"Progressives should not make the same mistake that Ernst Thälmann made in 1932. The leader of the German Communist Party, Thälmann saw mainstream liberals as his enemies, and so the center and left never joined forces against the Nazis. Thälmann famously said that ‘some Nazi trees must not be allowed to overshadow a forest’ of social democrats, whom he sneeringly called ‘social fascists.’

After Adolf Hitler gained power in 1933, Thälmann was arrested. He was shot on Hitler’s orders in Buchenwald concentration camp in 1944."

    • EmpireInDecay@lemmy.ml
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      4 months ago

      Your solution to defeating the duopoly is continuing giving them power and participating in it?

      • Cryophilia@lemmy.world
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        4 months ago

        It’s not a way to defeat the duopoly, it’s a way to survive under it.

        Voting 3rd party is also not a way to defeat the duopoly.

      • chakan2@lemmy.world
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        4 months ago

        Would you like your vote to matter after November?

        Then yes, I’m pushing the duopoly this time around.

        • Cowbee [he/they]@lemmy.ml
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          4 months ago

          So if they can’t vote for their views now, and we keep pushing the duopoly, when do we get democracy?

          • Dagwood222@lemm.ee
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            4 months ago

            When you start doing things that actually work.

            Look up the Moral Majority and Jerry Falwell. They would show up at every local GOP organizing event with enough voters to make sure their candidates for jobs like mayor, sheriff, and county clerk got the nod.

              • Cryophilia@lemmy.world
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                4 months ago

                That’s a neat way to say “being too lazy to actually make a difference, but I don’t want to feel bad about it”.

                  • Dagwood222@lemm.ee
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                    4 months ago

                    That’s a neat way to say “being too lazy to actually make a difference, but I don’t want to feel bad about it”.

                    Cryophilia said it better than I could, so I’ll repeat their comment.

                    I’ll just add that if you aren’t interested in passing laws you should vote for Harris if only to annoy the Right.

          • EmpireInDecay@lemmy.ml
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            4 months ago

            That’s the thing, they never do. They have been pushing the lesser evil splitting the vote bullshit for over 150 years. The only people that benefits is the wealthy

            • explodicle@sh.itjust.works
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              4 months ago

              Were the party system changes before then more due to

              • a major party crushing the other major party, and then splitting, or

              • a minor party growing and eventually replacing one of the two major parties?

              Bonus points if anyone has a source on this.

        • EmpireInDecay@lemmy.ml
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          4 months ago

          It’s not like your vote matters now. Money has all the power in this country, voters have none. When 1 billionaire has more political influence than entire states you have no power. You’ve surrendered your power to the donor class.

            • EmpireInDecay@lemmy.ml
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              4 months ago

              This is the epitome of why Democrats hate Trump. He says the quiet things out loud. He has said ‘I dont care about you. I just want your vote.’

              This article confirms this, the Princeton study from 2012 confirms this. Several sources have confirmed politicians don’t care about us, only the monied class

          • chakan2@lemmy.world
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            4 months ago

            Who do you think has a better chance of fixing that? Putin’s orange Fleshlight? The chick he had dinner with? Brainworm? Some other rando that gets less than 1% of the vote?

            I hear you…it’s a problem…

            Throwing your vote away this cycle ensures that your vote will never matter again.

            • EmpireInDecay@lemmy.ml
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              4 months ago

              The vote thrown away is the vote that’s cast out of fear. The dnc’s entire platform for the last few decades has been. We are not the other guy. You were casting a vote in opposition to the other guy, not in favor of policy or legislation, but not the other guy, that’s a protest vote

              • chakan2@lemmy.world
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                4 months ago

                No…I’m voting for policy this time around. If I get the state exception for state taxes I get a point and a half back.

                Trump’s tariffs should fucking terrify everyone…think shit is expensive now, wait until that goes through.

                What’s the 3rd parties offering that has a remote chance of dealing with either of those problems?

                  • chakan2@lemmy.world
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                    4 months ago

                    Throw your vote away…wipe Palestine off the map…increase prices by 20% across the board…make sure women’s healthcare is never again a choice in this nation.

                    I hope your high horse can carry you over the flaming wreck that’ll be the USA when your boy or girl doesn’t get 1% but manages to swing the vote in those battleground states.

      • Dagwood222@lemm.ee
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        4 months ago

        Give me a reasonable alternative and I’ll take it.

        You don’t name a candidate to vote for, just say we shouldn’t participate.

        Who do you think scares Donnie more, Harris or your non-participation?

    • Cowbee [he/they]@lemmy.ml
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      4 months ago

      If anything, letting Democrats win the next few major elections could spell doom for the Republican party as a whole, and give us a chance to introduce some actual competition to the Democratic party.

      This will never happen. The replacement party will be fascist. The Republican Party’s fascism doesn’t exist because of “brainwashing” or “conmen,” it exists because fascism rises from decaying Capitalism. If you don’t get rid of the Capitalism, the conditions for fascism remain.

      That means we need to abolish the electoral college, introduce universal mail-in voting, defeat all right-wing disenfranchisement efforts, and introduce ranked-choice voting to all elections. These are radical changes that will take a lot of work to accomplish, and that will face a lot of opposition.

      Under Democrat leadership, these things are possible. Under Republican leadership, we’ll be lucky if we still have elections.

      The Democrats will never work against their donors. This will never happen.

        • Maeve@kbin.earth
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          4 months ago

          That part. They know where we’re going, the only difference as far as I can see is some prefer it slower, to keep from spooking the populace, and others are willing to slaughter any part of the populace that resist.

          One day, the lambs will stop screaming.