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“We’ve had wealthy Democratic politicians before. FDR and JFK had tremendous fortunes, yet they enacted some of the most progressive policies in American history.”

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[-] Zaktor@sopuli.xyz 25 points 1 week ago

There's no story of Tom Steyer where he's not in some way a fundamentally flawed person with questionable motivations.

He wants to change the world for the better? Cool. He has $2.4B. Spend most of that on good deeds and candidates whose only shot at enacting change to society is their voice and hard work. He's had the power to change the world the whole time. But Instead of doing that, he's just doing sequential vanity runs. And this time he's got a shot.

To be clear, he can still be the best choice in a bad field, but he's just not a good admirable guy. There are no good billionaires. And it's really sad if he's the best CA can hope for.

There are better people out there who could have led the most powerful state into a better future. But they were blocked by obscurity or financial barriers or never having the freedom to train for leadership. If only there was an altruistic man with a lot of money who could have spent his time finding people like that and removing those obstacles.

But no. Dragons are dragons. Even the seemingly nice ones.

[-] return2ozma@lemmy.world 10 points 1 week ago

At this point I'm voting against the establishment corporate owned Becerra. Ugh. I hate it here

[-] Zaktor@sopuli.xyz 4 points 1 week ago

Yeah, I'm glad I don't have to vote there, but can't argue against that.

[-] Brkdncr@lemmy.world 11 points 1 week ago

Ugh I don’t like billionaires.

[-] kabe@lemmy.world 18 points 1 week ago

Understandable, but policy-wise Steyer is the most progressive of the bunch. All the other candidates are standard-issue corporate Dems or Republicans.

[-] yonderbarn@lazysoci.al 8 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)
[-] kabe@lemmy.world 4 points 1 week ago

Yeah, she's a close second. She seems to be trying to position herself as a more reformist, moderate alternative to Steyer in a couple of ways, though. Like on the tax issue, for example.

Neither she nor Steyer are ideal candidates, but I'd much rather either of them than any of the other shower.

[-] yonderbarn@lazysoci.al 1 points 1 week ago

Wow I thought Katie Porter had way more progressive credentials than Steyer. I mean I haven't been paying to attention to what they've been saying in this race, but can't believe people are saying Steyer is more progressive than Porter. Steyer has no record. Porter does. It just seemed so obvious to me.

[-] ghario3@lemmy.ca 7 points 1 week ago

Unexpected from Robert Reich

[-] rocci@lemmy.dbzer0.com 5 points 1 week ago

Why are progressives all making asses of themselves to endorse a billionaire for California?

Katie Porter is at least more aligned with them if I recall correctly.

Anyway, vote green or socialist.

[-] taiyang@lemmy.world 3 points 1 week ago

Plus, if you read the printed guide, a ton of people opted out of being shown in it because you have to agree not to spend over some huge amount of money on your campaign. Billionaires running obviously aren't in the booklet.

However, Porter is in the booklet, an indicator she's not spending big on her own campaign. She's the only recognizable person in it, really, along with a disturbing amount of insane people.

[-] ChicoSuave@lemmy.world 4 points 1 week ago

Steyer is the only candidate who has said he’d vote for the billionaire wealth tax, and he’s also said we need to go even further. Under his revenue plan, he’d raise taxes on corporations and other billionaires to fund schools and healthcare.

Don't believe billionaires. The rich are inherently untrustworthy which is how they got rich. Tom Steyer is a liar.

[-] Triumph@fedia.io 2 points 1 week ago
[-] taiyang@lemmy.world 1 points 1 week ago

I plan on looking up a few things before the election but I haven't quite checked yet. The main thing I'd avoid is having the two Republicans taking the skits due to Dems spreading the vote too much. Is there still a risk of that?

this post was submitted on 20 May 2026
74 points (100.0% liked)

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