best!” Need a table at a high-end restaurant? “Of course we have room ma’am! On the house!”
I am hardly concerned with US Congresses’ pay. They get plenty of benefits.
I mean, that is fair criticism.
that’s the way. not ironically or sarcasm. leaders aren’t our allies, they are intrinsically antagonistic to the public.
we must elect who we will fight against. then keep the pressure on them.
might elaborate later. can’t write an essay rn.
I agree, to an extent. If you decide not to support them because of one thing though, and decide you won’t change your opinion, that isn’t helpful though. If you aren’t winnable then you don’t matter. You need to hold them to account, but not be so strict you’re a waste of effort. You need to be a target that they can actually hit, or they will move to a group that is winnable (or they’ll lose and you’ll get their opponent).
leadersrulersnot all rules are bad some are lesbians
Semantics: an absence of rulers doesn’t mean an absence of rules, and those are lesbian but not lesbians.
yhea, you need at least two of those for them to be lesbians, not even semantics just grammar
Like slides rules?
Friend just made a funny. I like funny, especially when it has the bonus of teaching me something new. No need to harsh on that buzz.
They’re also teaching you that “anarchy means no rules”
Oh jesus christ.
Cant yall motherfuckers chill out?
I get it. You would love to live in a utopia where nobody ever, ever, ever, tries to grasp for power. So would I.
But… come on. Reality is a sonofabitch. And maybe you should try and live in it every now and again.
At no point will we ever experience someone not trying to grasp at the roots of power.
Yeah, but we could live in a society where those people grasping for power just for the sake of power would be shunned and cast out. Cause that’s how it used to be according to historian and philosopher Rutger Bregman. Admittedly, that’s been some long time ago, but still.
What a naive take. Wow.
Dad was always taken aback by people who lust for “power”. LOL, he was mad at people who designed parking lots to herd us around!
But I get it. A leader has to have some bit of narcissism to say, “I can do this. I’m smart and capable enough to take the reigns.” Comes with the job.
Perhaps consider reading a few Wikipedia articles about anarchism. Have a pleasant day.
Yup. It’s absolutely going to happen. They’re already turning on AOC.
I’ve never seen a legitimate complaint about either her or Bernie. People will make grand claims about how they sold out or some shit and then back it up with the weakest sauce imaginable. It’s embarrassing more often than not.
good
I guess. But I still admire Bernie and AOC, so what do I know?
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Don’t forget the Israel lobby.
the islamaphobic AIPAC and thier wealthy zionist backers.
I decide to just be glad about him winning. Neither over- nor underwhelmed. Hopeful but not blue-eyed. And may it have a knock-on effect on other Dems.
Right? I’m happy he won, but he’s just a mayor. It’s a step in the right direction, sure. But I think some people are vastly overestimating what he’ll be able to accomplish.
While it’s just a major, it’s not “just” a mayor. It’s the major of one of the most important city in the US.
When I was visiting Houston, there was this restaurant called The Puddery that people were claiming had the best pudding ever. I went there and stood in line for a while before I got my order. It was, indeed, the best pudding I have ever had; but it was still pudding. There is a limit to how good pudding can be. So while someone could say it isn’t “just” pudding, but the best, most amazing pudding in the whole wide world; at the end of the day, it really is “just” pudding.
other states had DEM wins too, missipis supermajority in the house was broken by dems, and virginia has a dem now.
The Georgia Power Commission went from 5 repubs to 3 repubs and 2 Dems. A much more accurate representation of a purple state.
Don’t forget about defeating Alan Dershowitz!
Forgot Hakeem Jeffries.
That tracks… He’s proven himself to be quite forgettable.
Who?
Jeffery Hakim, not to be confused with Jeffery Epstein.
He endorsed Mamdani though
Did he?
October 24th he did, but I don’t really believe it was for genuine reasons.
yea its self-preservation, he saw how schumer, hochul, GILLIBRAND and other railed on him.
Never too late. Until it is.
I really hope we can get some of that in Florida and remove Ron DeSantis toy story looking ass. This should be the age to finally move past centrism, it has been the direction of the party all this time and lead everyone to where we are now. Enough bipartisan ass kissing with fascists.
Can’t stop thinking of that one song:
My name is mamdani. m-a m-d-a-n-i mamdani
What are the feelings on his margin of victory though? Finally folks had the option to vote for a real progressive, but in New York of all places he barely made it. That does not bode well for progressives elsewhere, no? Or do y’all think this is the first step of a sea change? (Not American, and just curious how Americans look at this)
He beat Cuomo by almost 10% in spite of all the things mentioned in the post. That’s the opposite of “barely made it” and thus a GREAT sign for progressives.
And before you mention that Adams won his general election by a bigger margin: he was only running against that lunatic Sliwa and had the entire establishment on his side, so a blowout was pretty much a given the moment he barely eked out a win in the primaries with TONS of assistance.
Ah, I meant barely an absolute majority. From what I understand, Cuomo shouldn’t have been a serious contender either. But I guess in the current landscape he’s a middle of the road kinda guy…
From what I understand, Cuomo shouldn’t have been a serious contender either.
That’s the rub: your understanding of just how massive and powerful the establishment apparatus he was up against is appears to be woefully lacking.
But I guess in the current landscape he’s a middle of the road kinda guy
And much more importantly, the guy that the establishment overwhelmingly favors. That’s the REAL challenge much more than Cuomo himself.
So the establishment is that good in shaping opinions that an obvious asshat like Cuomo can be made into a decent option for that many folks? Somehow, I expected better of New York ers. Anyway it does mean that other progressives will be up against the same challenge, in places where I assume the establishment is even better in shaping opinions and turnout…
So the establishment is that good in shaping opinions that an obvious asshat like Cuomo can be made into a decent option for that many folks?
In a word: yes.
Anyway it does mean that other progressives will be up against the same challenge
And sometimes also win.
in places where I assume the establishment is even better in shaping opinions and turnout…
Unlikely. With the possible exceptions of Chicago and the California statewide elections, New York is THE home of establishment Democrats. It’s where both Schumer and Jeffries come from, not to mention the NYT and countless Neoliberal “strategists” (read: propagandist apparatchiks)
Oh dear, so when you say establishment you mean specifically the Democrat establishment… So you think the main battle is within the democratic movement, and once they’re up against the whole Republican dominated media empire they actually have more of a chance? (Thanks for your patience with me, it’s hard to get this kind of insights through international media)
when you say establishment you mean specifically the Democrat establishment
I mean the entire establishment, but since we’re talking about NY, the Democrat establishment is more relevant than the rest, yes.
So you think the main battle is within the democratic movement, and once they’re up against the whole Republican dominated media empire they actually have more of a chance?
In the NYC mayoral election? Without a doubt. Other than the Juliani-Bloomberg anomaly, there hasn’t been a Republican mayor of New York City since the 1960s.
Thanks for your patience with me, it’s hard to get this kind of insights through international media
No worries, it’s nice to explain things to someone who’s genuinely curious rather than desperately trying to cling to their pet misinformation for once 😁
9% is not barely, thats a pretty big margin, although its not as big as people like. plus cumuo had tons of funding for him, with “PR” and familiarity.
Lemmy will love it (and I like it) but they won’t discuss Fateh losing in Minnesota to a more moderate dem.
Overall it’s a mixed bag. I don’t think progressives will be accepted everywhere like leftists think but if he does well then more moderate cities like Minneapolis and others will actually see fit to go a bit more left and maybe elect more progressives.
It’s a start IMO. Not a silver bullet nor maxim that being progressive is a surefire winner.
