this post was submitted on 17 Mar 2025
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cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ml/post/27293783

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[–] bstix@feddit.dk 6 points 1 week ago (12 children)

I've seen a lot of similar comments lately. People wanting to start 3rd parties etc, because the Democrats suck so bad.

Yes, it's true. They suck, but if you're going to beat the Republicans, you'll need to look at what Trump did. He didn't start a 3rd party. No, he took the existing party and changed it into whatever the fuck it is now.

You need to change the democratic party from within too, because 3rd parties will always lose because of the first past the post. 3rd parties also have a tendency to branch out, because quite frankly, not being Democrat or Republican isn't enough of a politic in itself, and you guys don't get along well on anything else. The Republicans had this issue for a long time until Trump came along providing them with something that united their voters more than the previous politic of simply being not Democrats.

The democratic party already has a framework for running politics and they actually have some kind of democracy within that allows people to change it. Yeah, it will require a lot of work to get enough people engaged in politics to make the change, but it is absolutely much less than what is required to start a successful 3rd party.

[–] ycnz@lemmy.nz 6 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Your problem is that Democrat politicians are also largely rich white dudes, who'd rather be republican than progressive.

[–] bstix@feddit.dk 4 points 1 week ago

.. that is why you need to join and elect other politicians.

[–] VeryVito@lemmy.ml 2 points 1 week ago (1 children)

So why not join the majority party β€” in this case the GOP β€” and reshape it again from the inside? We’ve seen the GOP is open to tectonic shifts of change, as long as it’s coming from fellow β€œRepublicans.” Donnie himself was a Democrat before he noticed the door to the GOP was already open wide.

[–] bstix@feddit.dk 2 points 1 week ago

It's always going to be more difficult challenging the "winning" strategy.

Democrats seem to be more open to change and internal democracy.

Whatever shed of ideology is left in either party is also pointed in different directions. Roughly described, the ideologies are (supposed to be) that left wing is taking ideas from the masses and sending them upwards through democratic elections, while right wing only accepts top down decision making. Seeing the many "Trump regret" clips, it's pretty clear that his policies did not originate from his voter base.

Another case of point is when politicians flip flop and change party. Democrats allow right wing politicians to infiltrate their party dragging them to the right, whereas you don't see someone like Bernie Sanders joining GOP to drag them towards social democracy.

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[–] badbrainstorm@lemmy.world 5 points 1 week ago

Many Americans don't like either party at this point. Thus the low voter turnout and apathy. Many vote Democrat as the lesser of two evils. Though, the goalpost keep getting pushed to the right, to the point that Democratic party is well right of center. I understand the apathy at this point. But I wish that people understood that if we want things to come back to the left, then we're going to have to vote overwhelmingly Democratic for a while. And not just every four years. Everybody whines the Democrats don't get anything done when they're elected. But they generally only have two years of majority in the house, Senate, because they can't be bothered to vote every two years...

[–] NutWrench@lemmy.ml 4 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Stop re-electing these ancient incumbents who are WAY too comfortable being Republican-lite. Vote for younger candidates, preferably someone who was born AFTER the Battle of the Bulge.

[–] Confidant6198@lemmy.ml 4 points 1 week ago (2 children)

I don't think that makes a difference. Ben Shapiro is young and is alt-right

[–] Electric_Druid@lemmy.world 4 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (1 children)

I think it makes a huge difference- Shapiro is just one person. And to prove the point, look how much influence he, a young guy, is having on our political landscape. Not that they're the perfect politicians, but look at how much support people like AOC and Tulsi Gabbard drum up. We need people that are energized and that can energize others.

[–] Confidant6198@lemmy.ml 3 points 1 week ago

It is not about wether someone is young or old, but that the system is rotten and needs to go. Also, we are not getting anything better in this system.

[–] IndieGoblin@lemmy.4d2.org 1 points 1 week ago

Is Ben Shaprio a democrat candidate?

[–] geneva_convenience@lemmy.ml 4 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

Democrats destroyed it when Chuck Shumer sided with Republicans. It is Joever.

I posted this and to my utter amazement both the comments and votes went completely opposed to my expectations:

https://lemmy.ml/post/27323640

[–] rosco385@lemm.ee 1 points 1 week ago
[–] GaMEChld@lemmy.world 1 points 1 week ago (3 children)

We need progressive primary challengers, and we need PARTICIPATION in the primaries. Primary voter turnout is like 15% or something equally pathetic last I checked.

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