Leftists who don’t like Biden don’t want to see him in office again, so they don’t want to vote for him, or they want to withhold their vote until he changes course. Seems simple enough.
But that’s not how politics works.
So announcing that you’ll vote for him no matter what he does will make him change course? Is that how politics works?
Never, in the history of this country, has there been a president who hasn’t engaged in what the left would regard as unforgivable crimes. This is the nature of presidents, and politicians in general. If you, like me, are on the far left, you should never fully trust or have faith in any elected official.
But when I look at the Biden administration, I see a group of people who can be bullied in a leftist direction on some policy priorities.
Can anyone today truly argue that the world wasn’t drastically changed by Gore’s loss in 2000? Even if you don’t accept the argument that Nader’s candidacy is what lost Gore the election, how can you argue that the world wouldn’t have been at least a little better if all of those Nader votes had gone to Gore and put the Dems over the top?
Democrats have held the presidency 50% of the time since 2000.
Ah yes just what I need. A corporate media entity telling me how I NEED to think. Thank you slate very cool
Perhaps in response to your concerns the headline has now changed to “The Leftist Case for Voting—Yes, Even for Biden”
I find it fascinating how every 4 years major media makes the exact same Leftist case for voting, and it is literally never “Look at all of the wonderful progressive things the Dems have done!” and instead is always “well MAYBE you MIGHT get SOMETHING done with the Dems but you’ll DEFINITELY get NOTHING done with the GOP!”
Interesting that they are completely incapable of making any other case.
It’s also not compromising when one side has to keep making sacrifices for decades and the other side not only won’t concede anything but will shiv you if you try to do something for yourself.
When Biden was elected someone here made a post I cannot find with a timeline about how the Democrats would respond to critiques - something like “2021: It’s too early to criticize him, let’s give him a chance”; “2022: We have to win the midterms before we can criticize Biden”; “2023: The election’s coming up, now is not the time”; etc.
It’s been the same since 2000 and they’ve never changed the script.
the sub header is a trip:
We need to think about this election differently. Just ask Trotsky.
So the article is doing a Vote Blue No Matter Who Blue MAGA move, but also says you should vote for (and bully) your preferred enemy.
The point of electoral politics, as it is lived, is not to vote for a friend; it’s to vote for your preferred enemy. You will never find a morally pure candidate, or one whose positions perfectly align with your own preferences. So you must find one whom you can effectively bully.
That’s what real leftists are doing right now! Trying to bully the Dems/Biden is what has been happening, and this dorks just tell us we are helping Trump.
Deeply Unserious.
it’s to vote for your preferred enemy
Iirc liberals were cool with burning police stations when Trump was in office and were actively opposed to putting children in cages at the border. That disappeared the moment Biden went into the office. Sounds like Trump might be the preferred enemy then
Libs when seeing red liberalism:
That’s fascism like in the USSR, China, North Korea, Cuba and other AES! I will fight against it as my duty as a patriot!
Libs when seeing blue liberalism:
This is fine
and we have saved democracy!
how do you do, fellow leftistsDidn’t Gore lose because the Republicans literally stole ballot boxes in Florida or some shit?
Gore lost because he refused to fight even though he won the election.
Clinton lost because the Democrats refused to abolish the electoral college in the intervening years.
Biden will lose (among many other reasons) because he’s refusing to “defend democracy” or whatever he said his must-pass (didn’t-pass) voting reform bill was supposed to be.
They only care about lecturing people who won’t vote for them, but they won’t do anything for those votes and they won’t do anything with those votes.
The most frustrating thing to me is that it’s not like they can’t do anything. When it comes to, say, orchestrating the primaries candidates to prevent Bernie from winning, they are incredibly efficient and ruthless. They just refuse to do anything about the slide into fascism
brooks brothers riot, yeah
Yup that wad another example of the Republicans successfully employing the “what the fuck are you gonna do about it” method of politics.
It’s all very complicated and not just the exact same as high-school drama bullshit.
I love when these people bring up the Weimar Republic as a reason to vote for their guy. They always leave out that their guy is the stand in for Hindenburg.
classic example of people voting for the “lesser evil” and then the “lesser evil” invited the wolves into his government
“this is why you need to vote for the lesser evil”
Don’t blame me, I voted for Himmler
In any other country, Trump would’ve been thrown in prison and every person who stepped foot inside the capitol would’ve been hanged. In America, Trump gets to play golf for three years while being protected by security paid by taxpayers, and after being convicted he still gets to run as president and the opposition legitimizes his campaign by treating him as a genuine political opponent instead of the rogue fascist threat they claim he is
I dunno, a state using even the tiniest amount of power against the bourgeoisie sounds pretty aUtHoRiTaRiAn
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straight up. Biden is Hindenburg, the verrrry left wing of the dems/squishy DSA types are at best kinda like the SPD, but they have no organization and little power. And Hindenburg was elected mostly by right wingers who hoped he would restore monarchy, plus the nazis themselves before they grew big enough to contend themselves. He presided over the rise of the nazis, repressed the KPD, got re-elected with the support of scared liberals, and then right at the end handed hitler the chancellorship, and within a month the KPD was outlawed and they were rounding up communists. More communists voting for Hindenburg doesn’t solve this problem. And that’s not addressing the earlier history of the SPD crushing left wing uprisings.
If you wanted to be really generous I guess you could claim Biden is Wilhelm Marx. A right wing establishment guy who’s credited with Getting Things Done and holding the country together, but also gives the office of Chancellor executive emergency powers, setting precedent for Hitler to take even more. Maybe a splintered germany wouldn’t have gone fascist. Maybe nationalism is fucking poison.
And in france, we will see how it goes, but that alliance is… an ALLIANCE, with concessions, not a capitulation.
It’s amazing how refusing to endorse Genocide Joe is breaking so many liberal brains.
If you, like me, are on the far left, you should never fully trust or have faith in any elected official.
If you have read ANY theory on electoralism, you will understand why this entire essay is a pile of stupidity. Lenin’s thoughts on electoralism (from my understanding) were that it should be earnestly engaged in to show people the futility of it as a vehicle for meaningful change in a capitalist society.
This is some idiot that thinks voting for Bernie in a primary makes them a raging communist.
If you, like me, are on the far left
[babby’s first electoralism]
jesus fucking christ
I wonder how much of an impact conservatives calling them commies for decades has had on their perception of where they actually are lol
These days when I meet someone and they say they’re a ‘leftist’ without specifying anything else, I just immediately assume they’re a very confused liberal.
TLDR: genocide is a forgivable crime
I saw someone on a defedetated from hexbear instance state ‘biden is a good man’… Not only is genocide forgivable, but you can still be a good person while doing it
Genocide is just a job.
Watch ‘Zone of Interest’ you’ll see the Nazis running the Holocaust factory are just normal people who love their children and spouse.
It’s FINE! He feels sad about it.
Always boils down to “I don’t see Palestinians as human beings, now stop whining”
. . . Biden, who has been tepid (at best) on core left priorities like restraining state violence, defending abortion, enshrining trans rights, and—perhaps most importantly—stopping the carnage in Palestine.
No, no, you see, he hasn’t been doing the genocide, he’s tepidly not stopping the carnage.
Doesn’t matter how emotionally charged the language they do use to describe the genocide is, if someone never calls it a genocide I feel like they quietly support it.
It feels intentional.
If you’re downplaying it, you’re protecting the perpetrators.
Hell yeah I
Never, in the history of this country, has there been a president who hasn’t engaged in what the left would regard as unforgivable crimes.
so you agree that the dissolution of the US would make the US cease to do unforgivable crimes?“Obviously every president in US history is probably unforgivable, but here’s why you should forgive Biden.”
stopping the carnage in Palestine
The only thing I’m going to be stopping, is reading the rest of this article.
Weasel words, can’t even say Genocide can they?
Strongly agree, if you call it a genocide once, I don’t care what synonym for “very very bad violence” you use later, but if you can’t explicitly call it a genocide, you just look like you’re running cover for the IDF and Biden.
Especially in the context of telling people they need to overlook it and vote for the genocidaire-in-chief.
Leon Trotsky himself urged the German Communists to reconsider their foolish pride in 1931. “Should fascism come to power, it will ride over your skulls and spines like a terrific tank,” he declared, accurately. “Your salvation lies in merciless struggle. And only a fighting unity with the Social Democratic workers can bring victory. Make haste, worker-Communists, you have very little time left!”
Ah yes, because Nazis came into power because of communists, and not because social democrats sided with Nazis against communists
The more I read from Trotsky, especially from his post Civil-War period, the more I realize how much leniency he was given by the Bolsheviks.
Leftists have the curse of being Cassandra and helplessly and accurately predicting the future and being unable to change it
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As a leftist, I wholeheartedly believe in revolutionary defeatism. I’m not trying to build the best empire, I am hoping to end imperialism.
If you are okay with imperialism than you are not my ally.
i think this is something liberals genuinely have trouble with. they are so bought in to the idea that the u.s. is necessary that they can’t conceptualize of a position that sincerely advocates for its dissolution (or at least not one that isn’t coming from the mouth of a frothing stereotype they feel comfortable ignoring)
“Just one more dem presidency” is the same as “just one more lane.” Doesn’t come close to solving the core issues.
electoralists love to say stuff like : “we will push Biden left after the election and then don’t push Biden left after the election”
We can push him left after the election <— You are here
No you can’t push him left now, it’s too soon
No you can’t push him left now, we need to worry about midterms
No you can’t push him left now, that will make him look weak
No you can’t push him left now, we’re too close to an election and it will scare off voters
Repeat until everyone is dead
Perfect response
in bad country china you can only vote for the one guy pre-approved by the central party, unlike in amerikkka where we have freedom
