One side aligns with my views 70% of the time. The other actively wants me and everyone like me to die. I refuse to acknowledge the differences between them. I’ll actually deploy this lack of understanding as a weapon to depress voter turnout and make sure the second group gets to wield power!

You're right.

I should give Democrats credit for all the times they held power and still didn't do jack shit about the VRA except wring their hands and pretend to be powerless to stop the judicial repeal of it. (2006, 2013, 2021, etc. etc. etc.)

After all. Actually doing stuff requires effort, and it's unreasonable of me to expect the opposition party to actually oppose things.

Malcolm X said:

I must confess that over the past few years I have been gravely disappointed with the white moderate. I have almost reached the regrettable conclusion that the Negro’s great stumbling block in his stride toward freedom is not the White Citizen’s Counciler or the Ku Klux Klanner, but the white moderate, who is more devoted to “order” than to justice; who prefers a negative peace which is the absence of tension to a positive peace which is the presence of justice; who constantly says: “I agree with you in the goal you seek, but I cannot agree with your methods of direct action”; who paternalistically believes he can set the timetable for another man’s freedom; who lives by a mythical concept of time and who constantly advises the Negro to wait for a “more convenient season.”

MLK said similar things. The longer I live, the more I feel this sentiment. The genocide in Gaza cemented this. Never, ever, mistake a liberal for an ally.

Here’s an outside perspective: Regardless of who is in the White House, the U.S. forces other countries under its thumb - using the tools of predatory capitalism, which is represented by the political parties in the U.S. no matter who's in office. For the rest of the world, the only difference is whether this happens openly, as it does now, or is nicely disguised, as was the case with an eloquent president like Obama.

So there is just as little of an alternative for the world as there is for US citizens. Of course, we would like to see someone in power in the US with whom one can at least somewhat reason, but in essence it makes hardly any difference.

This is the reality for the world and also for US citizens.

Naturally, in this system, the logical response is to vote for the Democrats because they are the lesser evil.

However, that does not solve the fundamental problem for anyone. The problem lies in the fact that the US is by no means a democracy, as it is portrayed through Hollywood and all that.

The US is an oligarchic system very similar to today’s Russia. These are simply facts.

Posts like this don’t change the facts: If US citizens want a life worth living, there is simply no way around overthrowing the existing system.

It’s that simple, because even the U.S. Constitution, which was drafted with slave-holding states in mind, stands in the way of democracy.

What I’m saying here is simply reinforced by the fact that in the richest country in the world, there are no social benefits whatsoever, as are more than common in all democracies.

Edit: Since this comment is once again being downvoted simply for stating the facts. The answer is not violence, but mass civil disobedience by U.S. citizens. Together, they would have the power to put a stop to their billionaire rulers. Tomorrow, there is even a symbolic one-day general strike planned - but unfortunately, that is not enough: there must be a general strike by the citizens that lasts until the oligarchy is overcome. This is not utopian, but feasible, if only enough people understand that the U.S. system logically leads only further and further toward what it is constitutionally designed to do.

One is a good cop, the other is a bad cop. But the good cop enables the bad cop. So both are still pigs.

Definitely kicked the hornets nest with this one OP lol

There's entirely too many people who let perfect be the enemy of better in this thread

Average lemming when 6 conservative Catholics appointed by Republicans gut voting rights: I can’t believe the leftists did this!

I can't tell whether bots/foreign agents are starting to substantially infiltrate Lemmy or if there's just that many dumbass "both sides" dipshits on this platform.

My standpoint is this: I feel betrayed by the betrayals, I'm frustrated by the things Democrats didn't do when they were in power. I accept as an unfortunate reality, at least some 1-15% of the Democratic party (can absolutely be more!) is corrupt and cares only about the NASDAQ, themselves, or Israel and ethnostates. That bloc will vote hard against anything pro-American like healthcare, defunding ICE, or defunding Israel. They might even pretend to support those things at times when no vote will pass.

There's also more than a few timid, ineffective Democrats that are only voting for obvious wins, and won't vote against any appointments because they don't want attention on themselves.

A lot of that, ultimately, doesn't matter. That type of opportunistic traitor, or coward, doesn't get much of a mechanism in a supermajority, where their choice to stand against Democrats doesn't even buy them anything; when over 50 seats in the Senate are NOT bought out by corporate interests.

By all fucking means, pick out the betrayals, watch people's individual voting records, vote in primaries, and raise a stern eyebrow anytime a voter tells you they "vote blue, no matter who". But don't pretend you can't look past nuance. We're dealing with a mammoth (R)ogue political party, which is the unfortunate reality, and even cutthroats could decide they benefit from taking credit in its destruction.

I think if you would understand that Democrats chose to keep funding Israel and Ice instead of getting more votes, you would understand why this meme doesn't mean jack shit for the undecisive voters.

Unless of course, you want to say that it wasn't worth it in terms of voter count for Democrats.

JFC the amount of people in this thread who want a more palatable tyrant to be the next president, is concerning.

Good thing most of these never leave their parents’ basements though.

Thank God the Democrats sacrificed their majority to keep the filibuster

Maybe Dems should try standing for something more than the status quo.

The elephant in the room is that they're mostly bots or bad actors. They're written almost exactly the same and in the same format. When you call them on it, you are downvoted almost instantly and buried. We usually don't qualify to get the really good ones in here, but that's a good thing imo.

Ml and hexbear have entered chat

https://truthout.org/articles/42-house-democrats-join-gop-in-passing-warrantless-mass-surveillance-bill/

Slaps roof of big tent

"This baby can fit so much resentment."

Saying both sides are evil is not saying I can't see a difference. Also it's a lot closer to even then it appears. The dems are better at hiding thier evil. The GOP is flaunting it.

I mean if one guy murders 7 people and the other murders 70, sure there's a difference, you're right.

I like how we all keep posting memes and jerking eachother off instead of burning down Babylon.

Don't worry folks, fascism will just blow over soon, lol.

Real talk, if anyone genuinely believes this meme, they're a fool. The parties in the US, and anywhere else, for that matter, are substantially different from one another.

Namely, Democrats only support Genocides in the middle east MOST of the time, whereas Republicans support it ALL OF THE TIME.

Uh.... I was offline. What happened?

As someone from outside the US, the problem is your side A is still more B than most countries side B by a pretty large margin (Though one that is concerningly shrinking). But we have seen proof that you can vote in a different side B at a local level and that's probably the only non-violent way out of this assuming you (and by extension the rest of us) aren't fucked already.

me when it's been over a year since i didn't vote for a genocidal warmonger and people are still mad about that:

Where did this happen, and why?

It's just a little genocide. It's not up to them to stop platforming it, stop asking. It's up to you to learn to swallow it.

there's literally no difference between them

Who is saying this?

Usually I'd put some electoral reform videos in a thread like this, but that time has long since passed us by.

Enjoy your 1%er divide and conquer propaganda.

This is only limited inside america, for those outside america both parties are exact same and democrats may be worse because they pretend to be good but trump is too blunt about his actions and is actually exposing to laymans what america really is.

Also anyone voting for democrats should be ashamed. Vote for a thrid party or dont vote at all. Liberalism is a disease

TyPiCaL shItLiB lOgIc

The corruption makes staying in power necessary.

Coworkers

The only time I apply virtue ethics is when someone is a virtue ethicist (I hate them).

the arm wasn't holding the knife that stabbed me it was the hand.

Nevermind about the person why are you even talking about that you conspiracy theorist.

Wouldn't it be great if the republicans lost the house and the senate?

So I really hope the DNC shifts away from genocidal Israel and centrist civility politics and adopts more popular progressive and left-wing platforms. Come on DNC! We need big tent for a big win!

Both sideism is the easiest way to do political commentary.

Also I push Democratic socialist of America when that happens

Claiming both are the same, this is impressive and sad. It indicates a serious misunderstanding of history since Reagan's tax changes amongst other policy changes. It shows people don't remember Citizens United. It means people don't remember the massive economic change the Ford vs Dodge decision had in the earlier 1900s.

We live in a world where it's easier to hold on to a belief than to challenge it. The amazing breadth of information we have access to can be frightening, but it shouldn't prevent you from researching and attempting to disprove your ideas.

I don't see the value of the "both sides" argument. I think vote blue no matter who may have the value of shifting the overton window. But the reality is many of the people on the far left are just non voters making post hoc rationalizations. So I don't really care about their opinion.

It's actually really simple. The coalition required to reform the government includes the right and republicans. They actually vote. Really we should be looking at the tactics used to convert people from the progressive era.

In this way you avoid counterfactual arguments and actually have a path to follow. As opposed to feeling like you have some magical solution if only you were president.

"Why don't everyone support 7 genocides?"

Just believe, and Jill Stein will magically become POTUS. /s

You liberals just don't get it, do you?

1. 7 is still too high a number. Anything other than 0 is completely unacceptable.

2. When it comes to measuring the fuckery of the Democrats vs the Republicans, the number is HARDLY 7 vs..... uhh..... I'm not counting Side B's total. No, in fact Trump won the popular vote this time BECAUSE Genocide Joe was worse than Trump and his stand-in did nothing to suggest a change in policy. His genocidal and bloodthirsty policy. No amount of "B-b-b-b-b-b-b-but Trump!" can deflect from his unconditional support of Israel and how he instigated the conflict in Ukraine when Biden is in fact worse. Also Bush and Cheney were worse war criminals than Trump and..... y'all love them nowadays. In fact, you were all HAPPY to parade around Cheney's endorsement of Biden's stand-in! Gee whillikers, how ever did you alienate the anti-war crime crowd?

3. The Democrats tried (and succeeded) in getting third party candidates removed from ballots in 2024. Not the Republicans, the Democrats. Is THIS the democracy you all said Trump would take away from us?!

4. The Republicans never would have gotten this far without help from the Democrats in suppressing the actual left. Liberals and the Democrats whine so much about Trump now, but riddle me this: why did the Democrats fight Bernie harder than they ever fought Trump? And keep in mind Bernie just wants regulated capitalism while the left wants to abolish capitalism entirely. He was very much our compromise candidate.