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Gavin Newsom continues to troll Trump (lemmy.world)
submitted 1 year ago by to c/politicalmemes@lemmy.world
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[–] 42 points 1 year ago* (2 children)

One of the many reasons that we lose is because we let the politicians who cosplay as "the left" take the votes from actual leftists. I'm glad the Democrats are fighting back on social media, but how about fighting back legislatively and politically when they have the chance?

One of the reasons that we lose, is because they seem unwilling to do that, and the voters have noticed.

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  • [–] 10 points 1 year ago (1 child)

    I wonder if that's a chicken or egg deal because I see actual leftists who are too busy arguing amongst themselves to field a candidate or vote in a primary, not to mention actually voting when it matters. Why would Democrats bother to wrangle something together from that? They're not afraid of the left at all and for good reason.

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  • [–] 12 points 1 year ago*

    I don't understand where this "Leftists don't vote" meme comes from. Leftists demonstrably vote, when they have leftist candidates to vote for. Mamdani, Sanders, AOC, Sawant, etc all get plenty of votes.

    But Democrats keep running center-right candidates that pretend to be lefitsts. I find it telling that, as Democrats keep moving to the right, their approval rate keeps dropping, and they keep getting fewer votes.

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  • [–] 2 points 1 year ago (2 children)

    Or... People just don't turn out to vote "real" leftists in. Election turnout submitted as exhibit A.

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  • [–] 2 points 1 year ago (1 child)

    I'm not American, so perhaps there's something I'm missing, but when has there been a real leftist on the ballot? My impression was that the perceived lack of meaningful choice is plausibly driving poor election turn out

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  • [–] 1 point 1 year ago

    Well they can't get on the ballot if 1) no one runs for it and 2) no one votes in the primary for them.

    And I obviously mean more than just a presidential election. There could be a slew of leftist candidates IMO if 1) progressives turned out or 2) were as numerous as they claim.

    I'd love for that to be the case but their track record is bad. Exhibit B should be Mamdani. Primary was still sparsely attended BUT I can't remember if it was 25% or thereabouts (maybe more) who had not voted in a primary in the previous decade. People showed up and whaddya know, a leftist won the primary (and hopefully is on track to win the general- seemingly so by the latest polls.)

    But regardless- very few consistently turn up to primaries. It's a long grind and people need to be aware. Vote as far left as you can (if you want that) in the primary and then for the best candidate in the general. Rinse, repeat. It isn't a schooner. It is an aircraft carrier and takes time to turn things around.

    The answers might be obvious to everyone now (universal healthcare, etc.) but you can't go thinking you vote in one election and it's magically fixed and everyone's eyes are opened. Put in the work. But people don't and therefore we are where we are.

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  • [–] 1 point 1 year ago

    You mean the last election when there were two right-wing candidates on the ballot? Yes, you are correct, that leftists don't come out to vote for right-wingers. Of course, when there is a leftist on the ballot, leftists do show up, as evidenced above.

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