Talarico signed up for three debates and said he’ll show up even if Paxton doesn’t.
Yes. Get up there and laugh at am empty podium if you have to. It was beyond frustrating in 2024 when the Harris campaign was like "ok, I guess the debates are cancelled". No! Make a show of it. Stand on stage for an hour and read everything wrong your opponent has every done. Dare them to show up next time. Do something.
For those who have forgotten the 2020 primaries, she also had no rizz.
I get it, they were afraid of losing the funds they had raised, but it stood to reason that everyone who wanted Biden to step down would see her as partly responsible too.
I'm a tin hat wearer who doubts the veracity of some of the 2024 election results... So I'm on the fence of whether that would have been different with a more compelling Democratic candidate.
They briefly got some actual traction when Walz was calling Republicans "weird," but then some idiot strategist stepped in and told him to stop. The campaign fell back to being anodyne and uninspiring after that, and then they tried to bring Liz Cheney in and everything just felt like it was going through the motions and expecting to have the thing handed to them on a silver platter.
They, being wealthy political class themselves, were completely detached from the people's plight and motivations.
They knew no matter how badly they threw the fight, they could still be chilling back, buying low and selling exponentially high through whatever easily avoidable economic crisis hit our (not their) country next.
No! Make a show of it. Stand on stage for an hour and read everything wrong your opponent has every done
That happened here in Romania last presidential election. Our neofascist candidate (Simion) got dunked on by the neoliberal (Dan) in the first debate, so he came up with excuse after excuse as to why he couldn't come to the rest.
The media companies got pissed off, and instead of cancelling decided to dunk on Simion by asking the questions to Dan and playing the absolute worst clips they could find of Simion answering those questions. Definitely didn't singlehandedly lose Simion the election, but it definitely didn't help him.
That's giving them far too much credit. They're against losing all that delicious ad revenue from the debates and wanted to make an example of him. If Dan had cancelled, they'd have done the same to him in a heartbeat.
Ken Paxton just keeps doing his best Rafael Cruz impression and running away from anyone who asks him a question…
Greg Abbott pioneered the strategy of just ignoring your actual opponent and scream "The communists are coming to take your guns!" at rallies hosted by your billionaire friends. To date, it's kinda-sorta worked. Republicans have a stranglehold on the state senate due to gerrymandered districts. All the statewide offices are reliably Republican, year in and year out. And the Republican base loves to see a candidate throwing out red meat far more than a candidate who treats liberal opponents as serious contenders for office.
As long as Talarico doesn’t start talking about taking people’s guns, he’s got this in the bag.
Anyone who thinks Democrats have a statewide office in a bright-red state in the bag because the Republican is ignoring them, is delusional.
You'll know Paxton is in trouble when he starts crying about the liberal media not giving him enough attention and demanding a dozen debates a week with Talarico straight through election day.
Having lived in Texas for 39 years, I don't think it's delusional this time. Wendy Davis, Beto O'Rourke, Colin Allred...I wanted all of them to win but knew it was super unlikely.
What's different this time is that Paxton has such a lengthy, tainted history in Texas. He's made lifelong enemies of so many Republicans in this state, and Talarico is so very, very palatable to them with his level of comfort framing all of this through Christianity. Obviously, nothing is in the bag, but I have confidence in this race for Talarico I never had for the other 3 candidates I mentioned
Time to start buying seats at their fundraising events and then debating them while they're busy fluffing themselves. Get kicked out for this move? Run headlines: "Paxton just proved that he doesn't care about his own voters or sponsors"
The real difficulty is with the vast wealth and power in the hands of the few and the unscrupulous who represent or control capital. Hundreds of laws of Congress and the state legislatures are in the interest of these men and against the interests of workingmen. These need to be exposed and repealed. All laws on corporations, on taxation, on trusts, wills, descent, and the like, need examination and extensive change. This is a government of the people, by the people, and for the people no longer. It is a government of corporations, by corporations, and for corporations. — Rutherford B. Hayes, 1888
Ever since agriculture allowed some of the population to not be farmers, there has been inequality.
Overall, it's probably a good trade-off. I'm not ultra rich, but I'm not a subsistence farmer either. So, some inequality is probably the price we pay for technology.
The current world is better off than most of history. Since the Odyssey is in theatres now, look at that. Odysseus is a king in a palace-centric economy where the riches flow to the kings who then redistribute it to everyone else. In the middle ages peasants were tied to the land from birth. They weren't slaves, exactly. But, it was pretty similar.
Capitalism was supposed to be more efficient and fair. Instead of the bosses being born as bosses and the workers born as workers, in theory a boss who made terrible decisions could lose his capital and become a worker. A worker who had an idea and could find investment could become a boss. In the 1800s that was revolutionary, until that point classes were classes for life. But, of course, for it to work there needed to be laws and those laws needed to be enforced.
The US was revolutionary at the start because it was going to be a country without a king. They carefully designed the system so the president wasn't a monarch. However, there were some problems. First, these were 20 year olds in the 1700s. They didn't know game theory. They were idealists who thought that congressional representatives would be honest and honourable. They didn't think a party would collude with a corrupt president. Second, these were aristocrats. Sure, they didn't like kings, but they thought that only land-owning white males should have a say.
So, really, it's no surprise that a few hundred years later the people who would have been the land-owning aristocrats 1000 years ago are once again in control.
It remains to be seen if the people can once again restore a sane level of inequality, or if this American experiment has run its course and something new will emerge.
Talarico is saying the right things. He deserves a few bucks. The others, not so much. Democrats, in general stood by and let all this corruption go on.
Support only those who understand the problem but understand that we need many more to actually actually change things.
Democrats aren't the opposition to fascism, they're its beauticians. They don't want to fight fascism, they want a version of fascism that follows the rules of respectability politics. They want a sensible, noncorrupt fascism that keeps thorough records of the people it kidnaps. They want a gentle fascism with body cameras to make sure the kidnappings stay "nonviolent" while they get a first person view of families being destroyed. They want a fascism with more humane concentration camps.
You know who is the actual political opposition to fascism? The mutual aid group in your city. The neighborhood group chat where community members talk to each other and keep each other safe. The rapid response networks. The tenant's rights organizers. All the people out there building alternative power structures.
If you want change you need a new party, Democrats don’t so shit. They keep status quo. Recent president Joe Biden did some things but went silent for many months. We also need age limits.
The Democratic party is a political party in a democracy. It's the only political party in the US that is still pro-democracy.
You've been conditioned to think only in terms of authoritarianism because you're living in a fascist society whose goal is to make you think only in terms of which group of authoritarians should have ultimate power over the people. You are unable to see that there are limits to what a political party in a democracy can do and how it's actually a good thing that political parties have these limitations.
So you've been told that democracy and following democratic norms indicates weakness, that the Democratic party is weak and that weakness is a sign they're your enemies. This is how fascists understand the world. Political opposition to fascism within a democratic system is something you're told you should despise, so you despise the Democratic party. This is how it is when you're in a fascist society.
Leftists in the US are useful to the fascists since they serve as a convenient scapegoat. They just need to prevent you from supporting their political opposition (which you seem happy to go along with) long enough for them to eliminate democracy. After you're no longer useful to the fascists, they'll eliminate you as well.
No, because too many Democrats can't even recognize genocide when it is happening right in front of them, and while I understand that we have to "play the game" in our two-party system, Democrats have given me no reason to support their party at a policy level.
Yes, the Republicans are better at catering to singe issue voters like you. It's obvious that the likes of JD Vance want to go down a more antisemitic path, and a guy like him knows how to be careful about his wording to make you think "he's not antisemitic, he's just against Israel." You already hate Democrats, and I don't see leftists as actually being anti-fascist, so a large portion of the "anti-zionist" crowd will shift to voting Republican right along side the white supremacists antisemites and the social media algorithms will provide you whatever rationalizations needed to make you feel that's ok.
If you actually cared about fascism you wouldn't have been uncommitted last election. Everyone knows the Republicans have more control over social media and so will be able to manipulate single issue voters better than the Democrats can. They were able to convince y'all to be "uncommitted" in the face of fascism. The next obvious step is to get you to vote for fascism. And you probably will, so long as they express hatred towards the same people you hate. Because that's just how fascism works.
Do you get it? The police state is two thousand years old. The New Testament describes a decentralized autonomous organization of secret police at an eighth grade reading level. Epstein was a Mossad agent - so, a cop - and is thus alive because of that. We do something called pairing, which is a big part of how "the battle is won," according to them dum dum Christians, and so Epstein was paired with Maxwell, and thus Epstein disappeared and there are many loose ends of parallel investigations that just go poof, as far as suspicion of rats in criminal networks go. Trump/Hunter Biden/Clintons are all cops. That's how won the battle is. We don't give evil a chance to reach power. But, I'm just some retard doing his counterintelligence job on the internet.
It said centipedes, bro. I know the internet I helped make. I take full responsibility for Chrischan, and if all of the collective parties punishment against me can be directed into proportional sizes to destroy my rectum, then we will collect those votes...and, oh look, it's unanimous. God save the King, the bitch-ass he is!
Looks like the Democrats have finally refined their messaging, now all they need to do is form a coalition more powerful than the establishment DINO centrists.
I wouldn't say the democrats have refined their messaging. The leftist democrats who are saying these things are still a minority while the majority of the democratic party want to be seen as centrists who aren't hostile to big business.
But at least it has gone from 1 prominent person saying these things (Sanders) to now enough that you can no longer count them on just one hand.
The money, power and majority of the democratic party is still against them. But, it really seems like voters are behind them.
Perhaps the good thing is that so many democratic politicians lack a spine. It means that if it's clear that the democratic socialist message has momentum, they'll happily pivot to the new shiny thing and adopt it as if it's where they were all along.
This is Paxton plus way more than I can put in here:
On July 28, 2015, a state grand jury indicted Paxton on three criminal charges:[276] two counts of securities fraud (a first-degree felony) and one count of failing to register with state securities regulators (a third-degree felony).[277][278] Paxton's indictment marked the first such criminal indictment of a Texas attorney general in thirty-two years since Texas attorney general Jim Mattox was indicted for bribery in 1983.[279] The complainants in the case are Joel Hochberg, a Florida businessman, and Byron Cook, a Republican and former member of the Texas House of Representatives.[280][281] Paxton and Cook were former friends and roommates while serving together in the Texas House.[281] Three special prosecutors were trying the state's case.[282]
In October 2020, seven of Paxton's top aides published a letter to the office's director of human resources, accusing Paxton of improper influence, abuse of office, bribery and other crimes, and said they had provided information to law enforcement and asked them to investigate.[318][319] The letter was signed by first assistant attorney general Jeff Mateer,[319][318] and the deputy and deputy attorneys general overseeing the office's divisions for criminal investigations, civil litigation, administration, and policy.[318] Paxton denied misconduct and said he would not resign.[319][320] By the end of the month, all seven whistleblowers had left the office: three resigned, two were fired, and two were put on leave.[321]
The allegations were made the more serious by the accusation that the affair was facilitated by friend, donor, and Austin, Texas real estate investor Nate Paul, with Paul alleged to have hired the "girlfriend" with whom Paxton was having the affair, and facilitated her move to Austin and Paxton's clandestine meetings with her, actions the managers of Paxton's failed state impeachment effort contended (see Texas House investigation and impeachment section, above) were abuses "in exchange for his office... help[ing] Paul ’s faltering businesses..., looming bankruptcies[,] and a litany of related lawsuits."[356] The impeachment managers also contended that Paxton and Paul shared an Uber account under a pseudonym to help Paxton meet with the woman.[356]
Financial obesity is an existential threat to any society that tolerates it, and needs to cease being celebrated, rewarded, and positioned as an aspirational goal.
Corporations are the only ‘persons’ which should be subjected to capital punishment, but trillionaires should be forced to transition into billionaires, and billionaires should be euthanised through taxation.
They knew this. They did this because republicans never care about the people and the people that vote for them never think things through. Of course since its to the advantage of the democrats they do little explain the situation as anything other than republican greed.
This is one of those things that is both sides.
It adds to the idea that both sides are just as bad. If this murky morass of suck wasn't addled by thousands of separate issues it would be easier to convince some of the stupids that they were being played. Right now though everyone needs to realize that some dems may want to put us all in cages with cameras but they are outnumbered by the ones that just want to keep their taxes low so they don't have to trickle down.
Vote for the dems. They suck but at least most of them don't want us all in cages.
Don't worry people will be far too caught up with the culture war to notice. Anytime the people pay too much attention a new big thing that drives home the culture war will happen. It's easy when you control the news and algorithms
James Talarico is not documented as an AIPAC donor or official ally in the reporting provided; he attended an AIPAC event in 2019 but has since publicly disavowed taking money from AIPAC and criticized the pro‑Israel lobby, positions he has reiterated while campaigning for higher office [1] [2] [3]. Campaign finance records and reporting instead show connections to other PAC money—most notably a contribution from a Miriam Adelson‑linked PAC—which critics have used to raise questions distinct from any formal AIPAC connection [4] [5] [6].
Ohh thanks for linking to this! I didn't know about this site before.
You're welcome. And it's too bad, too, because I like what Talirico says, but what he does doesn't align. Did he give the money back? I don't know, but why would he take it?
While no candidate is perfect, I maintain it is more important to watch what candidates do, and ignore what they say, unless and until it aligns. And so far, Dems ain't it.
Do you know who Ken Paxton is and what he's done? Yes, you're voting yourself out of a fucking lot if you vote for Talirico. Paxton is at least equal to trump bad.
While I'm not defending that person, I posted a link that gives me pause. It's kind of odd an avowed Zionist worth 34 and a quarter billion would donate to his campaign.
The alternative is Ken Paxton so quit posting shit like this. Do that during the primaries. Now is the time to do what can be done to prevent more criminal MAGA scumbags from infiltrating every level of government.
Don't let perfect get in the way of good. We can't keep holding out for the perfect candidate while we keep slipping into fascism. I'm not saying don't fight for progressives in the primaries. That's exactly when you should be doing that.
That's what was happening anyway. I'm not looking for perfect, I'm looking for "not a really good liar." Miriam Adelson has horrible values, and him taking money from her, even just once, speaks volumes. That we only ever get a choice between far right and farther right candidates does, too.
Investigative reporting cited by Politico documents that Talarico accepted funds—$59,000—from a PAC linked to Miriam Adelson, a major conservative donor, and that this contribution has been used by opponents and reporters to question his fundraising choices; that PAC is distinct from AIPAC and tied to casino legalization interests rather than pro‑Israel lobbying per se [4]. Other trackers and campaign vendor records list contributions and expenditures for Talarico’s campaign but do not establish AIPAC as a donor in the provided materials [5] [6].
It's certainly interesting. I prefer Talarico over the other candidates by many miles, but admittedly I'm not in Texas so I'm not as well versed on him as others may be.
I still have a bit of disdain for some Lemmings insisting that the only way forward is by Americans grabbing our guns and storming the Whitehouse.
I understand the sentiment, whether to prompt a full-blown Nazi crackdown (which we're already in, tbh), or genuine, righteous fury.
These kinds of statements are unreasonable and clearly meant to discourage real action.
I don't think so, but without properly educating and organizing ourselves en massé, it won't end well. Remember the French revolution was by the bourgeoisie, for the bourgeoisie; and they were a lot more organized and educated, anyway, and got the unwashed, uneducated masses to mobilize so they needn't dirty themselves with such distasteful actions as were required.
I don't think comparing the US to France is productive. The size difference and land mass difference alone is staggering.
It is unreasonable to ask USians to grab our guns and storm the Whitehouse. It's not feasible in any stretch of the imagination. So yes, I view those kinds of comments as trying to derail truly constructive conversations about a way forward. I do understand the frustration and ire behind those comments though, very much so.
Join the DNC, find likeminded people, form a block and force the party toward those beleifs.
While you do that, make the effort to find out where the money you spend in the economy is going, to whom, and what they are doing with it. Stop giving your money to people who are working against your interests.
Build a culture and hobby of politics. Form groups, have discussions, explore the possibilities of a world better than this one and what else can be done to support each other through the ups and downs of life. We don't have all the answer so start helping us try and figure them out.
Disengage from information spaces high in dishonestly, corruption, agendas and alterior motives and disinformation. Cleanse your perception of reality of the lies you are constantly being fed and realign it with the most accurate, though less exciting, sources of information. Being informed isn't being entertained, it's boring and it's work. But if you know others are also doing it, that helps stay motivated. See point #3.
Vote everywhere you can. Understand your rights, the process by which you vote and the tactics used to dissuade you. You have some power. No, not the amount you crave and would be gratifying. But the power you do have is your responsibility to each other. Learn what that power is, how to works and start using it for your interests, instead of being convinced to use to for the interests of the billionaire class.
Nobody has the blueprint for freedom. Where we are right now is that we have to try and figure it out. Doing it alone is the opposite of what is effective. When power is dispersed, it's utility only functions in groups. The motive to use it only emerges and sustains within groups. Form those groups. Form those communities. Form those alliances and help each other find out the answer to, "What should we do about it?".
You aren't going to find this answer gratifying, exciting and it won't feel like you're expecting it to feel before you act. This is reality, not a feel good Hollywood story about the little guy beating Goliath. Its work. Its sacrifice. It's responsibility. Or do nothing at all and watch your nightmares of today become the reality of tomorrow.
Geez, all that sounds like a good idea for making the world a better place, but what if instead we just stay at home and refuse to vote for politicians who don't pass our purity tests? What if instead of working to make the world work the way it ought to we just pretend it works the way we want it to. Then hold ourselves in high regard for not participating or making token gestures that work against our interest?
93 Comments
givesomefucks@lemmy.world · 87 pts · 4d
Ken Paxton just keeps doing his best Rafael Cruz impression and running away from anyone who asks him a question...
Talarico signed up for three debates and said he'll show up even if Paxton doesn't.
Cruz is slimey, but he's a legitimate master debater, he can slime his way out of shit most people can't, and Paxton is just expecting it to work out.
As long as Talarico doesn't start talking about taking people's guns, he's got this in the bag.
Folstar@lemmus.org · 72 pts · 4d
Yes. Get up there and laugh at am empty podium if you have to. It was beyond frustrating in 2024 when the Harris campaign was like "ok, I guess the debates are cancelled". No! Make a show of it. Stand on stage for an hour and read everything wrong your opponent has every done. Dare them to show up next time. Do something.
velma@sh.itjust.works · 56 pts · 4d
They really did run a terrible campaign.
arrow74@lemmy.zip · 37 pts · 4d
Especially the part where they didn't have a primary and picked the VP of the unpopular incumbent.
I fully believe if they had a primary the winner would be president
NewSocialWhoDis@lemmy.zip · 19 pts · 4d
For those who have forgotten the 2020 primaries, she also had no rizz.
I get it, they were afraid of losing the funds they had raised, but it stood to reason that everyone who wanted Biden to step down would see her as partly responsible too.
I'm a tin hat wearer who doubts the veracity of some of the 2024 election results... So I'm on the fence of whether that would have been different with a more compelling Democratic candidate.
ilinamorato@lemmy.world · 18 pts · 4d
They briefly got some actual traction when Walz was calling Republicans "weird," but then some idiot strategist stepped in and told him to stop. The campaign fell back to being anodyne and uninspiring after that, and then they tried to bring Liz Cheney in and everything just felt like it was going through the motions and expecting to have the thing handed to them on a silver platter.
Sludgeyy@lemmy.world · 7 pts · 4d
All part of the riches plan.
If you think it was a coincidence that he beat two women and almost an old man, I have some ocean front property in South Dakota to give you.
Democrats play good cop but they are still cops
MonkeMischief@lemmy.today · 7 pts · 4d
Two things felt painfully obvious:
They, being wealthy political class themselves, were completely detached from the people's plight and motivations.
They knew no matter how badly they threw the fight, they could still be chilling back, buying low and selling exponentially high through whatever easily avoidable economic crisis hit our (not their) country next.
Barbarian@sh.itjust.works · 30 pts · 4d
That happened here in Romania last presidential election. Our neofascist candidate (Simion) got dunked on by the neoliberal (Dan) in the first debate, so he came up with excuse after excuse as to why he couldn't come to the rest.
The media companies got pissed off, and instead of cancelling decided to dunk on Simion by asking the questions to Dan and playing the absolute worst clips they could find of Simion answering those questions. Definitely didn't singlehandedly lose Simion the election, but it definitely didn't help him.
OwOarchist@pawb.social · 11 pts · 3d
Damn... It must be really nice to have media companies who are actually against fascism...
Barbarian@sh.itjust.works · 7 pts · 3d
That's giving them far too much credit. They're against losing all that delicious ad revenue from the debates and wanted to make an example of him. If Dan had cancelled, they'd have done the same to him in a heartbeat.
OwOarchist@pawb.social · 7 pts · 3d
Okay then ... must be nice to have media that's at least neutral, instead of being pro-fascist.
GroundedGator@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 2d
They should find someone to read Paxton's platform from his own website and Talarico can debate the positions.
UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world · 17 pts · 4d
Greg Abbott pioneered the strategy of just ignoring your actual opponent and scream "The communists are coming to take your guns!" at rallies hosted by your billionaire friends. To date, it's kinda-sorta worked. Republicans have a stranglehold on the state senate due to gerrymandered districts. All the statewide offices are reliably Republican, year in and year out. And the Republican base loves to see a candidate throwing out red meat far more than a candidate who treats liberal opponents as serious contenders for office.
Anyone who thinks Democrats have a statewide office in a bright-red state in the bag because the Republican is ignoring them, is delusional.
You'll know Paxton is in trouble when he starts crying about the liberal media not giving him enough attention and demanding a dozen debates a week with Talarico straight through election day.
protist@retrofed.com · 7 pts · 4d
Having lived in Texas for 39 years, I don't think it's delusional this time. Wendy Davis, Beto O'Rourke, Colin Allred...I wanted all of them to win but knew it was super unlikely.
What's different this time is that Paxton has such a lengthy, tainted history in Texas. He's made lifelong enemies of so many Republicans in this state, and Talarico is so very, very palatable to them with his level of comfort framing all of this through Christianity. Obviously, nothing is in the bag, but I have confidence in this race for Talarico I never had for the other 3 candidates I mentioned
Maeve@kbin.earth · 4 pts · 4d
I believe it actually began with the Bolshevik revolution and only receded, occasionally, rather than ever having went away.
fartographer@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 4d
Time to start buying seats at their fundraising events and then debating them while they're busy fluffing themselves. Get kicked out for this move? Run headlines: "Paxton just proved that he doesn't care about his own voters or sponsors"
Ep1cFac3pa1m@lemmy.world · 12 pts · 4d
“And what’s your stance on gun violence?”
My stance is that crime goes down when poverty goes down, so let’s work on making sure people can actually earn a decent living.
Bluescluestoothpaste@sh.itjust.works · 4 pts · 3d
"but he's legitimate a master debater"
Stop saying that like it's some kind of redemption. He's a lying sophist, it's like saying trump sucks but he's legitimately a good golfer.
merc@sh.itjust.works · 0 pts · 2d
whoosh
OwOarchist@pawb.social · 1 pts · 3d
Knowing Texan Dems, he'll probably announce a new proposed policy tomorrow, announcing his intention for door-to-door gun confiscating raids.
Jake_Farm@sopuli.xyz · 60 pts · 4d
There is a reason Reagan and the neocons were founded and backed by corpos.
anon_8675309@lemmy.world · 29 pts · 4d
As well as the fact he pushed the Heritage Foundation’s agenda.
Jake_Farm@sopuli.xyz · 12 pts · 3d
Evangelical conmen
Kolanaki@pawb.social · 55 pts · 4d
The only thing that actually trickles down from the 1% is piss.
ApathyTree@lemmy.dbzer0.com · 18 pts · 4d
If we tried harder some other fluid might be included..
Either way it’s not money, or even valuable.
QueenHawlSera@piefed.social · 7 pts · 3d
I'm all for their blood trickling down.
Flower@sh.itjust.works · 16 pts · 3d
Bluescluestoothpaste@sh.itjust.works · 9 pts · 3d
That's literally what the term originally alluded to, it was written by a critic of tax cuts for the wealthy.
MrShankles@lemmy.world · 6 pts · 3d
Just curious, do you have an easily available source, by chance? Or do I need to dig through the search engines' slop for more info?
Bluescluestoothpaste@sh.itjust.works · 3 pts · 3d
Wikipedia lol im not a historian or anything -- predecessor to trickle down was horse and sparrow
some_kind_of_guy@lemmy.world · 6 pts · 3d
Great, now I have way too much piss, zero gold, and InfoWars' revolutionary "turn your piss into gold" program is sold out
breadsmasher@lemmy.world · 44 pts · 4d
shame a huge number of americans keep voting to be fucked over
uriel238@lemmy.blahaj.zone · 24 pts · 3d
The real difficulty is with the vast wealth and power in the hands of the few and the unscrupulous who represent or control capital. Hundreds of laws of Congress and the state legislatures are in the interest of these men and against the interests of workingmen. These need to be exposed and repealed. All laws on corporations, on taxation, on trusts, wills, descent, and the like, need examination and extensive change. This is a government of the people, by the people, and for the people no longer. It is a government of corporations, by corporations, and for corporations. — Rutherford B. Hayes, 1888
merc@sh.itjust.works · 3 pts · 3d
Ever since agriculture allowed some of the population to not be farmers, there has been inequality.
Overall, it's probably a good trade-off. I'm not ultra rich, but I'm not a subsistence farmer either. So, some inequality is probably the price we pay for technology.
The current world is better off than most of history. Since the Odyssey is in theatres now, look at that. Odysseus is a king in a palace-centric economy where the riches flow to the kings who then redistribute it to everyone else. In the middle ages peasants were tied to the land from birth. They weren't slaves, exactly. But, it was pretty similar.
Capitalism was supposed to be more efficient and fair. Instead of the bosses being born as bosses and the workers born as workers, in theory a boss who made terrible decisions could lose his capital and become a worker. A worker who had an idea and could find investment could become a boss. In the 1800s that was revolutionary, until that point classes were classes for life. But, of course, for it to work there needed to be laws and those laws needed to be enforced.
The US was revolutionary at the start because it was going to be a country without a king. They carefully designed the system so the president wasn't a monarch. However, there were some problems. First, these were 20 year olds in the 1700s. They didn't know game theory. They were idealists who thought that congressional representatives would be honest and honourable. They didn't think a party would collude with a corrupt president. Second, these were aristocrats. Sure, they didn't like kings, but they thought that only land-owning white males should have a say.
So, really, it's no surprise that a few hundred years later the people who would have been the land-owning aristocrats 1000 years ago are once again in control.
It remains to be seen if the people can once again restore a sane level of inequality, or if this American experiment has run its course and something new will emerge.
rayyy@piefed.social · 22 pts · 3d
Talarico is saying the right things. He deserves a few bucks. The others, not so much. Democrats, in general stood by and let all this corruption go on.
Support only those who understand the problem but understand that we need many more to actually actually change things.
boaratio@lemmy.world · 13 pts · 3d
Democrats didn't stand by and allow the corporation to happen. They participated in it.
SpaceCowboy@lemmy.ca · 7 pts · 3d
You ever get the feeling that you've been manipulated into hating the political opposition to fascism?
betheydocrime@lemmy.world · 13 pts · 3d
Democrats aren't the opposition to fascism, they're its beauticians. They don't want to fight fascism, they want a version of fascism that follows the rules of respectability politics. They want a sensible, noncorrupt fascism that keeps thorough records of the people it kidnaps. They want a gentle fascism with body cameras to make sure the kidnappings stay "nonviolent" while they get a first person view of families being destroyed. They want a fascism with more humane concentration camps.
You know who is the actual political opposition to fascism? The mutual aid group in your city. The neighborhood group chat where community members talk to each other and keep each other safe. The rapid response networks. The tenant's rights organizers. All the people out there building alternative power structures.
Polisheocket@lemmy.zip · 3 pts · 3d
If you want change you need a new party, Democrats don’t so shit. They keep status quo. Recent president Joe Biden did some things but went silent for many months. We also need age limits.
SpaceCowboy@lemmy.ca · 2 pts · 3d
The Democratic party is a political party in a democracy. It's the only political party in the US that is still pro-democracy.
You've been conditioned to think only in terms of authoritarianism because you're living in a fascist society whose goal is to make you think only in terms of which group of authoritarians should have ultimate power over the people. You are unable to see that there are limits to what a political party in a democracy can do and how it's actually a good thing that political parties have these limitations.
So you've been told that democracy and following democratic norms indicates weakness, that the Democratic party is weak and that weakness is a sign they're your enemies. This is how fascists understand the world. Political opposition to fascism within a democratic system is something you're told you should despise, so you despise the Democratic party. This is how it is when you're in a fascist society.
Leftists in the US are useful to the fascists since they serve as a convenient scapegoat. They just need to prevent you from supporting their political opposition (which you seem happy to go along with) long enough for them to eliminate democracy. After you're no longer useful to the fascists, they'll eliminate you as well.
Adderbox76@lemmy.ca · 1 pts · 3d
Spot on. Very well said.
chewypoops@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 3d
No, because too many Democrats can't even recognize genocide when it is happening right in front of them, and while I understand that we have to "play the game" in our two-party system, Democrats have given me no reason to support their party at a policy level.
SpaceCowboy@lemmy.ca · 2 pts · 3d
Yes, the Republicans are better at catering to singe issue voters like you. It's obvious that the likes of JD Vance want to go down a more antisemitic path, and a guy like him knows how to be careful about his wording to make you think "he's not antisemitic, he's just against Israel." You already hate Democrats, and I don't see leftists as actually being anti-fascist, so a large portion of the "anti-zionist" crowd will shift to voting Republican right along side the white supremacists antisemites and the social media algorithms will provide you whatever rationalizations needed to make you feel that's ok.
If you actually cared about fascism you wouldn't have been uncommitted last election. Everyone knows the Republicans have more control over social media and so will be able to manipulate single issue voters better than the Democrats can. They were able to convince y'all to be "uncommitted" in the face of fascism. The next obvious step is to get you to vote for fascism. And you probably will, so long as they express hatred towards the same people you hate. Because that's just how fascism works.
bitteroldcoot@piefed.social · 13 pts · 4d
Give em hell kid.
beejboytyson@lemmy.world · 8 pts · 3d
*the pedefilic elite
Impractical_Island@lemmy.world · 5 pts · 3d
I made this meme like ten years ago:
Do you get it? The police state is two thousand years old. The New Testament describes a decentralized autonomous organization of secret police at an eighth grade reading level. Epstein was a Mossad agent - so, a cop - and is thus alive because of that. We do something called pairing, which is a big part of how "the battle is won," according to them dum dum Christians, and so Epstein was paired with Maxwell, and thus Epstein disappeared and there are many loose ends of parallel investigations that just go poof, as far as suspicion of rats in criminal networks go. Trump/Hunter Biden/Clintons are all cops. That's how won the battle is. We don't give evil a chance to reach power. But, I'm just some retard doing his counterintelligence job on the internet.
JigglySackles@lemmy.world · 4 pts · 2d
Lol I had that image many years ago in a forum. Except it said "Worms? In my vagina?"
AdolfSchmitler@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 2d
The duality of shit posting
Impractical_Island@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 2d
It said centipedes, bro. I know the internet I helped make. I take full responsibility for Chrischan, and if all of the collective parties punishment against me can be directed into proportional sizes to destroy my rectum, then we will collect those votes...and, oh look, it's unanimous. God save the King, the bitch-ass he is!
beejboytyson@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 2d
Dw people are stupid. Remember every reasonable opinion has an unreasonable opponent.
MojoMcJojo@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 2d
Conspiratorial Design by Carlo Bramanti
SalamiDommie@lemmus.org · 8 pts · 3d
Also note that this is not a D vs R situation. It is the people vs those who keep taking advantage of the leadership we afford them.
Furbag@pawb.social · 6 pts · 3d
Looks like the Democrats have finally refined their messaging, now all they need to do is form a coalition more powerful than the establishment DINO centrists.
merc@sh.itjust.works · 3 pts · 3d
I wouldn't say the democrats have refined their messaging. The leftist democrats who are saying these things are still a minority while the majority of the democratic party want to be seen as centrists who aren't hostile to big business.
But at least it has gone from 1 prominent person saying these things (Sanders) to now enough that you can no longer count them on just one hand.
The money, power and majority of the democratic party is still against them. But, it really seems like voters are behind them.
Perhaps the good thing is that so many democratic politicians lack a spine. It means that if it's clear that the democratic socialist message has momentum, they'll happily pivot to the new shiny thing and adopt it as if it's where they were all along.
pelespirit@sh.itjust.works · 4 pts · 3d
The bullshit in here is strong:
This is Paxton plus way more than I can put in here:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ken_Paxton#Legal_issues
wonderingwanderer@sopuli.xyz · 3 pts · 3d
Hell yeah, finally someone's saying it
nonentity@sh.itjust.works · 3 pts · 3d
Financial obesity is an existential threat to any society that tolerates it, and needs to cease being celebrated, rewarded, and positioned as an aspirational goal.
Corporations are the only ‘persons’ which should be subjected to capital punishment, but trillionaires should be forced to transition into billionaires, and billionaires should be euthanised through taxation.
friend_of_satan@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 4d
This kind of thing always reminds me of Arkasia - New World Disorder https://youtu.be/aSB0ulJkbt0
Edit: I traced down the original quote, which came from Dr. Bob Bowman, surprisingly on Infowars https://fight.fudgie.org/search/show/sr/episode/20110307_SpecialReport_Alex#line1087 I don't know anything about this guy, but he sounds so much more sane than Trump.
boaratio@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 3d
Maximum upvotes. Hell yeah.
SnarkoPolo@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 3d
And people keep voting for it. Sad!
MonkderVierte@lemmy.zip · 1 pts · 3d
The only reason this worked long-term in medieval times, was serfdom.
You'll either stop this or you will be serfs.
Bubbaonthebeach@lemmy.ca · 2 pts · 3d
Economically, Americans are already serfs. Wealth inequality was slightly better for serfs than current Americans.
Itdidnttrickledown@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 2d
They knew this. They did this because republicans never care about the people and the people that vote for them never think things through. Of course since its to the advantage of the democrats they do little explain the situation as anything other than republican greed.
This is one of those things that is both sides.
It adds to the idea that both sides are just as bad. If this murky morass of suck wasn't addled by thousands of separate issues it would be easier to convince some of the stupids that they were being played. Right now though everyone needs to realize that some dems may want to put us all in cages with cameras but they are outnumbered by the ones that just want to keep their taxes low so they don't have to trickle down.
Vote for the dems. They suck but at least most of them don't want us all in cages.
YET!
Zephyr@sh.itjust.works · 1 pts · 3d
Don't worry people will be far too caught up with the culture war to notice. Anytime the people pay too much attention a new big thing that drives home the culture war will happen. It's easy when you control the news and algorithms
Maeve@kbin.earth · -3 pts · 4d
https://factually.co/fact-checks/politics/is-james-telerico-connected-to-aipac-73f6c2
velma@sh.itjust.works · 14 pts · 4d
Ohh thanks for linking to this! I didn't know about this site before.
Maeve@kbin.earth · -3 pts · 4d
You're welcome. And it's too bad, too, because I like what Talirico says, but what he does doesn't align. Did he give the money back? I don't know, but why would he take it?
While no candidate is perfect, I maintain it is more important to watch what candidates do, and ignore what they say, unless and until it aligns. And so far, Dems ain't it.
p0q@sh.itjust.works · 8 pts · 4d
What's the alternative in this situation?
Maeve@kbin.earth · 0 pts · 3d
This? Realize we're not voting our way out of anything, educate self, start study groups and organize.
Julius Nyerere
pelespirit@sh.itjust.works · 4 pts · 3d
Do you know who Ken Paxton is and what he's done? Yes, you're voting yourself out of a fucking lot if you vote for Talirico. Paxton is at least equal to trump bad.
vivalapivo@lemmy.today · -8 pts · 3d
That's what Charlie Kirk was talking about
frongt@lemmy.zip · -21 pts · 4d
Yeah we know. What should we do about it?
velma@sh.itjust.works · 62 pts · 4d
Talarico is literally running for office. He's trying to galvanize people to vote for him so he can help do something about it.
bloogoose@lemmy.zip · -22 pts · 4d
velma@sh.itjust.works · 24 pts · 4d
Yeah let's continue to whinge on the internet, that will fix things right up.
Maeve@kbin.earth · -6 pts · 4d
While I'm not defending that person, I posted a link that gives me pause. It's kind of odd an avowed Zionist worth 34 and a quarter billion would donate to his campaign.
krashmo@lemmy.world · 15 pts · 4d
The alternative is Ken Paxton so quit posting shit like this. Do that during the primaries. Now is the time to do what can be done to prevent more criminal MAGA scumbags from infiltrating every level of government.
OwOarchist@pawb.social · 0 pts · 3d
I'll worry about the genocide in Gaza when we've stopped the genocide in my own back yard.
Maeve@kbin.earth · 0 pts · 4d
Funny, whenever I post things during the primaries, it's met the same.
FlexibleToast@lemmy.world · 6 pts · 4d
Don't let perfect get in the way of good. We can't keep holding out for the perfect candidate while we keep slipping into fascism. I'm not saying don't fight for progressives in the primaries. That's exactly when you should be doing that.
Maeve@kbin.earth · 0 pts · 4d
That's what was happening anyway. I'm not looking for perfect, I'm looking for "not a really good liar." Miriam Adelson has horrible values, and him taking money from her, even just once, speaks volumes. That we only ever get a choice between far right and farther right candidates does, too.
velma@sh.itjust.works · 2 pts · 4d
Are you talking about this section here?
It's certainly interesting. I prefer Talarico over the other candidates by many miles, but admittedly I'm not in Texas so I'm not as well versed on him as others may be.
Maeve@kbin.earth · 0 pts · 4d
I understand the sentiment, whether to prompt a full-blown Nazi crackdown (which we're already in, tbh), or genuine, righteous fury.
I don't think so, but without properly educating and organizing ourselves en massé, it won't end well. Remember the French revolution was by the bourgeoisie, for the bourgeoisie; and they were a lot more organized and educated, anyway, and got the unwashed, uneducated masses to mobilize so they needn't dirty themselves with such distasteful actions as were required.
velma@sh.itjust.works · 3 pts · 4d
I don't think comparing the US to France is productive. The size difference and land mass difference alone is staggering.
It is unreasonable to ask USians to grab our guns and storm the Whitehouse. It's not feasible in any stretch of the imagination. So yes, I view those kinds of comments as trying to derail truly constructive conversations about a way forward. I do understand the frustration and ire behind those comments though, very much so.
fizzle@quokk.au · 1 pts · 4d
Thats a generalisation which simply is not true.
protist@retrofed.com · -1 pts · 4d
Let me guess, you think no one should vote?
minorkeys@sh.itjust.works · 11 pts · 4d
Join the DNC, find likeminded people, form a block and force the party toward those beleifs.
While you do that, make the effort to find out where the money you spend in the economy is going, to whom, and what they are doing with it. Stop giving your money to people who are working against your interests.
Build a culture and hobby of politics. Form groups, have discussions, explore the possibilities of a world better than this one and what else can be done to support each other through the ups and downs of life. We don't have all the answer so start helping us try and figure them out.
Disengage from information spaces high in dishonestly, corruption, agendas and alterior motives and disinformation. Cleanse your perception of reality of the lies you are constantly being fed and realign it with the most accurate, though less exciting, sources of information. Being informed isn't being entertained, it's boring and it's work. But if you know others are also doing it, that helps stay motivated. See point #3.
Vote everywhere you can. Understand your rights, the process by which you vote and the tactics used to dissuade you. You have some power. No, not the amount you crave and would be gratifying. But the power you do have is your responsibility to each other. Learn what that power is, how to works and start using it for your interests, instead of being convinced to use to for the interests of the billionaire class.
Nobody has the blueprint for freedom. Where we are right now is that we have to try and figure it out. Doing it alone is the opposite of what is effective. When power is dispersed, it's utility only functions in groups. The motive to use it only emerges and sustains within groups. Form those groups. Form those communities. Form those alliances and help each other find out the answer to, "What should we do about it?".
You aren't going to find this answer gratifying, exciting and it won't feel like you're expecting it to feel before you act. This is reality, not a feel good Hollywood story about the little guy beating Goliath. Its work. Its sacrifice. It's responsibility. Or do nothing at all and watch your nightmares of today become the reality of tomorrow.
Folstar@lemmus.org · 2 pts · 4d
Geez, all that sounds like a good idea for making the world a better place, but what if instead we just stay at home and refuse to vote for politicians who don't pass our purity tests? What if instead of working to make the world work the way it ought to we just pretend it works the way we want it to. Then hold ourselves in high regard for not participating or making token gestures that work against our interest?
mycodesucks@lemmy.world · 4 pts · 4d
Steve@communick.news · 4 pts · 4d
Stop voting for corpos.
Vote in the Democratic primaries for DSA members and progressives.
Then vote for them again in the general elections.
SeeMarkFly@lemmy.ml · 3 pts · 4d
I sharpened my pitchfork.
THEN I had it gold plated for this occasion.
pelespirit@sh.itjust.works · 0 pts · 3d
You really gotta give us a rest