Refusing to have humanity on Palestine, Harris and the Democrats surrendered their moral advantage, forcing them to track rightward to monsters like Liz & Dick Cheney and alienating their base.
Idiocracy -- It's supposedly a fictional movie, but some are taking it to be an instructional film!
"So hey, can Democrats finally start opposing genocide now? Just kidding. They won’t."
Why would they back peddle on the genocide their beloved leader Biden helped to start? That would be disloyal. The Dem-wits are very loyal to their corrupt leaders.
This may be a harsh assessment of the American electorate, but I believe that US foreign policy is not the key determinant of the choice of the average American, who is more preoccupied with domestic considerations and relatively unconcerned with ethical or moral dilemmas. Kamala Harris was a victim of her image, and of the vacuity of her character and her program, or rather her lack of a program, of a coherent and proactive vision of the challenges of the day. She was clearly no match for the “stage beast” that D. Trump represented….
Most people -- even politically active people -- pay little attention to foreign affairs. In a recent post I detailed a couple recent interactions with democrats that illustrate that foreign affairs ignorance ( https://mark192.substack.com/p/cartoon-grim-business-on-the-frontline )
Fewer and fewer Americans speak foreign languages and schools and universities are cutting foreign language programs and, I think I'm right in this, Americans have the lowest per capita of active passports of any western nation.
With the declining incomes and standard of living, traveling abroad is an increasingly impractical luxury for many.
Then there's the whole "we're the best in the world" national delusion.
Excuse me, but do you really believe that the outcome of elections is determined by accurately counting the votes? And if Democratic voters really cared about Palestinians, do you believe that Jill Stein got only 0.4% of the votes?
I would not be surprised if the Republicans did some election fraud. After all, Republican states disenfranchised 100s of thousands. They've spent years blathering on about it. Voted Stein/Ware. I live in WA, a reliable Dem. State.
I believe it's an established fact, that Republicans engage in election fraud. In my opinion, they are probably hacking the voting machines. But Republicans are convinced that the Democrats cheat too, by bringing in bags of fake ballots. Can you prove that they're wrong?
The consistent losers in this game, are third party candidates. And, of course, the general public.
Mark, do you have a proposal for what to do about it? My humble suggestion is that if we want a democracy, the place to start is by insisting that the votes get counted accurately. I'm not sure what your strategy is.
About the non-voters, you posted a link recently to a poll about them. The poll said that 67% of voters and 64% of non-voters agree that we need a third party. Yet we are supposed to believe that only a fraction of a percent will vote for such parties, even with two such incredibly bad candidates as Harris and Trump?
The problem with oligarchs in capitalist systems has been recognized at least since the 19th century. At that time, our "democracy" (if it was one, back then) came up with the solution to enact anti-trust laws to break up monopolies. So maybe another solution, would be to elect politicians who would enforce those laws?
For that matter, Harris had a proposal to tax unrealized capital gains. That wouldn't be my favorite strategy for dealing with the oligarchy problem, but it certainly would chip away year after year at those outsized fortunes. Personally I'm more Libertarian than Green on the political spectrum, but I acknowledge that something needs to be done.
Hello Mark, was that an answer to my question? For that matter, do you believe that Biden was such a great candidate that he was able to pull 15 million more Democratic voters than Obama in 2012, or Clinton in 2016? Harris's total of about 66 million votes in 2024, was nothing more than a return to historical norms for Democratic presidential candidates.
Jerry, I really, honestly, completely don't give a shit about the elections: they are irrelevant. They are meaningless. There is a reason the largest bloc of citizens in the country are non-voters. Read about the Princeton study on American oligarchy I have linked to in several recent posts. We are in a post-politics state of social, political and empire collapse.
I think it’s an occupational hazard with politics, to be a “successful” politician one must be a lying sack, that’s why we see, otherwise decent people, being totally co-opted by “toeing the line”.
Idiocracy -- It's supposedly a fictional movie, but some are taking it to be an instructional film!
"So hey, can Democrats finally start opposing genocide now? Just kidding. They won’t."
Why would they back peddle on the genocide their beloved leader Biden helped to start? That would be disloyal. The Dem-wits are very loyal to their corrupt leaders.
I think of it as a documentary. And you gotta remember, Biden is just the set director. The producer is Netanyahu.
Yup ‘murica is an idiocracy
This may be a harsh assessment of the American electorate, but I believe that US foreign policy is not the key determinant of the choice of the average American, who is more preoccupied with domestic considerations and relatively unconcerned with ethical or moral dilemmas. Kamala Harris was a victim of her image, and of the vacuity of her character and her program, or rather her lack of a program, of a coherent and proactive vision of the challenges of the day. She was clearly no match for the “stage beast” that D. Trump represented….
Most people -- even politically active people -- pay little attention to foreign affairs. In a recent post I detailed a couple recent interactions with democrats that illustrate that foreign affairs ignorance ( https://mark192.substack.com/p/cartoon-grim-business-on-the-frontline )
Fewer and fewer Americans speak foreign languages and schools and universities are cutting foreign language programs and, I think I'm right in this, Americans have the lowest per capita of active passports of any western nation.
With the declining incomes and standard of living, traveling abroad is an increasingly impractical luxury for many.
Then there's the whole "we're the best in the world" national delusion.
🤡
Excuse me, but do you really believe that the outcome of elections is determined by accurately counting the votes? And if Democratic voters really cared about Palestinians, do you believe that Jill Stein got only 0.4% of the votes?
US elections are a sick joke and, in a corporate uniparty state, are irrelevant.
I would not be surprised if the Republicans did some election fraud. After all, Republican states disenfranchised 100s of thousands. They've spent years blathering on about it. Voted Stein/Ware. I live in WA, a reliable Dem. State.
Never trust anyone or any political party in power.
I believe it's an established fact, that Republicans engage in election fraud. In my opinion, they are probably hacking the voting machines. But Republicans are convinced that the Democrats cheat too, by bringing in bags of fake ballots. Can you prove that they're wrong?
The consistent losers in this game, are third party candidates. And, of course, the general public.
Probably correct. We the people are always the losers in this shithole country.
That's cause this country is run off our labor, money, blood and sweat ... but it's not run for us.
Three sociopaths own more wealth than the bottom 50% of the population. That tells you all that needs to be known about the nation.
Mark, do you have a proposal for what to do about it? My humble suggestion is that if we want a democracy, the place to start is by insisting that the votes get counted accurately. I'm not sure what your strategy is.
About the non-voters, you posted a link recently to a poll about them. The poll said that 67% of voters and 64% of non-voters agree that we need a third party. Yet we are supposed to believe that only a fraction of a percent will vote for such parties, even with two such incredibly bad candidates as Harris and Trump?
The problem with oligarchs in capitalist systems has been recognized at least since the 19th century. At that time, our "democracy" (if it was one, back then) came up with the solution to enact anti-trust laws to break up monopolies. So maybe another solution, would be to elect politicians who would enforce those laws?
For that matter, Harris had a proposal to tax unrealized capital gains. That wouldn't be my favorite strategy for dealing with the oligarchy problem, but it certainly would chip away year after year at those outsized fortunes. Personally I'm more Libertarian than Green on the political spectrum, but I acknowledge that something needs to be done.
Hello Mark, was that an answer to my question? For that matter, do you believe that Biden was such a great candidate that he was able to pull 15 million more Democratic voters than Obama in 2012, or Clinton in 2016? Harris's total of about 66 million votes in 2024, was nothing more than a return to historical norms for Democratic presidential candidates.
Jerry, I really, honestly, completely don't give a shit about the elections: they are irrelevant. They are meaningless. There is a reason the largest bloc of citizens in the country are non-voters. Read about the Princeton study on American oligarchy I have linked to in several recent posts. We are in a post-politics state of social, political and empire collapse.
I think it’s an occupational hazard with politics, to be a “successful” politician one must be a lying sack, that’s why we see, otherwise decent people, being totally co-opted by “toeing the line”.