Most definitely.

@zm @BrianJopek @briankrebs
The taxation is often emphasised. The reluctance of the British to issue "exploitation licences" of the Natives to rich white men is rarely mentioned.

The President was given too much "king-like" powers from the start and only well off white men had a vote.
The Civil War was more about control than slaves (see Jim Crow laws). You can be annexed (Hawai'i, Alaska, Mexican territory etc) but you can't leave.

@BrianJopek
Looks like ' the adults' who should meet out 'consequences' are instead indulging the toddler. Supreme Court, federal agencies. All prepared to stand in the way of letting others do the job too.

@yuki2501 @BrianJopek There's Democrats that are culpable as well.

@BrianJopek Yup.

@tecnijota @BrianJopek @briankrebs At this point, it's looking more and more like the solution to Trump will come from outside the established system of governance. It's going to be hard, likely bloody and involve a massive amount of uncertainty, but if it comes to that, we may have the opportunity to rewrite large parts of the system. For the better, I hope...

@BrianJopek USamericans need Europeans to remind them of that. After all, we've been there, done that. A couple of times, spread over centuries. BUT the difference is, their poop king tries to drag down the world for his personal benefit, while Euro fascists always wanted to rule & reign the world & build it as their fav happy place. The USApolititians do not want to stop him, they want him to keep covering up their despicable crimes. NO ONE ELSE is dilapidated enough to cover them like he does.

@jhooper @BrianJopek agreed.

@BrianJopek

by the way, these checks and balances do not just apply to the supreme court and congress

it applies to *you*

FUCKING #VOTE, PEOPLE

the next dem candidate may SUCK. fucking SUCK

(they won't suck IF YOU SHOW UP IN THE FUCKING PRIMARIES, USELESS WHINERS)

as if the dem candidate sucking fucking matters with a fascist threat like trump and MAGA

a vote is not a statement of eternal love

it's tactics in a larger war

fight the war and fuck your mindless cynicism and toxic idealism

@benroyce @BrianJopek@mastodon.world select the least bad, or even the candidate with the least bad consequences.

"You're trying to put someone in power that you have a chance of influencing. I'm going to do everything in my power to make sure you don't succeed, and the worst person possible gets in. I am a more morally upstanding person than you"

-Internet Leftists

@benroyce
I admire your stamina, my pindakaas-loving buddy!
@BrianJopek

@Eetschrijver @BrianJopek

there is nothing virtuous in me. i am powered by spite. i fucking hate nonvoters with a white hot fury. useless fucking cynics and perfectionists, sitting there with their lazy entitled whining and inaction while we slide to fascism

that my spite happens to serve a common good is happy happenstance. in other words, in the greatest statement of moral philosophy made in the entire history of humanity: "helaas pindakaas" 🤭

@benroyce
*applauds and cheers*
@BrianJopek

@BrianJopek
How can he best stopped?

@BrianJopek well put. The Weimar Republic had what many considered the best constitution but the people with power hated it and so it failed which led to the Nazis. It is almost like history, if we studied it, could teach us something

@tek @benroyce @BrianJopek Who ever said that? Name three. This sounds like a straw man argument to me.

Speaking for myself, most people who hate both the GOP Candidate and the DNC Candidate either vote 3rd party or don't vote at all.

What if they're both tyrants?

CC: @benroyce@mastodon.social @BrianJopek@mastodon.world

@cy @BrianJopek @tek

both tyrants as in reality

or "both tyrants" as in edgelord mindlessly cynical bullshit, often pumped from MAGA/ geopolitical trollfarm accounts cosplaying left to do an easy psyop to suppress the left vote and help elect the real tyrant, and unfortunately believed by toxic idealism morons

@tek @benroyce @BrianJopek In 2024, 90M eligible voters didn't vote. #2 in the race was Trump with 78M, and #3 was Harris with 75M.

Is your idea that the election was decided by people really thought to themselves, "I'm a huge lefty and I hate both Trump *and *Harris so I'll vote Trump"? That would have to swing over 3M voters. That voting rationale is largely insane and would only appeal to voters with brain damage. Could that rationale really attract 3M voters?

If I was DNC analyst, I'd focus on tweaking policies and candidates to motivate the 90M ass-sitters and not cry over 3M huge lefties with brain damage (if they even exist).

Full disclosure: I'm a huge lefty and I voted for Harris - and not a 3rd party - because FD Signifier told me to shut up and vote for Harris.

15 months later, I'm starting to believe that arguing about how to vote in future elections is, to be polite, not going to be an actual problem.

Edit: clarified that voting for Trump while admitting that you hate Trump is brain damaged. Suggesting that 3M US voters are, in fact, brain damaged in this manner is a reasonable hypothesis - just not one that I support. I think 78M Trump voters are brain damaged in other ways (racism, fascism, etc.)

@grumble209 @tek @BrianJopek

to get further left candidates requires showing the fuck up, especially the primaries

this is the lesson of mamdani, who was not supported by the democratic establishment

he won, because people fucking showed up

this idea that nonvoters are somehow virtuous, and that the establishment will somehow give them a candidate they want, then they vote, is fucking stupid

you fucking vote. period

not voting is the *cause* of our problems, not an *effect*