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Dear Democrats: It Would Be Nice If You Could Lead, And Not Off A Cliff
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this post was submitted on 08 Mar 2025
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politics
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Dear non voters, it would've been nice if you turned out and gave us any power.
-Democratic party
Dear democratic party, it would've been nice if you ever actually used any power to do things for the people beyond token gestures.
-the people
Aca, student loan debt cancelation, biggest climate change bill ever.
You- "but it's not my pretty pony I wanted."
Attention all whiners- maybe vote them in everytime so they don't have to spend at least half if not all their term cleaning up Republican messes. And vote in primaries for more progressive candidates.
Or just accept things getting shittier because youre lazy and spoiled. Either/or.
The ACA was made mostly useless by not having a government option. The end result was a system where you either had to pay for a shitty overpriced healthcare plan or pay a penalty on your taxes. The tax penalty has since been removed, but the shitty overpriced plans remain. There are a couple of good things like not denying certain cover for "pre-existing conditions" and allowing younger people to stay on their parents' insurance until 26, but those are closer to token gestures than real solutions, as I've said. There is a reason why health insurance profits keep breaking records.
Student loan debt cancellation was mostly the enforcement of an existing program where you already have to jump through hoops just to qualify. By the time you qualify, you've already paid back more than the principle on your student loan debt by a lot. Another token gesture for a problem that biden helped create by backing a bill making student loan debt non-dischargeable through bankruptcy. Sure must be nice to be given credit to barely make a debt in a massive problem he himself had created.
The "biggest climate change bill ever" is argued in terms of dollars spent. Money spent =/= effective action taken. For example, biden was approving oil drilling permits on public lands at a faster rate than even trump's first term. He also slapped 100% tariffs on Chinese EVs and 50% on solar panels.
In each of these cases there has been a massive giveaway to American corporations with a few token gestures to lull regular people into thinking democrats are doing something for them. You may be clapping your hands together and giggling in ecstasy at democrats shaking a rattle, but people who know better and can see these insignificant actions for what they are aren't impressed. Democrats work for the billionaires and them blame everyone else for things getting worse, just like you're doing right now. You're doing the "pull yourself up by the bootstraps" argument, electoralism edition.
ACA has no public option because of Lieberman. Now maybe if he had been primaried and another more progressive Dem taken his place, then we'd have a public option by now. Instead we've continued with concessions to insurance. But yes- it is MARKEDLY better than what was there before despite all the warts.
Debt cancellation was done by Biden who did everything he could. Now maybe if the Dems had more than a slight majority in the Senate full of (yes, Lieberman like) Sinema and Manchin, they could've done something through Congress.
Biggest climate change bill ever PERIOD. And yes, he approved oil drilling and put tariffs on Chinese EVs. Part of politics. People do want clean solutions but do not want 1) American jobs to vanish due to Chinese subsidization of their entire EV industry overwhelming American auto jobs and 2) ...no real excuse for the oil drilling. Other than people would bitch about even more inflation had he not.
In each of these cases you'll notice a common refrain- the Democrats DID NOT HAVE ENOUGH POWER to enact the things you're talking about. They are not "token" gestures- they're what can get done with what they had. WV put Manchin there but what did the rest of America do? They put only 51 Democrats next to him (including a turncoat in Sinema.) If they didn't need those two votes at all then maybe they couldn't nuke the biggest portion of these bills. Maybe if the American people gave a shit then things would get done.
People seem to think I'm arguing for Democrats or something. I'm not really. I'm arguing for ACTION. Now if you wanna delude yourself and make a "Socialism NOW" party of progressive politics that by first glance turns off 70% of the voting population, go ahead. I'm telling you as a former 3rd party voter when I was a pie in the sky idealist that it's just not gonna happen. What can happen though is turning the Democratic party back to what it needs to be- a populist-ish party that actually seriously helps Americans. If you froze a Republican in 2000 they would probably not recognize the party in 2025 given how the tea party zealots and bigots and grifters have taken it over (even from a dismal 2000 outlook.)
So maybe if progressives and leftists and all those people stopped endlessly fighting amongst themselves and banded together, they could primary and move the party left. Or maybe if they turned out EVERY ELECTION and convinced everyone else to do so, the Democrats wouldn't have to unfuck the previous 4 years of Republican destruction. Or maybe progressive policies just aren't as popular as people think (and one could argue that people in general are too dumb to realize it.)
You gotta train the dog. You can't wait for the dog (the Dems) to do what you want by abstaining from voting or "punishing" them by letting them lose. Witness how the Republican party mirrors their devouts' most fervent desires vs....the Dems.
ACA has no public option because the public option was always a bill of goods. It was meant to be jettisoned at the very first opportunity, and it was.
Was 15 years ago. How long to you intend to continue coasting on an inadequate half-measure?