Oh it definitely can be. I was just pointing out that it’s an additional hurdle to either tricking or actually changing the minds of Americans that are dumb enough to vote against their own interests

In that ideal world, the ratchet effect would finally work in the opposite direction. Instead of the left being dragged right, we would drag the right to the left. And honestly, it wouldn’t be as hard as you might think. Think of social security. There’s a fuckton of republicans that hate new social safety nets and food stamps and shit, but you’d have to pry their social security out of their cold, dead hands. I’ve already heard plenty of republicans and even full on trumpers complaining and worrying that trump and elon are going to take away their social security. The reality is, even if they don’t like it during the election cycle, once you give them a social safety net, it’s really hard to take it away from them. So you create a new standard for them, a new bottom bar that the right can’t cross for the majority of voters. In that ideal world, we’d also strengthen education across the country because education is the first defense against fascism. As the next generations are better educated, it will become harder and harder for the right to trick them into voting against their best interests

I think AOC is awesome and I think she’d do great work as like pres/vp, but I like that she’s a representative too. She keeps the focus on congress and does a good job of showing people that it’s not just the president that matters. I’d totally vote for her if she ran for president/vp but I also would like it if she just became a congressional leader (like official minority leader or leader of a new party) for actual progressives in congress. I don’t know if that all made sense, but basically I’m trying to say that people don’t have to keep aiming higher. She does and can continue to do good work in congress and that’s just as important as presidential work

The problem is that some of them are in a cult that tells them everyone is a filthy lying criminal that wants you dead. The ones that aren’t cultists are usually just looking for the easy solution. Personal responsibility and grassroots efforts are difficult. Being angry at boogeymen and believing that one day you’ll be a billionaire or even just a millionaire is a lot easier. So believing the lies the GOP tells them, which often validate preexisting beliefs, is a lot easier and more convenient. Plus, many republicans think of the left as stuck up “intellectuals,” college educated people that get paid to do nothing but look down on them, the real working class

I third this motion

I will say, it’s not all republicans. And I mean this in a “there’s still the slightest sliver of hope” kind of way, bc my church is hella republican leaning, with lots of old people, and they’re all fucking pissed at Trump and Elon. Like they’re calling him King Trump (mockingly) and a lot of them have complained about Elon doing the hitler salute. And yes, they’re the idiots that voted for him and are now complaining that he’s doing exactly what he said he’d do but this is our best time to try to push them back towards “normal” republicans rather than the openly fascist ones