Crazy how far along batshit insane conservative bills get versus liberal ones like this. Almost like not playing by the rules gets you places
Did this guy miss the part where it’s been virtually impossible for Democrats to pass any legislation due to a lack of a majority in any branch of government, and downright childish obstruction by Republicans?
You mean when they had the White House and Congress? That time? I don’t think he missed it, but the Dems sure did.
Democrats don’t do things even when they have power: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OFi73TzEN_8
Stop making excuses for them. You’re not going to get anything from them if you play along with their dog and pony show. Hold them accountable.
While I don’t disagree, it’s not hard to imagine a world where the Dems had increased the goal over time. Sure, it wouldn’t have passed, but a 20-25 minimum would at least be a legitimate talking point instead of some “pie in the sky” idea that’s not in the zeitgeist at all.
Yeah I’m confused, this is the democratic party’s fault?
Like, did/do people watch the news whenever they talk about the minimum wage? Fox News and the republican party and the libertarian party go absolutely NUTS.
Update:
Anybody complaining about this still is like having two parents. One is flawed as hell and makes dumb decisions and is conflicted, and the other is a deadbeat, beats you, steals your money and credit cards and causing you long lasting damage.
Everyone is basically yelling that the prior one isn’t doing enough.
Are you wrong? No? At the same time, what the hell are you even talking about?
“The DEMS AREN’T PASSING <<individual qualm>>”. Well the republicans are trying to REMOVE DEMOCRACY.
If you guys aren’t understanding what’s going on. I can explain it to you, but I can’t understand it for you.
It’s funny that you’ve thought about this for so long and you still don’t understand. You need to take your position and think about it for 15 more minutes. People here who are blasting the Democrats in Washington are probably people who voted for them or who considered voting for them. The politicians who are supposed to represent us are failing to do so. That’s a big problem.
If you want to point out that the Republicans are worse, good for you. Many of us have much worse things to say about Republicans, and we definitely vote against them. So if you’re accusing us of being shallow or hypocritical, you’re just wrong.
Many commenters have defended Washington Democrats by talking about how the Republicans obstruct everything. Yes, that’s true, and it’s an old problem. What have the Democrats done to prevent it from happening in the future? The Democrats could have tried to get rid of the filibuster, they could have raised the debt ceiling by minting coins worth a billion dollars, they could have tried to stack the court with Democrats to offset the Republican efforts, they could have tried to create national health care. They could have done lots of things. And some Democrats are honestly in favor of these things. Others are corporate centrists. They’ll talk the talk as much as necessary, but they won’t act towards progressive interests.
If you think pointing that out is destructive, you’ve just adopted an anti-democratic position where leftist views don’t mean anything. And if that’s your view, I don’t think it’s worthy of respect. Also, you might say that speaking critically about the Democrats is bad because it hurts their chances of winning in the election. That’s wrong for two reasons. First, halfway intelligent voters already know some of the major issues, and pretending those issues don’t exist isn’t going to motivate them. It’s better to be honest about the state of affairs. Second, we have a civic duty to redress our grievances with government. Biden was hurt in the bull’s heavily because he had supported Israeli genocide. The public was opposed to that in large numbers, and you can bet that other people have carefully considered their stances as a result of the pressure that they saw Biden feel.
The American people just spent 15 years watching Obamacare get gutted from what it originally was, minimum wage not increase at the federal level, the SCOTUS got 3 conservative judges appointed to it despite two being appointed against precedent, marijuana is still illegal at the federal level, Chevron Deference was just gutted, Roe v Wade was overturned and half this country lost bodily autonomy, the last two decades have seen the least productive congresses in our nation’s history yet the filibuster remains because “decorum/the Republicans might take advantage of it,” cops still have qualified immunity, millions of people don’t have health insurance or are food insecure or are homeless, school funding has been gutten, college tuition continues to skyrocket, trillions of dollars have been funneled from the poorest to the richest in this country for no other reason than greed while social welfare programs are being cut, the list goes on for a long time.
And all of this was done by “Republican obstruction,” which is fine, it’s a legitimate reason for things to happen or not happen. But after 15+ years, minimum, and this new generation of voters watching the Democrat Party hum and haw and wag their fingers at each other and Republicans while the American people get fucked more and more year after year…
It’s not a legitimate excuse anymore, and this whole Democrat shtick of “you have to vote for us because we’re not the Republicans” isn’t working anymore, people are fucking tired of it. I’m fucking tired of it, honestly. Republicans got TWO SCOTUS nominations because, at a minimum, one man in one position in the Senate refused to follow decorum. And the Democrats just twiddled their thumbs and said “humpty dee, nothing we can do, sorry, it’s the rules” 🤷♀️.
To get back to the minimum wage: Trump got funding for his stupid wall by taking money slotted for shit like schools for the DoD and such through a state of emergency, but Biden/the Democrats can’t do anything about the minimum wage? Or abortion? Or marijuana? Trump got his wall funding basically overnight, it seemed, but it took 3 years for the director of the DEA to reclassify marijuana because reasons?
Regardless of the reasoning behind it, whether its legitimate or not, people are sick of it. They’re sick of being told to pinch their nose and vote for the candidate they don’t even like because the “boogeyman” over there is gonna be much worse. But… How? They actually get shit done, and in ways that are apparently “illegal or against the rules” yet they have to remain as law/precedent because they still happened.
Bullshit. I’m as left/liberal/whatever you’re supposed to call it now as it gets. I’m a veteran who thinks the DoD budget needs to be gutted and that the US military is the largest and most successful socialism program in our country, I’m a trans woman, I’ve worked public service and private sector jobs, I’m registered and vote blue, and I’ll be honest, until Biden stepped down, I was seriously considering sitting out of this vote just because it was like, what’s the point?
The Democrats don’t care about what their constituents actually want (hence why they fucked Bernie over so badly, he wasn’t “establishment” enough for them despite his popularity) in a candidate, and they don’t pass legislation that actually benefits most of us. The biggest thing I’ve heard people rally behind is student loan forgiveness, which yes, the Democrats have achieved progress and victory on and been hampered by the Republicans, I’ll acknowledge that.
But notice that’s the only debt they’re willing to forgive because it impacts enough of their constituents to warrant it? I’ve yet to hear a single Democrat (but have heard one Republican) say credit card debt from during the Pandemic should be forgiven since so many were forced to use credit cards to pay rent, groceries, utilities, etc while they either couldn’t work or couldn’t. And when I bring it up to friends with student loans, fellow Democrats, I’m basically told, “Well, you need to wait your turn, they’ll get to that after the student loans.” Why the fuck can’t they do both?!? Why do the Democrats keep hindering progress so they can have a platform to run for reelection on, and God forbid they just accomplish a goal the American people actually want and then gasp actually have to come up with something else.
All this, everything above, the American people have to watch and listen to bullshit excuse after bullshit excuse day after fucking day while Congress ensures they still get their raises, they still have their health insurance, and they still only “work” like 32 weeks/year with all of their recesses and breaks and everything else, while the average American worker isn’t even guaranteed a livable wage, or even fucking vacation/sick time, or health insurance.
So no, I’m tired of the “BuT fOx NeWs” bullshit that the Democrats keep spitting. Regardless of their circumstances, Republicans continuously hit their goals and ensure their policies are enacted, regardless of the decorum or precedent surrounding any of it. And all of that boils down to what Jeff Daniels said as Will McAvoy on The Newsroom:
“If liberals are so fuckin’ smart, how come they lose so goddamn always?”
End rant/
Edit to OP’s Update:
Yeah, democracy is 100% on the line, so why are anonymous senior Democrats coming forward and saying “We’ve resigned ourselves to a second Trump presidency?” Because it doesn’t effect them, so why should they care??
And I’m sorry, but if the people we’re electing resign themselves to failure, why the fuck should we even try? Like, seriously, if our elected representatives have resigned themselves to fascism and are perfectly ok with it, then wtf am I supposed to do? Give them more money so maybe they’ll pretend to give a shit?
I understand what you’re saying, but the Democrats don’t get anything done. So after 30 years of getting fucking nothing from the party that keeps telling you the other guy is a fascist and you need to vote for them so they’ll do XYZ, and then they pretend to half ass just X and don’t even try to solve Y or Z, what’s the fucking point? At the least the fascists don’t bullshit, and at least the fascists get things done.
Democrat politicians act like they’re their constituents parents who know what’s actually best for them, and they’re fucking not. We brought them into their position, they need to fucking get things done for us and stop with the constant bullshit infighting and bullshit excuses. If Trump can get 3 Supreme Court Justices and fucking Presidential immunity, why the FUCK can’t Biden and the Democrats secure abortion/LGBTQ+/labor/etc rights into law? Why can’t they fucking do anything other than enrich themselves with insider trading?
Notice despite things getting harder for the majority of Americans, every politicians portfolio across the aisle still went up? Yet they’re telling us they understand things are hard, they’re trying their best. At least the fucking Republicans just tell you they’re gonna fuck you in the ass and how. The Democrats promise you dinner and then expect their cum down your throat to be sufficient, while expecting you to thank them for tapping your head before they cum.
I seriously hope this reinvigorated voting base convinces the DNC that the way things are going aren’t working, and that the DNC were a lot closer to becoming non-existent with this election than they felt comfortable. Because that’s how all of us minorities feel, but we don’t have golden fucking parachutes to catch us when shit continues to hit the fan because the Democrats care more about gobbling the balls of lobbyists than they do the people who fucking put them there in the first place.
Very well said… Excellent rant
I’ll add that Biden COULD erase all student loan debt with the stroke of a pen… But instead he half-assed it and now the Republicans have been able to beat it all back down. This is the typical liberal bullshit plan… Half-assed attempts to do what their constituents want, knowing full well it’ll fail, either because the Republicans will obstruct it or a few Dems will. After 30 years of it, I think most people have caught on that the Dems aren’t REALLY trying, they just want it to look like they are, but without hurting their owners profits… Let’s see if Biden actually fixes the Supreme Court, or if it’s just more half-assery.
They had the house and 61 in the senate in 2008 when this was proposed, and instead raised it by 10 cents.
They had the house and senate from 2020 to 2022 and did fuckall once again.
Pretty sure liberals are past 15 an hour and have been for awhile. Centrist Dems are still on board for 15, at least in the party platform. And regardless it’s a damn sight better than those calling for the elimination of the minimum wage altogether.
Meanwhile Congress has never missed a pay raise and that receives minimal attention.
They’re referring to liberalism, not social democracy or progressive or whatever weird definition American media started using in the last 25 years or so.
Oh.
And here’s how the rest of the world uses the word “Liberal”: https://letmegooglethat.com/?q=liberal+
Here is the Wikipedia article on liberalism: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liberalism
Here is the dictionary definition of the word: https://dictionary.cambridge.org/us/dictionary/english/liberal
But, hey, your racist asshole made a shitty song about how much he liked Malcom X being shot so liberal is bad and something vote trump, right??
You realize the person you’re responding to literally cited a book length academic source by an actual historian, right? Why do you think a Wikipedia article, a google search and, a basic dictionary definition is an adequate response to that?
Judging by your comment history you really need to do some reading on the history of liberalism as a political ideology. This is a long but accessible starting place from a left-wing perspective. Feel free to form your own opinion, man. But at least understand some of the basics of the history of an ideology before you start an argument about what it is and isn’t.
That’s a you tube series. I’m talking about real life. Get off the internet and talk to real people. See if anyone uses the word "Liberal " like you do. One guy wote a book. Even if you can sight several scolars, it that’s more than that to change the definition of a word or how 99.9998% of the population uses the word. To mean freedom. Likes it does.
Most of his argument comes from direct quotes of actual political philosophers like John Locke, John Stuart Mill and, Adam Smith. These aren’t just random scholars, these are people who are fundamental to the development of liberalism as a political ideology. Some guy on the internet who clearly has never engaged with that history of work isn’t going to change the actual meaning of the word either.
Look, I’m not citing a YouTube video because it’s the end all be all of sources. You should absolutely consider other perspectives. I’m citing it because it’s easy to understand and it’s clear you’re having a hard time understanding what people are talking about. I say again, you can still make up your own opinion but please inform yourself before you get into an argument of what liberalism is.
It doesn’t just mean “freedom”. I assure you if you have any conservative friends in “real life” they would disagree with the notion that liberalism just means freedom. There are probably even some Lincoln Project conservatives who would disagree with that.
I personally think that there are some aspects to liberalism that can lead society closer to being more free but there are other aspects to liberalism that work against that end. But almost everyone who has a basic understanding beyond a dictionary definition would agree that there’s more to it than just being a synonym for freedom.
Its always baffled my how many government positions have perioidic pay increases, sometimes annually, a good pension usually as well, but they will never pass legislation to make other employers do the same.
will
For government positions it’s about retention as they are competing with the private sector for employees.
How could the checks notes DEMOCRATS do this to us?! Pretending that the Dems are responsible for things this meme admits they’re actively fighting against is so braindead that it’s no wonder everyone thinks all these leftists are just Russian bots or right wing trolls. The premise here is just so moronic and short sighted that it’s depressing to think that a real human could actually post this and genuinely think they’re being honest.
Remember when the Democrats had both congress and the presidency twice? Remember when the Democratic party kept promoting extremely conservative Democrats that beforehand constantly voiced their opposition to progressive policies, over their progressive enemies? Remember people like Joseph Lieberman? Remember Jay Rockefeller, who was the deciding vote for the ACA who suddenly reversed his pro-public healthcare rhetoric and opposed it he said because “the timing wasn’t very good”? Remember what they did to progressives like Jamaal Bowman? You know, putting all their resources into George Latimer (a blatantly pro-wealthy, pro-corporation, pro-Israel conservative) to get Bowman unseated, making it the most expensive house primary in the entire history of the United States? Remember the Democrat party leadership frequently donating tens of millions to centrist non-profits whose sole purpose is to get centrist/conservative candidates elected over progressives, and act as a “spoiler” for progressives in the party? Remember Democratic Party leaders infamously going on to work lobbying jobs time and time again when they leave the party? Remember when Obama and the Democrats could have gotten progressive Supreme Court judges in despite Republican opposition, but they just lied down and accepted not doing that in the name of “compromise”? Because I sure remember.
The Democrats constantly, intentionally, pump millions into blue conservatives which they can use to block leftist measures and use as the scapegoats to point to as the reason they couldn’t get anything done. They always have a bunch of people to spare to block bills which are “too progressive” that they don’t actually want passed. They ARE responsible for this shit.
Leftists have good reason to be absolutely pissed at the party. They know they’re the only “left” option, and they abuse the FUCK out of that. Blue Dog Democrats even existing is a sin in and of itself.
Why would the Democrats do this? As with most things wrong with the American democratic process, the reason is lobbying. Corporations lobby the Democrats seemingly just as much as the Republicans to ensure they don’t take away too much of their power. Shit’s fucked.
The fact that you have the audacity to blame progressives or leftists for being mad at the clear lack of democracy and the messed up stuff the Democratic party does to block important bills & candidates is so fucked up, holy shit. People are starving and dying because of the Democrats actively working against progressives in the party. Them giving us a few crumbs of good does not absolve them of intentionally absolutely fucking us over again and again. The party isn’t the friend of progressives, they’re just the “only choice”. I can only hope that the upcoming elections change that, and we don’t just get a dozen more obstructionists who the Dems use to block any vaguely center-left policy.
Take it down a notch there …. But let me relate it to everyday politics. My state is deep blue, Democratic Party’s best friends. So why don’t we get any live on election years? Why are we basically ignored? Why is all the campaign money spent in swing states? Why do they campaigns there and we don’t even have a tally to attend? The Democratic Party is focusing on the centrists and swing voters, not us.
Why is that?
No. You don’t get to tell them to take it down a notch. Their position was being ridiculed, by people who were ignorant of contemporary politics, and they rightly set things right.
I’m sure voting for Republicans or not voting will help though right? Lol. I live in a state that’s been controlled by Democrats for a while and we keep voting for more and more progressive people. Things are objectively better and they’ll keep getting better.
I’m sorry that the entire country isn’t a socialist utopia after the Dems had tiny majorities in the house and Senate for one term and an even slimmer one another time. Both times with those majorities made up of vulnerable representatives in conservative areas. Turns out that’s how democracy works. It’s slow and that sucks but Republicans have spent 40 years grinding us towards fascism. Fascism is way easier to push as well.
We have to vote for the most progressive candidates possible. They all have to win big so they don’t have to be scared of being unseated by moderates or Republicans. We have to keep doing this from the local level to the federal level for a long time for things to change. Because if that’s who gets voted in consistently then the Republicans and the Democrats will move left.
40 years since Reagan and you’re over here crying that the Dems didn’t change the entire momentum of the country in 4 when they didn’t even have a clear mandate from the voters? Pathetic. You are the problem. Get some perspective and have the decency to spend an hour or two to vote for the most progressive candidates available which is the absolute easiest and least thing you can do. I know it’s slightly harder than crying on the internet. Sorry about that.
I’m sure voting for Republicans or not voting will help though right?
Stopped reading after this. You are a dumbass. I never even implied this. It takes about 5 seconds of looking through my profile to see that I borderline shill for voting for the Democratic party. In fact, if you read even just the last sentence of my comment, you should immediately realize that I was wishing for Democratic candidates to win these upcoming elections. You need to learn to think past a binary “full dicksucking of Democratic party = good, pointing out that Democratic party is fucked up = anti progressive Republican voting tankie and bad”. Please grow up.
I felt like I already made it obvious enough, but in case I didn’t: the Democrats are the only choice. They’re the better choice. That doesn’t mean that people like you can start crying about leftists being too harsh on the party when people point out how much the Democratic party has intentionally fucked us over time and time again, and the leaders of the party effectively completely block enough dedicated progressive leaders from actually being elected to make the differences that people vote Democrats in for. This process isn’t “democracy”, this is sacrificing the wants and needs of the voters for personal financial gain. It’s evil, and it’s cruel. They are causing an incredible amount of suffering and death. It’s not that the Democratic party “can’t” do it, it’s not that they would lose voters if they did it. These are literally the things the Democratic party as a whole campaigned on and put on their agenda each time, the voters explicitly expected them to follow through on the policies they ended up intentionally not passing. It’s that the Democratic party is extremely corrupt regardless of how you look at it. The way the party is run would probably be illegal in most of the first world. The fact that the “alternative” is borderline Nazis doesn’t make them the hero of the story, or undeserving of being torn apart by criticism. When the Democratic party as an organization stops spending millions to fuck over progressive politicians which otherwise would have won elections, and stops killing their voters because of lobbying from healthcare corporations, fossil fuel corporations, AIPAC, etc. then they’ll be deserving of the benefit of the doubt when it comes to these situations.
Tankies here saw a community called "US Authoritarianism " and thought “finally, people who love the taste of boot as much as I do!”
Ooh wow congrats everyone . I think this might be the most downvoted post in this space
