Political Discussion and Commentary

What might be a catchy hit to inspire the hearts and reinforce the identity of its majority following?

After the latest failure of the Democratic party I have no confidence that they'll turn it around any time soon. We need a party with some actual policy recommendations that people can get behind. Simple solutions that the average voter can understand.. Here's my suggestions, and I'd love to know your opinions on what would be good here.

1. Tax the rich

   The top marginal tax rate during the golden age of american prosperity was 60-90%. It's currently 37%

   Fix the loopholes billionares and corporations are using to hide their money and gain those taxes back

   Given all the shenanigans the rich can do to hide their money, capital gains and alternative minimum taxes also need to increase

2. Strengthen regulations on corporations

   It's time to bring back trust busting, our anti-trust regulations have gotten too lax and corporations are doing whatever they want.

   Protect unionization attempts. We have some strong union protections that are completely being ignored and companies need to be held accountable for closing branches that attempt to unionize.

   Take stronger stances to prevent regulatory capture of vital protective agencies

   Too big to fail means too big to exist. Corporate bailouts should come with buying out a stake in the company or controlling it outright.

3. Housing and Cost of Living

   Everyday essentials are outpacing our income. Housing costs have skyrocketed to be unattainable for just about anyone. Corporate interests and investment groups should not be gobbling up our single family housing supply just to sit on them as assets and bleed people by continually raising the rent. Add an exception to this for new development especially for multitenant buildings to encourage the continued growth of the housing supply.

4. Get money out of politics

   Ban government insider trading. Members of Congress should not be able to trade individual stocks. Broad market funds are fine but no more directly profiting off of legislative actions.

   Reverse Citizens United. Corporate bribery needs to be limited

5. Simplify the Tax Code

   Other countries are way ahead of us here, they do the math and send the check. No need to keep things complicated just to keep the accountants busy and TurboTax happy.

6. Legalize Marijuana

   For a single issue party this is a little outside the scope, but it's a broadly popular position that would also increase tax revenue and decrease expense of prosecuting such a minor crime

Things not to focus on:

Ignore the culture war stuff. It's the billionaire's way of scaring moderates and dividing leftists. Trans athletes are what, like a dozen people at most. I'm sorry for the people this directly affects but it's better to not move forward than to keep moving backwards. Ideally we take a libertarian stance of keeping the government from meddling in people's personal lives.

Global policy. Look we need to maintain our alliances and trade agreements, but it's time for america to look inward and fix itself before it starts playing world police again.

Environment. This one is difficult, but it just wasn't a key factor in recent elections. As with global policy we should continue what we can (ie the Paris Climate accord) but let other countries lead the way on solutions and technology for this and come in and benefit when we can.

Forming a new party is difficult and incredibly costly. It would take the hard work of thousands of people across the country, and odds are it will just steal some democratic votes and amount to nothing. So this is all merely hypothetical, but I wanted to get people's thoughts on it

If Dems want any chance of winning in 2026 (midterms), assuming we still have an election, there is only one path forward, and that is things that matter to Americans.

Economic issues that Sanders was successfully campaigning on in 2016 when he was thwarted in the primary. It's not important to fight over what happened that year, but his platform is 100% the way forward to progress.

As always, disclaimer that I'm not a US citizen.

You usually see quite a few people mentioning leaving the country if Trump would get elected, but how realistic are those plans?

Not to say it's not justified with the prospect of Project 2025 (see the other thread), but seems like a huge life change that is probably not possible for most of the people.

Non-American here, heard about Project 2025 a few weeks ago.

For people unaware:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_2025#Policies

What is the likelihood of those policies to happen?

Saw the results of the American elections today. I'm not American, but was following them very closely due to the impact they have on the world. The results went in a way that would make up my worst nightmares.

I was incredibly depressed and angry. I think almost everyone here shares the same sentiment. The next four years are very likely going to incredibly dark for everyone. Entire countries will likely fall to imperialist neighbors. Climate change will worsen. Zooming in to the US, disabled and queer folk will have an incredibly hard time now. More women will die due to abortion inaccessibility. It is very likely that people with preexisting conditions lose their insurance, thus increasing overall suffering and deaths. As I said, a very dark four years lie ahead for the world and Americans, both. Therefore, being depressed right now is absolutely valid.

I think there's a lesson that I learnt here. I spent a lot of time and energy on something that simply wasn't in my control. I am neither American, nor do I own news channels to broadcast propaganda suitable for my hoped outcome. Instead, I could've spent my time on other things, that are in my control, and would make the world a better place. Maybe adopting this mindset could help us?

Listen, I'm not saying that we should just all disconnect from politics. Not at all. All that I'm saying is that we probably should focus more on things in our control now. When elections come, vote. If the government is doing something stupid, go out and protest. Work on your little side project. Work on whatever it is you want to work on. Just try not to doomscroll social media. Doing that would just make you feel depressed and not end up helping anyone.

Therefore, here is what I've planned on doing now. Maybe you guys could find it useful, or maybe not.

• Only participate in politics that is in my control.
• Focus solely on my projects.
• Block all social media posts that talk about depressing/angering topics that I have no control over. I only use YouTube and Lemmy, so doing this is easy for me. On Lemmy, I have put keywords like, "Trump", "Harris", "Elon" and so on in my post filter. I also unsubscribed from all political channels that talk about politics that I have no control over.

As for the Americans who are going to suffer due to a Trump presidency, I am sorry that there are so many stupid people in your country. I'm sure you tried your best. Millions of American showed up to vote against Trump. So many participated in canvassing and so on. So many working class folk donated money to the Harris campaign. Money, that they could've spent on other necessities. You don't deserve this outcome.

However, the election is over. Trump has won. Doomscrolling social media is not going to help anyone. It's a bad outcome, but it is very likely not the end of the world. I don't think it needs to be said, but still- there's a lot more to life than politics. Just because a person that you wanted to win didn't win, it doesn't mean that you can't make the world a better place yourself. Grieve today and wake up tomorrow to focus on a project that you have control over.

AND PLEASE DON'T DOOMSCROLL.

If you can, turn off your phone or computer and go vote!!! If you already voted, tell someone else to vote!!!

Less than 10 hours from now will decide if the US veers toward democracy or fascism.

cross-posted from: https://feddit.org/post/4205494

State and federal authorities are investigating a deliberately set fire that destroyed ballots inside a drop box in southwest Washington on Monday morning.

In every swing state, Trump has either closed the gap if he was behind, or broadened the lead if he was ahead.

I'm not saying it's over, or that there can't be surprises, but it looks like the Democrats have failed to run a campaign that the American public found compelling.

Saying the public is stupid or racist or whatever doesn't cover it. The bottom line is the Democrats haven't put forth a plan or made a case that they can deal quickly with the problems in America.

They have made announcements about student loan plans and forgiveness that were blocked, making them look unorganized and ineffective. They lost abortion rights. They never make progress on healthcare or taxes on the wealthy.

I want to win. I think we should fight surer battles, and avoid battles that will lose. Blaming Republicans for stopping us just makes them seem stronger than us. Let's stop making excuses and go on the offensive. No more, "Well don't vote for HIM, he's so dumb!"

It's hasn't worked.

cross-posted from: https://lemm.ee/post/44904749

I heard about this in the UK elections recently, and someone recommended it to me recently for the US elections, because I said I empathize with the people who are voting against Kamala because of the genocide, despite being a Kamala supporter myself (you've probably seen me around arguing as such lol).

Basically, it's a system where people in safe states, like me, agree to trade votes with someone in a swing state. So the safe state person would vote with the heart of the person in the swing state, so they can kind of vote their heart and mind at the same time.

Is this a thing we could set up? Would it be legal to make a community for that, or would it rub against laws about affecting votes or something? There was even a whole site for the UK, but not sure if it would work in the US.

Stories that talk about all the bad things Trump has done are only seen by the left. This makes the left hate Trump and his supporters more, while the right feels increasingly "oppressed" by this hate. They run to their savior Trump and the viscous cycle continues. More media presence for him only adds to his influence, negative press possibly moreso than positive.

People on the left should ignore Trump and talk about real issues. It is the only way to defeat a sith.

What should we do after Harris/Walz is elected? I was wondering if you had some ideas. Here are mine:

• Mass strikes in the workplace, demands being taxes for the rich and higher wages
• Mass strikes in the military, demands being to end support for Israel, take away excessive military bases, shut down Gitmo, drastically reduce the budget, &c
• Get as many people off the internet as possible
• Get people arms and arms training so they can defend themselves without police, and heavily reduce police funding
• Refuse to pay any landlords, lead attacks on real estate offices

Maybe some stuff would be extreme, but I ask you please to separate the wheat from the chaff, along with adding your own material. I may not be that smart, but at least I'm preparing.

(If you want to remember to vote, set yourself a timer like everyone else with memory issues. It should go ding on the day you get your ballot!)

I also feel kinda hazy

I'm not saying that freedom of speech IS a bad idea, or that the government should simply censor ideas that are harmful, but the idea to just silence people for misinformation seems to be gaining traction.

To be clear: I am NOT pointing fingers and accusing any political party (including the D-Party) of being censorious, or accusing censorship and its proponents as malicious, nor saying there is a conspiracy out to promote censorship. It simply seems that, due to a surge in right-wing terror attacks and the Capitol riots, people have become more accepting of censorship, from Popper's "intolerance of tolerance" to laws against homophobia and conspiracy theories, in search of a comfortable, safe state of society.

I also want to ask how censorship would be enforced. How would riots be dealt with? How would the police be handled? How would jails be prevented from overloading?

Also, this question is not directed at Anarchists. Some leftists don't like censorship, and others do, and I want to ask those that do.

If this question is stupid, tell me why. I may end up seeing myself that this question is stupid, and if so, I'll tell you.

You never know if you might come down with the flu or have a family emergency on Nov5. Don't take the chance if you can avoid it and vote in person early!

I think most people would lean towards AOC since there seems to be lack of competition in the area of charisma and not-being-old categories.

Who do you think could be the next "Bernie Sanders" that could possibly run for president in 2028/2032? A lot can happen over the next 4 years, so 2028 there could still be a chance for a progressive president.

Men aged 35-64 are Trump's leading demographic. Republicans control nearly 100% of talk radio.

Here are the Senate races this year:

https://www.270towin.com/2024-senate-election/

"There are 34 seats up in 2024 - including a special election in Nebraska - of which 23 are held by Democrats or Independents."

AZ - Kyrsten Sinema - I - Not Running
Ruben Gallego - D - Seems likely to win. Lake is nuts.
Kari Lake - R

This wouldn't flip the seat as Sinema caucuses with the Democrats.

FL - Rick Scott - R
Debbie Mucarsel-Powell - D.
Rick Scott - Safe R.

Former RNC head Michael Steele says this is one to watch, Scott may be on the chopping block. Polling doesn't show that and with Trump having home state advantage, I don't see a split ticket there.

MD - Ben Cardin - D - Not Running
Angela Alsobrooks - Safe D.
Larry Hogan - R

MI - Debbie Stabenow - D - Not Running
Elissa Slotkin - Safe D.
Mike Rogers - R

MT - Jon Tester - D
Jon Tester - D
Tim Sheehy - R - Ahead in polling.

Likely flip D to R, despite the fact that Tester is well liked in MT. Polling is giving Sheehy the edge.

NV - Jacky Rosen - D
Jacky Rosen - Safe D.
Sam Brown - R

OH - Sherrod Brown - D
Sherrod Brown - D.
Bernie Moreno - R

Tossup. Brown leads in 4/5 polls, but it's a margin of error lead. Moreno is up in the most recent polling.

PA - Bob Casey - D
Bob Casey - Safe D.
David McCormick - R

TX - Ted Cruz - R
Colin Allred - D
Ted Cruz - Safe R.

Allred is up in only one poll, if the Cancun thing didn't sink Cruz, nothing will. Texas is gonna Texas.

WI - Tammy Baldwin - D
Tammy Baldwin - Safe D.
Eric Hovde - R

WV - Joe Manchin - I - Not Running
Glenn Elliott - D
Jim Justice - Safe R.

The following races are rated as safe for the incumbent party.

CA - Laphonza Butler - D - Not Running
Adam Schiff - Safe D.
Steve Garvey - R.

CT - Chris Murphy - D
Chris Murphy - Safe D.
Matt Corey - R.

DE - Tom Carper - D - Not Running
Lisa Blunt Rochester - Safe D.
Eric Hansen - R.

HI Mazie Hirono - D
Mazie Hirono - Safest D that ever D'd.
Bob McDermott - R

IN - Mike Braun - R - Running for Gov.
Valerie McCray - D.
Jim Banks - Safe R.

MA - Elizabeth Warren - D
Elizabeth Warren - Safe D.
John Deaton - R.

ME - Angus King - I
David Costello - D.
Demi Kouzounas - R.
Angus King - Safe I, Caucuses with D's.

MN - Amy Klobuchar - D
Amy Klobuchar - Safe D.
Royce White - R.

MO - Josh Hawley - R
Lucas Kunce - D.
Josh Hawley - Safe R.

MS - Roger Wicker - R
Ty Pinkins - D
Roger Wicker - Safe R.

ND - Kevin Cramer - R
Katrina Christiansen - D.
Kevin Cramer - Safe R.

NE - Deb Fischer - R
Deb Fischer - Safe R.
Dan Osborn - I

Osborn is getting closer in the polls, but I don't see a steady red state going I.

NE - Pete Ricketts - R
Preston Love - D.
Pete Ricketts - Safe R.

NJ - George Helmy - D - Not Running, replaced Menendez.
Andy Kim - Safe D.
Curtis Bashaw - R.

NM - Martin Heinrich - D
Martin Heinrich - Safe D.
Nella Domenici - R.

NY - Kirsten Gillibrand - D
Kirsten Gillibrand - Safe D.
Mike Sapraicone - R.

RI - Sheldon Whitehouse - D
Sheldon Whitehouse - Safe D.
Patricia Morgan - R.

TN - Marsha Blackburn - R
Gloria Johnson - D.
Marsha Blackburn - Safe R.

UT - Mitt Romney - R - Not Running
Caroline Gleich - D.
John Curtis - Safe R.

VA - Tim Kaine - D
Tim Kaine - Safe D.
Hung Cao - R.

VT - Bernie Sanders - I
Bernie Sanders - Safe I.
Gerald Malloy - R.

WA - Maria Cantwell - D
Maria Cantwell - Safe D.
Raul Garcia

WY - John Barrasso - R
Scott Morrow - D.
John Barrasso - Safe R.

So...

Ind. -> D +1
D -> R +1
Ind. -> R +1
Tossup - OH

Ohio and Montana are going to be the races to watch. Right now, the Senate is split 50 Republicans, 46 Democrats, 4 Independents Caucusing with Democrats (Sinema, Manchin, King, and Sanders).

As VP, Harris casts the tie breaking vote which gives the Democrats the majority in the Senate, Committee controls, etc. etc. etc.

So if Montana flips. 51 R, 45 D + 4 I = 49. Democrats are out of the majority.

WV flips with Manchin's seat going R. 52 R, 45 D + 3 I = 48.

AZ flips with Sinema's seat going D. 52 R, 46 D + 2 I = 48.

OH being the tossup, could be 53 R vs. 45 D + 2 I = 47. OTOH - Could be 52 R vs. 46 D + 2 I = 48. That would be a hold as that seat is currently D.

However you slice it though, it looks like Democrats will lose the majority in the Senate.

This is probably a bad idea, but I'll give it a whirl.

as well as the presidency