But America brings so much to the table! There’s all the goods manufactured in America, there is all the creativity coming out of the American TV and movie industries, there is all the scientific research and knowledge that is totally not leaving. What about innovative software (licenses) and enshitified streaming services. America is on the cutting edge of defense and it’s partners totally trust that America would never yank away support for those weapons at the whim of a mad king or anything.

Most importantly, how will the world ever get by without the American financial system that contributes nothing to the world and demands all the wealth in return? I think the world will find America hard to shake.

(Massive /s, just in case it’s not obvious.)

Fair, but parliamentary systems are a little bit different.

Really nothing. It has to do with fascism. Neoliberalism is losing to it all around the globe. Only Brazil and Mexico are bucking the trend, and they elected leftists.

Let’s just put our heads in the sand and pretend that Democrats didn’t lose the entire fucking country. They did everything right, it’s just dumb luck.

It’s not even just the federal government. Not only did Obama lose the House and the Senate, he also lost the Democrats over a thousand statewide seats. At some point there has to be a come to Jesus moment. If things haven’t gotten bad enough now, what will it take?

Not just Obama, but he is a perfect example of the kinds of Democrats that made fascism inevitable.

I don’t give a shit about Obama being black. We elected a black president so apparently we were ready for it, and that’s great. I blame Obama for selling us out to Wall Street on multiple occasions. I blame him for perfecting Clinton’s triangulation politics that replaces substance with flowery rhetoric. I blame Obama for redirecting funds traditionally used for congressional races to his own campaign chests, then blaming the Republican Congress when he couldn’t get anything done. Should I go on?

So, you don’t have any examples then. Got it.

Americans have had 50 years of “progress” where all the great things Democrats say they do don’t seem to help. Technocratic improvements and even material improvements don’t even register with people anymore. Voters (regardless of what they might say) want transformative change. Forgiving some student loans is good, but free college is transformative.

Republicans offer transformative change. In the absence of anything on offer from the Democrats, the culture moves right. 50 years later and here we are.

Plenty of parties start with a few percent and then grow.

In a FPTP election system? OK, let’s hear it. What are some parties that grew to power under FPTP elections.

I think the last one was probably Bill Clinton?

LOL, wut? Bill Clinton said “The era of big government is over.” then proceeded with the largest dismantling of the federal welfare state until maybe now.

What does the left have to do with it?

Meh. We’ll see what happens when it threatens their office. A lot of them have already started changing their rhetoric.

This time the Democrats have an actual flesh and blood candidate who actually stands for something. If he wins, will that alter your perspective at all?

American voters suck, just like they have always sucked, just like voters suck everyplace else. That’s the field in which the game is played.

Being the lesser of two evils is not a good strategy. The greater evil gets all the attention and therefore enthusiasm. Good vs evil is a whole different dynamic.

Now it’s time for the “vote blue no matter who” crowd to put up or shut up. So far, party loyalty doesn’t seem very important to a lot of the establishment.

So was Obama, who led us directly to Trump. At some point, Democrats have to actually stand for something more than mere competence and being the lesser evil.

Voters vote in primaries too you know. Biden beat Bernie almost entirely on a myth that he was the most electable. That shit has to go, and Rachel Maddow and Chris Cuomo aren’t going to do that for us.

Also, her interview answer about not doing anything different from the Biden administration was political malpractice of the first order.

If “best” means technically proficient, then sure. He does the politician thing better than any other establishment Democrats I can think of. If “best” means good for the country, then I have some notes. Obama was the same kind of character, and Trump was the result. I’m not sure I want to go down the highly charismatic Wall Street bitch route again.

Why not really? Nobody would have blinked at the results if he lost the primary. If he loses the general, especially to someone he beat in the primary, there will be a lot more attention. This is especially true with a candidate who’s popularity seems to leap forward every time a poll is done.

Thus my note about “social media and AI mass surveillance”. What makes insurgency so effective is the enemy of the occupier could be anyone.