Trtosky, why do I get the impression you are like a 20-something college radical on the sixth year of a four year program, who doesn't have any real experience in life? I met your type back in the 1980's when I went to college, you were just as amusing then. But let's take your arguments at face value, because at least you make them.
Like the ‘overused’ race narrative, third parties and low turnout are ‘reasons’ without explanation. The question that begs to be asked is ‘WHY’ third party voting, and ‘WHY’ low turnout. One can say that ‘they’re disinterested, or ‘they didn’t like the options they had.’ But again, it must be asked ‘WHY.’
I thought I made that pretty clear. The "why" is that Hillary was never well-liked. She wasn't well liked when she was first lady, and after the 1994 Midterm Spanking, Bill pretty much hid her in the closet for the rest of his term. She wasn't well liked when she ran in 2008, and Obama beat her. She wasn't well liked in 2016, when a large number of Democrats voted for Commie Bernie, a guy who has less business being in the White House than Trump does.
So a lot of people figured, the polling all shows she had it in the bag, I can stay home, I can vote third party, whatever... I'm just not that into her.
Now, that said, the people actually got this right. As awful as the two choices were, she won the most votes.
When Senator Obama campaigned for ‘change,’ proletarians heard a soft word for ‘revolution.’ They wanted a transformative, ‘FDR’ presidency. Instead they got more deportations of immigrants/refugees than all prior Presidents together. They got extrajudicial killings – an international war crime. Bush’ wars continued and broadened. There was the pivot to China. The economy was bled white with a near $1 trillion annual total military expenditure. Domestically, wages, pensions, health care, school budgets, public housing all suffered. Joblessness, mass incarceration, hunger and homelessness thrive. Every year, 1,000 were killed by police, who were increasingly militarized.
Wow, you totally misinterpret why Obama won in 2008. He didn't win because he promised the kind of socialist paradise you want. He won because Bush messed up the economy and got us into an unnecessary war in Iraq. Nobody really cared that we were peripherally involved in Libya's civil war. It was kind of fun to watch Republicans mourn for Colonel Khadafy, like they forgot the 80's happened. If you were someone who voted for Obama, you kind of got what you wanted. He mostly got us out of Iraq, and he turned the economy around.
Yes, he SHOULD have done more about police killings, but what he did try, people screamed "WHY DON'T YOU LOVE OUR POLICE OFFICERS"? He tried for immigration reform, but yes, he also had to show he was serious about finally enforcing the laws that were already on the books.
Faced with a false ‘choice’ between a symbol of corrupt Washington insiderism and militaristic war criminal, and a despicable miscreant vomited up from the criminal underworld – no ‘blame’ falls on the 46+% of those eligible to vote who made the principled decision not to vote. Under such conditions, elections are a lie. This also means that the Constitution is a lie. And the institutions and processes of state are a lie. The beatific vision of glories yet to be revealed – ever just around the corner of the NEXT election cycle – is a lie. The national narratives which define who we are, what we are about, where we are going and how we are to get there – all of this together is a lie. It is not to be believed.
Again, spoken like a 20 years old who spent too much time listening to professors who've never held real jobs. You know, I'm starting to agree, maybe we SHOULD cut all this college funding if this is what it's producing. Anyway... the main reason why 46% of us don't vote. If you don't live in a Swing State, there's no point. So really, only five states really counted last time- PA, WI, MI, FL, and NC... and as a practical matter, Hillary neglected the first three... which was her own damned fault. Your vote in Congress only counts if you belong to one of 31 Swing districts. The other 400 or so are done deals. Your vote for the Senate only counts if you are in one of nine states that have competitive races...
Voter participation was actually UP in 2016 from 2012. I suspect it will be up even higher this year, as Trump has so inflamed passions on both sides that they will feel a need to have a say on it.
History has caught up with the United States of America. There is no podium in the country where a politician of either party can stand and speak to the working class authoritatively, and especially to working class youth. The bourgeoisie parties squandered the public allegiance. People are waking. Nowhere is that more evident today than with the response of the whole ruling class to the COVID pandemic – forcing children into schools so parents can be forced into factories to enrich the obscenely wealthy. Why should they agree?
Again, not what I'm seeing. What I'm seeing are a lot of people who think COVID isn't real, and that this whole thing is a fraud.
I'd be the first one to agree with you that wealth inequality is a problem. But most Americans, kind of don't see it that way. They are more upset about that welfare person getting food stamps than the rich person getting a new Dressage Horse they slaved away for.
