23h ago

Why isn't anyone helping?

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One of those things where both
Nonvoters who complain that Democrats aren't doing enough to protect them are exactly the kind of entitled twats who attack what meagre defenses we have against fascism, and then whine (blaming those same defenses they themselves worked to undermine) when fascism attacks them.
AND
Dems who do nothing in this period are inex-fucking-scusable, if predictably adhering to their norms-based civility politics schtick which plays so well with suburban white folk; and Dems in general are only interested in reform insofar as public opinion forces them to support it, and not an inch further.
are true.
- Everyone is constantly making excuses for the Democrats, but if a political party had zero power except for four months out of forty fucking years you'd think we'd at least try to replace them.
  
  I wrote up a big long thing and deleted it, because fuck that.
  The country doesn't want the change we want. Not even the Dem base, not when the ads start blaring and snarl words start getting tossed around. Even significantly left-leaning states like Cali and Washington regularly reject ballot initiatives for progressive measures.
  That the Dems, milquetoast and moderate as they are, and as broad a coalition as they make, had power for 4 months out of 40 years is an aberration caused only by the massive fuck-ups of the Bush administration.
  Correctly speaking, the Dems probably should've had none.
  
  Yeah, I’ve come to the same conclusion: This country is fucked and there’s no way I’ll fit in anywhere.
  
  I have two modes, really.
  "Things are bad, but they will get better." Looking at the past, things were immeasurably worse. That they're still incredibly dogshit now is not a condemnation of our trajectory for all eternity (though I do suspect after this last election, there will need to be a tumultuous 'correction', civil rights or civil war style, to return to even the meagre rate of improvement we had before). 2025 is not 1925, and certainly not 1825 or 1025. Technological advancement aside, we have made incredible gains in the history of human civilization, and there's no reason that it should stop now, despite the seeming power of the elites. Relatively speaking, we are immensely educated and powerful compared to past generations of the working class. Our tools of communication are far further removed from elite control - though that should be interpreted with a touch of 'damnation by faint praise'. We may feel helpless and hopeless, but they are only feelings - feelings always pass, rightly or wrongly; and reality always asserts itself when the two collide.
  "Holy fuck, what do you mean that by the time I'm in my 90s things might be slightly better? Assuming there isn't a half-century detour that makes things worse first, Reconstruction style??? And it's all reliant on the dipshits I meet in day-to-day life??? I'm either shooting myself or shooting up, fuck this"
  
  I lost that first attitude when Trump won the first time.
  And even when I’m around people who ostensibly share my political views I still feel like an outsider for a bevy of other reasons. “Did you see that funny commercial?”
  “No I don’t see any commercials. Ever. “
  “Oh man the halftime show!”
  “Didn’t see that either.”
  If my biology didn’t make a persuasive argument I’d swear I wasn’t human.
  
  The country doesn't want the change we want.
  Of course not. Most of them are comfortable enough as-is. Most people don't have a strong political philosophy - they're just trying to maintain what they have, and maybe find a way to have a bit more.
  
  Of course not. Most of them are comfortable enough as-is.
  Don't really think comfort has much to do with it. Revolutionary behavior tends to spill out from relatively privileged demographics, and suffering demographics can suffer seemingly infinitely without hitting some point of discomfort where revolution occurs.

265 comments