• disguy_ovahea@lemmy.world
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      5 months ago

      We need more Democrats in Congress for that. A third of the Senate and all of the House are up for election in November. Attendance at the polls is crucial for down-ballot candidates just the same as presidential.

      Vote in November, or be ready to accept what a Republican President, Congress, and SCOTUS decide for you.

      • meep_launcher@lemm.ee
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        5 months ago

        The thing that stinks is

        A) the electoral college makes it so only 4 or 5 states really matter

        B) there’s an amnesia about trump from the never trump republicans. My dad is conservative but didn’t vote trump. He thought he was an asshole. Now my dad talks about how Biden is crooked, and the only reason people hate trump is because, and his words, “orange man bad”.

        C) puritanical leftists have valid reasons to not like Biden, but they are willing to blow up the system as they always have. I say puritanical because I know there are pragmatic leftists who exercise restraint in their actions.

        In 2020, the suburban vote was a critical win for Biden. I’m hoping for the best, but I’m starting to sit with the fact that Trump has a decent, if not likely, chance of winning in 2020.

        • Wahots@pawb.social
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          5 months ago

          C) is the one that is gonna be the razor’s edge on this stuff. Reasonable people will vote for Biden, but it’s the people that don’t feel like voting will matter or people who are dying on the hill of a single issue who are potentially going to fuck us and the entire rest of the world by not voting.

          I plan on voting for Biden because it’s the right thing to do for all Americans and our allies, and I really don’t want to be a tailgunner if Trump breaks up NATO and all the men get drafted for a world war to save Europe or Asia-Pacific again. Preventing assholes domestically and abroad from destroying peaceful countries would be nice.

        • disguy_ovahea@lemmy.world
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          5 months ago

          The Electoral College has nothing to do with congressional elections.

          The rest of your points can be addressed by providing information to those who are misinformed or disenfranchised. Abstaining may not be a vote for Trump, but it’s a refusal to stand in his way.

          • meep_launcher@lemm.ee
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            5 months ago

            Right they’re talking about Congress. There’s still issues with districting though.

            • disguy_ovahea@lemmy.world
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              5 months ago

              You vote for your Senators and House Representatives directly. The Electoral College has nothing to do with that.

              Each state has two Senate seats, voted on statewide. Districting does not affect that vote.

              Districting issues may make some votes less likely to make a difference in the House vote in specific districts in Republican states. That’s all the more reason to get as many Democrats to vote as possible.

              The average Democratic voting representation for congressional elections is less than 50%. We constantly complain about the repercussions of our own inaction.

    • deweydecibel@lemmy.world
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      5 months ago

      He can’t do that.

      People keep saying the things Biden have been doing are weak, half measures, but they have no idea what he’s actually capable of doing without Congress.

      He literally tried to wipe away a significant amount of student debt. He tried to fulfill that promise without Congress. The Supreme Court stopped it.

      • greenskye@lemm.ee
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        5 months ago

        Honestly I think the entirety of the last 10 years of complete government failure should be tied back to the almost totally non-functional legislature.

        The president can’t pass laws. The supreme court would matter far less, if we weren’t trying to creatively reinterpret ancient laws and applying them to technology and culture that didn’t even exist at the time they were written. Instead of updating and clarifying any of those laws, the supreme court has been allowed to effectively make policy by continually shifting interpretations of a static and obsolete set of laws that Congress should have updated 20 years ago. Several times courts have effectively changed policy by saying ‘the law doesn’t mean that, go write an actual law for that, don’t just make shit up’ and then Congress just doesn’t react at all.

        If you look back at history, constitutional amendments were relatively regular up until recently. Can anyone imagine our current government passing an amendment for anything at all? Even the most minor tweak would be impossible in this Congress. Several of our major ‘wins’ were mere court cases and like we found out with abortion, what the court gives, the court can take away. Anything about our current day to day life that exists solely based on a court ruling we should be fighting to codify into law, but we all seem to recognize how futile that task is.